MotoGP

Short and sweet today, as Casey Stoner has come out on record stating that he will be retiring from the sport of MotoGP at the end of the 2012 season.

During the press conference before the start of the Le Mans GP this weekend he stated that as of the end of the season he will retire. Recently becoming a father who can blame him. He is at the top of his game and as they say go out when you’re at the top.

He has been with both Ducati and Honda but has never tried the Yamaha that Rossi won the Championship with it would have been nice to see the difference between both him and Rossi as they both tried to win a title on all three manufacturers.

Stoner was one of the riders that didn’t like the introduction of the slower CRT bikes and riders to the grid but Ezpeleta is trying to make the sport more accessible to more people and teams by bringing the costs down.

My question would be will he still retire if he isn’t at the top of the standings come November?

So it has been a while since I posted about anything, well about a fortnight after I covered the first MotoGP race. It’s been a hectic year looking for a new engine for the CG and trying to fix the car. The possibility of buying a new one sometime so hunting through the VW Polos for sale and Beetles, as someone wants one. I would be happy with passing my bike test and getting a 600cc to ride.

Anyway, I can’t believe that it is nearly time for the third round of the eighteen rounds.

Round Two – Jerez

So, Jerez was round number two but I never got the chance to report on this as I was busy away on a break. I still managed to watch the race and I have recorded it to watch again this week to digest the ins and outs of the entire race.

The first session was just a carbon copy of last years. Rain and bad weather hit the circuit and saw most of the field sit out the first session. Bautista was the only prototype to hit the circuit while the CRTs were out in force. Edwards was once again the slowest, as he was in Qatar a fortnight ago.

MotoGP FP2- Still Wet

The second session saw the weather improve slightly and all 21 of the riders took to the circuit. Pedrosa was the fastest of them all. Rossi, a wet weather specialist some would say, was the early pace setter but Pedrosa put his name at the top of the sheet going 0.660 seconds quicker than the Italian.

Lorenzo was a further 0.433 seconds behind Rossi, but crucially for the Mallorcan he was in front of Stoner. Is this a sign of things to come?

Hayden managed fifth in front of Dovizioso, Bautista and Crutchlow who was 2.572 seconds off of the pace. Edwards improved his placing by being 15^th fastest

FP3 another Rain Affected Session

The tyres were tested out as the riders managed long runs to see how the wet Bridgestone tyres would be able to cope with a race distance. With Sunday forecast to be wet once again judging the performance of the tyres would be a critical strategy to how to ride the race.

Pedrosa was again the fastest as he bettered his FP2 time by over half a second. Lorenzo was 0.111 seconds behind him followed by Stoner and Hayden. Crutchlow moved up the order to fifth with Rossi behind him.

Randy de Puniet was the fastest of the CRT guys for the second session running showing that the Power Electronics Aspar is the one to beat. He was 1.851 seconds slower than Pedrosa.

Qualifying Session from Jerez

Lorenzo took full advantage of the dry track for the qualifying session. Times dropped by 11 seconds as the riders weren’t struggling with the wet slippery surface.

Lorenzo topped the qualifying time sheet just 0.135 seconds in front of Pedrosa, who was the quickest in the rest of the sessions. Hayden joins them on the front row of the grid, but his teammate, Rossi could only manage 13^th on the dry track.

Crutchlow qualified fourth, 0.007 seconds in front of Stoner and 0.007 Seconds behind Hayden. Ben Spies completed the second row.

Dovizioso, Bautista and Bradl qualified on the third row as the highest of the CRT riders, Randy de Puniet headed up the fourth row ahead of Abraham and Barbera.

I’ll write about the race later as well as Moto2 and Moto3.

The revs go up and the lights go out and the 2012 MotoGP gets underway at the Losail circuit in Qatar.

Pedrosa gets the best of the start as he rockets to second. Crutchlow drops to seventh. Jorge holds it to the end of the first lap followed by the Repsol Hondas. The next riders are Dovi and Crutchlow as the guy from Coventry has cut through the field.

Honda’s Early Pace

Shots from the front of the two Hondas down the finish straight show them closing on Jorge but he holds them off into turn one. Stoner is looking to take Jorge.

Stoner gets him on the finish straight at the end of lap three. So the line-up is Stoner, Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Dovizioso and Crutchlow. The Tech 3 guys are trying to gain on the leading three. Stefan Bradl is chasing the on the LCR Honda. Rossi is running 12^th, while Hayden is the highest Ducati running in 8^th.

