2007 MotoGP Review: Golden Era

Looking back, the 2007 season was a one-horse race. Statistics were published after only four races saying that Casey Stoner would win the world title.

We didn't believe them, but we should have done - by that time, he'd won three races and was on his way to being unstoppable, galloping through the year and winning a total of ten races, 250 percent more race wins than even Valentino Rossi managed.

To beat the Rossis and the Beckhams and the Woods' of this world, you have got to be good. As Kenny Roberts Sr says, "No one gifts you a race, let alone a world championship."

Stoner kept his head down and was totally unflustered, concentrating on the job in hand. That Aussie 'screw them right down to the wire' attitude was frightening in a guy who was just 21 years old. Repeat, 21 ...

Ducati were said to have the mechanical advantage, which may have been true through the speed traps, but that was where it started and finished.

During the practice sessions for the first race in Qatar, the Ducatis were 1-2-3-4, but it was only Stoner who could hussle the bike through the corners.

That would remain the case throughout the year as even Loris Capirossi, a 2006 championship contender, was made to look silly, eventually causing the Italian to fall out with the squad by the summer.

Indeed, such was Ducati's advantage, that in the first few races questions were raised regarding the legality of the bike. Livio Suppo of Ducati went mad with anger, while poor Stoner wondered why Rossi won races 'because he was Rossi', while the world thought that Stoner only won races because of the bike. He was mildly irked, and would let the world know about it all year.

Rossi started brilliantly. He fought like a gladiator at the first race in Qatar, aware that by winning the first race and getting Stoner under his thumb was pivotally important. Rossi knew this from 2005 when, at the first race of the year, he bumped Sete Gibernau at the last corner leaving the Spaniard to never, psychologically at least, to have a look in again.

The number 46 Yamaha rider may well have lost that opening round in the desert but he fought back at the next one at Jerez, beating Stoner to fifth.

But that was the last time Rossi led the championship. Turkey and China ended with two strong wins from the young Ducati rider, and led to the beginning of the end of Rossi's love affair with Michelin. Something was wrong, and he blamed the tyres.

He blamed all sorts of things over the summer as he watched another title slipping away, but one thing Rossi couldn't readily solve was the Italian tax authorities on his back in late August, probing where he actually lived and spent the most time. Italy, or a flat in London?

Reports in the Italian press said that with fines and interest, it added up to 112m euros - quite enough to make anyone's eyes water, let alone distract them from riding a motorbike at 200mph.

New rules introduced for 2007 meant a limit on the number of tyres that could be used throughout a GP weekend - 14 fronts and 17 rears.

But the crux was that you had to choose those tyres by 5pm on Thursday evening. That meant that engineers needed big crystal balls to guess what the weather was going to do 69 hours later. Not 67 or 71 hours later, but 69. That was how critical it became. Oh yes, and you had to put your one lap special qualifying tyres in there for Saturday afternoon, too.

Bridgestone, mounted underneath the Ducatis, Suzukis, Kawasakis and Gresini Hondas, found that their tyres worked across a greater range of temperature than the Michelins, leaving them to be less bothered about whether the track temperature was 29 degrees or 36 degrees.

For Michelin, it was the complete opposite. That left them trying to from the practice of making tyres in France on a Friday and Saturday night, with track data and the more dependable data of a weather forecast of less than 18 hours. They then flew or drove the tyres to the track overnight, meaning that bikes and tyres were hand-in-glove.

Clermont Ferrand was very proud of the facilities they had, capable of such a fast turnaround, but ultimately it was to be their downfall. That was gone for 2007, on a cost basis to Michelin and a 'that's not fair on us as we are in Japan' basis for Bridgestone.

Tyres were talk of the town going into the third race of the year, Turkey, where the teams had not tested their 800cc bikes. The concern was justified, as we saw our first 'tyre race'.

Bridgestone filled the top six, but even the Japanese were pleasantly surprised with the result - they'd bought a compound guy over especially from Japan to blame if it all went wrong. Instead, they bought him the beer on Sunday night.

