"On Line" - The MotoGP Blog

Returning To The Scene Of The Crime

At heart, every motorcycle race starts fundamentally the same: A group of riders of similar talent on similar equipment line up on the grid with the intention of crossing the line ahead of their rivals at the end of the race. Yet despite its simplicity of concept, once the flag drops, each race develops in a unique direction, taking on a distinctive character all of its own.

That character is often dictated in large part by the nature of the class: in recent years, MotoGP races have tended to resemble a high-speed version of chess, each move carefully considered and rehearsed and several laps in the preparation. World Superbike races, on the other hand, often look more like a bar room brawl than a motor race, with riders wading in wildly more in hope than in expectation, and emerging surprisingly unscathed. And more often than not, races in the 125cc class turn into the nearest thing to a pack of hyenas fighting over a bone, bikes and bodies shooting in every direction, with no order or decorum, and even less chance of making any sense of the fight.

Sometimes, though, a motorcycle race can transcend the ordinary limitations of the class imposed by the nature of the bikes involved, and take on a uniqueness of character that leaves it burned into the collective memory of race fans for many, many years to come. The 2008 Red Bull US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca was just such a race. No high-speed chess here, no careful premeditation or long-rehearsed moves, the race between Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner was a fight to the death, mortal combat between two highly-trained assassins using any and every means at their disposal to inflict a fatal blow on their opponent.

Stone Cold Killers

Their combat was assisted, perhaps even encouraged, by the nature of the Laguna Seca track itself. For the first 24 laps of the race, both Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi used every inch of the track to gain an advantage over the other. Along Laguna’s short front straight, it was Stoner’s Ducati that had the edge, its better drive and horsepower allowing Stoner to catch Rossi.

But too often, it was not quite enough to get past Rossi before heeling over for the most terrifying corner on the track, the 170mph left kink of Turn 1. Rossi got caught out there a couple of times, but on most laps, as they rolled the bikes left over the crest of the hill, The Doctor held the perfect line, in the middle of the track and drifting right. Rossi was leaving the door open for Stoner, but the route it led to was the hardest route of all, the outside line over the rumblestrip, as dangerous as the North Face of the Eiger. Brave as a mountaineer, Stoner accepted the challenge, even passing there on lap 24.

Through Turn 2, the Andretti Hairpin, both men were equal, trying passes through the tight left hander, but both giving up on the exit what they gained on the entry. Turns 3 and 4, the flat right handers, saw passes by both men, as well as the most extraordinary piece of defensive riding, with Rossi holding the outside line while Stoner tried up the inside. On the exit, Stoner found Rossi in his path, and was left with nowhere to go that would not mean running into the Italian and taking both himself and Rossi off into the gravel.

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21st Century Man

Assen Race Report - 21st Century Man

Numbers are funny things. On their own, they are meaningless, just abstract inventions, a way of keeping track, of measuring and quantifying objects. There is no intrinsic difference between the numbers 1, 4, 7, 12, 666 and 26017 other than their size. Yet stop someone on the street and ask them about those numbers and you will hear a host of opinions on those numbers, their meaning and whether they are good or bad, depending on who and where you happened to have stopped.

In most countries, the number 7 is greeted with enthusiasm, being considered lucky almost everywhere round the world. In Europe and America, the number 4 will barely register, but stay in a hotel in Asia, and you’ll notice that there’s no 4th floor, nor 14th or 24th for that matter. For the number 4 is considered very bad luck in Asia, as it sounds like the word for "death" in Chinese, Korean and Japanese. The number 666 will be greeted with fear in the more religious parts of the American Deep South, but go unnoticed in Cambodia. As for 26017, it will almost certainly be met with blank stares, unless the person you should stop to ask happens to be a mathematician, and immediately recognizes it as a prime number, a class of numbers math geeks tend to get terrifically excited about.

As these numbers attach themselves to events, their significance is magnified. One cold, dark winter night a few years ago, the entire world got caught up in a fit of festive abandon celebrating one number being replaced with another. Convention dictates that a new year begins on January 1st, and on that day 9 years ago, the most significant digit of the number used to designate years was incremented, increasing from 1999 to 2000. The 48 hour period spanning that moment saw very few major climatic, social or historical changes, yet almost the entire population of the planet attached a huge significance to that change, speaking endlessly of a new century, a new age and a new era.

History Man

That sense of anticipation, of foreboding almost, hung over Valentino Rossi at Assen. Thirteen days previously, the Italian had taken the 99th victory of his career, and speculation about the 100th had started literally seconds after he had crossed the line at Barcelona. He was getting used to it, for the storm had been brewing for a while.

Victory at Jerez had put him in line to take his 100th win at Mugello, if he could just win at Le Mans first. But a disastrous flag-to-flag race put paid to that plan. Another flag-to-flag race at Mugello saw his seven-year winning streak there dashed by the rain. Since then, talk of 100 victories abated a little, until Rossi crossed the line to take victory number 99 at Catalunya.

The manner of Rossi’s victory at Barcelona helped mitigate some of the pressure. The breathtaking last lap and final corner pass over his team mate and title rival Jorge Lorenzo had the fans and followers full of the excitement of that race, rather than its significance as a stepping stone for Rossi’s century. Even the questions at the pre-race press conference focused more on whether Assen would see a repeat of that blood-curdling last lap than on whether Rossi expected to take his 100th win here.

