2008 review: Back to the good old days

Well, Valentino Rossi has done it again. In 2008 he won his eighth world title, his sixth in the big class.

With nine race wins, Rossi utterly blitzed them on tyres he'd had hardly any experience on before 2008. And he turned those Bridgestones into such an 'I Want' item that even Honda dumped Michelin before the end of the season in order to get them.

The domination of Casey Stoner in 2007, when he took ten victories, was still at the forefront of everybody's minds as we arrived under the floodlights of the very first night-time grand prix, in Qatar. Stoner promptly rode a wise race, winning it only after he'd let things settle down at the front. We all thought we'd be on for another Ducati show of power, but nothing could have been further from the truth as we had four different winners in the first four races.

The usual three were in there - Rossi, Stoner and Dani Pedrosa - but the new kid was 250cc champion Jorge Lorenzo. In Portugal, only his third MotoGP race, this top-class strutter took pole, fastest lap and the win.

Race number four, in China, was Rossi's first win of the year. He looked odd, atop a podium for the very first time with the red Bridgestone cap, but we soon got used to seeing him without the blue Michelin chapeau: he won three on the bounce as others foundered.

Stoner's crank broke at Le Mans, while Lorenzo properly fell off in China, then non-scored in Italy and at Barcelona, leaving Rossi to romp them.

Pedrosa was always there, but never won again after early June, at home at Barcelona.

Stoner's engine was reworked by Ducati to give him a hat-trick in Britain, Holland and Germany, but then came Laguna Seca, where Stoner (and everyone in the paddock that day) thought he was going to win the race as a matter of formality. But Rossi ruffled Stoner even before the end of the first lap and Stoner has not yet recovered from the bashing he had from a wily rider on a not-as-fast motorcycle.

It was a defining moment and a race that will stick in people's minds for an awfully long time.

There were three weekends off for Stoner to recover his composure. He didn't - instead he fell off while leading at Brno and Misano, with Rossi behind him. The Australian had thrown away 50 points by trying to win every lap rather than the last one. From then on, it was a matter of course that the man from Tavullia would win the title, but it was a question of when, where and, more importantly, what celebrations he and his mates had cooked up over a few beers.

No-one else but Rossi and Stoner won a race after Pedrosa at Barcelona (the seventh round of 18), which sounds boring, but the season was anything but thanks to the rebirth of Rossi, who had not won the title for two seasons.

Everyone is now on Bridgestones for 2009 and beyond, as organiser Dorna railroaded the rule through even though the tyre manufacturers didn't want it. It seems that the 21st-century bandwagon of 'making things fair' has been jumped upon by MotoGP too. That left Michelin out in the cold, although punishing the company with expulsion for the odd bad choice here and there was a little harsh; a Michelin rider did lead the championship after round nine, after all.

I've said it many times before, but having Valentino Rossi in any sport is a privilege. Next year he should blitz them too. The race will be between the others as they try to catch up.

FIAT Yamaha

Split down the middle, with a wall to keep the Michelin side of Lorenzo and the Bridgestone side of Rossi apart, made for an uneasy atmosphere.

Rossi was hamstrung from the word go. He'd only been able to try the Bridgestones at the very last test of 2007, at a cold and wintry Jerez. Others had got miles under their belt by then, but for engineer Jerry Burgess and the crew there was no reference data.

The first race provided a 'lowly' fifth, but from then on Rossi was on the podium at every other race except for Assen, where he fell off on the first lap but battled through to 11th.

That's why he won the title, just for good measure setting a new points record for a season of 373.

Lorenzo went up in many people's estimations from cocky little 250cc rider to MotoGP champion of the not-too-distant future. His qualifying lap at Jerez was the best I've ever seen, but eventually his confidence got the better of him. His crash in China meant he will probably never be at that same level ever again.

Lorenzo could have won the title. After Estoril, scene of his first win, he had confidence greater than I've ever seen in any motorsport rider or driver, but alas it didn't happen. Let's hope he can keep up with the others who have already had some time on Bridgestones.

