MotoGP Review: The Cream Rises

50 Points

The crash of Casey Stoner while leading last weekend's Czech MotoGP reminded me of the crash that befell Max Biaggi at the very same circuit in 2001 while being pressured by the very same Valentino Rossi. Biaggi was leading and, after Rossi had hunted him down, the Roman tipped off, ironically only yards away from where Stoner fell on Sunday.

That night in 2001, Rossi got properly stuck in at a nightclub in Brno that had an outside bar and a swimming pool. Everyone was dragged in, including me, as he celebrated a tipping point in that year's championship charge.

He did of course go on to win the first of his premiere class titles in 2001, and one doesn't need to be a brain surgeon to see him on his way to title number six in half a dozen races time. Rossi now has a 50-point lead - two clear race wins - with six races remaining.

Casey Stoner crashes from the lead of the Czech Grand Prix © Back Page Images

With no shame in repeating myself, Rossi has yet to be beaten psychologically by anyone in 13 years. Biaggi and Gibernau were turned to dust, while Stoner he's working on in a more mature way than before. Rossi is not a steely win at all costs sportsman such as Mick Doohan or Michael Schumacher were, but instead inserts a scalpel where it's needed to really hurt. (excuse the Doctor's analogy.) The victim is cut so perfectly, he only realises he's been cut when it's too late.

Less is really more with No.46; something that was shown at Brno with Rossi keeping Stoner in sight after the Ducati leapt ahead on the first lap by 1.1 seconds. The FIAT Yamaha was muscled around the 3.3 miles track for the next four laps, rendering the Aussie's plan of running away on his own useless.

The gap remained at 1.25 seconds until lap six when Stoner's lead was decreased by Rossi to one second, forcing him into speeding up and reestablishing a safer buffer.

Three corners later the Ducati slipped onto its right hand side as the front tyre picked itself off the ground just enough to not grip anymore. Why? The foot-peg had ground away on the freshly laid tarmac, triangulating the thing off terra firma enough to go into the gravel. Incredibly, Stoner regularly drags the 'pegs on the ground, the sparks seen eliminating underneath the bike proving as such because his Alpinestars boots have no titanium toe sliders or even metallic screws.

So why did Stoner fall off?

The pressure dished out by Valentino Rossi to Casey Stoner in America at Laguna is now proving to still be on. Rossi had the upper hand psychologically after that the US trip, and now we've had Brno. The Italian has only increased the advantage to a solid 50-point lead after Stoner fell off while in the lead of the race. Oops.

The No.1 Ducati could today be 20 points behind Rossi, but instead is now those 50 back, a number equivalent to two clear race wins, and that takes Rossi to the start of the Japanese GP at Motegi on September 28th still leading the world title chase, even if he didn't turn up to Misano and Indianapolis.

The look on his face in parc ferme and the chatty, even more effervescent nature than normal in the press conference, summed up the mega bonus day. He thought he'd conceded five points at worst. Instead, he gained 25.

And even though Rossi was testing on Monday, he probably got stuck in on Sunday night and ended up in the pool again. And who can blame him.

Valentino Rossi © DPPI

Tyres

Bridgestone were happy on Sunday night to prepare their winning adverts that get sent all over the world, telling dealers and importers that their product had won their ninth MotoGP race of 12 so far this year.

Having said that there was an air of foreboding after the dismal performance of Michelins, both in the dry and the wet all weekend, the leading Michelin was ninth, 38.8 seconds off the winner who was coasting for half the race with a 16-second lead after Stoner had gone.

Bosses at Bridgestone realise that if there are more disasters for Michelin that leave two reigning world champions, James Toseland and Jorge Lorenzo, unable to even qualify their Michelin-shod bikes within 107 per cent on Saturday, then an exodus to Bridgestone and the almost automatic self implementation of a single tyre rule would just happen in an instant.