With three major rules changes coming into the year, the focus was mainly on tyres during those early races. The reduction in capacity from 990cc to 800cc couldn't be changed, but many wondered why it was done in the first place.

Safety was the reason given, but with tragic loss in October of former 500cc winner Norick Abe while riding a scooter in Japan, and the biggest accidents actually happening to 250cc riders throughout the season, it was a lame justification, especially when braking distances decreased and corner speeds increased by 15 percent. The MSMA and their rule making was questioned by many.

What the outside world had not really focussed on was the reduced fuel tank size (by one litre) compared with the year before. A 21 litre tank and a smaller capacity engine that revved more meant engineers had to be very clever in making sure that bikes didn't splutter on the last lap. In the end not one bike did, but some didn't make it back to the pits after the flag.

Ducati came out first with their 800cc bike in early summer 2006, running it wide open with lots of fuel. Then they trimmed the juice down over the winter, with twelve electronics engineers in Bologna making sure it would get the to the flag.

It was doubly important because Fillipo Preziosi at Ducati had made a screamer engine that wanted to be thrashed in order for the lap time to be there. A low-revving torque monster it wasn't.

Stoner loved ragging it, just as Preziosi wanted. Capirossi wanted more low-down torque, but even when he had an engine to his liking, for Mugello of all places, he could only muster seventh.

The Hondas were the sure-fire bet over the winter testing period. Debuting what looked like a tiny little bike that had been penned around pint-sized Dani Pedrosa (up to 52kgs from 49kgs) they struggled right from the word go with top speed.

Nicky Hayden was born with wide shoulders so he couldn't make them any narrower, but two tiny little kick-ups on the front of the bike to direct air over the top of the 2006 world champion was the only attempt to improve the bike's straight-line speed until he got a new fairing at Motegi in late September.

Hayden kept his head the highest over the year. It was an example of how sportsman should be, rather than acting like spoilt brats, faking fouls and rolling all over the ground, or pointing at the opposition and whining.

Maybe he was too polite towards Honda in public, as indeed was Pedrosa, but behind the scenes there must have been words. In the end, hierachy changed at HRC in October, before the season had even finished.

'Standard proceedure' said the HRC people, but heads were rolling after only one win at that point. By the end of the year, they'd won two races - but Ducati won 500 percent more.

Pedrosa must be bursting after 18 races and just two wins. Honda, of all manufacturers, are the ones to put your mortgage on when there is a regulation change.

Just look at the first year of MotoGP 990s. Honda won all but two races. In the end for 2007, they were like the Yamahas from 2002 in winning only two races. Ouch ... and this, the mighty HRC.

They bought out a V4 800cc bike, narrower, and in theory more 'chuck-able' into and around the corners, but in the end, they were on the back foot with power all along. Determined to run valve springs as a way of educating new engineers was ultimately not quite the trick. Rumours of a pneumatic-valved engine for the 2008 bike were circulating by the end of the year.

The tight packaging of the Honda meant that it ran hot - no wonder it struggled down the straights. But soon, umpteen exhaust systems were appearing out of the bellypan for the number 26 bike of Pedrosa.

Ironically, the first race win was at the Sachsenring, the hottest day of the year - but the tyres were the big player that day, as Michelin got it right and Bridgestone got it wrong.

So what did Yamaha do in all of this? They stuck to their straight-line four, but that, too, ran into heat problems.

Rossi got caught in traffic in Germany and couldn't pass the Kawasaki of De Puniet in a drag race, leaving him to lunge at the green bike through a slow corner to just get a gasp of that clean air in front. But not even Rossi could hold it, as he rode off the edge of the tyre and into the gravel.

It was the third time that the seven-time champion had overheating problems in 12 months, leaving Rossi to dream about having a V4 with more space behind the radiator for air to exit and disperse. He let the world know about wanting a V4 - and even talked about wanting a Ducati after the last race as he gave the Japanese a touch-up.

Yamaha's marketing signature is a straight-four, but they may have to swallow some pride and remember that as a formula progresses, manufacturers distill down to the absolute, and that the here and now at least, is a V4, just as it was with 500cc.

