What We Know So Far: MotoGP

 

Lorenzo Land!:

  It’s Jorge Lorenzo’s world, the rest of the riders are just living in it.  Lorenzo has been truly dominate, winning 6 out of 9 races!  He has been having a career season, benefited by Rossi’s injury and Ducati’s problems.  Still, he’s been nearly flawless, finishing first or second in every race!  He’s effectively won the title half way through the season, with the only possible way to lose being injury, or a massive issue with the engine rule.

I Claim This Series in the Name of Spain:

  Dani Pedrossa has been inconsistently good this year as well.  He has 2 wins and 5 podiums, but also has 3 finishes outside of the top 5, including a DNF at Laguna Seca.  Because of this, he’s about 70 points behind Lorenzo in second.  In both of his wins, Pedrossa was able to beat Lorenzo by a good margin.  He’d be able to contend for the title if only he didn’t have the consistency issues that have always plagued him.  Between him and Lorenzo, the Spanish have won every race but one, the opening round run by Valentino Rossi.  And, Spain itself will host 4 rounds of MotoGP, with Portugal hosting another.  Not only that, but every 125cc race has been won by a Spaniard, and Toni Elias has 3 wins and the points lead in Moto2.  Spain is conquering the MotoGP, when will the Austrians, Americans, and Italian’s strike back? 

Rossi is Inhuman:

  At Mugello, Valentino Rossi was injured when he highslided during practice.  He broke his leg, and was already recovering from a shoulder injury during a Motocross training accident.  He wasn’t expected back earlier than Bruno, at the earliest.  Some thought it might take him until Indy, or even latter.  Rumors said he’d just sit the season out.  So when did he return?  Sachenring, a month earlier than the earliest expected return date.  And when he returned, he finished 4^th, battling hard with Casey Stoner for the podium.  And at the next round, Laguna Seca, he finished 3^rd.  Despite his injuries, Rossi has finished every race but one within the podium, and the only race outside the podium was Sachenring, where he finished 4^th.  Rossi is showing why he’s considered one of the greatest ever to race MotoGP.  He’s very likely to be able to win again before the year is up, and with the two week break between Laguna and Bruno, he should be even better than he was at the last race. 

 

Hayden’s Back:

  The 2006 World Champion is possibly the most underrated riders in MotoGP.  After three challenging years after winning his title, Nicky has found his consistent form again! He has 5 top 5 finishes, 4 of which are top 4 finishes.  He’s been really close to getting a podium, but has just lost out…  There was concern about his future in a factory ride, but his good runs plus Stoner leaving is going to allow him to continue with Factory Ducati, with Hayden fans hoping the move in 2012 to 1000cc again will benefit him. And, his strong runs likely have helped convince Valentino Rossi that the Ducati’s aren’t just bike that Casey Stoner can run, which brings us to…

Silly Season Shakes Things Up:

Silly season has been pretty down in most racing series, but not MotoGP.  We know for sure that Casey Stoner will move to Honda.  It’s expected that Honda will expand to a 3 bike team, because Andrea Dovizioso is high enough in points to have his contract extended, same for Pedrossa.  The biggest story though, is Valentino Rossi.  He is expected to announce shortly that he will be joining Ducati for the next season, replacing Casey Stoner and re-uniting with former teammate Nicky Hayden.  Rossi will be joining Ducati for an increase in pay, as well as not having to deal with Jorge Lorenzo, who he’s not enjoyed being teamed with, and a bit more of the “number one” status.  Also, the mixture of Ducati, the famous Italian brand, and Valentino Rossi, who’s also Italian, is a marketing dream, and is believed to be considered a major positive for the series as a whole.  For the American fans, this will mean the moving of Ben Spies up to Factory Yamaha, which means, we may have another American World Champion within a few years!  Lorenzo, as is often the case when you win 6/9 races, will stay with factory Yamaha. 

Engine Rule= Insanity:

  MotoGP has an engine life rule, restricting each rider to a maximum of 6 engines for the year.   The idea was the infamous “cost savings”.  If you’ve ever wondered why I’m not too positive about “cost savings” in other series (NASCAR, Indycar,) this rule is a great example.  Firstly, the rules designed to save money, however, it has caused teams to try and maximize the power/reliability ratio, which isn’t cheap.  Tech 3 demonstrates another issue, which is that the satellite teams, which cannot afford to do the more expensive research, now are more down on power than before!  If that weren’t enough, Suzuki is about to run out of engines, and is believed to be given extra engines, because otherwise Suzuki is likely to pull out. 

