The Biggest Events of 2013

Races aren't won in the first corner, unless you're Lorenzo

2013 was a big year for MotoGP; Rossi returned to the Factory Yamaha team and we saw some of the closest in years across all three classes, especially Moto3. Some things stayed the say, the Ducatis still struggled, Spaniards still dominated and the Espagaro brothers were as emotional as ever. There was also news and drama a plenty with a multitude of broken bones, rule changes and the usual paddock gossip coming with each race. Max Biaggi even made a brief return to the MotoGP paddock when he tested for Ducati. However, there were five events that stood out as not only critical in deciding this season’s results, but also how seasons to come will potentially play out.

Marquez Makes Magic

The first event started in July 2012 when it was announced Marc Marquez would be replacing Casey Stoner in the Repsol Honda team for 2013. The messiah was coming; the most anticipated step up to the premier class since Valentino Rossi in 2000. Everyone knew he would be fast, but they also thought he would crash and crash a lot. He did crash a lot, beaten only by Hernandez for most crashes, and he even broke some records with crashes like his Mugello Free Practice 2 175mph scare. But he managed to avoid any serious injury and limited his crashing antics to practice sessions, aside from Mugello, and was otherwise able to be on the podium in every race he finished. This sort of form is amazing from riders with years of MotoGP experience but from a rookie, it was almost unbelievable.

Marquez’ huge and obvious talent translated to him claiming his first Word Title and destroying almost every record that went along with it. The next few years look daunting from the perspective of a rider trying to beat Marquez. As a fan the future looks bright, Marquez favours racing behind his opponents, watching them for several laps before striking. This makes for extremely exciting racing and memorable moments such as the incident at Lorenzo corner in Jerez and the last laps of the Silverstone race. He is constantly learning from the riders he follows; an example of this is at Le Man for his first wet race. He essentially learnt how to race a MotoGP bike in the wet in just eight laps, then being confident enough to charge through the field. He can only get faster. How scary is that?

Lorenzo Evolves

2013 was Lorenzo’s finest year of racing. He might not have won the title but he proved that he is truly one of the best riders in the world and one of the toughest human beings on the planet. No one will forget Assen, a broken collarbone on Thursday, trip to hospital for a bit of surgery and back to the track to race, and score decent points, on Saturday. Jorge even shook it off like it was nothing. When told he was a hero he responded with "No, heroes are those who work hard just to reach the end of each month. I get paid to do these things." Despite this humility he would suffer another re-break of the same collarbone at Sachsenring, something that should have ended his championship hopes.

The second half of the season saw a much-needed new gearbox grace Lorenzo’s M1 and the Mallorcan became even more determined and aggressive in his title defence. His riding hit a new level of consistency, Misano saw him stay within half of second of his laptime for all but the first and last laps. His tactics and riding also become more aggressive when the situation called for it, particularly at Valencia when everything was on the line. From Silverstone onwards Jorge rode like a man possessed, focusing on getting the start he needed to allow him to ride the Yamaha how it wanted to be ridden. The best riders adapt how they ride to the bike and situation they’re in and Jorge proved more than capable of evolving to keep up with the missile that is Marquez. Lorenzo has, and will always be, a threat.

Mahindra, Better Than Honda

Mahindra first came into the MotoGP world in 2010, taking over the Lambretta project in the last year of the 125s. It was an average season for a virgin team, a handful of points and a surprise pole position in the last ever 125cc race from Danny Webb. The change to the Moto3 class would give them equal footing on bike development with everyone starting from scratch. Mahindra partnered with Oral Engineering and had a torrid season full of crashes, broken engines and angry riders followed. Miguel Oliveira took a huge risk signing with the Indian manufacturer for the 2013 season, but the risk paid off. A new partnership with Suter-Engineering and an almost complete overhaul of the team saw the Mahindra become the second best bike on the Moto3 grid. More than that, they were better than the big and mighty Honda.

