MotoGP 2011 review - A season to forget for many

THE 2011 MotoGP season came to a conclusion in Valencia during last weekend and for many, it will be a season to forget.  Casey Stoner’s sensational domination will be remembered, as will the surprising struggles of Valentino Rossi at Ducati, but it was tragedy that will sadly be the overriding memory of the season.

LOST: The life of Marco Simoncelli will not be forgotten

       Marco Simoncelli’s death at the penultimate race in Malaysia brought worldwide shock to the paddock and the whole of motorsport.  His accident was a freakish one and it is a sight that no-one will want to see again for a long time.  The Italian was a flamboyant rider, a charismatic man who was full of flair and nothing was the ordinary for him.  He was coming into his prime within the sport, putting together a string of consistent finishes.  Let’s be honest, he didn’t do quiet.  His first podium in Brno was one of the highlights of the season and his ride to second place in Phillip Island a week before the fateful events in Malaysia underlined his quality.  The early season madness of Jerez, Estoril and Silverstone was nothing more than a distant memory.  The sport has been denied one of its greatest talents, but Marco’s legacy will remain for a long time.  Ciao Marco!

     However, sport moves on and a broken Gresini team have gone onto name Alvaro Bautista as Simoncelli’s replacement for next season.  Bautista has ended a two year stint at Suzuki, which was plagued by far too many injuries and accidents.  When he stayed on the bike, he showed his potential as a young talent coming through, underlined by a fifth place finish at Silverstone, but he made too many rash mistakes this campaign.  Bautista wasn’t the only rider to end up disappointing this campaign.  The Premac Ducati team had a nightmare season, with Randy de Puniet often finishing in the gravel and Loris Capirossi sadly soldering on through his final season in motorcycling.  At times, Hector Barbera outperformed the works Ducati’s with some excellent qualifying performances, but at other occasions, he disappeared into thin air.  Ultimately, his campaign will have to go down as a major disappointment.

     To be honest, Ducati had a miserable season altogether.  The team only managed two podiums all season.  Nicky Hayden came a fortunate third in the rain-affected Jerez event, whilst Valentino Rossi benefited from a controversial clash between Dani Pedrosa and Simoncelli in Le Mans to also net a third place result.  Their season ended miserably; both riders in the gravel in turn one in Valencia and Hayden missing the final season test through a fractured wrist.  Hayden’s season was a struggle, but he outqualified Rossi more often than not and got the bulk of Ducati’s strongest results, as third in Jerez and fourth at Silverstone would underline.  I was very surprised by Rossi’s struggles this season.  The Ducati is a very hard machine to set up and riders such as Marco Melandri and Hayden have struggled in the past, but Rossi really couldn’t seem to adapt as much as I thought he would.  Taking Stoner down in Jerez was one of the most dramatic moments of the season, but showed the issues he had with the frontend of the bike.  Plus, similar incidents later in the season would point that fact out.  Seventh place in the final standings is his worst performance since 2000 and The Doctor has a lot of soul searching to do over the course of the winter.

     Rossi’s replacement at Yamaha was the American, Ben Spies.  Spies produced a dominant performance in Assen to register his first MotoGP victory.  He also was a fine third at his home event in Indianapolis and nearly recorded another triumph in the final event at the weekend, but for poor traction off the final corner.  However, he will be glad for the break, having been battered and bruised throughout.  Spies crashed out in Portugal, Silverstone and Jerez and practice accidents ruled him out of the Australian and Malaysian events.  On his day, he proved his worth as a top rider, but was missing the consistency that Yamaha required.  Defending champion Jorge Lorenzo put up a brave fight throughout the season, on a bike that was nowhere near the fastest.  He won three times in 2011 and although he inherited the Jerez win, when Stoner and Simoncelli crashed, he put in some memorable performances to win against the odds, most notably in Mugello, on a Honda powered circuit.  However, his crash in the rain of Silverstone saw him lose the early advantage he built up in the championship and he would never regain it.  A nasty crash in warm-up for the Australian event saw Lorenzo’s finger needing surgery to prevent amputation and ended his charge three races early.  His class in 2011 did show through, and he will be keeping his remaining fingers crossed that Yamaha produce a better package for him next season.  On the customer Tech-3 bikes, Colin Edwards claimed a memorable podium at Silverstone, only eight days after breaking his collarbone in a practice accident for the Catalunya round.  Sadly, he was involved in the accident that claimed Simoncelli’s life and only time will tell next season to see how the Texan Tornado has been affected.  Rookie Cal Crutchlow was another rider to have his fair share of spills, but raced brilliantly at the final event in Valencia to secure fourth place, his best finish of a solid year, even if his promise was at times, unfulfilled.

