Archive - 2008

What is it about Australians on Ducatis? The Superstock 1000 FIM Cup race was won this morning by Brendan Roberts, who also clinched the championship with the win.  The Australian, who rides for the Xerox Ducati Junior team, kept his head whilst others were falling about him. The race was led early on by Chris Seaton aboard the Celani Suzuki, but Roberts closed his countryman down, passing him on lap 9 and never relinquishing the lead again.

Roberts had had to contend with Xavier Simeon early on, but the Belgian Alstare Suzuki rider, who was leading the series going into the race at Portimao, crashed on lap 8, and rejoined to finish 11th. Maxime Berger, the Hannspree IDS Ten Kate Honda rider, completed the podium.

Berger finished 2nd in the championship to Roberts, with Alessandro Polita in 3rd.

The day has started well for Australia and for Ducati. Chances of it continuing are very, very good. 

It's sunny and bright here in the Algarve, and if it wasn't quite so chilly and damp, it would be absolutely beautiful. The good news is, they got the access road from the motorway to the track done yesterday, and the better news is it was filling up nicely as we arrived here. 

The warmup sessions were held on a track that was cold and wet, especially through the scary downhill final turn and along the straight, and times were some 20 seconds off the times set in the dry. Johnny Rea led the way in the Superbikes, ahead of Troy Corser and Cal Crutchlow. Corser seems pretty bent on winning a World Superbike race on the Yamaha before he leaves to join BMW. He has two more chances, and will face the might of Troy Bayliss, who will not want to retire without a fight.

Kenan Soguoglu was quickest during the Supersport warmup, and if you were the betting type, you'd have a sizable sum on the Turk to win the race today. He's looking happy, and more importantly, he's looking fast. Sofuoglu was followed by Gianluca Nannelli and Mathieu Lagrive, who have both been fast in the cold and wet, but not so quick in the dry. The American Josh Hayes was down in 12th.

The Portuguese organizers are putting on a real show here, with a special dance performance featuring some young people prancing around in interestingly metallic costumes. And if that isn't enough, there's the Portuguese Air Force demonstration team flying over before the first World Superbike race. It's a good day to watch some racing.

With Suzuki focusing its efforts and - at least as importantly - its money on its MotoGP effort, the Hamamatsu factory has neglected the World Supersport series over the last few years. But this does not mean they have had no presence: Dutch tuner Marc Hoegee has fielded a team for the last few years, but short of funds, the team always seemed to be the nearly men, never quite making it on to the podium.

All that changed during the summer, with Barry Veneman getting ever closer to the podium he has been chasing for the past two years. At Magny Cours, he finally made it. We caught up Veneman on Saturday at the final World Supersport round at Portimao in Portugal.

Q: Earlier in the season, you were a team that was hovering on the brink. Then at the last round at Magny Cours, you get a podium. What happened?

BV: Well, it wasn't just at the last round, it had been going on for longer. We got some new parts in the middle of the season, which gave us some more horsepower. Then we also managed to make the bike lighter. And I've changed, I've gotten stronger as a rider. I made a decision to concentrate on my riding a lot more – I have a day job as well as this – and that's made a huge difference. I've been able to train more, and it's also meant I've had a chance to spend some more time with my family.

That's made me feel better on the bike, made me more confident. Before, we always felt like we were capable of getting in the top 10, but today, while I was riding around here, I was thinking to myself "I've got to be able to get a front row here," and I did, I'm in third.

Q: You think you'll be able to get on the podium here?

Superpole was a pretty damp affair, the rain getting worse as the session went on, only to start to clear after the session had ended. The miserable conditions saw several riders crashing, Ruben Xaus the first to go, followed later by Yukio Kagayama and Fonsi Nieto.

Troy Bayliss chose his moment wisely, and will end his career in World Superbikes starting from pole, ahead of two British riders, Cal Crutchlow and Johnny Rea – drawing comments that they must have felt right at home in the rain. Max Biaggi closes out the front row.

It's Saturday afternoon, and the sun is starting to make way for clouds. For the moment, it's still bright, but there's no guarantee of that lasting. The second session of Supersport practice was run in pleasant, if not exactly warm conditions, and times continued to drop as ever more rubber was laid on the track.

Once again it was Kenan Sofuoglu who dominated the session, quickly dropping into the 1'45s, and setting the mark for pole at 1'45.156 before the session was even halfway done. Many would try, but the closest anyone would get would be Broc Parkes in the dying seconds of the session, getting to within 7/100ths on the Yamaha.

Holland's Barry Veneman will start from 3rd on the grid, the Hoegee Suzuki team having picked up the final couple of tenths they've been missing over the last few rounds. Veneman has Andrew Pitt on the other Ten Kate Honda beside him on the grid, the 2008 World Champion finishing out the front row.

Gianluca Nannelli heads up the second row of the grid on the Althea Honda, with Spanish rider Joan Lascorz dropping to 6th, from 3rd this morning. Josh Brookes will start from 7th, while American Josh Hayes was pushed down to 8th, and the end of the 2nd row. Hayes had started well, but dropped gradually down the order, as the other riders made good their knowledge deficit of the track.