Bike Count….:

   Bike count, for all the great things about MotoGP, this is not one of them.  With only 17 bikes, the car count is hovering around Champ Car levels.  Of course, unlike Champcar, there’s actual money in many of the teams on the grid.  Still, with the injuries, and teams being allowed to skip a few races before being forced to field a bike, bike count has been a precarious thing for the MotoGP.   The controversial “Claims Rules engine teams” may help alleviate this issue, but with non factory teams having not won a race in the 800cc era, this really isn’t that surprising.  I really don’t know the solution, but something needs to be done, because while no one wants to see Lotus, HRT, and Virgin, Champ Car esque car counts aren’t good either.

Injuries: 

  This year has caused multiple injuries, with Rossi, De Puniet, and Aoyama all having been injured.  Which has caused issues with bike count.  Being fairly new to MotoGP, I’m really not sure what the cause for these injuries are, it could be just bad luck, or maybe riders pushing harder, I do not know. 

A Development Series done right!

Moto2 is Successful:

  Moto2 was a controversial and highly debated change to the development ladder.  However, by all accounts, it’s been very successful.  I’ll come clean, I haven’t seen much of it, but it has been competitive and has a VERY high bike count, unlike the MotoGP.  Moto2 would be an example of a develompent series done right, if you want the oppisite argument, there’s no need to go further than NASCAR’s Nationwide or Trucks series.  The racing is supposed to be very good and there is no Lorenzo completly dominating. 

USGPx2:

  While F1 may or may not be returning to the US for 2012 (seriously, what is it with racing and 2012?!?!?), MotoGP already has 2 USGP’s, the USGP@Laguna Seca and theIndyGP@Indy.  This is a great thing for American race fans, and they are both run at unique locations; with Laguna Seca being run on a county park, and the Indy GP being run on the roval at Indy.  There have been some rumors of the IndyGP not returning, hopefully if this were to happen, MotoGP would move to another track, like VIR, Mid Ohio, or Road America.  Or, it just stays where it is.  Since I believe it’s making money for IMS, which is losing money rapidly with Indycar, it’s likely to stay, at least I hope so…

When the Most Successful and Most Popular are one and the same

Rossi’s Importance:

  When Rossi was out with his injuries, both ratings and attendance dropped.  It showed how reliant the series is on Rossi as its main star, one who appeals to people of all nationalities, for their popularity.  What is going to happen when Rossi retires or worse, leaves for WSBK?  This question probably won’t come up for a while, as he wants to become number 1 in all time wins, so he’s likely to stick around for a few more years.  However, what’s going to happen if he switches to WSBK???  MotoGP’s going to need Hayden, Pedrossa, Spies, Lorenzo and Stoner to be able to become bigger stars to continue the series momentum.

Unlike Lagano, the REAL Sliced Bread

Ben Spies, The Real Deal: 

  Spies came into the season with a lot of hype, and he’s handled himself well.  With a slight slump after the first round, he’s been a top 5 rider, which is pretty good considering he’s on a Tech 3 bike and fairly new to the tracks and a rookie.  He and DePuniet have been battling for the “Best of the Rest” and with De Puniet injured, Spies will likely win both “Best of the Rest” and Rookie of the year.  So far, the highlight was Silverstone, where Spies came in third, wining his first podium.  He was in contention for a podium at Laguna, but a slight issue caused him to slide and fall down to 6th. 

Alien Invasion:

  The “aliens” of Stoner, Rossi, Lorenzo, and Pedrossa have continued to dominate, although Stoner has struggled badly, he seems to be returning to form, with 4 podiums in a row.  Lorenzo has taken his game to the next level, admittedly helped by Rossi’s injury, although either way, he’s been flawless, as I noted earlier, every finish has been first or second so far this year.  The question moving forward is can Hayden, Dovizioso, or Spies move into their ranks over the next few years?  And can a non alien win a race?  If one’s going to do it, it’ll be between Dovizioso, Hayden, or Spies. 

Conclusion:

  This is my first season of watching MotoGP, and I’ve really enjoyed it.  The level of competition is extremely high, and there is actual on track passing, something I’m not used to seeing in Indycar(on road/street courses)/F1!  Although Lorenzo is dominate, there’s still been very good racing on track, with unexpectedly strong performances from Dovizioso, Spies, and Hayden.  The only thing that could make it better is to see Spies or Hayden winning, which hopefully will happen next year, or at least a more competitive championship battle.  Unlike the other series I follow, I’m VERY optimistic about where MotoGP is going to go in the future, as long as the “Claims Rule Engine” team thing doesn’t cause a massive issue.  I’m having a great time watching and covering MotoGP and WSBK, and I’ll do a recap about WSBK after Silverstone this weekend.  For better MotoGP coverage, go to MotoMatters, Road Racer X, and Asphalt Rubber.