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The Aki Ajo Monster Interview, Part 1: On Identifying Talent

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Aki Ajo is one of the most significant figures in the Grand Prix paddock. The Finnish manager has seen a long string of talent pass through his team on their way to greater success.

The list of champions and great riders he has produced is almost endless: Marc Marquez, Johann Zarco, Jack Miller, Sandro Cortese, Luis Salom, Danny Kent to name just a few. 

To find out how he does it, I sat down with Aki Ajo at Valencia and spoke for nearly half an hour. The results of this interview were fascinating, and offer a great insight into the how to get the best out of a rider, to help them achieve success.

In the first part of this interview, he shares his philosophy of racing and team management, of motivation, and what keeps him going. He also talks about the difference it makes working with a rider the second time around, and why he is happy with his current crop of riders in Moto2 and Moto3.

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Dirt

Preview of the 2016 Superprestigio Flat Track Race

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Christmas is in the air (regardless of David Emmett’s protestations) and that means one unfortunate fact; the racing season is almost finished. We’re drawing towards the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, but thankfully there is a bright light in the sky to guide us.

It’s not a star leading to a manger, where a new born baby lies in wait to save us all, but rather one last event of the racing calendar. Flat Track takes center stage this weekend and the Superprestigio in Barcelona has quickly become one of the most anticipated events of the year. 

Rebirthed in 2014, the event has grown in popularity, and on Saturday night we will once again see Brad Baker take on the best that Europe has to offer. The American is a former AMA Pro Flat Track champion, and generally regarded as one of the biggest talents to come out of the US series in years.

Baker and Marc Marquez were born a day apart in February 1993, and both have captivated their relative championships in recent years and gained reputations for their bravery and spectacular styles. This is the one weekend a year where they battle for supremacy on track together.

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WSBK

Video: Earl Hayden Talks About His Son, Nicky

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The Honda WorldSBK team has put together an intriguing video, where they interview Earl Hayden, father to Nicky Hayden. In the video, Earl talks about how Nicky grew up wanting to be a world champion, and the great lengths he would go through in order to achieve that goal one day.

He also talks about how becoming the MotoGP World Champion in 2006 didn’t really change the person that his son was, and how Nicky has always remained down-to-earth around his friends and family.

Of course, anyone who has spent some time with the Kentucky Kid would know this to be true already. Still, it is a neat video, with some touching words from a proud father. We highly recommend watching it, and then calling your folks. They miss you.

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MotoGP

Barcelona Superprestigio 2016 Takes Place December 17th

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The Barcelona Superprestigio has proven to be a popular staple of the winter break. The indoor flat track race, which takes place at the Palau Sant Jordi, is returning for its fourth edition on December 17th.

Once again, the stars of the MotoGP, World Superbikes and Endurance will take on the cream of dirt track and off-road disciplines. Former winners Marc Marquez and Brad Baker face off for the fourth time.

The event follows the formula which has been so successful in the past. The field is divided into two classes: the Superprestigio class, which features some of the best asphalt riders in the world; and the Open class, in which the best of the off-road world will compete.

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MotoGP

The New Grandstands at Assen, And the Economic Impact of a MotoGP Race

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“If it wasn’t for the Dutch TT race, I would have to close my business.” Those were the words of the taxi driver who took me from the Assen train station to the circuit, for a presentation on the plans for major upgrades to their spectator facilities over the next three years and beyond.

It offered an insight into the importance of the MotoGP race at Assen, and by extension, the importance of circuits and MotoGP events around the world.

My taxi driver explained that over the week surrounding the Assen race, he was kept so busy that the money he made during that period was the difference between ending the year with a profit and the ability to invest in the future of the business, or just about breaking even.

Chatting to an official of the provincial government, who had grown up in the city and worked in bars there during his college years, he confirmed that experience.

The bars back then were so busy during the race weekend that it was the difference between survival and failure. The same is true for many businesses and hotels around the region, as anyone who has ever tried to book accommodation in the weeks before the race can attest.