Rossi downplayed both possibilities. When asked about his 100th victory, he said his focus was on the championship, not winning a particular race. And he concurred with Jorge Lorenzo, who pointed out that Barcelona had been the exception rather than the rule, and that this was the first race since the switch to the 800cc formula that had come down to the last lap.

Hope Springs

The first session of free practice raised the possibility of both a Rossi victory and a close race. Thursday afternoon’s session was saw three men within 0.035 seconds of each other, and eleven riders all under two thirds of a second. Friday morning saw much greater gaps between the riders, but during qualifying in the afternoon, pole was decided by less than a tenth of a second, Rossi taking pole just ahead of Dani Pedrosa.

The gap to Jorge Lorenzo was larger this time, with Casey Stoner further back still. But after qualifying, Stoner had complained bitterly of being balked by other riders on his fast laps, singling out Toni Elias, Sete Gibernau and Loris Capirossi as riders who had sat on the racing line waiting for a tow from the Australian in the hope of improving their own time. Stoner’s times on race tires looked good, Pedrosa was fast but his fitness still uncertain, and Lorenzo was blinding round the first half of the track but less sure-footed through the last, terrifying section. The chances were good that the Fantastic Four would be able to hold each other up and stick together round Assen’s narrow and difficult track. If Rossi wanted his 100th win at Assen, he’d have to work for it.

As the lights dimmed, the shriek of nineteen 800cc engines being tortured to within inches of destruction filled the hallowed vaults of the Cathedral of racing, the vicious howl of Dani Pedrosa’s Honda RC212V leading the wailing chorus into the first corner. Behind Pedrosa, Valentino Rossi had consolidated, getting off the line quickly, but not quickly enough to thwart Pedrosa. Casey Stoner, the other lightning starter, slotted in 3rd, ahead of an unleashed Chris Vermeulen, who had shot through from 7th on the grid to climb up to 4th.

While Stoner and Pedrosa were getting their trademark rocket starts, Jorge Lorenzo was going backwards. The Spaniard had bogged his engine off the line, giving away three places before even reaching the first turn. Lorenzo held his line on the outside of Colin Edwards at the Haarbocht, then hung on there at Madijk, but as they entered the tight loop of the new Ossebroeken corner, he was forced to surrender the position, and retired to Edwards’ tail to await a second chance.

Then There Were Three

Taking a tighter line out of the Strubben hairpin and hugging the inside kerb at the Veenslang, first Rossi and then Stoner drew level with Pedrosa down the back straight, then passed before braking for the Ruskenhoek. Rossi looked like he had the edge, but Stoner waited just a fraction longer before applying the brakes, hogging the inside line into the right hander to take the lead before flicking left again.

With Stoner having taken over the lead, Pedrosa tried holding the inside line into the right part of the Ruskenhoek over Rossi to recover 2nd, but the Spaniard wasn’t far enough ahead through the corner, and as they flicked back, Rossi held the inside line, and Pedrosa was forced to back off and accept 3rd.

Behind Vermeulen in 4th, Jorge Lorenzo had still not given up on getting past Colin Edwards, and tried diving up the inside into the Ruskenhoek, but found himself on the wrong side of the Texan as they rolled back right for the Stekkenwal. His poor position at the right hander did leave him with the chance to get extra drive, and through the narrow kink before De Bult, Lorenzo closed on Edwards, then slid past him into the left hander to take over 5th.

While Lorenzo headed off to start chasing down Vermeulen, Edwards was left fending off Andrea Dovizioso, the Repsol Honda rider pushing round the south end of the Assen circuit. A brave move saw Dovi dive through at the Ramshoek, but Edwards knows Assen well, and was back again on the run into the GT chicane.

Edwards and Dovi scrapping over 6th had allowed the front five to get a gap, and had started to bunch up a freight train of riders behind, with Nicky Hayden, Randy de Puniet, Toni Elias, Marco Melandri, Loris Capirossi and James Toseland bunched together like a giant multi-wheeled, multicolored caterpillar. This group, its composition only slightly altered, was about to embark on an epic scrap which would last all the way to the line.

Ahead of this bunch, Jorge Lorenzo was putting a move on Chris Vermeulen, taking over 4th position going into the Haarbocht. Further forward, Rossi was closing on Casey Stoner through Madijk, and holding a tighter line through the endless loop of Ossebroeken, slipped up the inside of Stoner and into the lead.

Runaway Train

At first, Stoner kept Rossi close, hounding the Italian all the way round the circuit, seeking a way back past and into the lead. But Rossi was putting a plan into effect that he had hatched that morning with his crew chief Jeremy Burgess, and was flying through the fastest part of the Assen circuit, hammering home even the slightest advantage he could find. He eked out a tenth, then a couple of tenths over Stoner, and the first inkling of a gap started to open.

Stoner could do nothing but let Rossi go, neither the Australian nor 3rd place man Dani Pedrosa capable of matching Rossi’s pace. The only rider capable of that feat was behind the Ducati and the Honda, mounted on the other Fiat Yamaha. But though Jorge Lorenzo could match Rossi’s pace, he had a problem, or rather a pair of them, in the shape of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa.

On lap 4 Lorenzo was past Pedrosa, but he still had Stoner to contend with. Lorenzo’s pass had reignited Pedrosa’s determination, and Pedrosa hung on grimly to Lorenzo, pushing to follow his compatriate forward to Stoner and Rossi. It was too much to ask, though, and braking hard for the Haarbocht, Pedrosa folded the front as he turned in for the corner, sliding harmlessly off over the tarmac and out of the race.

