MotoGP News
Date: 5/October/2011
After mild hysteria, from some quarters, the 2011 Japanese MotoGP passed off remarkably normally.
Just months earlier, the grand prix seemed in doubt as title leaders Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo headlined a rider rebellion by stating that they would not attend due to radiation fears.
The damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant is around 110km from the Motegi circuit, although independent reports insisted the radiation risk was 'negligible'. Stoner and Lorenzo, who ride for Japanese manufacturers Honda and Yamaha respectively, subsequently made a U-turn.
So too did Ducati's Valentino Rossi, MotoGP's biggest and most powerful name, who seemed content to let Stoner and Lorenzo be the public face of opposition for much of the debate, before suggesting that he too would not go when their resistance began to wane.
Ultimately Dorna (commercial rights), the FIM (Governing body) and IRTA (teams' association) held their nerve and were able to put on a show with all the uninjured MotoGP riders in place.
Stoner, who finished third in a race won by his Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa, felt that the situation should have been handled better.
"The riders all got a lot of pressure many months ago, when the situation [in Japan] still wasn't clear," he said. "We all got our own opinions, from people we trust. The more time that passed, the more clear things became."
The only Motegi absentees were a few lesser known riders from the support classes, some mechanics and the majority of the Italian media.
However food and drink was imported by many teams to help sooth fears of contamination - and Lorenzo admitted he was only showering with bottled water.
"We are alright at the moment. We will see how we are in some years!" smiled the Spaniard, second in the grand prix. "Now we are ok and the situation seems ok, no radiation. Everything is good."
Stoner agreed with that assessment: "Everything here seems normal, but you don't see these things [contamination]. It's not easy to spot. But our trip here has been like normal and for sure next year will be clearer."
Given the destruction in the region, and the uncertainly hanging over the event, only 34,000 fans attended the race - but many held home-made signs thanking MotoGP for coming.
"My view about Japan has always been very good. I love Japan and I always like to be here," said Lorenzo.
The Japanese F1 Grand Prix will be held at Suzuka this weekend. The Suzuka circuit is around 400km from Fukushima.
Pedrosa avoids chaos for Japanese MotoGP win
MotoGP News
Date: 2/October/2011
Japanese MotoGP winner Dani Pedrosa was the only rider in the top seven to complete the race without clashing with another rider, running off track or being given a ride-through penalty!
It was an emotional victory for the Repsol Honda rider, coming at the Honda-owned racetrack where he broke his collarbone one year ago.
"I'm super happy with this victory," said Pedrosa. "This is the first win at Motegi for both myself and Repsol Honda. I've had good and bad results and some bad injuries here, so to come back one year later and win is fantastic".
Pedrosa kept his nose clean to claim his third win of the season by over seven-seconds from Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo, who collided with Valentino Rossi at turn two of the race - sending the Italian megastar to the ground.
Lorenzo said: "I made a bad start, really terrible and lost a lot of positions and then I nearly crashed at the second turn when Valentino was too late on the brakes. I don’t know what happened."
Rossi refused to blame Lorenzo for the incident, which ended a run of 25 consecutive points finishes and also saw Lorenzo's team-mate Ben Spies pushed off track.
Rossi said: "Lorenzo went onto the grass slightly in Turn 1, and in the next turn he moved suddenly to get his trajectory right. He didn’t see me because I was slightly behind. When he touched me, it pushed me into Spies, who touched my front brake lever. It was normal racing contact, but I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Joining Pedrosa and Lorenzo on the podium was world championship leader Casey Stoner, who looked on his way to a ninth win of the season - until suffering a major scare, while leading, on lap 5.
As Stoner powered downhill some bumps sent his RCV shaking violently. The Australian kept control but couldn’t stop for the following turn and speared off into the gravel.
Stoner explained: "Everything felt good and the bike was fantastic. I saw Andrea [Dovizioso] had closed in a little so I thought 'right we'll go a bit quicker'. I came onto the back straight and I got a big 'tank-slapper'.
"The bike was shaking and my hands nearly came off the handlebars. Then when I went for the brakes there was nothing there. I pumped them up a couple of times and as the brakes came back I nearly went over the front."
Stoner kept control but had to paddle his way out of the deep gravel before rejoining the race in seventh. That quickly became fifth when Dovizioso and Marco Simoncelli were both hit with a ride-through penalty for jumping the start.
"I cannot believe it. I have never had a jump start in my career and it happened today, in a race where I felt that I could fight for the win," sighed Dovizioso. "I don’t know why the bike moved a little before the green light."
“I saw Dovizioso move and let the clutch out just a tiny bit, but enough to be given a ride-through penalty," commented Simoncelli.
