Two races into the start of the 2015 season and The Doctor leads the championship after a win and a third.
25 MotoGP bikes safely make their way through one of the tightest first turns on the MotoGP calendar.
A great day for British fans as they watched Sam Lowes back up Danny Kent’s win in Moto3 with a win of his own. It was also Sam’s first grand prix victory. I have a feeling he’ll have a few more before the season is finished.
“That’s why we line up on Sunday. You never know what’s gonna happen.” Nicky Hayden was replying to one of my typically stupid questions after the race in Indianapolis in 2009. The day before, I had asked him if he had given up hope of a good result after qualifying in 6th on the Ducati in front of his home crowd.
That Sunday, he had ridden a solid race and taken advantage of the misfortunes of others, ending the day on the podium. The heady mixture of hope, determination, talent and a smattering of luck put him where he wanted to be. Or close to it at least.
Hayden’s phrase is one of the most succinct and accurate descriptions of motorcycle racing, as the events of the season opener at Qatar go to show. The script that we all thought had been written on Saturday got torn up and thrown out the window on Sunday. Because you never know what’s gonna happen.
Valentino Rossi on the grid prior to the start of today’s Grand Prix of Qatar.
MotoGP observed a minute silence in memory of the victims of the Germanwings flight 9525 that crashed into the French alps last week.
Losail in daylight. Nicky Hayden slides his Honda through turn 10 during warm up.
On a hot, sweltering, hazy day in Buriram, race day began and ended in green — Irishman Johnny Rea on his Kawasaki had a belated St. Patrick’s Day celebration, absolutely dominating the field in almost every session.
The design of the new Chang International Circuit allows for several places to get shots of fast-sweepers, particularly in the second half of the lap – with a thoughtfully constructed concrete path for media scooters to quickly cover the track capturing the race.
However, the relative absence of texture – apart from lots of concrete and track markings – means the possibilities for creating classic images of riders at iconic corners are harder to come by.
Perhaps the most moving moment was when local boy, Ratthapark “Film” Wilairot won the World Supersport race. Parc ferme was a delightful chaos of emotion, with Film’s young son finding his way into his father’s arms. I Hope you enjoy this selection from race day.
There is a famous quote, often attributed to Ernest Hemingway, that says “there are only three sports: motor-racing, bull-fighting, and mountaineering. The rest are just games.” Watching and shooting the season opener of World Superbikes track-side at Phillip Island, I couldn’t agree more.
Jonny Rea, Leon Haslam, and Chaz Davies put on a show that rose and fell like the crescnedos in a beautiful piece of music. It was more than just racing, it was a race that had a heart and a beat. Emotional just about starts to describe it. It was a privilege to capture some of the action. Hope you enjoy the images.
How big a deal is MotoGP in Asia, and especially in Malaysia? There were officially 81,896 spectators at the Sepang International Circuit on Sunday for the races. That is a lot. To put it in perspective, it is the seventh highest attendance of the year, more than either of the US rounds of MotoGP, more than Silverstone, more than either of the Italian rounds.
There were 4,400 more spectators at Sepang than at Mugello. That is quite a turnaround: in 2000, the second year MotoGP was held at the circuit, only 32,375 people attended the race, spread over all three days. The three-day total is now close to 131,000.
It is testament to both the growing wealth of the region and the growing popularity of the sport. In the podium press conference, Valentino Rossi reflected on the change. “For a long period, we have no people on Sunday,” he said. Little by little attendance had grown, until now, it is a race with an atmosphere all of its own.
“Now it is full, the atmosphere on the main straight is like Barcelona or Mugello. The guys are crazy for MotoGP.” It was a great victory for the sport, he said. Given that those 82,000 people are mostly sitting outside, in tropical temperatures of 36°C and humidity of over 50%, those guys (and gals) must indeed be ‘crazy for MotoGP’.
Their efforts were amply rewarded on Sunday, with three superb races. They saw records equaled in MotoGP, a richly-deserved title tied up in Moto2, and an exhilarating and incident-packed battle in Moto3, which sets up a grand finale for the Moto3 title at Valencia. Reason enough to come back again in force in 2015, with the added benefit of seeing the circuit fielding its own team in Moto3 next year.
Once again, a MotoGP race at Phillip Island is decided by tires. The tires Bridgestone brought to the Australian circuit were not up to the task, with riders crashing out all throughout the race. The front tires Bridgestone brought to the track were unable to cope with the conditions. The result was determined by tires, not by talent.
That, at least, is the narrative being heard around the internet after the bizarre yet fascinating MotoGP race at Phillip Island. It is an attractive narrative – a nice, simple explanation for what happened in Australia – but it is fundamentally flawed.
The tire situation was complicated, certainly. Jorge Lorenzo’s front tire showed very severe degradation, more than would normally be explained by the expect wear. Several riders crashed out on the asymmetric front tire Bridgestone brought. But to lay the blame entirely on Bridgestone is quite wrong.
Marc Marquez had come to Motegi to give Honda the world championship at their home circuit for the first time ever. The Movistar Yamaha team had come to Japan to score a win in front of their home fans, and factory bosses.
In the end, the Battle of the Bosses can be declared a draw: Jorge Lorenzo was just about unstoppable on his way to victory, winning in front of Yamaha’s top brass.
And Marc Marquez nudged his way past Valentino Rossi to take second, finishing ahead of the two men who could prevent him from wrapping up the 2014 MotoGP title. Marquez brought Honda a championship at the circuit they own, in front of the company’s CEO, Takanobu Ito.
Both Lorenzo and Marquez came to Motegi with a job to do, and they both got the job done. The win capped a weekend of near perfection at Motegi for Jorge Lorenzo.
What a difference a day makes. “There is no way to fight with the factory Hondas,” Valentino Rossi had said on Saturday. Within a few laps of the start, it turned out that it was not just possible to fight with the Hondas, but to get them in over their heads, and struggling to hold off the Yamaha onslaught.
By the time the checkered flag dropped, the factory Hondas were gone, the first RC213V across the line the LCR of Stefan Bradl, nearly twelve seconds behind the winner, Jorge Lorenzo on the factory M1.
What changed? The weather. Cooler temperatures at the start of the race meant the Hondas struggled to get the hard rear tire to work. The hard rear was never an option for the Yamahas, but the softer rear was still working just fine. From the start, Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi and the surprising Pol Espargaro were pushing the factory Hondas hard.
All of a sudden we had a race on our hands. When the rain came, the excitement stepped up another notch. In the end, strategy and the ability to keep a cool head prevailed. The factory Hondas came up short on both accounts at Aragon.