By now, Rossi was starting to escape, a contingency Lorenzo could not allow. Less than a lap after passing Pedrosa, the Spaniard was past Stoner as well, sliding his Fiat Yamaha inside the Ducati into the right hand entry to the Ruskenhoek and clear for the long left that followed. With empty track to Rossi, he could get after his team mate, and with 22 laps to go, he had plenty of time to do it in.

The problem was that Rossi was on fire, and posting lap after lap on or below the existing lap record. Lorenzo was faster in the first half of the track, closing by a tenth or so round the tight first section and the run down to the Stekkenwal. But from that point on, through the long section of right handers, and especially through the terrifyingly fast left-right flick of Hoge Heide and the run into the Ramshoek, Rossi edged away again, stretching his lead by another couple of tenths.

Try as he might, Lorenzo couldn’t close on Rossi, but equally, Rossi couldn’t escape. The lead ebbed and flowed, growing to just over 2 seconds, then dropping back to just over a second and a half. After the gap had grown to 2 seconds on lap 12, Lorenzo pushed once again, and over the course of the next 4 laps seemed to be slowly reeling Rossi in, with time in hand to pass. But on lap 17, Rossi responded once more and Lorenzo faded, exhausted by the effort of forcing his Yamaha through Hoge Heide at full throttle as he’d seen his team mate do. Lorenzo would not catch his veteran team mate today, and was forced to let Rossi go.

Century

Rossi’s lead grew explosively, the Italian now nearly half a second a lap faster than his team mate, and the fastest man on track by a huge margin. Victory was assured, but The Doctor was not content to cruise to a win. He flogged his bike round Assen’s glorious asphalt, old and new, to underline the magnitude of his achievement. At a track which fills so many pages of the history books, Valentino Rossi crossed the line to add yet another chapter, taking his 100th victory and taking his place alongside Giacomo Agostini as only the second rider to do so.

Jorge Lorenzo had long since settled for 2nd, knowing that he had nothing for his team mate on Saturday. Lorenzo was content to leave the spotlights for Valentino Rossi, and give him his day in the sun. He had given his best, but there was nothing he could do to stop his team mate. Once again, though, Lorenzo had underlined his ability, the only man to get close to an unleashed Rossi, only flagging at the end.

Casey Stoner had flagged earlier, the mystery illness which had plagued him at Catalunya making an unwelcome return. Once back in the paddock, Stoner had trouble doing the obligatory TV interviews, finding it hard to speak without vomiting. That he had finished at all was a marvel, to have finished on the podium was an absolute miracle. The Australian struggled on to the podium, but afterwards was whisked straight to the Clinica Mobile, skipping the post-race podium press conference.

The Australian’s health is worrying. Physically extremely fit, yet suffering from some kind of mystery virus which robs his strength once called upon to put in a consistent effort, Stoner’s title challenge is under severe threat. There are just 8 days between the Assen and Laguna races, giving the Australian little time to recover and adding the perils of a germ-infested intercontintental flight to his list of problems. If the medical staff examining Stoner’s health problems don’t find a cause and a solution soon, it will be hard for Stoner to maintain his charge.

Colin Edwards came home in 4th, equaling his best result of the season. The Texan had another strong ride on the Tech 3 Yamaha, confirming the strength of Yamaha’s M1 MotoGP bike and the Texan’s continuing form. Edwards had a little help from Andrea Dovizioso, who had passed him earlier but crashed out in exactly the same place and exactly the same manner as his Repsol Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa, folding the front in turn 1. But a 4th place finish for Edwards is just the fillip the Texan needs going into his home race, and Edwards is surely ready for Laguna Seca.

Chris Vermeulen brought his Rizla Suzuki across the line to a comfortable 5th place finish. Vermeulen had dropped off the pace early, but as the race progressed he consolidated his position, his best finish of the year never in doubt for the remainder. This was just the kind of result that Vermeulen needed, as his name is at the top of a long list of riders expected to be shown the door at the end of the season, and top 5 placings are the only kind of result that can keep the Australian in MotoGP. With Laguna Seca coming up, a track that Vermeulen has podiumed at twice and never finished outside the top 5, the Australian looks set to buy himself some bargaining power.

The Meaningless War

The 97,000 fans who had gathered at Assen on Saturday came hoping for a race to match Catalunya, and they got all that and more. Unfortunately, they got it in the race for 6th rather than the lead, a race-long no-holds-barred slugging match unfolding with never fewer than 6 riders involved. James Toseland, Randy de Puniet, Nicky Hayden, Mika Kallio, Loris Capirossi, Toni Elias and Alex de Angelis neither asked for nor gave any quarter at all, seeking any opportunity to pass or be passed.

At Madijk and Ossebroeken, Strubben and Veenslang, Ruskenhoek and Stekkenwal places changed hands. At Meeuwenmeer and Hoge Heide, passes were planned, riders lining up the pass at the fast left of Ramshoek. But the climax came at the GT chicane, lap after lap, with six or more riders fanning out three or more abreast for the run through the chicane and onto start and finish.

Toseland and Hayden had made the early running, while Kallio came further forward as the race progressed. Elias and Capirossi were the wildcards, shooting forward and dropping back, their positions changing from corner to corner and lap to lap.