In the afternoon's World Superbike free practice session, Troy Bayliss was out to avenge his indifferent time of this morning, and quickly topped the timesheets, setting his fastest time on his 2nd full lap out of the pits. This time, Bayliss' time was good enough to beat his team mate, Michel Fabrizio setting the 2nd fastest time, making it a Xerox Ducati 1-2. Cal Crutchlow continued his run of strong times, setting the 3rd fastest time, ahead of Noriyuki Haga and Carlos Checa.

We woke up this morning to a surprise: skies were blue, more or less, the sun was out, and the world looked a much more attractive place than it has for the past two days. It's still cold here, but conditions have improved vastly overnight.

Traffic on the way into the circuit was busier than yesterday, unsurprisingly, but they still haven't finished the freeway exit which is supposed to take fans straight from the A22 freeway to the circuit. With today, November 1st, being a national holiday, the chances of it being completed and opened are minimal. If you want to get here on Sunday, leave early.

With the weather now cooperating, the World Supersport session started on time, and Parkalgar Honda's Josh Hayes was quickest for the first half of practice, before Joan Lascorz, Broc Parkes and Kenan Sofuoglu got up to speed.

Once up to speed, Sofuoglu was flying. The young Turkish rider is clearly much more at home back on his Ten Kate Honda, and finished the session on top of the timesheets. Yamaha's Broc Parkes got close, but not close enough, finishing 2nd, ahead of Joan Lascorz and Andrew Pitt. Hayes eventually finished down in 5th.

The second Superbike qualifying session saw the field shook up the same way as Supersport. Where yesterday, Britannia ruled, this morning, they merely made their presence felt, with Cal Crutchlow, Leon Haslam and Johnny Rea all hitting the top 10, rather than the top 5. No surprise to see Troy Corser near the top of the timesheets, as the Australian wants to get a win on a Yamaha before he leaves the team. All the more surprise to see Ducati's Michel Fabrizio ahead of Corser, taking top spot.

And another surprise behind Corser. Fonsi Nieto is still uncertain of his ride for next year, and grabbed some attention with the 3rd fastest time, ahead of Alstare Suzuki team mate Max Neukirchner. Crutchlow, Haslam and Rea were joined on the second row by Kawasaki's Regis Laconi, while the privateer Ducati of Jakub Smrz took 9th ahead of Ruben Xaus' semi-factory Sterilgarda bike. Troy Bayliss, running a special #21 livery on the bike for his final race weekend, could manage only 13th, but looked fast all the way round the track.

The grids for both classes will be settled this afternoon.

The weather continues to confuse and confound expectations here in Portugal, with rain and sunshine alternating almost minute by minute. The track, despite the sunshine, has barely been dry, however. As a consequence, times have been difficult to judge.

The World Supersport qualifying session was a case in point. The American Josh Hayes led for much of the session, having gone out on wet tires, and as a dry line was starting to appear, he pulled in for some intermediates. As he headed out of pit lane to start his next lap, it started to rain, and by the time he was halfway round the track, the dry line was completely gone, and his chance of provisional pole along with it.

In the end, it was the Frenchman Mathieu Lagrive who got it most right, topping the timesheets ahead of Hayes on the Parkalgar Honda, with Joan Lascorz and Gianluca Vizziello rounding out the front row. Kenan Sofuoglu continued to show just how much better he is on a Supersport bike than on a Superbike by setting the 5th fastest time, ahead of Gianluca Nanelli, with the Hoegee Suzukis of Barry Veneman and Didier van Keymeulen rounding out the second row. Jesco Gunther took 9th, while the 2008 World Supersport champion Andrew Pitt was down in 10th.

The disparity in times showed just how difficult the conditions were. Lagrive was 1.4 seconds faster than Hayes, while Hayes was 1.5 ahead of Lascorz. The top 10 are separated by 6.3 seconds.

The weather was slightly better for the World Superbike session, and for a while, it looked like being an all-British front row, with Ten Kate Honda's Johnny Rea, the HM Plant Hondas of Cal Crutchlow and Leon Haslam, and Ventaxia Honda's Chris Walker heading the timesheets. But by the end of the session, it was Troy Corser who took provisional pole, forcing Haslam down into 2nd, with the Ducatis of Michel Fabrizio and Ruben Xaus filling out the front row.

Heavy rain overnight on Thursday meant the inaugural day of practice got off to a late start here in Portugal. There are still problems with drainage, and parts of the track were flooded. What was worse was mud on the track, which had to be cleaned off before proceedings could start.

While the track was fixed quickly, facilities around the circuit are a little more problematic, with power being alternated between the pit garages and the hospitality area, the electricity supply blowing fuses with alarming regularity. And because the outside of the track is still basically a construction site, vast quantities of rich brown mud is being tramped everywhere. At least there is an army of cleaners keeping the buildings almost spotless, but they are having to work for their money.

