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

Indianapolis MotoGP 2011: Supreme Stoner marches on

CASEY Stoner continued his seemingly supreme routine march towards the 2011 MotoGP championship, with another dominant victory at Indianapolis last weekend.  It was his seventh win from 12 starts, his third in a row and extended his point’s advantage over his only title rival, Jorge Lorenzo to 44 points.

     On a baking day at the home of American motorsport, Stoner began on pole position and showed his supreme machinery advantage over the Yamaha of Lorenzo.  Unsurprisingly, he fell behind team-mate and traditional fast-starter Dani Pedrosa into the first corner.  Lorenzo briefly took second, but the first lap was a nightmare for American hero Ben Spies.  Spies, starting on the front row of the grid bogged down and got squeezed out of the first few bends, first by fellow American Nicky Hayden and then by Marco Simoncelli.  Spies dropped to tenth and his victory hopes were dashed from there.

     The Honda power of Stoner saw him coast past Lorenzo on lap three and four laps later, had reeled in Pedrosa, completing the pass into the first corner.  After that, it was a demonstration performance from the two Repsol Honda bikes.  Meanwhile, Spies provided most of the overtaking action as he recovered to produce forceful passes on Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso.  With 11 laps to go, the local man was fourth and closing in on a lonely Lorenzo.  Team-mates they may be and Lorenzo might be the one going for the championship, but nothing was going to deny Spies, as he overhauled the reigning champion to take the final spot on the podium.

DOMINANT: Casey Stoner continues his rich vein of form

    With pole position and the lap record to boot, Stoner secured his 30^th MotoGP victory to win by over four seconds.  Further back, both Hayden and Simoncelli fell back drastically with tyre problems.  Hayden had to retire, whilst Simoncelli slipped from a promising fourth to an unwelcome twelfth.  Dovizioso had a clean race on the third of the works Hondas to finish fifth and there was a very encouraging performance from Alvaro Bautista to record a sixth place finish for Suzuki.  Valentino Rossi finished a very distant tenth for Ducati and there was a long overdue finish for Britain’s Cal Crutchlow, who came home in eleventh.

     With only six events remaining, it is looking more and more difficult for Jorge Lorenzo to close the gap, which is becoming more like an avalanche.  Casey Stoner is looking impossible to beat, and now has one hand on the MotoGP crown.  Can anyone stop him in the remaining races?  On the evidence of Indianapolis, it’s hard to see how anyone can.

Italy MotoGP 2011: Lorenzo fights back in Mugello

YAMAHA’s revival in this MotoGP season continued with Jorge Lorenzo’s sensational victory in the Italian Grand Prix yesterday.  Lorenzo rode the race perfectly, biding his time on the Mugello circuit to record his second win of the season and narrow the gap on runaway championship leader Casey Stoner.  His cause was helped by Andrea Dovizioso finding a way past Stoner on the last lap to snatch second place.

     The writing looked on the wall again when Stoner cruised to pole position in a damp Saturday qualifying session.  It looked like those fears were going to be answered as he led the group of 16 riders into the first bend.  Lorenzo rocketed up from fifth on the grid into second, then got involved in a private scrap with Dovizioso, who on his home circuit, was having his best ride of a consistent season so far.

      Further back, Nicky Hayden ruined his chances of a strong finish when he went into the gravel trap on the second lap and there were more woes for Britain’s Cal Crutchlow.  Having started seventh, the rookie, still clearly in pain as he continues to recover from the broken collarbone he suffered at Silverstone slipped to tenth, before retiring for the second weekend running, once again with tyre troubles.

PERFECTION: Lorenzo overpowered the Honda's in Mugello

     Tyre problems also hampered Stoner’s challenge.  The Australian began to run out of grip on his front tyres and Lorenzo, having finally overhauled Dovizioso was ready to pounce, which he did with seven laps to go.  This was a battle of who could look after their tyres the best, and it was the world champion who easily won this duel.  Stoner was powerless to resist Dovizioso, who made a brave and aggressive pass on the last lap, which nearly had his team-mate running into the back of him.  To show Honda is a great team unit, Stoner congratulated Dovizioso afterwards in the paddock, which was good to see – something he won’t have done in his Ducati days.

      With Valentino Rossi struggling, the partisan Italian crowd was left for Dovizioso to provide the podium celebrations.  He was elated with his second spot, one step higher than what he achieved in the corresponding event last season.  It also keeps him in a comfortable third in the standings.  However, he was no match for Lorenzo, who cruised home to record his first dry win of the season.  Behind Stoner, Marco Simoncelli and Assen race winner Ben Spies had a private and intense scrape for fourth spot, which Spies won, bullying his way past on the last corner.  Once again, Simoncelli missed out on the maiden podium he was chasing, but at least he managed to stay on his bike this time around!

     After a great battle with Alvaro Bautista and Hector Barbera, Rossi fought hard to sixth spot on his stomping ground, which was the maximum he was going to achieve here.  Barbera got his best result of the season in seventh, whilst Bautista faded badly to 13^th, another sufferer of the softer Bridgestone tyres.  Finally, Dani Pedrosa made his long-awaited return to the paddock, but clearly wasn’t 100 per cent fit all weekend.  After a shocking start, which saw him second last at the end of the first circuit, he did well to come back to eighth.  Although his championship bid is in tatters, Pedrosa can play a major part in the destiny of where the title may go, depending on his fitness levels.

      After four races in five weeks, the teams will be relieved of a week off, before the next battle at the formidable Sachensring circuit in Germany.  However, Jorge Lorenzo proved here in Mugello that this title scrap in the 2011 MotoGP season isn’t a write-off and is still alive and kicking.