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MotoGP

MotoGP Rules Get Tweaked for 2017

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December is a time for reflection, and for making the necessary changes to the rulebook where incidents during the season have made clear.

Last week, MotoGP’s rule making body, the Grand Prix Commission met to review the 2016 season and make a few necessary adjustments to the MotoGP rulebook. Fortunately, they decided not to do anything quite so drastic as the Superbike Commission did at the same time.

The most eye-catching change is the dropping of intermediate tires in MotoGP. Intermediates had been introduced at the request of the teams and Dorna, to allow riders to go out during sessions when conditions were not suitable for slicks.

However, the experience of 2016 showed that intermediates were rarely used, and when they were, they added little or no value over soft slicks or hard wets.

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WSBK

Video: Stefan Bradl Speaks About Moving to WorldSBK

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It’s not a change that made too many waves here in the United States, but Stefan Bradl moving from MotoGP to the World Superbike Championship is a big shakeup in two-wheeled motorsport.

The 27-year-old German rider once showed great promise in the GP Paddock, winning the 2011 Moto2 Championship and showing signs of competitiveness while at the LCR Honda team in MotoGP. 

Things didn’t work out for Bradl though, and after a tough year developing the Aprilia RS-GP, he finds himself back with HRC, but in a new paddock. Now a teammate to Nicky Hayden, we think Stefan Bradl is a smart addition to the Honda WorldSBK outfit.

If the new Honda CBR1000RR can give chase to the speed we’ve seen from the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R and Ducati Panigale R, then we can count on some strong results from the Honda duo. It would be good to see Bradl back on his usual game, as well.

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MotoGP

2017 MotoGP Provisional Calendar Updated

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The FIM today issued a revised and updated version of the provisional 2017 MotoGP calendar. The calendar features just a single change: the date of the German round of MotoGP at Sachsenring has been moved forward two weeks, and will now take place on July 2nd.

The change has both benefits and disadvantages. On the plus side, moving the date of the Sachsenring race means that the riders now have a proper summer break again, with a month off to recover between the Sachsenring and the following race at Brno.

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Bikes

KTM RC16 Will Come as a 2018 Model

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We knew from the outset of KTM’s MotoGP project with the RC16 race bike that the “Ready to Race” brand would also release the KTM RC16 as a track-only model for customers, which would cost six-figures in European currency.

Talking to Germany’s Speedweek publication, KTM CEO Stefan Pierer has tipped some more information on the “consumer version” of the KTM RC16 race bike.

Good news too, as Pierer says that KTM hopes to make at least 100 units of the machine for consumers, and that KTM wants to keep the customer RC16 as close to the MotoGP bike as possible.

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MotoGP

Paddock Pass Podcast #42 – Valencia

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The end of the racing season is here, which means our last race and testing update from the Paddock Pass Podcast crew. Thus, Episode 42 sees Steve English joined by David Emmett and Neil Morrison for a talk about the Valencia GP and following test week for the GP paddock, as well as the Jerez Test for World Superbike and MotoGP riders.

A lot happened between the racing and testing action, especially with the number of riders we saw switching seats for the 2017 season; as such, there is a bevy of items to talk about: Lorenzo on the Ducati, Vinales on the Yamaha, Iannone on the Suzuki, etc.

You won’t want to miss the insights the Paddock Pass Podcast team brings to these busy weeks in motorcycle racing, in both the MotoGP and World Superbike Championships.

As always, be sure to follow the Paddock Pass Podcast on Facebook, Twitter and subscribe to the show on iTunes and SoundCloud – we even have an RSS feed for you. If you like the show, we would really appreciate you giving it a review on iTunes. Thanks for listening!

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MotoGP

Surgery Season: Riders in Every Class Go Under the Knife

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If ever there was a time to be disabused of any notions of the glamorous life a professional motorcycle racer leads, the weeks immediately following the end of the racing season, after testing has been completed, is surely it.

Riders around the world head into operating theaters and physical rehabilitation facilities to have more permanent fixes applied to the temporary patch-up jobs done to allow them to keep racing during the season. 

There has been a long list of riders having surgery or treatment of one sort or another over the past week or so.

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