     This leaves us with the Repsol Honda riders.  Dani Pedrosa suffered another injury-hit season and mysteriously disappeared from the action when he tangled with Simoncelli at Le Mans.  He broke his collarbone, but seemed to take longer than what was needed to return to racing.  Then, it was the same old story from Pedrosa, producing some stunning performances which brought victories in Portugal and Germany, along with times where he didn’t look interested such as Australia.  Although he didn’t win a round, Andrea Dovizioso produced a very consistent season, with many podiums and very few accidents.  He might have been the slowest of the works Honda riders, but fully deserved third place in the championship.  He has been dropped for 2012, but Honda’s loss will be Tech-3 Yamaha’s gain and Crutchlow will know that he must raise his game against the talented Dovizioso next season.

     However, the final word belongs to the dominant champion.  Casey Stoner left Ducati behind, as he was convinced that they didn’t have the necessary equipment to fulfil his needs.  The way Rossi has struggled to handle the bike suggests that the Australian must have been doing minor miracles in recent seasons.  On a Honda, he looked totally at ease and incredibly formidable.  From the moment he cruised to victory in the Qatar season opener, there was never any doubt he was going to end up as the no.1 at the end of the season.  When he could win, he would win and when the points were needed, he took the points such as second in Assen and third places in both Mugello and Portugal.  He is a deserved champion and a brilliant rider and the rest have a lot to do if they are to match him in 2012.

FINAL POINTS

Casey Stoner - The 2011 MotoGP world champion

Casey Stoner 350, Jorge Lorenzo 260, Andrea Dovizioso 228, Dani Pedrosa 219, Ben Spies 176, Marco Simoncelli 139, Valentino Rossi 139, Nicky Hayden 132, Colin Edwards 109, Hiroshi Aoyama 98, Hector Barbera 82, Cal Crutchlow 70, Alvaro Bautista 67, Karel Abraham 64, Toni Elias 61, Randy de Puniet 49, Loris Capirossi 43, Katsuzuki Nakasunga 10, Josh Hayes 9, Kousake Akiyoshi 7, John Hopkins 6, Shinchi Ito 3

Spain MotoGP 2011 - Lorenzo survives in the Spanish rain

WORLD MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo survived an attrition-packed Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez to claim the points lead.  Lorenzo beat countryman Dani Pedrosa, on a Honda by nearly 20 seconds with Ducati’s Nicky Hayden finishing third.  However, it was clash between Pedrosa and Hayden’s team-mates that made all the headlines after the event.

     At a grey and damp Jerez, Casey Stoner got off the line perfectly from pole position to lead Lorenzo and Marco Simoncelli in the early exchanges.  Team-mate Pedrosa had an awful lap.  He slipped from second to tenth, as he struggled with a bugging arm injury.  After starting a dismal 12^th, Valentino Rossi took full advantage of the dismal conditions to move quickly into fourth place, showing his formidability on a wet track.  Meanwhile, countryman Simoncelli was right at home, as he managed to usurp a careful Lorenzo and Stoner to snatch the lead.  Rossi eased past Lorenzo for third before the moment of the race.

TANGLE: Rossi's ambitious move took Casey Stoner out

     The Italian attempted a move on Stoner for second spot.  It was ambitious to say the least and the result was Rossi went down at the first corner, and took the unfortunate Stoner with him.  It was an unbelievable moment and shows that even world champions can make a hash of overtaking attempts.  Rossi was pinned under the bikes, whilst Stoner got up quickly, ready to remount.  However, the Repsol Honda team were furious that the marshals only seemed interested in helping Rossi and not their Australian championship leader.  The Ducati of Rossi rejoined well down and field and Stoner had been cruelly eliminated through no fault of his own.

     Pedrosa started to move his way back through the field, having now got a feel for the equipment he had underneath him.  He sliced his way back upto third, but that was to become second on lap 11 when disaster struck Simoncelli.  He was pulling away from Lorenzo and the race was his for the taking, until he got a high-side on at Turn One and dropped the bike.  He was out and Lorenzo had been gifted the lead.

     Britain’s Cal Crutchlow had been having a good run and was keeping Hayden in his sights, when he became another victim of the tricky conditions.  He was fifth before falling off his Tech Speed Yamaha, eventually remounting to finish ninth.  With four laps to go, American Ben Spies passed Pedrosa to make it a Yamaha 1-2.  Pedrosa had no response, as his tyres were absolutely finished.  Luckily for him, Spies went into the gravel on the very next lap and out of the race.  This allowed the likeable Colin Edwards onto the podium, but the Texan Tornado’s bike packed up and left Colin stranded on the last lap.  

ODD: Lorenzo's celebrations seem to get more strange with each race

     Ahead of all the drama, Lorenzo took the chequered flag at the end of a thrilling race.  Pedrosa and Hayden completed the rostrum, whilst Rossi somehow recovered to fifth, before going to apologise to Stoner for their crash afterwards.  This was the case of last man standing in Jerez and Jorge Lorenzo came out on top.  If this is anything to go by, MotoGP 2011 has all the ingredients to be a very special season.

