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MotoGP Silly Season Update: Forward’s Privateer Yamaha M1s, Hayden’s Future, & Honda’s Production Racers

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With all of the prototype seats occupied for 2014 – barring a contractual bust up between Ducati and Ben Spies, which is only an expensive theoretical possibility at the moment – battle has commenced for the rest of the MotoGP seats regarded as being most competitive. While the factory bikes – the bikes in the factory and satellite teams being raced as MSMA entries – are all taken, the privateer machines – using Dorna spec-ECU software and extra fuel – are still mostly up for grabs.

The three most highly sought after machines are the 2013 Yamaha M1s to be leased by the NGM Forward squad, Honda’s production racer (a modified RC213V with a standard gearbox and metal spring instead of pneumatic valves) and the Aprilia ART bikes, which are a heavily modified version of Aprilia’s RSV4 superbike.

Of the three, only the ART machine is a known quantity, with Aleix Espargaro and Randy de Puniet having raced the bikes with some success in 2012 and 2013, joined by Yonny Hernandez and Karel Abraham this year. Teams and riders will have to guess about the performance of the Yamahas and Hondas, though given the basis of the two machines, it is a safe bet they will be relatively competitive.

The most popular machine among riders is the Yamaha M1, naturally enough. The bike is a near complete 2013 machine, with a few parts excluded, such as the fuel tank, and will utilize the spec-ECU software from Dorna, being developed by the current CRT teams.

Given just how good the 2013 M1 is – Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi have won races on it, Cal Crutchlow has scored regular podiums – it is expected to be the best privateer machine on the grid next season, and anyone hoping to advance in the series is angling for a ride on it.

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MotoGP: Alex De Angelis to Replace Ben Spies at Laguna – Spies Expected Back at Indianapolis GP

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Ben Spies’ absence due to his shoulder injury will extend to Laguna Seca. The Texan is still going through physical rehab to get the shoulder he injured at Sepang last year up to strength, and he hopes to be back to full fitness for the final US round of MotoGP at Indianapolis at the end of August.

With Spies still out for two more races, the Ignite Pramac team needs a replacement. Michele Pirro will take Spies’ place at the Sachsenring in just under two weeks’ time, but Ducati’s official test rider is not available for Laguna, as he has more testing scheduled that week at Misano in Italy.

As a result, Pramac has asked Alex De Angelis to step in for the Laguna Seca round, as the lack of a Moto2 round at Laguna means the NGM Forward rider is availabe to take Spies’ seat at the California circuit.

De Angelis already has MotoGP experience, having raced two seasons for the Gresini Honda team in 2008 and 2009, and having replaced Hiroshi Aoyama for three rounds in 2010.

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Racing

Sunday Summary at Sepang: Of Championships, Red Flags, Rulebooks, & Riders on a Roll

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The Grand Prix Circus came to Sepang with three titles in the balance. Only one of them got wrapped up on Sunday, though, tropical rainstorms throwing a spanner into the works of the other two, but generating some fascinating racing. The fans had one fantastic dry race, one fantastic wet race, and a processional MotoGP race that looked much the same as it would have had it been dry.

There was a packed house – over 77,000 people crowded into the circuit, a highly respectable number for a flyaway round – cheering on local heroes, there was confusion over the rules, and there were a lot of new faces on the podium.

There was also a much better balance of nationalities on the podium: where in previous races, the Spanish national anthem has been played three times on a Sunday, at Sepang, it was only heard once. Most of all, though, the Moto2 and MotoGP races ran in the wet would be determined by the timing of the red flags, with Race Direction’s decisions on safety also having an outcome on the results of the races, and in the case of MotoGP, possibly implications for the championship.