The point of Moto3 was to give a level playing field and draw in more factories to prevent the Aprilla cup that 125s became, it hasn’t quite done this but the success of Mahindra, especially in contrast to their first torrid year in the Moto3 class, is a huge boon for the lightweight class. It has also caused Honda to refocus their Moto3 effort and come back fighting. The success story that Mahindra has been will hopefully encourage more manufacturers to join in Moto3, or potentially help to bring in more interest from new markets. The number of MGP30s (Mahindra’s Moto3 bike) has more than tripled for 2014 and this will allow Mahindra to develop the bike more and close the gap to the KTMs even further.

Out With The Old, In With The New

The last round of the year is usually a quiet affair, championship often wrapped up and only a few i’s and t’s left on contracts. This year not only saw two championships go down to the wire but also saw one of the most controversial stories of the year. Rossi dumped mega experienced Jeremy Burgess in favour of Silvano Galbusera, Melandri’s old WSBK crew chief. Rossi goes into what is potentially his last season in MotoGP and needs ‘new motivation,’ resulting in the change. It’s a risky move to say the least. The rest of the Rossi’s loyal crew remains but a big question mark remains over how next season will go. It’s not going to be Ducati bad at its worst, but will it be enough to turn Rossi into a regular winner? It would be a surprise.

Rossi wasn’t the only rider to part with a long-term partner as Pedrosa and lifelong manager Puig parted ways. Puig remains within the HRC family, now talent scouting in the Asia Cup and Dani obviously remains on his beloved Repsol RCV213V. All those years and near triumphs, but no title, like Rossi; something needed changing to see if it could be what pushes Pedrosa to the next step. Is having grid girls hold his umbrella what is stopping from Pedrosa from winning the MotoGP crown? Doubtful. But, like Rossi, maybe a change after all these years will reinvigorate racing’s favourite bridesmaid.

Puig moving to the Asia Cup is also a huge boost for the series. The Spaniard is perhaps the best talent scout in the MotoGP paddock, guiding Pedrosa, Stoner, Chaz Davies and many more in their early years in the Spanish championship. Asia is seen as a potential solution for all the financial troubles currently facing MotoGP and the best way to get to that money is by bringing in the most talented riders from continent and putting them on a competitive package, even better if that bike is from a similar area, like Mahindra.

The Phillip Island Debacle

Tyres that couldn’t last more than 12 laps, mandatory pits stops with last second rule changes but one of the most dramatic races of the year. The Bridgestone tyres at Phillip Island this year, and to a lesser extent the Dunlops on the Moto2 bikes, were a joke. WSBK and ASBK had both run at the newly resurfaced Phillip Island and had both had huge problems with tyres. Testing is extremely limited but being able to do less than half race distance on the tyres when Bridgestone were fully aware of the issues was beyond comical. What if all the Michelin riders had been able to go full race distance? There would have been even more of a riot outside the Bridgestone tent at the back of the paddock.

The single tyre rule has cut costs and evened things out, no more rider specific tyres, no more overnight specials. But it has also slowed development, Bridgestone have no one to beat, no extra drive to prove that they’re the best. It’s impossible to say what would have happened had there been another company to choose from at Phillip, but it’s doubtful it would have resulted in a race day rule change. Phillip Island was exciting, but it was also a situation that should have never arisen. Hopefully this will cause Bridgestone to be more aggressive in their development and avoid situations such as this in the future.

Bonus Moment:

The Jerez ‘No Soup for You! Finger Wag’

Mind Over Matter

Being physically and mentally prepared for any new task in life is always important, especially when that task is racing a Grand Prix motorcycle around at dizzying speeds. Motorcycle racing has grown up a lot since the times of post-race conference beers and deathly 500s. Now to be at the top a rider has to be at the peak of not just bike riding ability but also physical fitness and mental strength. Some say this has made Grand Prix racing too serious taken out a lot of the bad-boy rebel attitude it once had. Regardless of the truth behind the statement, the maturing of GPs has lead to some devilishly fast and competitive rookies. Riders such as Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and especially Marc Marquez have been highly competitive from the word go.

