What was the big story of the MotoGP season opener in Qatar? It’s obvious: The Doctor is back. After a failed pass on Andrea Dovizioso, in which he ran wide and hit his brake lever protector on the back of Dani Pedrosa’s rear tire. ”The protection saved me, because for sure I crash [without it]” he said afterwards.
He upped the pace and chased down the group containing Dani Pedrosa, Marc Marquez, and Cal Crutchlow, passed them all, and after a thrilling battle with Marquez, went on to take second place in his first race back with Yamaha. If anyone thought that Rossi might have lost it, this was the race in which he proved that he was still capable of being at the front, the only condition being that he has a decent machine underneath him.
That reading of the race, though both attractive and seductive, is not the complete picture. Viewed with a more jaundiced eye, Rossi was comprehensively thrashed by his teammate – “In this weekend, I think it is impossible to beat Lorenzo,” he admitted.
Closing down on a group being held up by a struggling Pedrosa, who had been troubled by a lack of rear grip all weekend, Rossi then had enormous difficulty dealing with a MotoGP rookie, racing for the first time in the class. Is that beautiful palace on the horizon real, or was it just a mirage, a trick of the light in the desert?
Road racing is mental. I mean real road racing…where motorcycle racers compete on actual city streets, with zero run-off and off-track obstacles abound. Having been to the Isle of Man TT, and seen the Manx course up-close, I can attest to the special breed of rider that chooses to compete in motorcycle road racing events — I dare say I even understand the allure to such an act (you will never, however, see me partake in such a racing event).
Looking at Tony Goldsmith’s photos from the 59th Macau GP though, words fail to describe the lunacy taking place here with the tight and narrow Macanese course. Luckily, my failure as a writer can be overcome through the miracle of technology, in this case: YouTube.
Take 31.25 minutes out of your day, and ride with Austria’s Horst Saiger for all 10 laps of the 2012 Macau GP. Watch him trade corners with Martin Jessop and Conor Cummins on his Saiger-Racing.com Kawasaki ZX-10R in what may be our favorite video of the year, after the jump of course (yes, there is a jump!).
John McGuinness might be the King of the Mountain at the Isle of Man, but Michael Rutter is the King of the Streets at Macau. After leading throughout the qualifying and practice sessions, Rutter rode a dominant 10 lap race to claim his eighth win at the Macau GP.
Virtually uncontested during the road race, Rutter finished to comfortably, despite a late-stage charge by Martin Jessop, who put on a show with his charge to second, after a poor start off the line.
“The team gave me a brilliant bike,” said Rutter. “The crowds have been fantastic. I enjoy coming here and hope it will keep continuing.” Riding for the SMT Racing team on a Honda CBR1000RR, Rutter was teammates with Isle of Man TT star and rival John McGuinness, whose seventh place finish put SMT at the top of Macau’s first-ever Team Award.
Rounding out the podium was Simon Andrews, making the post-race celebrations a strictly British affair. Meanwhile, America’s main man Mark Miller rode to a respectable fifteenth place finish for the Splitlath Redmond team. Full race results are after the jump.