Marketing and racing can be the best lovers, and the biggest divorcees. KTM found it didn't work in MotoGP, whereas Ducati have found sales going through the roof because they are red and they have the desmodronic valves as part of their culture and history.

Indeed, the front of the Ducati GP7 is a pure engineering exercise, while the tail section is that of their new 1098 road bike. There was even discussion as to the fairing of the GP7 being like the 1098 road bike, but that argument was won by the engineers. Only now that they have the title do the the marketeers agree!

Three wet races added spice to the show; two of them won by outsiders. At Le Mans the forecast was for rain ten minutes into the race, and it came right on time.

Chris Vermeulen won it, as is par the course for when it is a submarine race, but Bridgestone stuck two fingers up to Michelin in their own backyard when the French sent their big hitters out on a range of tyres to cover all bases. In the end it was Pedrosa who had the soft ones, and he flew to fourth. Rossi was not happy in sixth.

Donington left Stoner crossing the line shrugging his shoulders, miming, 'Were are the others?', while Japan hosted the first-ever wet-to-dry race since the new non-stop MotoGP regs came into play at the start of 2006.

Loris Capirossi ran away with that one as he approached the autumn of his six years at Ducati, while Stoner wrapped up the title in Japan Inc's backyard. It may have been great to beat them there, but in the long-term, Japan will fight back with a massive vengeance.

2007 was also the year of, 'where did he come from?'. Stoner obviously surprised many, not least of all those at Ducati, but the paddock is always scouting around for people riding over the ability of the bike. Anthoiny West and Sylvain Guintoli were at the top of that table, and have been justly rewarded with rides in 2008.

Guintoli was a midfielder in 250s, but was given his chance from Herve Poncheral's Tech 3 squad, for whom he had ridden as a 500cc test rider.

Despite struggling with Dunlops he still rode heroically, particularly on the Friday afternoon at Brno when he went quickest. He laughed about it when he heard Stoner was annoyed that he'd used a qualifier.

As one of the paddock's nice guys, it was sad to see Herve Poncheral lose the guy who was fourth at Motegi, but a D'Antin Ducati ride beckons for 2008. It just remains to be seen if a rider coming out of the Spanish Ducati team progresses to bigger and better things, as history shows that former D'Antin riders have slipped down, not up.

West's story was particularly old-school, as he threw in the towel with the bottom-end Sicilia 250 team after Mugello. Cleverly, on his non-GP weekends in June, he won two Supersport 600 races out of the blue while standing in for an injured rider. That alone got the shy Aussie a test ride on the Kawasaki after Olivier Jacque had bounced too many times after big accidents in China and Barcelona.

In his first seven races, West outscored regular De Puniet, who dropped it in the gravel at the wet Donington race while up at the front. It must have been part and parcel for De Puniet to lose his job as the team considered opening the bank to tempt a big-hitter for 2008. In the end, they got Hopkins.

On the subject of Hopkins, his year there was more than solid; progress at last being seen from the two baby blue bikes. Team-mate Vermeulen had no excuses this time about learning circuits, so it was a clean fight. And what a fight it was, too ...

Vermeulen almost shrugged off the victory at the wet Le Mans, but a win was still a win and he had the upper hand for a while. But it soon leveled out, and the American scored a podium at the last race.

Come the end of the year, there was just ten points between them, with Hopkins ahead. However, it was Vermeulen who crucially clinched the debut win for the team under MotoGP rules. Not since September 2001 had the team tasted the best booze.

Respect, though, should go to the fact that Suzuki as a team, having scored 368 points to Repsol Honda's 369 and FIAT Yamaha's 365. Times are good for the Paul Denning-run squad.

Repsol Honda will say that had it not been for Pedrosa being knocked off in Turkey, Hayden being nurfed at Laguna (by Hopkins, just to make it an American home goal), the pair of them being knocked off at turn one at Misano and Pedrosa lobbing it in Japan, they would have been higher. But as we all know, it doesn't work like that back in the board rooms of Japan Inc.