In the end it was James Toseland who came out on top, crossing the line in 6th after an outstanding race to make it 4 Yamahas in the top 6, underlining his ability when conditions are right. At Assen, Toseland received help from Masahiko Nakajima with the setup to his bike, making radical changes to handlebar, footpeg and suspension settings, and the assistance from Yamaha’s MotoGP team director immediately paid dividends. A day later, Toseland was in the World Superbike paddock talking about options for 2010, but his strong 6th place finish will have earned him some extra credit in negotiations both in World Superbikes and in MotoGP.

Randy de Puniet put in another solid performance to finish 7th, scoring yet more points and underlining his growing maturity. De Puniet was the first Honda across the line, and the LCR team is showing an ability to score regular and reliable results. Once considered a wild and uncontrollable crasher, de Puniet has now finished 12 races in a row, only crashing twice in practice this season. More is yet to come from the Frenchman.

Nicky Hayden crossed the line in 9th, but was promoted to 8th after Toni Elias was penalized for his last-gasp efforts into the GT chicane. Hayden had his best result of the year, and more importantly, had been able to run with the fight for 6th all race long. Though Ducati is still a long way from being out of the woods, a decent finish is just what Hayden needed in preparation for Laguna Seca.

Loris Capirossi was the victim of Toni Elias’ last-corner pass, running out wide and forcing the Italian off line and across the astroturf. Capirossi was furious, though content enough to have grabbed a decent finish with 9th. The Italian veteran had looked strong in the group, and seems to have a good chance of extending his Rizla Suzuki contract at the end of the year.

The only rider from the group scrapping for 6th not to cross the line was Mika Kallio, cruelly crashing out at the Ramshoek on the final lap, just two corners short of the line. Kallio had once again underlined his potential on the bike, leading the group until he slid off and injured his finger. The Pramac Ducati rider also gave Ducati hope, with both Kallio and Hayden well inside the top 10 for most of the race, showing that maybe the changes they have made to the Desmosedici GP9 are starting to pay off.

Applicants Form A Line Here

Alex de Angelis came home in 10th, having dropped off the back of the big group with a few laps to go, but after several races where the Gresini Honda man has been struggling just to score points, a top 10 finish is a bit of a relief. Gresini announced that they had signed Marco Simoncelli for next season, a team spokesman making it clear that they were unlikely to be retaining the services of either de Angelis or Elias next year, so both men are now auditioning for seats elsewhere.

Marco Melandri, like de Angelis, had been unable to follow the pace of the group and had dropped off the back early, eventually finishing 11th. Melandri is the hot favorite for the Gresini seat alongside Simoncelli, and his consistent results on a bike which is out of development and clearly struggling are showing Melandri’s class every race weekend.

The time penalty Toni Elias received dropped the Spaniard down to 12th, but like his Gresini Honda team mate de Angelis, Elias was happy to be competitive again.

Much further back, Sete Gibernau crossed the line to finish an anonymous 13th, par for the course for the Spaniard. One is left to wonder just what motivates the man who once challenged Rossi for the title to carry on, with no prospect of improvement imminent.

Gibernau had got the better of Niccolo Canepa and Yuki Takahashi in the first half of the race, leaving the Pramac Ducati rider and the Team Scot Honda man to scrap over 14th. Canepa had the upper hand for most of the race, but Takahashi overcame the Italian with 4 laps to go. His victory was a Pyrrhic one, though, as rumors suggest that Assen was his last race for Team Scot. Niccolo Canepa will live to ride another day, but only until the end of the season, and he is shipped off to World Superbikes.

The last man to cross the line was Gabor Talmacsi, due to be the sole rider in the Team Scot garage from Laguna onwards. In just his second race of the season, Talmacsi has continued to make good progress, his fastest lap now within just two tenths of his team mate’s, and closing on the far more experienced riders ahead. It can’t be long before Talmacsi is no longer last across the line and scoring points on his own merit.

Of Statistics, Numerology And Emotion

As forgettable as the racing may have been, the 79th running of the Dutch TT at Assen will go down in the history books forever. Valentino Rossi’s 100th victory was taken in style and in a setting already so steeped in history. As he crossed the line, the crowd knew they would be treated to a special celebration, the question which remained was just what would it be? Rossi stopped in front of his fan club, and together they unrolled a banner showing photos of each of his 99 previous victories, and the number 100 beside it. It was a worthy display celebrating an astonishing career, and underlining just how remarkable this achievement is.

Viewed through the cold eyes of statistics, Rossi’s 100th win was no more significant than his 92nd or 97th. He may have became only the second man in history to have scored 100 wins, but the week before, he had become only the second man in history to have scored 99 wins, and the same could be said of all his victories since Mugello last year, when he finally scored more wins that Angel Nieto.

Rossi’s score is only remarkable because the most significant digit merely rolled round again, turning a two digit number into a three digit number, from 99 to 100. The fuss exists because we count in base 10, not base 8, base 11 or base 16. History will not be written again until Rossi has chalked up another 22 victories, to match Giacomo Agostini’s total of 122 all-class wins.

The cold, rational head may know this, but the heart says something else. The sight of that banner, showing the progress of Rossi from a young boy racer to a MotoGP legend made tangible just what 100 victories actually means. The number 100 may have no significance on its own, but those 100 wins surely do. No records were broken at Assen, but history was made, of that there is no doubt.

The Low Low Lands Of Holland

Ask someone to describe the landscape of Holland, and they won’t usually need more than a single word. "Flat" is the adjective most commonly used in relation to The Netherlands, as anyone who has ever made the trek from Amsterdam up to Assen will acknowledge. Heading southeast out of Amsterdam, past the wooded wealth of Hilversum and ‘t Gooi, then turning northeast at Amersfoort to head through the heart of Holland’s bible belt - Putten, Nunspeet, Staphorst - then past Zwolle, and north to Assen, the countryside may vary - the open fields surrounded by canals east of Diemen, the closely-wooded villas of Hilversum, the thin, sandy soil of the pine woods which form the Veluwe national park - but the inclination rarely does.