Hiroshi Yamada of Bridgestone once more said at the weekend that he is opposed to a single tyre rule in MotoGP, or racing against themselves if no-one else bothered to turn up. They already supply to F1 and GP2 leaving them to relish the challenge in MotoGP. Michelin however, may well get out of jail free should a single tyre rule be swung by emotional riders and team managers after just two bad races from Michelin this year. Who says that Bridgestone will automatically get the deal to be the sole supplier? What about Pirelli and Dunlop? What's stopping them from stepping, very happily, into the breach?

By being poor in 2008, Michelin could win the 2009 World Championship.

Laguna and Brno have obviously not been great for Clermont Ferrand, but then again, the three chosen children of Michelin were hardly even able to carry the French flag at Brno, were they? Nicky Hayden was not even there because of injury at the X-Games in Los Angeles, Dani Pedrosa's hand was still hardly able to lift a cup of coffee, while Jorge Lorenzo could barely walk or even change gear with his left foot. Not exactly a springboard of speed from their chosen riders, is it?

On the flip side, Valentino Rossi would say they have lost their way anyway; he's been there and got the medal last year after being hung out to dry at Le Mans when the Michelin guys insisted that his wet race tyre would be best. As Jerry Burgess said after that race: "That's the last time we let them chose a tyre for us."

Then at last year's Motegi in the wet-then-drying-race, Rossi had to come in so convinced there was a problem with the front tyre. There wasn't; it was just plain wrong. Michelin then blamed Yamaha for taking the warmers on and off repeatedly, but by then they were just fighting with handbags. Rossi was on Bridgestone for 2008 and he's shown the world why he could beat Stoner on an even playing field.

Valentino Rossi pits during the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix with a suspected tire problem © DPPI

The No.46 Yamaha rider did always want a single tyre, or at least the chance to battle with the main hitters, on the same level. "For me, it's better to start everyone from the same place."

So, with all Yamahas as good as on Bridgestones next year, do Honda trot out the feelings of their muted riders again? Remember in Motegi last year both Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden left the world agog when they said in a Honda press conference that they wanted to kick Michelin out. Even the President of HRC, Mr Masumi Hamane said: "We haven't finalised our choice of tyres for 2008. We want to follow Dani's choice and he wants Bridgestone. He has pushed very hard for it. Both riders want Bridgestone next year. HRC follow riders' choice; this is HRC's way."

Only the highest of top brass stood in to remind HRC their loyalties towards Michelin, with said riders and HRC boss probably given a clip around the ear and the hot water cut off to their rooms at the Honda owned circuit hotel.

But we're in the same situation again nearly 12 months later to the day.

What are HRC going to do about it? Swapping to Bridgestone is not what the dominating tyre brand actually wants.

"We want competition in MotoGP and we would like to keep the current situation with our current five teams. Of those five teams, three of them are works teams. We at Bridgestone think that is a good balance," said Bridgestone's Yamada last year.

Yamada said pretty well the same thing at Brno last weekend.

But, the Honda swingometer is on the Bridgestone side at the moment as Honda just won the Suzuka 8 hours on Bridgestones, and they've just last weekend given Shinya Nakano the development machine for the 2009 Honda MotoGP bike.

A development bike on Bridgestones? Do the maths.

Repsol Hondas © DPPI

Pedrosa must know this too as he walked out of the Brno test half way through the second day, just fed up with it.

However, does HRC need people who dig in rather than give up? Nicky Hayden wouldn't have given up. Mick Doohan never gave up. Carl Fogarty never gave up on an RC45 in World Superbike.

HRC are still spinning since Rossi left at the end of 2003 and something, somehow, still needs to be done some six years later.

Do they hire Jorge Lorenzo? Do they just open the bank and pay him? What about Marco Simoncelli for £500,000? What about building a V5 800cc engine and bear the 7.5kg extra weight disadvantage?

Or does Valentino Rossi just win anyway on the same tyres as everyone else as he's just better than the rest? Those celebratory adverts look to be coming off the presses for some time yet.