MotoGP

Is this the day that forces Dorna and its people to look at themselves and think about the future of the sport that we love so much? It would seem that MotoGP is becoming a big money sport, even though the CRT has been introduced to lower the costs for teams.

Anthony West Riding CRT

With the introduction of the Claims Rules Teams, who use highly tuned factory engines in prototype chassis’ to lower costs it had thought that the MotoGP grid would be larger and more interesting to watch.

It seems that although Carmelo Ezpeleta is hoping that the finances within the sport will be helped by the lower cost of the teams has been dashed already.

The Australian rider, Anthony West, who had been signed to ride for the Speed Master CRT has announced on his Facebook page that he cannot obtain the cash to ride for the team. His statement:

“I (ANTHONY WEST) will not race in MotoGP this year or any other race because I cannot find sponsorship to pay the SPEED MASTER team, Because all teams are asking for money from the riders only the rich can race in MotoGP/moto2/moto3, I cannot even afford to ride a year for free, As I have YET to be paid from my former team MZ Germany Moto2 team. I had my car, mx bike and my house for sale trying to keep the ride and even gave the house as a guarantee if I did not find the money but was not enough. I will most likely not race anymore and will return back to Australia to find a normal job. Sorry to my fans”

This news comes just days before the first official testing session at Sepang. I had heard that of the CRT entries there were only likely to be one or two of the teams going to Sepang on the 31^st of January as they have yet to complete the machines.

Is this another issue that may have to be addressed by Dorna?

The Mugello circuit has been awarded the 2011 IRTA “Best Grand Prix” for the fifth time since 1976.

Almost 85,000 spectators gathered at the Mugello circuit on the 3^rd of July to witness Jorge Lorenzo take his second victory of the season after a battle with Casey Stoner.

Once again, as always, the Mugello circuit proved to be a thrilling spectacle in all three of the classes even though the weekend had been marred by intermittent rain, the newly laid tarmac improved the grip while the teams enjoyed working in excellent conditions in pit lane. The award is given by the teams and reflects the fact that they liked to be at a certain circuit during the year.

Mugello CEO

Paolo Poli, the track CEO said: “I consider this award recognition of Italian excellence around the world. This is proof that Italy is able to answer – with the strength of tradition and innovation – to global challenges defining this difficult historical period. The Italian Grand Prix will remain the most important event of our sporting calendar in years to come. In addition, we will continue our positive relationship with Dorna and IRTA, whose professionalism has allowed motorcycle racing to be more successful and popular than ever.”

Herve Poncharal

While Herve Poncharal said: “The best Grand Prix is voted by the teams, and the teams talk to the riders, mechanics and press officers. So it’s not only the track, it’s everything, how everybody feels about the Grand Prix and how everybody feels at home there. So I’m personally very happy that they’ve won it for the fifth time. I’m delighted to think we’re going to go back there quite soon and this is well-deserved.”

Last year Dorna and Mugello reached an agreement for a new five year deal, this means that the MotoGP will be continuing at the Mugello circuit until at least 2016. With the huge attendances and exciting racing at the circuit why would we want to go elsewhere?

(AP Photo/Eckehard Schulz)

Today would have been the birthday of Marco Simoncelli; it would have been his 25^th birthday.

Marco Simoncelli Early Years

Marco was born in Cattolica but grew up and lived in Coriano, where he was buried in November. At the early age of seven he started racing minibikes and moved into the Italian Minimoto Championship when he turned nine.

He won the Italian Minimoto Championship in 1999 and 2000 and was also a runner up in the European Minimoto Championship. He moved into the 125cc Italian Championship which he won in his rookie year. In 2002, at the age of 15 he competed in and won the European 125cc Championship.

Moving to the 125cc

He started to race in the 125cc class in 2002 competing in the last 6 races of the Championship using the number 37 and gained three points. The following season he changed to the iconic number 58, that he became famous for, and finished 21^st in the Championship. In 2004 and 2005 he moved to WorldwideRace but failed to win the Championship.

250cc Career

When he moved to the 250cc class in 2006 where he lost out to on the ‘Rookie of the Year’ by just seven points to Shuhei Aoyama.

His first 250cc win was at his home Grand Prix in 2008 when he won in controversial circumstances. He went on to win a further five races that year finishing the Championship at the top of the leader board beating Alvaro Bautista by 37 points.

He again took six wins in the 2009 250cc Championship before it was announced on 25^th June 2009 that he would move to the MotoGP class for the 2010 season with the San Carlo Gresini Honda team.

Picture from flagworld.com

Stepping into MotoGP

In the MotoGP class he got off to a turbulent start after two preseason crashes at Sepang. He did finish eleventh on his debut and improved as the season went on finishing 16 of the 18 races. He finally finished eighth in the Championship.

Simoncelli was to be the surprise package of the 2011 season and he surely lit the world stage up. Finishing fifth in the opening race at Qatar, then he crashed out of the next two races. Le Mans saw the Dani Pedrosa incident that brought about controversy. The ride through penalty dropped him down the order but he fought back to finish fifth.

He gained his first pole in the next race at Catalunya beating Stoner by 0.016 seconds. He had a poor start though and dropped to seventh, finally finishing sixth. He grabbed his first MotoGP podium at Brno where he fought to a third position. His best result was second at Phillip Island.

In Remembrance

Following his death at Sepang Simoncelli’s body was returned home to Coriano where an estimated 20,000 people attended his funeral while others watched on ‘Italia 1’ and ‘Rai 2’. On 3^rd November the Misano World Circuit announced that it was to rename itself in honour of the fallen Italian.

At the final race of the 2011 season a tribute lap was held on race morning in honour of Simoncelli. This consisted of all the riders from MotoGP, Moto2 and the 125cc Classes all taking part alongside Simoncelli’s bike ridden by Kevin Schwantz.

The Marco Simoncelli Foundation has been created in his honour.

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