Suzuki have a tiny operation back at Hamamatsu, with engineers virtually traveling to and from races in separate hire cars. If one should fall off a cliff with them all in it, then the whole project would go with them.

The year ended with goodbyes being said to Alex Barros, Makoto Tamada and Carlos Checa, former winners all of them. Tamada's heart was hardly in it, while Checa had glimmers with front row starts. Late in the year Checa did say that he'd made his mind up to get off these 800cc bikes after he'd ridden the thing for 30 minutes. Oh dear.

Barros blitzed Stoner at Mugello to be the first Ducati home, and on the podium at that. The result didn't change the championship, but the arm waving began at a customer bike beating a works bike. A fifth in Australia was the best after that. The trouble for both D'Antin bikes were silly breakdowns; wires chaffing and bolts falling out.

Hofmann got hit by Guintoli on the Friday morning of Laguna as the Frenchman misjudged the entry into the corkscrew. The German suffered a massive hand injury. By Portugal he was back, but the thing failed on the warm-up lap, leaving him to start from the pit lane. He pulled in, demotivated, and was fired by sundown.

Team Roberts never got the powerful engine that the chassis was designed for. Kenny Jr, a world champion remember, couldn't get the thing going, so stood down halfway through the season. It was a sad Jacques Villeneuve-esqe ending to a career of a proper racer. Brother Kurtis continued, standing in for his Father's sense of humour when the three-time champion wasn't about.

Ilmor came into the season after being the first-ever 800cc points-scorers at Portugal in 2006, but they were way off the pace at Qatar, with the throttle connection being all over the place before Jeremy McWilliams crashed in qualifying.

He didn't ride a MotoGP bike again, as he and Andrew Pitt failed to make it to next race after team principal Mario Illien pulled the pin, citing a lack of money to continue.

It was a sad end to a project full of so much enthusiasm, but again, did a car guy try to do too much in one go? Should he have copied a fast bike and then had a play with widgets and gadgets?

Sadly, it may well have been the last chance for an F1 engineer to have a crack at MotoGP; only Alan Jenkins' aerodynamics and packaging on the Ducati has shone through from F1, his measured attitude being the complete opposite to a Walkinshaw or a Barnard at Team Roberts.

And in autumn, MotoGP had its taste of politics. Dorna announced out of the blue a proposal for the championship to be run with a single tyre in 2008, but in essence it was a way of holding Bridgestone over a barrel to supply Rossi's Yamaha and Pedrosa's Honda with the same tyres as the Ducati of dominant winner Stoner.

Michelin had a public slap in the face and were furious enough to have a stand-up row with the curly haired Italian behind closed doors. Even Pedrosa and Hayden got in on the act in Japan, saying that they'd prefer to be on Bridgestones next year. The paddock was agog as Honda on Michelins are like Ducatis being red - that is a given ...

Bridgestone MotoGP boss Hiroshi Yamada spilled the beans two races later, saying that unless Rossi was given the tyres he wanted, a single tyre championship would be have been imposed. For a Japanese big boss to say such stuff again left observers aghast.

In the end, the Japanese have capitulated to Dorna, but Japan never lose long term, so prepare for trouble in the forthcoming years as they get their revenge.

Indeed, the Japanese have lost a lot this year. Three titles in fact. The Riders', Constructors' and Teams' titles all went to Ducati. The last time the most important Riders' title went non-Japanese was in 1974.

The sport changed when the Japanese got hold; now, Ducati have won in just five years of MotoGP racing. Does it send out those all-important signs to the BMWs, the KTMs and the Aprilias that this is a championship still open to the 'little guys' with an operational staff number of just 100, such as there are at Ducati Corse?

So Ducati was victorious, but as Nicky Hayden discovered this year, defending is harder than winning. Stoner of all people will relish that as much as winning by a mile at Istanbul.

New times have dawned with 800cc. These are the good old days, so enjoy them.

We want to hear from you!

Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.

Take our survey

- The Autosport.com Team

Read and post comments