Ducati Marlboro

There's still only one person who can ride the 800cc Ducati at fast pace day in, day out, and that's Casey Stoner. By contrast, teammate Marco Melandri bombed to such a degree that he later admitted he'd thought about giving up completely.

Variable-length inlet trumpets were modified in late spring, but by then the team had had a few knocks. Once he was back at one with the bike, Stoner flew as he had in 2007.

Wins at Donington, Assen and the Sachsenring brought Stoner to within 29 points of the championship lead. Everyone thought it was going to be one hell of a battle right down to the wire at Valencia, but that ended when he threw away 50 points by crashing out of the lead at Brno and Misano.

More worrying was the reappearance of an old wrist injury at Misano. This would haunt him for the remaining six races and into the winter testing schedule - he will not be back on his bike until well into next year.

At least Stoner was at the test session at Jerez during late November to offer support to new teammate Nicky Hayden, which is more than Hayden's previous teammate would have ever done.

Repsol Honda

Dani Pedrosa was still leading the championship when the German Grand Prix took place as round ten. The Spaniard was miles ahead with six laps completed, only for a pit board to be held out showing a lower time gap than his lead actually was. Seconds later he crashed - nearly over the fence, such was the ferocity of the off.

Now he was in hospital and out of the championship lead. He had to miss the following race at Laguna Seca, the ultimate letdown after heroically spending the start of the year bouncing back from a testing crash in January, in which he mangled his hand. The little chap just doesn't seem to crash very well.

Blaming Michelin for the drop-off throughout the year may well have been justified, but 15th at Brno was not a concerted effort at all. It wasn't very professional. Nor was his telling Michelin to get stuffed, just three hours after taking fourth the following weekend at Misano. That could linger long in many a future employer's mind.

For Pedrosa, next year has got to be the season he wins the title. It's his fourth campaign, and Hayden did it in four without anything like the backing from HRC that Pedrosa has enjoyed.

Once it had been announced that he was on the move to Ducati, a weight seemed to be taken off Hayden's shoulders. Certainly the 2006 champion rode with some added verve and, when his Michelin-shod bike outscored Pedrosa, who had made a switch to Bridgestones, his tongue was sharpened too. That meant a lot to Hayden.

Tech 3 Yamaha

This was a year of rejuvenation for Tech 3 after a switch from Dunlop to Michelin. Team chief Herve Poncheral is always striving for the best, and is a realist as far as fighting the big teams is concerned, but it was fantastic to see the return of the fighting spirit the team had when winning the 2000 250cc championship.

Colin Edwards was the icing on the cake for Yamaha at Le Mans, where he completed a Yamaha 1-2-3. And he got his revenge for 2006 at Assen, where Hayden ran out of fuel and the Texan was promoted to another podium - not at all bad for a privateer team.

MotoGP newcomer James Toseland flew early on in the season, before the Michelins waned. He fought well and slogged out some titanic battles that others didn't appreciate, and to race Rossi wheel-to-wheel in Australia was classy.

Lessons may have been learned at Donington. There was too much PR beforehand, even though Toseland says it wasn't a problem. It's not an easy balance for the modern sportsman. Stoner did no PR appearances and went on to win the race, even if he was booed on the podium. But who would you rather be?

Tech 3 will now have the same tyres as Rossi for next year. There'll be a year's worth of Rossi/Bridgestone/Yamaha data, something that may push Toseland further up the grid. He has to grab that opportunity to get a big works ride in the future.

Rizla Suzuki

The team started the season with new signing Loris Capirossi alongside Chris Vermeulen, the Italian keen to show the world that the Ducati wasn't the easiest of bikes to ride after his problems of last year, when he struggled to get anywhere near the pace of Stoner.

The bike still had its 'Phillip Island' problem of long corners murdering its speed, and it seems that the problem has worsened.