Qatar MotoGP 2011 - Searing Stoner makes winning bow

AUSTRALIAN Casey Stoner made a winning start to life at Honda in the opening MotoGP event of the 2011 season.  Stoner, who switched from Ducati to the Repsol Honda squad in the winter, took the honours in the Qatar Grand Prix at the Losail circuit.  The 2007 champion beat reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo and his team-mate Dani Pedrosa under the lights.

WINNING: Stoner made a great start with Honda

     Stoner started on pole position, as he confirmed Honda’s blinding pre-season testing pace.  However, he lost the lead off the line to the fast-starting Pedrosa and Lorenzo, who led over the line for the first time.  The Spaniard was eventually overwhelmed by the Honda boys and Stoner and Pedrosa swapped themselves around on several occasions in the early exchanges.  Stoner was saving his tyres up and made the move stick at around half-distance.  Pedrosa fell back rather rapidly, and then got engrossed into a brutal battle with his countryman Lorenzo.  Eventually, the Yamaha rider prevailed and whilst Stoner and Lorenzo looked delighted with their opening efforts, Pedrosa was annoyed, confirming he had a problem with his left arm, which harmed his chances in his battle with Lorenzo.

     Honda dominated the first race, with the third Repsol Honda rider, Andrea Dovizioso finished fourth, ahead of Marco Simoncelli, who gave Dovizioso some headaches during the race.  Ducati were off the pace badly here, but Valentino Rossi still managed a creditable seventh on his opening bow for the Italian team.  Rossi also produced the save of the race, when he took his legs off his bike when Ben Spies overtook him to stop the frontend sliding away from him.  On his debut in the premier motorcycling class, Cal Crutchlow finished a creditable 10^th.  It was a miserable evening for the Premac Honda team, with Randy de Puniet crashing on the first lap, and Loris Capirossi injuring himself as he attempted to miss his team-mate.  At least they started, which is something Alvaro Bautista couldn’t do.  He crashed on Friday and broke his left leg.  With John Hopkins unable to get out to Qatar in time, it meant that Suzuki were without a rider in the top class for the first time since 1974.

     On this indication, Casey Stoner looks like he will be the man to beat in MotoGP this year, but he has never been very competitive at the next track in Jerez.  Throw in the lack of straights and it being Lorenzo and Pedrosa’s home event, Casey will do extremely well to produce his Qatar dominance again in a fortnight’s time.

Pedrosa's Practice Spill Hands Jorge Lorenzo The MotoGP Title

Dani Pedrosa broke his collarbone in a bad crash during practice for Sunday’s MotoGP event in Japan.  It all but hands the 2010 world championship to fellow compatriot Jorge Lorenzo.  Lorenzo, who rides for Fiat Yamaha in the series, has seen his once invincible lead being slowly whittled away by the consistent Pedrosa, who has beaten Lorenzo in the last three events. 

However, Pedrosa came off his Repsol Honda bike just five minutes into the first practice session for this weekend’s race, held at the Motegi circuit, a rescheduled event as it was cancelled in April due to the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud.  As soon as Pedrosa, who was standing 56 points behind Lorenzo in the title race, had ended up in the gravel, it could be seen to everyone in the paddock that he was in grave pain.  Although he scrambled to the edge of the gravel bed, marshals spotted his discomfort and he was carried away on a stretcher, realising that his brave, if vain title challenge for 2010 was well and truly over. 

The diagnosis was later confirmed as a broken collarbone for Pedrosa, and although reports also suggested that he has fractured his left ankle in the crash, this was denied by medics at the circuit and by his Honda team.  At Honda’s home circuit, this is bound to be a bitter pill to swallow.  Pedrosa is being flown home back to Spain for surgery on the injury and is definitely out of this race, and next weekend’s event in Malaysia.  With Australia being just one more week afterwards, it looks increasingly likely that he will have to miss three races, with a possible return in Portugal being lined up at the end of October.

Although it isn’t official yet, this confirms Lorenzo’s name as the 2010 champion, which has been almost been in clear writing ever since his team-mate and great rival, Valentino Rossi fractured his ankle at June’s Italian Grand Prix in Mugello.  Although Rossi has made a significant and remarkable recovery, he still doesn’t look 100% fit.  Neither does Randy de Pruniet, who fractured his leg in a multiple smash at the following month’s German Grand Prix.  With this in mind, it is best that Pedrosa rests up and recovers fully for next season.  With Rossi and Pedrosa’s injuries and Casey Stoner not getting on with the Ducati, it has meant that Lorenzo has had a fairly untroubled ride to this season’s championship, having only missed the podium once in thirteen occasions.  However, his championship glory will be tainted, largely because of these cruel injuries to two of his rivals.  Consequently, he will have to win another title next year before anyone can class him in the legends of bike racing. 

I wish Dani Pedrosa a speedy recovery and congratulate Jorge Lorenzo on a deserved championship, though no-one would want to win it this way.  The message to Jorge for next year:  Prove how good you really are against a rejuvenated Stoner, a charged-up Rossi and a fully recovered Pedrosa.