The irony is that for most of the trip, you are actually traveling uphill. Along the course of the 180 kilometers from Amsterdam to Assen, you will have gained a full 9 meters of elevation. If you picked up a hire car at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, you can almost double that figure, climbing from 4 meters below sea level to nearly 12 at the TT circuit in Assen. As paltry as that difference may seem, it betrays a fundamental difference between Holland’s coastal region and its more ancient northern towns, and the heart of Dutch motorcycle racing.

The area surrounding Amsterdam truly is flat: reclaimed from the sea and inland lakes just a few hundred years ago, the land and will barely trouble a spirit level. But as you head north and east, you leave the reclaimed land behind and venture into The Netherlands’ glacial past. To the naked eye the land seems as flat as ever, if a little less neatly ordered, but the soil was dumped here by retreating glaciers many thousands of years ago, and then covered by peat bogs and dissected by a maze of creeks, brooks and channels, trickling water away towards the newly returned North Sea.

The World Is Flat

This long and ancient history has added a richness of texture to the land which is absent further west, a texture which lies at the heart of Assen’s TT Circuit. At first glance it too is flat, but as you ride around it, you start to understand, even feel its history. Though the peat bogs and creeks have been drained, they have left their mark indelibly on the landscape. The track rises and falls subtly, sudden dips combining with the harsh camber of certain stretches of the track to generate a synergy aimed at unsettling even the most perfectly setup of bikes and ruining any chance of a smooth line through Assen’s many tire-blistering corners.

Those rises and dips are almost entirely absent from the new North Loop, barely just scar tissue over the memory of its former glory, but once out of the horrifically tight Strubben hairpin, you plunge back through time onto the older part of the track, and ancient geology starts nudging and jolting the bike as once it used to. Down the Veenslang (or Peat Snake, though now one pulled taut, its former sinewy course straightened) and into the Ruskenhoek, the track is still smooth, though the camber starts to return. But once through the Stekkenwal and the fast left at De Bult, the old track regains its full vitality and history is made flesh, or rather asphalt again.

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Triumph Of The Will

A motorcycle racer must possess many qualities, both physical and mental, to be successful. They must have instantaneous reflexes; a gyroscope-like sense of balance; and a tough, wiry physique combining strength with low body weight. They must have the endurance of a triathlete combined with the fast-twitch muscle speed of an Olympic sprinter.

Racers also need the intelligence to cope with the huge amounts of data thrown at them, by the track, the bikes, the engineers. They need to be able to memorize a circuit down to the location of every bump in every corner, each of which could unsettle the bike and cause a crash. They need the courage to take to the track despite injury and push to the very limit, facing the knowledge that more pain lies lurking at every corner if ambition should tempt them to violate the laws of physics. And above all, they need the dogged determination and single-mindedness to put in the hours and hours of work needed to achieve all of this, day in and day out, rain or shine, come holidays or high water.

But the prime character trait that all motorcycle racers must have, the one thing they all share, is the will to win. The overwhelming desire to beat your rivals, to prove your superiority, is what drives racers to put in the years of hard work needed to acquire those other vital qualities. The will to win - for some a burning lust for victory, for others a mortal fear of defeat - is fundamental, and is the single most important quality which distinguishes champions from also-rans.

Desire As

That desire for victory was being flaunted like an aging tycoon’s trophy wife on the grid at Barcelona. Dani Pedrosa was attempting to ride in front of his home crowd despite the searing pain from the fractured femur he suffered at Mugello, only risky painkilling injections making his participation possible. Jorge Lorenzo made his intentions clear by turning up with his bike, helmet and leathers covered in FC Barcelona regalia. The Spanish soccer club had just pulled off the "triple", winning the European Champions League and Spanish League titles, as well as the Spanish Copa del Rey cup, and Lorenzo’s regalia were an explicit reference to his intention to take a "triple" of his own - victory at his home Grand Prix would make it a trio of wins this season.

Then there was Valentino Rossi. The Italian has been incredibly successful at the Montmelo circuit, finishing on the podium in every race here since 1997. But a podium would not be enough: Rossi came to Barcelona trailing both Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner in the points, but more importantly, having only one win to his rivals’ two apiece. The Doctor knows what victory tastes like at Barcelona, having won here 8 times previously, including 5 in the premier class, and another win here was surely possible.

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The Day After

The Catalunya Grand Prix, to be held at Barcelona’s Montmelo circuit, is one of the most anticipated events on the MotoGP calendar. The circuit, just a few kilometers outside Barcelona, Spain’s second largest city, lies in the heart of Catalunya, the most industrious of Spain’s autonomous regions and the heart of Spanish motorcycling. Three of the four Spanish riders currently in the MotoGP class are from within a thirty minute drive from the Montmelo circuit, Dani Pedrosa almost able to see the track from the window of his apartment.

And it’s not just the riders. Dorna - or at least, the part of Dorna that concerns itself with MotoGP - has its offices in Barcelona. Spain’s motorcycle industry, such as it is, is still based around Barcelona, as were the historic brands such as Ossa and Bultaco which were once produced not far from the city. The city is home to several of the country’s major motorcycle magazines, and the surrounding region is studded with the homes of racers old and new.