Things have not always been so easy for rookies on factory machine however. Mick Doohan’s first season in GPs was less than stellar. A 3^rd in Germany was the highlight of a season filled with injuries and teething problems with his NSR. The 500s were obviously a beast for anyone to learn but Doohan also had to contend with off track distractions. Europe offered all riders a plethora of distractions off the track, especially to a rookie such as Doohan with little experience outside of his native Australia. It has been widely noted that Doohan spent perhaps too much of his rookie season ‘distracted’ and that it detracted somewhat from his performance. The late 80s was also the cusp of the fitness craze that has now enveloped GPs. Riders were fit, but not top athlete fit and this too meant that rookie seasons were spent adjusting physically to the new demands.

Unlike Doohan, Valentino Rossi took a far more conventional route up to GPs, competing in 125cc and 250cc prior. However, this didn’t mean that he had an easy rookie season. A double DNF greeted Rossi when he achieved his dream of racing a 500cc Honda. Rossi’s season would eventually turn around into a near title-winning season. But why didn’t he win the title? He knew the tracks, he was quick and he was physically strong. But Rossi, as noted by himself, didn’t believe he could win the title in that first half of the season and this mental doubt cost him. Rossi, like Doohan before him, overcame this initially tough season to dominate for multiple seasons.

Marquez has the advantage of being in a GP environment where peak physical fitness is a must for top riders. He has also grown up watching Rossi play mind games with everyone from Biaggi to Stoner and carefully studied how important mental strength is. Marquez has been prepared and groomed for this since he was in mini-moto, eliminating rookies’s greatest weakness: their own mind. Marquez has no outlandish parties to distract him, no self-doubt; he is a machine who is full of self-belief and confidence. But there is only so much the likes of Alzamora can do, in the end the belief and confidence comes from within Marc.

Having stormed to his third victory of the season while Pedrosa and Lorenzo struggled with injuries, Marquez has cemented himself as not only a title contender but also a title favourite. The natural talent of 20-year-old Spaniard is un-doubtable, but a thought must be given  to how each generation has been able to learn from the mistakes of the last.

Does Red Bull Have The Wings To Replace Tobacco?

As long as there has been motorcycle racing there has been tobacco advertising gracing side fairings. Lucky Strikes, Marlboro, Gauloises, Camel and Chesterfield have all enabled champion riders such as Kevin Schwantz to ride winning machines developed by the likes of Suzuki, Ducati and Yamaha. But in the mid 2000s began to change. Teams such as Camel Honda would replace the ‘Camel’ on the bikes and leathers with ‘Bayliss’ or ‘Biaggi’ as more and more countries began to ban tobacco advertising. Some teams, such as Ducati, kept the sponsorship and instead had fairing or leathers that were similar to well known tobacco brand’s logos. But for the majority of teams the wealth of tobacco money was gone.

Since then the number of teams in all classes has shrunk, the quest for sponsorship not helped by the world’s economic troubles. Spanish and Italian companies, were MotoGP gets the majority of its viewership from, helped from a while but now even they have began to fade. Although a new industry looks to perhaps have a small amount of the much needed sponsorship money, energy drinks. The multi-billion dollar industry isn’t new to sponsoring MotoGP teams, sponsoring the Yamaha of Garry McCoy (amongst others) in the 500cc days of yore.

Energy drinks have seen an explosion in popularity from the early 2000s when Red Bull first came onto the market, now dozens of brands exist and nearly all of them seem to have an interest in MotoGP. Smaller brands such as ‘Go & Fun,’ which also make a variety of other energy products, have replaced San Carlo as Gresini’s title sponsor. ArmA has been sponsoring Scott Redding and the Marc VDS team for over three years and even budget energy drinks such as ‘Mad Croc’ have sponsored riders such a Ricky Cardus.

The two biggest brands, Red Bull and Monster, look as though they could potentially be sponsoring Honda and Yamaha’s MotoGP efforts. Red Bull have been sponsoring Dani Pedrosa and soon to be factory rider Marc Marquez for years and recently stepped up their support for Stefan Bradl and the LCR team, even being rumored as a title sponsor for them. Red Bull clearly has an interest in supporting Honda.