Capirossi took a podium at Brno when the Michelins bombed, while Vermeulen got his wet podium of the year in Germany and his now standard podium at Laguna Seca. If the Aussie were on a quicker bike, he'd win more races: that's a fact.

The team brought in some new parts before the end of the season to hopefully up its pace in 2009, when it retains the same riders.

Gresini Honda

Alex de Angelis had his first year in the premier class and defined himself as a proper racer. The wolfish grin and deep-down determination he has can be frightening, as at Mugello: "I came out of the first corner and looked behind me, but there was no-one there!" He finished fourth and got the biggest round of applause from the press office all year... Well, maybe second to Hayden's digs at Pedrosa at Valencia.

The Honda is still too small for de Angelis and cannot be easy to go to work on. It's just ironic that little Capirossi and de Angelis are at either end of the height scale and are managed by Carlo Pernat, a man with an eye for a deal if ever there was one.

Shinya Nakano was Honda's Japanese input to the team for the year. He eventually got his 2007 bike swapped for a Repsol Honda at Brno, so that HRC could see how its 2008 machine went on Bridgestones. He did well in that race, but then so did everyone who wasn't on Michelins. At Phillip Island, Nakano clicked after his hero Wayne Gardner went out spotting for him. The difference was instantaneous with a strong finish to the year, but it was all too little too late, and Nakano has switched to Aprilia's World Superbike push.

The Gresini team got through the season and kept up their spotless image, a credit to a squad whose coffers are never overly full.

Scot Honda

Andrea Dovizioso and the Scot Honda team arrived in MotoGP and bagged fourth at their very first race - ahead of Valentino Rossi to boot. They must have been wondering why the others made such a Horlicks of it all!

With a bottom-end customer machine, Dovizioso was always going to struggle technically, but in the end he got his just reward of a podium at the penultimate race, in Malaysia. And to beat Hayden's works bike in the championship is just another reason why HRC is holding onto him.

As with many things in motorsport, you have to be totally absorbed in it to appreciate it. To me, his ride at Brno to be top Michelin finisher was a gutsy 'I'm gonna show 'em' performance.

Star.

Alice Ducati

Former 250cc podium man Luis d'Antin once more ran the secondary Ducati team. With Casey Stoner seemingly the only man who can properly ride the 800cc machine, Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli were on a slippery slope.

And so was the team, with d'Antin leaving his managerial post before the Sachsenring race under a black cloud of rumours and unpaid bills. The cold truth is that, after seven years of four-stroke MotoGP racing, the team has never had a rider stay on for a second season. Make of that what you will.

Guintoli is one of the paddock's good guys and always a trier, while Elias is a mysterious talent who needs to find his way again on a four-stroke after being so brilliant on 125s and 250s. The finger-pointers still accuse the goofy-grinned Spaniard of only ever going quickly at contract time, but he rode well to uphold Ducati's honour at Misano, where he was third after an amazing second at Brno.

Kawasaki

The sunbeams coming out of the Kawasaki garage last year sadly waned in 2008. Multi-million-dollar signing John Hopkins joined the team alongside Anthony West, but soon found that there was a problem with the bike and it couldn't get engineered away. A massive crash at Assen was not fair on the American, forcing him out of action for three races. Even now he's still struggling with his leg.

The team stood by him after the mess at Misano, where he went out and got massively drunk and was forced to miss Friday practice. The old-school hacks applauded, but deep down knew that it was something you just can't do in this day and age at this level of the sport.

Poor West must have wondered what the hell went wrong over the winter, and lack of rear grip was a season-long complaint.

Team tester Olivier Jacque may well have the answer - he went quicker in testing at Brno the day after the race within a handful of laps.

LCR Honda

Lucio Cecchinello is another one out of the Gresini mould in keeping his chin up while times are hard.

He certainly needed to do that in 2008, a year in which stocky Frenchman Randy de Puniet was labelled as the crasher of the season.

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