So for a huge section of Spain’s multitude of race fans, the Catalunya Grand Prix is their nearest race. Last year over 110,000 turned out on race day, and this year is likely to be the same, recession or no recession. All of Spain has been hit incredibly hard by the economic crisis, though the problem has been the bursting of the housing bubble rather than problems in the financial sector. But while the Catalonians have a reputation for being more serious and more dour than the rest of Spain, the fans at Barcelona still know how to throw a party. The atmosphere may not reach the levels of abandon that you see at Jerez, where the Andalusian fans party as if there’s no tomorrow; at the Montmelo circuit, the fans are prepared to accept the possible existence of tomorrow, though more in theory than in practice.

Long Weekend

The fans may be looking forward to the MotoGP round at Barcelona, and a chance to forget about their problems, however briefly, but even their anticipation cannot match that of the riders and teams. The irony is, though, that while the teams are looking forward to race day on Sunday, the riders cannot wait until the Monday after the race. Not to relax after having survived the second of the three Spanish Grand Prix, but rather so that they can get to work testing.

For the Monday after the race sees the first day of MotoGP’s very limited testing program, most testing having been scrapped in an attempt to save money. Together with the reduction in practice from four sessions to just three, all of the teams have been crying out for a chance to spend some time seriously evaluating new parts for the factory teams, or just running through setup options trying to find the best setup for the satellite teams.

Of all the riders desperate for test time, none has longed for a chance to do some uninterrupted testing more than Nicky Hayden. The 2006 World Champion has been suffering with the Ducati curse, an affliction which struck down Marco Melandri last year. For the Ducati Desmosedici continues to be impossible to ride fast for everyone but Hayden’s Marlboro Ducati team mate Casey Stoner, it seems. Just like last year, the bikes regularly split the field, Casey Stoner leading at the front, while Hayden, Sete Gibernau and the Pramac Ducatis bring up the rear.

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Mugello Mojo

By their very nature, human beings are superstitious beings, seeking succor and aid from wherever they believe they can find it. Some seek it in the support of a Supreme Being, who they entrust with clearing obstacles from their path and lending them strength beyond their natural ability. Others seek it in the most mundane objects, believing that a green vest, a pair of socks, or a necklace with pendant will bring them the luck and the success that they seek. Yet others follow a fixed set of actions, putting the left shoe on before the right, touching a mirror or a picture, only speaking to a set person on entering a room, religiously observing the rituals which have always brought them luck so far.

Valentino Rossi is one of the latter, following rituals and patterns in a fixed sequence in the hope of recreating the success which has followed them in the past. So Rossi meticulously applies all his own decals to his bike before a race; stretches to touch his toes before approaching his bike; crouches down to clutch the right foot peg before mounting the bike; and stands up as he rides out of the pits to adjust his leathers caught on film in all too intimate detail a million times by the curiously positioned camera on the back of Rossi’s bike. He will always wear something yellow, the color finding its way onto his leathers, his gloves, his helmet and his bike.

At Mugello, Rossi’s superstition is heightened, not the least by his incredible success at the circuit. On the 13 previous occasions Rossi raced here in the world championship classes, he came away with victory 9 times, 7 of those wins coming from his last 7 visits. The last time Rossi failed to win at Mugello was in 2001, riding a Nastro Azzurro Honda NSR 500 with a special celebratory paint scheme. Rossi crashed out on the penultimate lap and swore never to race at Mugello again with a special livery. Since making that vow, he has not lost at the Tuscan track.

Rossi’s proscription on special paint jobs does not extend to his helmet, however. The Italian has always come to Mugello with something special from friend and legendary designer Aldo Drudi on his head, perhaps the best and most famous of which was the helmet he wore at the last race here in 2008. This featured a picture of Rossi’s face, eyes and mouth open wide in terror. It was, he explained, the expression he wore under his helmet every time he came to Mugello, heading into the San Donato turn at the end of the 340 km/h straight.

This weekend, Rossi turned up with a special helmet once again. For the 2009 race, Drudi had painted Rossi’s gloved hands holding the top of his head. The Italian said it represented the stress of trying to deal with the Tuscan circuit: stress from both the demanding layout, featuring lots of fast combinations with blind entry; and the demanding crowds, tens of thousands of whom flock to the track expecting to see another Rossi victory. The attendant press added to the pressure, bombarding the Italian with questions about the difficulty of maintaining his winning streak in front of his home crowd, and whether he was disappointed on missing out on the opportunity to take his 100th victory at Mugello, after failing to score his 99th win at Le Mans two weeks previously.

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The Heart Of Italy

It’s hard to overstate just how important motorcycling is both to Italian culture and the Italian economy. Originally adopted as cheap transport, Italians almost literally grow up on two wheels, transported about as children on Vespas before graduating to small-capacity Aprilias, Piaggios, Vespas, Derbis, Gileras and even Yamahas, Suzukis and Hondas when they hit their mid-teens. Eventually, as Italians grow older, they end up with either a Piaggio or a Suzuki Burgman to commute on, or a Ducati Monster, or perhaps a Triumph Speed Triple to cruise the country’s city streets and beautiful beachfronts.

