A Ducati on pole? Three Ducatis on the first two rows? Four Ducatis in the top ten? Cheater tire! The only logical explanation for the grid positions the factory and Pramac Ducati secured at Qatar is the fact they have the special soft tire available to them.
And that tire, we are told by everyone who is not on a Ducati, is worth a second a lap. So the grid positions of the Ducati are a travesty, right? Come the race, they’ll be rolling road blocks holding up the rest once their tires go off, right? Wrong.
This narrative, current among everyone who sees their favorite rider further down the grid than they had hoped for, bears only a very passing resemblance to the truth.
Dani Pedrosa took his Repsol Honda to 3rd on the grid.
Nicky Hayden’s new stars and stripes helmet design looks awesome.
CWM LCR Honda boss Lucio Cecchinello in discussion with Cal Crutchlow’s crew chief Christophe Bourguignon.
Racing again in the TT Zero event at the 2015 Isle of Man TT, Team Mugen will defend its results from 2014 on-board the Mugen Shinden Yon.
The fourth iteration of the Japanese electric superbike, riders John McGuinness and Bruce Anstey should have potent weapons to tackle the Mountain Course with, come a few months’ time.
The main contender for the top podium spot, the Mugen Shinden Yon shows some modest changes from the Shinden San. The tailsection is clearly different in shape, as are the body panels on the front of the machine. We suspect, however, that the significant changes are beneath the skin.
“It’s just nuts to be separated by one second over the 5 km around this place.” It is hard to argue with Eugene Laverty’s assessment of just how close the times are after free practice for MotoGP. Laverty is either really close to Marc Márquez, or a long way behind Marc Márquez, depending on how you measure it.
The Irishman had a solid day of practice to come up just over a second shy of Márquez’s best time on Friday evening. His problem is that as impressive as his time was, there are eighteen riders ahead of him.
It is, quite frankly, ridiculously close. “I don’t know when was the last time you saw down to 21st was inside 1.3 seconds,” Jack Miller said in awe. “It’s almost like we’re in Moto3 again.”
The closeness of the field was a frustration for everyone on the grid. Miller, Scott Redding, Nicky Hayden, even Valentino Rossi cannot believe how tough the field is. “This practice is unbelievable, because there are ten bikes in three tenths!”
That does not make it any easier to pick a winner, however. Marc Márquez is the least troubled of the riders on the grid, fast both in race trim and on a single lap.
Cal Crutchlow is hot on heals though and is less than a tenth of a second behind.
Ducati and Andrea Dovizioso are trying the “wings” again.
Aleix Espargaro has been fast despite losing 14 km/h to Marc Marquez through the speed trap.
When the flag drops, the speculation stops. Though usually, a rather more forthright word is used instead of speculation.
After the long winter of testing, of trying to assess who was trying what on which lap to try to compare lap times, MotoGP is underway for real. Everyone on track is looking for race pace, and a fast lap to ensure they get into Q2. It is a whole lot easier to comprehend, and infinitely more thrilling.
Conditions had not looked promising ahead of practice. Strong winds blew down the front straight in the late afternoon, raising fears that they would coat the circuit in dust and sand.
Then shortly before the action was due to kick off, a few drops of rain started falling, threatening to at least delay proceedings should it continue. But the wind dropped and the rain stopped, and the 2015 MotoGP season got underway as planned.
Fears about the track were unfounded, lap times quickly heading towards something resembling race pace.
Well, the rumors were true…Casey Stoner will return to motorcycle racing, competing as one of Honda’s MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO three racers in the Suzuka 8-hour endurance race.
For those who don’t follow the Suzuka 8-Hour, the MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO team won last year’s event, and is a top Honda entry every year for the prestigous Japanese race. Joining Stoner on the team will be Michael van der Mark and Takumi Takahashi.
Van der Mark is of course Honda’s factory World Superbike racer and the current reigning World Supersport Champion, while Takahashi splits his time racing in the MFJ All Japan Road Race JSB1000 Championship and testing for HRC.
The threesome will be looking to clinch Honda’s sixth-straight victory at Suzuka. They will of course be racing on the EWC-spec Honda CBR1000RR, which Stoner tested at January’s Sepang test. The Australian will test it again on the CBR in July 7th & 8th and July 14th and 15th.
The Class of 2015.
Steady start for the 2014 Moto3 world champion Alex Marquez on his Moto2 debut.
Andrea Dovizioso could be a good outside bet for a podium this weekend.
The American road racing community is still coming to grips with the loss of Dane Westby this week, after the 28-year-old died tragically while riding his street bike in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
While his family, friends, and fans work through their grief over the loss of Dane, we can at least remember “The Wolverine” for the competitor that he was.
As such, Yamaha has put together a nice video of Dane at the MotoAmerica tire test at COTA. Set to race in the Superstock 1000 class this year, Dane clearly was measuring himself against the faster guys in the Superbike class — the true mark of a true competitor.
That’s just one of the reasons why everyone liked him so much