Rossi’s Race So Far

Rossi runs on after losing out to Abraham but replays show the Italian had an incident with Hector Barbera. James Ellison was running in 20^th but he runs wide at the first turn and drops to 21^st. He is promoted to 20^th again as Abraham has an issue.

Lap eight and it sees the first of the riders coming into the pits as Michele Pirro comes in. Stoner is leading the way as he leads by 1.5 seconds over Lorenzo after 8 laps. Abraham comes back into the pits and gets off the bike to be the first retirement of the race.

Hayden takes Bautista to grab seventh will he push and see if he can catch the young German, Stefan Bradl? Time will tell.

Stretching the Lead

Stoner is increasing his lead. Rossi is the fastest on track as he is doing 1:51 lap times but as he is running in tenth after taking Spies he has some time to make up and some ground too. Will the tyres be having issues after the abuse of the first eleven laps or will the better riders be able to manage them better than the younger ones?

Crutchlow looks like he is looking to get past Dovizioso but isn’t able to do such just yet.

Stoner still leads and has over 2 seconds advantage over the Yamaha Factory Racing rider Lorenzo. On Jorge’s tail is Pedrosa but then there are another eight seconds until the Tech 3 guys.

Jorge is pulling in the gap on Stoner as we reach 8 laps to go. Hayden takes Bautista and is up to seventh. Rossi is six seconds behind Hector Barbera but is lapping slower than the Spaniard. Luckily for Rossi Spies is also lapping two seconds slower than the Italian.

Hayden and Bradl

Hayden is a second behind Stefan Bradl in a group that contains the two of them, Bautista and Barbera. Edwards is seven seconds behind Spies and Edwards is lapping quicker than his fellow American, the question there is will there be a battle for eleventh.

Lap 17 Crutchlow gets in front of Dovizioso. Was it an error by the Italian or is it his turn to watch his team mate. Stoner’s lead is just over a second but Lorenzo is being pushed by Pedrosa. Danilo Petrucci comes into the pits to retire.

As we reach the end of the race the front three look as though they are going to be battling for the win as Lorenzo and Pedrosa are pulling in Stoner. Pedrosa does over take Lorenzo but they are both within a second of the leader. Lorenzo takes Pedrosa at the hairpin as they are wheel to wheel with the Aussie.

Hayden drops two places as he fights in the four way battle for sixth.

Last Corner Pass

Last corner of the 19^th lap Lorenzo takes Stoner, the Hondas power towards to one alongside the Spaniard’s Yamaha but he nearly takes the front off of Stoner’s bike as they turn into turn one. Lorenzo then starts to build a lead as Stoner worries about his team mate.

Pedrosa then takes Stoner relegating him to third. The Tech 3 guys are still fourth and fifth as the four rider battle still ensues behind for sixth. Hayden is trying to be the first of the Ducati’s as h battles against Bradl, Barbera and Bautista.

The victory goes to Lorenzo as he finishes nearly a second in front of Pedrosa.

So the final standings of the race were:

1. Lorenzo
2. Pedrosa
3. Stoner
4. Crutchlow
5. Dovizioso
6. Hayden
7. Bautista
8. Bradl
9. Barbera
10. Rossi
11. Spies
12. Edwards
13. De Puniet
14. Hernandez
15. Espargaro
16. Silva
17. Pasini
18. Ellison

Three non-finishers were Petrucci, Pirro and Abraham.

Now it has been a while but I am finally getting round to writing the report for the Moto2 and MotoGP testing sessions at Jerez two weeks ago. In the Moto2 class there were all 32 of the riders out on track for the whole three days. Moto2 – Day One During the first day [...]

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the Moto2 and Moto3 riders had the last chance to put their machines through the paces at the Circuito de Jerez. Let’s start the round up with the moto3 riders and teams. First Moto3 Session, Monday Romano Fenati of Team Italia FMI was quickest as all 32 of the riders [...]

Following the other unveilings the Power Electronics Aspar Team have unveiled their livery for the 2012 MotoGP season, doing so in Valencia on Tuesday evening. MotoGP Unveiling The two rider team was presented to the world by Jorge ‘Aspar’ Martinez who presented Randy de Puniet and Aleix Espargaro to the public sporting their blue and [...]

Colin Edwards finally joined the Forward Racing team to unveil the livery for the 2012 season at Jerez. The American was about two hours late for the presentation but he finally joined the Forward Racing Moto2 Team of Alex de Angelis and Yuki Takahashi. Tornado Jokes The American MotoGP rider was late due to being [...]