This passion has produced hundreds of businesses scattered around the north of the country. The old centers of boot and saddlemaking turned their skills with leather to gloves, boots and protective clothing, while the dozens of motorcycle manufacturers - now reduced to just a handful - spawned a vibrant industry building parts and accessories for every conceivable shape or form of two-wheeled vehicle. The chances are that if you own or ride a motorcycle, you have something Italian either attached to or associated with it, be it Brembo brakes, Marchesini wheels, Alpinestars leathers, Sidi boots, Nolan helmets, Arrow or Termignoni exhausts, or Pirelli tires. Or perhaps you just own a Moto Guzzi, an Aprilia, a Moto Morini or a Ducati. Motorcycling without Italy is simply inconceivable.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello is an event that captivates both the hearts and the minds of the Italian people. Mugello and the Italian Grand Prix are at the heart of Italy, both physically and metaphorically. The breathtaking track, surrounded by the beautiful, bucolic Tuscan hills, lies in a fold of Italy’s Apennine mountains, just north of Florence. Glorious winding roads thread through the surrounding mountains, and at each mountain pass or major crossroads, there’s a cafe where you can stop for a coffee and a bite to eat. In every one of these establishments hangs a shrine to motorcycling: helmets, leathers, signed photos of Italian motorcycling legends - Valentino Rossi, Giacomo Agostini, Marco Lucchinelli, Luca Cadalora - cards, folders, maps, gloves; All the regalia of motorcycling hang here. And as you sit nursing your espresso, your reverie is interrupted every couple of minutes by the rumble, roar or shriek of bikes as they chase that perfect zen moment of motorcycling, dancing to the rhythm of the Passo Sambuca, or the Passo di Raticosa, or the legendary Passo di Futa.

On The Road

It is no coincidence that this latter pass leads from Borgo Panigale, a nondescript outer suburb of Bologna, through the outskirts of the city, then south towards Florence, up and over some of the most magnificent motorcycling roads on the planet, before arriving some 80 kilometers later in the village of Scarperia, past that town’s beautiful bell tower, and then down winding, tiny local roads until a giant red crash helmet marks the entrance to the Mugello circuit. In Borgo Panigale, Ducati builds the motorcycles it sells to support its racing habit, then tests those bikes on that illustrious pass, on the grounds that if a motorcycle performs well on the Passo di Futa, it will perform well on any road on the planet.

The one motorcycle which Ducati has not tested over the Passo di Futa - or at least, not that they will admit to - is the Desmosedici GP9. Instead, the weapon that won the 2007 championship for Casey Stoner and the Bologna factory is tested mainly just over the other side of the Passo di Futa, at the Mugello circuit. But the Mugello track has all the elements you will find on the Futa pass and more: The 320 km/h front straight kinks, then dips right at the point you need to get hard on the brakes to slow the bike up for the double apex right hander at San Donato. The track then climbs up through a series of left-right flicks before heading over the blind crest into Casanova, and down towards the double right of Arrabbiata 1 and 2.

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Take A Chance

Motorcycle racing fans are deeply divided on the question of racing in the rain. One faction believes that rain makes motorcycle racing more exciting, because the smallest error is punished so mercilessly; Their opponents counter that this is exactly the problem: because the rain makes the track so difficult, riders making a mistake crash straight out of the race, with no chance to recover from their mistakes. Both sides agree on one thing, though: the rain turns racing into a lottery, and chance plays a much greater role than in the dry.

That point was illustrated most forcefully in the two races that preceded the MotoGP race at Le Mans on Sunday. In the 250cc race, only 14 of the 24 riders who started made it to the finish, and some surprising names were in the points: Toby Markham, who usually struggles just to qualify, came away with 2 precious points, while Russian rookie Vladimir Leonov scored his first top 10 finish. The 125cc race had been even more of a blood bath: of the 33 riders who sat on the starting grid, just15 had made it to the line, the last of whom was Randy Krummenacher of the De Graaf team 2 laps behind the winner.

As if to demonstrate that there are worse things than racing in the rain, the skies cleared as the 250cc race ended, and the MotoGP riders headed to the grid on wet tires in the knowledge that the track would be drying as the race progressed. If rain races are a lottery, flag-to-flag races - run in changeable conditions where riders are allowed to enter the pits and swap bikes - are more like Russian Roulette, the charge into the pits to leap onto a bike with different tires a lot like spinning the barrel, pulling the trigger and hoping for the best.

Snake Eyes

With the sun already out as the bikes got ready to head out of the pits, some teams even considered taking the ultimate gamble and going out on slicks. But the sighting lap dismissed any such notions; the track was still soaking and far too dangerous for tires without water-dispersal grooves. There was no other option than to start the race on wet tires, and wait until the track was dry enough to come in for slicks.

Sitting on the starting line waiting for the lights to extinguish is a nerve-wracking enough experience at the best of times, but lining up in damp and changeable conditions knowing you will have to choose the right moment to come in to swap bikes makes the tension almost unbearable. Jorge Lorenzo was the first to show the ill effects of nerves on the line, as the Spaniard threaded his way through the bikes on the grid, only to line up in the wrong position, taking the 2nd spot used by the four-in-a-row 250 and 125 bikes, rather than the three abreast MotoGP machines. The grid official, seeing Lorenzo in the wrong place, soon put the Spaniard right, and the rest of the field was forced to wait a few more agonizing seconds as Lorenzo tiptoed his bike round onto the right starting position.

At last the lights lit up, then dimmed, releasing the riders and their nervousness into the Zen state that is racing, no thoughts or concentration for anything other than the now, any time not spent on the bike, the track and the riders ahead merely a distraction which could cost places at best, a crash at worst. Dani Pedrosa was the best away as ever, his fellow rocket starter Casey Stoner catching him as they heeled over through the fast Dunlop Curve, and lined up for the Chicane, the first major obstacle.