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Racing

Photo of the Week: Proper Positioning

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The real question about the 2012 MotoGP season may be this: will the switch back to liter engines, and the rules that accompany that change, mean that non-factory teams can compete for the championship? Consider Alex de Angelis, shown here at the Sachsenring in 2009, hanging off his satellite Honda in typical style, and the fact that he was 2nd in the 2003 125cc championship, and third in 2006 and 2007 as a 250cc rider, but only had one podium in two years in the premier class.

Since the switch from 2-stroke 500s non-factory teams have not had much of a chance at taking the title, and for a rider on a satellite team the only realistic goal has been to be the Best of the Rest. We will almost certainly see a larger grid in 2012, but will the advantages the Claiming Rule Teams have (more fuel per race, more engines per season) mean they will be in a more competitive position?

I hope that riders such as De Angelis will find themselves competing for more than a few points each round, and will have a greater chance to show they belong in MotoGP before being demoted to another class or series.

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Rumors

The Suzuki Silly Season Roundup: The Rookie, The Veteran, & The Frenchman

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Noticeably absent from the silly season slogging has been the factory Suzuki MotoGP team. Although we know that Suzuki intends to stay in MotoGP for at least one more season, despite a continued tradition of mediocrity, very little other information has come forward. Perhaps at the top of the rumor heap is the speculation that Rizla Suzuki will potentially field only one bike in the 2011 MotoGP season, electing not to replace Loris Capirossi who has been linked to the Pramac Ducati team.

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Racing

Toni Elias to Moto2, Alex de Angelis to Scot Honda?

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Reports are coming in that Alex de Angelis will be headed to Scot Honda (thus ending any rumor that Toni Elias would be joining the satellite Honda team), and that Elias will be headed to Moto2 with the Sito Pons team. Kalex Engineering is expected to be providing Sito Pons with one of their Moto2 chassis solutions. You may remember Kalex from their gorgeous liter-bike track weapon we ran a couple months ago. While many are reporting these moves as fact, their appears to be some margin of uncertainty in the plan.

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Racing

De Angelis to Announce 2010 Ride as Early as Estoril

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Overshadowing his podium finish from the Indianapolis GP, Alex de Angelis didn’t make too many friends in San Marino, and certainly didn’t impress any teams in paddock with his turn 2 performance. So it isn’t with great surprise that we find de Angelis still looking for a ride in MotoGP this September.

With seats in the MotoGP paddock quickly filling up, the Sammarinese rider has even entertained the prospect of going to World Superbike for 2010, but has stated that he would not consider Moto2 as an option.

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Racing

VIDEO: San Marino Crash – Another “Dumb-Ass Italian at the Italian GP” [UPDATED]

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UPDATE #1: Well, Dorna got their mitts on YouTube and the video is gone. Sorry Folks.
UPDATE #2: Ok, found a new video from a different angle that shows more of the aftermath.

The life expectancy of this video, isnt’ foreseen to be very long, but we thought we’d bring it to you because it sets up some of the best quotes you’ll find in MotoGP racing. Both by the Uber-Italian commentators, and from the rider involved.

Americans Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards may not be podium regulars, but they certainly bring the down-to-Earth, good old boy, tell it how you see it mentality to an otherwise very rigid sport, and the events of the San Marino GP are certainly a shining example of those character traits.

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Racing

MotoGP: Championship Heats Up at Indianapolis GP

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The second running of the Indianapolis GP found much better weather than last year, with a bone dry track this time around. With a strong showing from Dani Pedrosa all week, the Americans on the second row, and a lot of contracts still up in the air, the 75,000 fans at The Brickyard were treated to a great showing of GP racing as the Championship takes another step to completion.

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Racing

MotoGP: Qualifying Pole Record Smashed at Indianapolis GP

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MotoGP returns to the USA for the second time this year, this time trading in the heat and surf of Laguna Seca for the rain of Indianapolis. Riders battled a wet then dry track this week, and a shrinking number of spots for rides next year. With that pressure starting to ramp up, it comes as no surprise that we see some lurkers making their move on the grid. The end result thus far: one broken pole record.

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