Cal Crutchlow in turn reacted to Simoncelli's movement and was also penalised.
While the Dovizioso and Simoncelli worked their way forward from the tail-end of the top ten, Stoner caught and overtook Nicky Hayden (Ducati) and Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) to claim third.
Both riders made mistakes soon after; Hayden running off track and Bautista crashing out.
Those incidents allowed warring Honda riders Simoncelli and Dovizioso to reach fourth and fifth, while Spies - who had rejoined in last place after the Rossi incident - took advantage of the chaos to take sixth place, just ahead of Hayden.
Colin Edwards (Tech 3) in eighth place was thus the first rider after Pedrosa to avoid contact, stay on the race track - and stay out of pit lane.
"What a race that was!" smiled Edwards. "It seemed like each time I went round a corner somebody else was in the gravel! There was so much chaos it was just about surviving."
Date: 2/October/2011
Japanese MotoGP winner Dani Pedrosa was the only rider in the top seven to complete the race without clashing with another rider, running off track or being given a ride-through penalty!
It was an emotional victory for the Repsol Honda rider, coming at the Honda-owned racetrack where he broke his collarbone one year ago.
"I'm super happy with this victory," said Pedrosa. "This is the first win at Motegi for both myself and Repsol Honda. I've had good and bad results and some bad injuries here, so to come back one year later and win is fantastic".
Pedrosa kept his nose clean to claim his third win of the season by over seven-seconds from Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo, who collided with Valentino Rossi at turn two of the race - sending the Italian megastar to the ground.
Lorenzo said: "I made a bad start, really terrible and lost a lot of positions and then I nearly crashed at the second turn when Valentino was too late on the brakes. I don’t know what happened."
Rossi refused to blame Lorenzo for the incident, which ended a run of 25 consecutive points finishes and also saw Lorenzo's team-mate Ben Spies pushed off track.
Rossi said: "Lorenzo went onto the grass slightly in Turn 1, and in the next turn he moved suddenly to get his trajectory right. He didn’t see me because I was slightly behind. When he touched me, it pushed me into Spies, who touched my front brake lever. It was normal racing contact, but I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Joining Pedrosa and Lorenzo on the podium was world championship leader Casey Stoner, who looked on his way to a ninth win of the season - until suffering a major scare, while leading, on lap 5.
As Stoner powered downhill some bumps sent his RCV shaking violently. The Australian kept control but couldn’t stop for the following turn and speared off into the gravel.
Stoner explained: "Everything felt good and the bike was fantastic. I saw Andrea [Dovizioso] had closed in a little so I thought 'right we'll go a bit quicker'. I came onto the back straight and I got a big 'tank-slapper'.
"The bike was shaking and my hands nearly came off the handlebars. Then when I went for the brakes there was nothing there. I pumped them up a couple of times and as the brakes came back I nearly went over the front."
Stoner kept control but had to paddle his way out of the deep gravel before rejoining the race in seventh. That quickly became fifth when Dovizioso and Marco Simoncelli were both hit with a ride-through penalty for jumping the start.
"I cannot believe it. I have never had a jump start in my career and it happened today, in a race where I felt that I could fight for the win," sighed Dovizioso. "I don’t know why the bike moved a little before the green light."
“I saw Dovizioso move and let the clutch out just a tiny bit, but enough to be given a ride-through penalty," commented Simoncelli.
Cal Crutchlow in turn reacted to Simoncelli's movement and was also penalised.
While the Dovizioso and Simoncelli worked their way forward from the tail-end of the top ten, Stoner caught and overtook Nicky Hayden (Ducati) and Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) to claim third.
Both riders made mistakes soon after; Hayden running off track and Bautista crashing out.
Those incidents allowed warring Honda riders Simoncelli and Dovizioso to reach fourth and fifth, while Spies - who had rejoined in last place after the Rossi incident - took advantage of the chaos to take sixth place, just ahead of Hayden.
Colin Edwards (Tech 3) in eighth place was thus the first rider after Pedrosa to avoid contact, stay on the race track - and stay out of pit lane.
"What a race that was!" smiled Edwards. "It seemed like each time I went round a corner somebody else was in the gravel! There was so much chaos it was just about surviving."
Dovizioso, Marquez dodge MotoGP 2012 questions
MotoGP News
Date: 1/October/2011
Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez both did a good job of dodging questions about their intentions for the 2012 MotoGP season, on Saturday at Motegi.
Dovizioso is yet to re-sign for Honda and is set to lose his place at the factory team as it cuts back to two riders for the start of the new 1000cc era.
Repsol Honda was obliged to run three bikes in order to accommodate the arrival of Casey Stoner, alongside Dani Pedrosa and Dovizioso.