Jorge Lorenzo had gotten off the line a little slowly, briefly fazed by lining up in the wrong place, but only gave up one place to Stoner, slotting in ahead of his Fiat Yamaha team mate Valentino Rossi. Lorenzo soon made up for his slowness off the line. The Spaniard had to allow the smallest of gaps through the Dunlop Chicane, but by the time the leading pair turned in to La Chappelle, Lorenzo was upon them.

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Sprint Finish

This weekend, MotoGP moves from the site of one great motorcycle racing party to the location of another. But while MotoGP is at the center of the party at Jerez, in Le Mans, the party was over four weeks ago and lasted the entire duration of the race. The contrast illustrates the difference between France and its more southerly neighbor: both countries are mad about motorsport and motorcycle racing, but the Spanish love sprint racing, while for the French, if the race lasts less than 8 hours it’s barely worthy of the name.

France is truly the home of endurance racing. Two of the two-wheeled discipline’s greatest events take place here, the Bol d’Or, a 24 hour race currently held at Magny-Cours, and the Le Mans 24 hour race, as well as the biggest car endurance race in the world, the 24 Heures du Mans. The cars use the glorious 13.6 kilometer long Circuit de la Sarthe - including the once terrifying Mulsanne Straight, to which two chicanes have been added to slow the cars down - but that vast track is considered unsuitable for motorcycles, the bikes unlikely to last being thrashed down the Mulsanne Straight at full throttle too many times.

So the bikes run the shortened 4.2 kilometer Bugatti Circuit, a much more restrained, some might even say boring, affair. The track layout vaguely resembles a giant clothes peg, with the two prongs of the Chappelle and Garage Vert corners separated by the Musee hairpin, and a simpler section leading through Garage Bleu to the final turn at Raccordement, before hitting the front straight again.

Stop And Go

Like Motegi, which it also resembles, the track is mostly about stability under braking and hard acceleration out of corners. The front straight leads into the Dunlop Curve, and then the Dunlop Chicane, the Curve being the brave part, while the Chicane is the corner where the first lap pile ups tend to occur. It’s then a matter of hard-on-the-gas, hard-on-the-brakes through La Chappelle, Musee, Garage Vert and the straights that connect them, before the long back straight down to Chemin aux Boeufs, a faster chicane which caught Nicky Hayden out so badly in 2007.

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La Fiesta Del Chivo

The Jerez round of MotoGP is a very Spanish affair. Though fans may flock from all over Europe to attend the opening of the MotoGP season - flyaway rounds notwithstanding, Jerez is where the season starts as far as European fans are concerned - the race retains a deeply Spanish character. At night, the fans flock together in that peculiarly Spanish way, as if averse to more than a few seconds’ solitude; the weekend is filled with noise and light, and the deafening roar of Spanish fireworks, designed more around decibel production rather than visual spectacle; and around the grounds, the fans are as likely to drink wine as drink beer, a prospect which fans from more northerly climes would regard as unthinkable, entirely outside their very masculine world view.

And despite the debauchery, the occasion also manages that very Spanish trick of retaining its friendly and unthreatening atmosphere. Where elsewhere around Europe, the quantities of alcohol involved and the level of noise generated would quickly see the mood turn ugly, the crowds at Jerez somehow manage to maintain the festival atmosphere, the event always seeming like one big, long party.

As hosts of the party, it would be impolite to deny the Spanish fans a gift, and there is nothing they desire more than a win by a Spanish rider. Actually, that’s incorrect, there is one thing they desire more, and that’s a clean sweep of Spanish riders winning every race of the day. Fortunately for the race-mad home crowds, the host nation has both the talent and the funds to ensure that they start the day with a strong chance of one victory at the very least.

Stacking The Odds

The 2009 race weekend was no different. Over a hundred and twenty thousand fans streamed into the circuit on Sunday morning secure in the knowledge that they started the day on the right footing. Local riders sat on pole position for all three classes, and should the polesitters fail, they had a pack of compatriots beside them on the grid poised to take their place. Everything was in place for a proper Spanish fiesta.

But races came and races went, and no fatted calf did the Spanish fans see. In the first race of the day, the 125cc class, British rider Bradley Smith took victory, local boy Julian Simon crashing out while chasing Smith down. At least Smith won on the Bancaja Aspar bike, fielded by Spain’s most prominent racing team, and home to many Spanish champions past, present and future.

Then in the 250cc race, darling of the fans Alvaro Bautista, another Aspar star, dived up the inside of Hiroshi Aoyama to lead into the final corner. Unfortunately, the inside line into the final Ducados corner all too often means running wide on the way out, and Bautista found the Japanese Honda man ahead of him on the exit, and crossing the line to snatch another victory from under the noses of the Spanish fans. Aoyama may be a long-time resident of Barcelona and enjoy some popularity in Spain, but once again, this was not what the fans had been hoping for.

It would all come down to the MotoGP race. If anything, the odds looked even better for the home fans in the premier class, with rising superstar Jorge Lorenzo on pole, just five hundredths of a second ahead of his compatriot and bitter rival Dani Pedrosa. More importantly, both Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi were struggling more than usual at the Andalusian race track. Stoner had failed to find the form which had allowed him to dominate the IRTA test here in March; and Valentino Rossi seemed to have lost his way during qualifying after his display of supremacy on the first day of practice.

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