Monster, one of the newer companies in the energy drinks competition, have shown a huge interest in MotoGP. Sponsored riders include; Pol Espagaro, Valentio Rossi, Ben Spies, Andrea Dovizioso and the Tech 3 team. With Rossi’s move back to Yamaha it looks, if the rumors are true, as if Monster could now be a major, if not title, sponsor of the factory Yamaha team. Recent reports have it that Yamaha have bought out Lorenzo’s Rockstar contract for an estimated 2 million Euros, clearing the way for Monster, Rossi’s personal sponsor, to be a major player on the Yamaha’s fairing. It is estimated that between Eneos and Monster Yamaha could be gaining 7 million Euros, the same money Fiat once brought them.

If the energy drinks market continues to grow as it does and the world’s economic problems, hopefully, lift, they could offer a large amount of sponsorship for the struggling GP championship. Obviously energy drink money alone won’t be enough, but hopefully combined with Dorna’s cost cutting methods we’ll see the GP grid grow and just maybe more exciting racing on a regular basis.

New Prints and Pricing

With the addition of photos from the GP Generali de la Communitat Valencia to the collection there is more exciting news. Prints have been repriced!

From now on prints will come in two sizes:

 A1(33inches x 23.4 inches) 

A2 (23.4 inches x 16.5 inches)

 They also come in both glossy and matte.

A1 Prints will cost £20 / €25 + Postage

A2 Prints will cost £15 / €20 + Postage

As always, email me at harrylloy94@gmail.com if you’re interested in a print.

For Canvases select the photo you want and tell me the price you're willing to spend (can include shipping) and I'll get the largest sized canvas for the price!

Photos can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/harrylloydgp/collections/72157630775399000/

Goose, we need you!

Sepang is always an interesting race. It comes at the time in the season when, mathematically, championships can be won, and lost. At the beginning of the weekend there were three riders who stood a chance of taking home the inaugural Moto3 honours; Sandro Cortese, Luis Salom and Maverick Vinales. However Maverick Vinales has removed himself from the running by refusing to race for his team, Blusens Avintia, due them being “a second division team,” and perhaps more importantly the fact that his manager, who is also the team manager of said “second division team”, had failed to inform him of other offers for next year. The situation is further complicated as Vinales had signed a two year contract (one year in Moto3 and one year in Moto2) with the Blusens team.

Most people understand that a formal contract, such as one outlining your employment for the next two years, is legally binding and breaking it without evidence of negligence on behalf of the contract provider. Even considering that there are most likely other factors involved in the split, it’s hard to see how Vinales will be able to break the contract without legal repercussions, most likely having to pay a sizable amount of money. Dorna, the parent company of MotoGP, may even take it upon themselves to deal with Vinales, although what they would do is much harder to predict. Some possible options are a ‘ban’ from riding for the two years that the contract would have been in affect, ‘You ride for us, or no one.’ This depends on how the contract is worded and perhaps more importantly how good the lawyers are for each side, if it does reach that stage.

There are much broader implications for Vinales too, the most severe being the risk to his career. Even for a teenager Maverick has proved himself to be a hot headed and despite being very quick on a motorcycle it makes him much less attractive to prospective teams. Many talented riders such as Cortese, Marquez and Lorenzo have been known to be hot heads on the track, especially in their younger days. But few of them openly walked away from contracts or refused to ride, their situation may have been slightly different but the point stands.

This incident also bring up the idea of a rider union, a collective of riders and legal representatives who ensure fair practice amongst the teams. There are several problems with this however, first there is the issue of funding. Teams are currently struggling for funding and this union would require funding, and probably a lot of it, but there is almost no where for the money to come from, apart from the pocket’s of the riders. This would be very unlikely as the majority of riders struggle to get paid as it is. There is also the issue of getting a ride being almost as competitive as riding the ride. This fact would potentially make riders less likely to join as they may feel that by helping another rider to get a ride it stops them obtaining one too.

It is likely that whatever happens Vinales will be back next season, probably in Moto3 aboard a KTM based bike. But it will take time to see how this issue plays out for both Vinales and Blusens and if any legal action is taken. It will also take time to see if Vinales’ career is in fact hindered by his antics because regardless of who the blame lies with walking out of a contract and with three races to go is not the proper way to handle a contractual dispute. Just as it is unprofessional for teams to release riders without valid reasons and proof so too is it unprofessional for riders to break contract without valid reasons and proof. 