Honda had considered moving Dovizioso to a satellite team for this year, but the Italian refused to settle for anything less than the factory team seat specified in his contract.
That stance may be returning to haunt Dovizioso, since Stoner and Pedrosa are already signed for 2012 - while Gresini's Marco Simoncelli recently had his factory contract extended.
That seemed a clear indication that Dovizioso has now dropped below rising-star Simoncelli in the Honda hierarchy.
Dovizioso, a Honda rider throughout his full time grand prix career, looks prepared to accept a switch to a satellite team, which would almost certainly be LCR, but is insisting on continued access to the latest Honda machinery.
However LCR needs to find the budget to afford such motorcycles, while Dovizioso would almost certainly face a pay cut even if, as rumoured, HRC offered to pay his wages.
Dovizioso's main alternative is a move to Tech 3, Yamaha's only satellite team, where he could start a new relationship which might one day result in a return to full factory status.
Offers from both Tech 3 and LCR are said to be on the table, but so far Dovizioso is giving little away about his intentions.
"I still haven't decided," he said, before quashing rumours that he must make a decision by the end of this weekend. "There is no time limit."
While Dovizioso faces demotion, reigning 125cc world champion Marc Marquez is now within six points of the Moto2 title lead after a sensational rookie season.
Should the 18-year-old Spaniard win the 600cc title, as now seems likely barring a sudden revival by Stefan Bradl, many are speculating that Marquez could join MotoGP next season.
Marquez has strong Repsol backing and Honda won’t risk losing him to another manufacturer should he want to move. So far, Marquez insists he isn’t looking beyond the end of this year.
"I don’t know. Just at the moment I want to concentrate on Moto2. Next year we will see. At the moment I think Moto2 is my place," he said.
As a rookie, Marquez would need to join a satellite team for his first MotoGP season, but can still have access to the latest equipment and factory support.
While Dovizioso and Marquez dodged questions about their future, world champion Jorge Lorenzo has revealed he has been involved in a form of 'shower dodging' this weekend in Japan.
Due to concerns about radiation from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, around 110km away, the Yamaha rider confirmed that he has only been showering "with a bottle".
Date: 1/October/2011
Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez both did a good job of dodging questions about their intentions for the 2012 MotoGP season, on Saturday at Motegi.
Dovizioso is yet to re-sign for Honda and is set to lose his place at the factory team as it cuts back to two riders for the start of the new 1000cc era.
Repsol Honda was obliged to run three bikes in order to accommodate the arrival of Casey Stoner, alongside Dani Pedrosa and Dovizioso.
Honda had considered moving Dovizioso to a satellite team for this year, but the Italian refused to settle for anything less than the factory team seat specified in his contract.
That stance may be returning to haunt Dovizioso, since Stoner and Pedrosa are already signed for 2012 - while Gresini's Marco Simoncelli recently had his factory contract extended.
That seemed a clear indication that Dovizioso has now dropped below rising-star Simoncelli in the Honda hierarchy.
Dovizioso, a Honda rider throughout his full time grand prix career, looks prepared to accept a switch to a satellite team, which would almost certainly be LCR, but is insisting on continued access to the latest Honda machinery.
However LCR needs to find the budget to afford such motorcycles, while Dovizioso would almost certainly face a pay cut even if, as rumoured, HRC offered to pay his wages.
Dovizioso's main alternative is a move to Tech 3, Yamaha's only satellite team, where he could start a new relationship which might one day result in a return to full factory status.
Offers from both Tech 3 and LCR are said to be on the table, but so far Dovizioso is giving little away about his intentions.
"I still haven't decided," he said, before quashing rumours that he must make a decision by the end of this weekend. "There is no time limit."
While Dovizioso faces demotion, reigning 125cc world champion Marc Marquez is now within six points of the Moto2 title lead after a sensational rookie season.
Should the 18-year-old Spaniard win the 600cc title, as now seems likely barring a sudden revival by Stefan Bradl, many are speculating that Marquez could join MotoGP next season.
Marquez has strong Repsol backing and Honda won’t risk losing him to another manufacturer should he want to move. So far, Marquez insists he isn’t looking beyond the end of this year.
"I don’t know. Just at the moment I want to concentrate on Moto2. Next year we will see. At the moment I think Moto2 is my place," he said.
As a rookie, Marquez would need to join a satellite team for his first MotoGP season, but can still have access to the latest equipment and factory support.
While Dovizioso and Marquez dodged questions about their future, world champion Jorge Lorenzo has revealed he has been involved in a form of 'shower dodging' this weekend in Japan.
Due to concerns about radiation from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, around 110km away, the Yamaha rider confirmed that he has only been showering "with a bottle".
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