When practice commenced, times dropped rapidly as rubber started to be laid on the brand new surface. During the first free practice session of World Supersport, Joan Lascorz started quickly, before Parkalgar Honda's Josh Hayes took over the top spot. The Mississippian was making good use of the track knowledge acquired here during testing last week, and was getting quicker when he crashed going into turn 1. He ended the session in 5th place. Joan Lascorz took back the top spot while Hayes limped back to the pits with a damaged bike. 

Lascorz finished the session on top, ahead of Matthieu Lagrive, Kenan Sofuoglu, clearly much happier on a Supersport bike than he was on a Superbike, and the Dutch Hoegee Suzuki rider Barry Veneman.

MotoGPMatters.com is in Portimao this weekend, to cover the World Superbikes finale, but mostly, to seize the last chance of seeing Troy Bayliss out on track. This morning, we headed out to find the circuit and give it the once over, and we have to say that it's an impressive facility. 

 

The schedule for the official tests has been announced. The MotoGP and smaller classes will test separately. Highlight of the test season is as ever the official IRTA test at Jerez, also known as Grand Prix Zero. Here, a BMW coupe will be up for grabs during a special qualifying session held on the last day.

MotoGP

125 and 250 class

The rain returned to Valencia on Tuesday, and the track saw little action, most riders going home. Only 7 riders hit the track in the afternoon, and as a few days earlier, Nicky Hayden was quickest in the wet.

The times:

There are lots of reasons to go to a MotoGP race. If your aim is to see the best riders in the world test their skill, bravery and machines to the limit on a technical track, then you go to Mugello in Italy, or Phillip Island in Australia. If your reason for going is to try and meet the riders, or at least stand a chance of getting as close to them as possible, then you head to Qatar, where the lack of crowds mean the paddock is more relaxed and less stressful, or you visit Laguna Seca, where the AMA's policy of selling paddock tickets means that for part of the weekend, you stand a chance of actually talking to your heroes.

If you're looking for a party, a chance to celebrate the joys of motorcycle racing with like-minded individuals, then you have several options. Mugello combines spectacular scenery with crowd insanity, Assen offers well-organized and efficient celebration, while the extremely low prices of beer, tickets and lodging at Brno make it an excellent choice for bike fans on a budget.

But the two MotoGP rounds which traditionally offer the most frantic partying are the two Spanish races which top and tail the season. The Jerez race, which opens the season in Europe, is sheer bedlam, as hordes of crazed Spanish motorcycle fans unleash a long winter's worth of pent-up frustration in an orgy of wine, wheelies and wanton abandon.

24 Hour Party People

At the other end of the year, the MotoGP season finale at Valencia is almost a mirror image: Vast legions of bike fans gather from all around the world to mark the end of motorcycle racing for another year. Fittingly, they party as if there were no tomorrow, and to an extent, they are right. It will be 5 long months before the MotoGP field lock horns on the track once again, and so the fans amassed at the Circuito Ricardo Tormo do their utmost to squeeze half a year's worth of partying into just three short days. So frenetic is the pace at the Valencia track and in downtown Cheste, the small town nearest to the circuit, that sometimes it can actually feel like quite hard work.

On the first two days of the race weekend, it wasn't so much the frenetic pace which took its toll on Valencia's partygoers as enduring the weather. The torrential and continuous rain turned the campsites and parking areas around the track into a mud bath, and a damp chill seeped its way into the very bones of everyone attending. On Friday and Saturday, the fans had to work a good deal harder at having a good time than they had bargained for.

It wasn't just the fans the rain had had an effect on. The MotoGP paddock, freshly disembarked off a long-haul flight from the sweltering tropics, was stupefied with shock at the change in conditions.  From getting off the bike drenched with sweat and close to heat exhaustion, the riders were now dismounting drenched by the rain, and approaching hypothermia.

It seemed like Nicky Hayden was the only rider to enjoy the conditions, leading all three rain-drenched free practice sessions by a comfortable margin. Valencia would be the Kentucky Kid's last race with Honda, and he clearly had his heart set on leaving with a good result as a thank you to his team. But more than this, he was determined to beat his team mate, after getting drawn into an ugly slanging match with Dani Pedrosa's manager, Alberto Puig.

Things Can Only Get Better

As qualifying started, things started looking up, for both fans and riders. On a mostly dry track, Nicky Hayden was once again quickest, until a very gentle rain returned. Hayden looked like he would end his 9-year stint with Honda with a pole position, but it was not to be. The weather gods had only been jesting when they sent a rain shower to taunt racing fans, and the track continued to dry.

As the qualifying session entered the final 15 minutes, Casey Stoner put on his usual demonstration of high-speed riding, snatching pole from Hayden with a lap the Kentuckian had no answer for. To make matters worse, Hayden's team mate Dani Pedrosa was the only rider capable of getting close, taking 2nd place on the grid by just 5/100ths of a second. Nicky Hayden would have to make do with starting 3rd.

Times from the first day of testing at Valencia. These will be updated as soon as official times are available. All times were set using the new standard tires provided by Bridgestone, with a choice of either a soft or a hard compound available. For comparison, see the fastest lap each rider set during the race on Sunday.

Times courtesy of GPOne.com and Motociclismo.es. 

Times at 5pm, the end of the test:

Fastest lap of each rider during the race on Sunday: