15 posts tagged “motorcycle road racing”
It's Spring time, which means motorcycle road racing season! Finally, after suffering through a winter of football, I get to watch a real sport. Last Saturday was World Superbike round 2 from Qatar. American Ben Spies totally dominated the weekend. Fastest in every practice, pole position, won race 1 by a second despite a bad start, won race 2 by almost two seconds, despite a mediocre start. This is his first year in the series, on a brand new bike, at tracks he's never raced at, and he's still managing to beat some of the best riders in the world. This 24-year-old kid from Longview, Texas is phenomenal. Watch him if you get the chance (plus, the racing this year is very close, which makes for more exciting viewing).
I saw him race last year at Road America. The guy had a bad crash in turn 3 during qualifying. Wadded up the bike but good, and needed six stitches in his jaw. But that didn't stop him from making pole position, and winning the race later that afternoon. Amazing drive, determination, and professionalism.
Drove out to Road America last weekend to watch some AMA Superbike Racing. Had a fun, if very wet time. I'll post details and pics later, bu the season has officially begun. I'm riding the bicycle and the motorcycle and loving most of it.
Motorcycle racing season is well under way, and I've been very happy for the distraction. Last night I watched the first disk of The Doctor, The Tornado, & The Kentucky Kid, a documentary of sorts about the 2005 MotoGP race at Laguna Seca. Narrated by Ewan McGregor, a big motorcycle fan, it does a great job of explaining how much work goes into setting up the bikes for the unique combination of rider, track, and weather at each race. Ewan shows the passion and extreme lengths the riders go through to win. The interviews with Americans Nicky Hayden, Colin Edwards, and John Hopkins narrating a lap around the track, coupled with onboard video, absolutely make the film.
Congrats to Valentino Rossi on a masterful win in Portugal. It was a very exciting race -- lots of very close passing under brakes -- and worth watching, even if you're not a huge motorcycle fan. SpeedTV is showing the race later this afternoon, and probably again on Tuesday.
Then there's the season finale of AMA Superbike, live at 3 PM Pacific time today (also on SpeedTV). There's a whopping 3 points separating pole sitter Ben Spies and his teammate Mat Mladin. Which ever one of them wins the race, and it will almost certainly be one of those two, will win the championship. There's fame and big money on the line. I know I'll be glued to the couch for that hour.
For those of you that follow AMA Superbike Racing, Matt Mladin completely dominated both races at Road Atlanta this weekend. He didn't get pole, but got good starts (which has been his downfall previously) and won both races handily. His teammate, Ben Spies, was second both times, despite a nasty crash causing a red flag (race restart) in race one. As the cause of the incident, he was gridded dead last, and still managed to finish second. Pretty impressive.
But Matt is the man of the hour. He has over 600 points and is leading the series by a mere three points on teammate Ben Spies, with one race to go. I love it when "old" men dominate. I like to see the 35-year-old Mladin kick the ass of younger kids. I love it when 40-year-old Miguel Duhamal still wins (or nearly wins) races. Not to mention 37-year-old Alex Barros who still occasionally threatens in Motogp, or 35-year-old Carlos Checa, or 34-year-old Loris Capirossi, also in MotoGP. These are my kind of guys. Not some 25-year-old punks who just got their racing license and are still learning all the tracks (no offense to Casey Stoner, who is valiantly proving me wrong right now). And hats off especially to Pierre Francisco Chili, who was a fixture at the top levels of World Super Bike well his 40s. THAT is a man I admire and want to meet.
Now, ironically, he's very busy coaching the next round of 20-something racers that are coming up through the ranks. Kudos for helping the next generation. But to be older and fragile, to know in your head how much it's going to hurt when you low side in that curve up ahead, and to keep doing it over and over again, every week, every year. Because you love it, and because you develop a strategy and level of physical fitness and manufacturer backing that helps you compete against the youngsters who might not have those resources. That's what I think is really amazing and impressive.
Hats off to James Toseland, taking the double win in grand style at Brands Hatch today. Nobody was even close most of the time. He lead in a convincing manner from about lap 3 all the way to the end. Biaggi had a tear up his butt and was swapping paint with a couple of the guys trying to gain back some places after his Ride Through penalty for jumping the start in Race 2. All in all, very exciting racing.
On this side of the puddle, I haven't seen the AMA races yet, so no spoilers, please! I do know that Friday practice was rough, with lots of guys going down and making mincemeat out of their expensive bikes. Ben Spies destroyed his in Turn 3 saying "I changed my gearing to get me off the rev-limiter and it put me in there way faster than before. I lost the front, saved it, but I was running off the track. I was gonna hit the grass sideways. I was gonna ride it out, but I looked up and saw that big ol' telephone pole out there in the run-off." Then I said, "Later!" (motions letting the bike go). "It sucks" If we had proper run-off room it would've saved a $500,000 motorcycle."
$500,000 bike? Yeeeaaaah. Uh huh. No problem, I'm sure I've got an extra one lying around here somewhere that you can use. NOT!
P.S. Saw the Simpsons' movie today. It was very funny in the beginnging, then bogged down in the story line. Almost as if they'd run out of ideas. Definitely worth seeing, though.
Not a very good weekend for the Americans at our home Grand Prix. Nicky Hayden and John Hopkins hit each other in the first corner of the first lap, sending John to the ground and eventually causing Nicky to withdraw with mechanical issues. Curtis Roberts and Miguel Duhamel both pulled into the pits in the first half, leaving Collin Edwards to finish 11th (tire problems) and, somewhat surprisingly, the best American honors to Roger Lee Hayden who finished 9th.
Congrats to the Australians -- Casey Stoner with an utterly dominant win, Chris Vermulen with another great ride in second, and a newcomer to MotoGP, Anthony West, finishing 7th. All were running Bridgestone tires, which seem to have a marked advantage over the other tire brands at certain tracks and when it's very hot (Sepang in Malaysia, Motegi in Japan, and Losail, the new track in Qatar).
Personally, I would have loved to have seen Nicky Hayden win another one at home, and Edwards or DuHamel with a strong showing, but that was not the case.
is coming to Laguna Seca the weekend of July 20 - 22nd. Honda officially announced that my homey, 39-year-old Miguel Duhamel, ride the Gresini Honda MotoGP bike in place of injured rider Toni Elias. This man has been racing motorcycles at the professional level for most of his life, winning his first Daytona 200 back in 1991! He will be the oldest rider on the starting grid. He's fast, determined, and obviously experienced, having been a factory Honda racer for many years. Oh, and I got his autograph at Road America. If he gets enough practice time and is comfortable with the bike, it should be an awesome race.
This was Sunday afternoon. It stopped raining for about an hour, but the track was still very wet.
There was also a side car race Sunday. I guess if you're racing something no one even drives any more, you've got to have a sense of humor about it (and yourself). Note the very un-aerodynamic helmet attachments.
Five of the hundreds (literally!) of pictures I took this weekend. I'll try to clean up some more later, and I have a few stories to tell, but I'm exhausted now and have a hectic week ahead.
This is what the pit lane "garage" looks like if you have nearly infinite money to spend.
At this level, everything is branded, even the stupid grill.
Anyone can buy 110 octane racing fuel at the track. It's a steal at only $8.00 per gallon. Imagine what filling up an SUV would cost.
Turn 5 is a downhill, hard braking corner that a surprisingly large number of racers blow (you can't see the runoff area in this shot). Note bike #56 (I think it's Tony Meiring) getting sideways. He made the turn perfectly.
Katarina with all her luggage, stopping for gas on the way home. The sun finally came out and started baking the back of my neck.