However a further spanner has been thrown into the works as some Spanish journalists are reporting that Vinales may be in Australia, most likely to ride the bike in the hope that he will be able to terminate the contract in a more amicable way. Yet this too creates potential problems as it may make people view Vinales as a hot head, as mentioned before. There may also be the issue of how the legal troubles, if there are any, will play on the young Spaniards mind. We’ve already seen him falter under pressure at various stages and all these troubles could add to his problems. We saw in 2007 that Valentino Rossi struggled on track while dealing with off track legal troubles, and he had already won five of his premier class titles, unlike the young Vinales.

For More Photos See: http://www.flickr.com/photos/harrylloydgp/collections/72157630775399000/

Twitter: twitter.com/MotoGPLloyd

Rossi To Yamaha, Tougher Than It Looks?

Note: All of this is based on what is being said as very few ‘hard’ facts exist.

Rossi has a very big decision to make over the next two weeks, probably even bigger than when he chose to leave Honda. Rossi must decided whether he remains with Ducati, a bike that has caused him problems for two years, or if he returns to Yamaha, the bike that saw him win in 04,05,08 and 09.

As it stands the Ducati offer looks something like this: 12-17 Million Euros, Rossi can keep his current crew and can have a personal sponsor on the side of his Ducati.

The Yamaha offer is reported to look like: 4 Million Euro per year, big doubt as to whether Rossi could keep his crew and he must bring a sponsor to the team (most likely Monster).

Rossi has said that money is no object and as such there two biggest issues become the crew and the need of a sponsor if he does wish to go to Yamaha.

Rossi’s crew have been with him since the start, before Rossi they were with Doohan and Daryl Beattie, they’re regarded as the best mechanical team in the world. This is not something that one easily leaves behind. Also, riders develop a language with their team, able to explain specific problems with simple hand motions, relations such as this take time to build. Having to leave behind his Aussie (and Kiwi) crew would be a devastating blow to Valentino, one which may swing his decision in a certain way.

The other major factor, and perhaps more importantly, is the need of sponsorship at Yamaha. If Rossi stays at Ducati he needs to bring no sponsors to the table, at Yamaha he needs to bring a significant sponsor. While Rossi may be happy to take the pay cut the sponsor (presumed to be Monster) may not wish to foot the bill especially when they can get similar exposure for far less on the side of a Ducati machine. Monster sells drinks, not bikes, and drink sales don’t depend on results, they’re based around the personalities who ‘drink’ them.

Ducati’s option to offer personal sponsorship seems to be a move designed exclusively to temp Monster away from Yamaha, offering a cheaper alternative with similar advertising ability. Monster already sponsor a full team in MotoGP, a team regularly near the front, and get decent exposure due to that. If Monster choose to not pay Yamaha and instead sponsor Rossi with an increased pressure this may result in it being impossible for Rossi to gain the Yamaha seat as the key aspect of ‘bring a sponsor to the team’ would be lacking. Simply having Rossi in photos drinking an ice cold Monster Energy Drink may be enough for the energy drink giant as opposed to having him racing up the front with the iconic M covering the side of his bike.

The decision of Monster may take the choice entirely out of Rossi’s hands. Finding a new sponsor would be incredibly hard considering Europe’s economic state. Even if Monster are happy to offer up the money, the threat of having to leave behind his crew may make the Yamaha offer less attractive than it first appears.

Credit to http://www.superbikeplanet.com/ and Motomatters.com for the Ducati and Yamaha offers.

Like the photo? Check it and many more out Here

Spies Leaves Yamaha and Silly Season Explodes

Just a few days ago it seemed as though silly season had settled down and the only change we'd see was Casey replaced by Repsol golden boy Marc Marquez. Then Spies announced he would be leaving Yamaha at the end of the season. Spies cited a "litany" of reasons for his departure from Yamaha and had previous tweeted about ending up "back where w(h)ere we are meant to be!" all of this sparking a storm of discussions about the subsequent changes in rider line ups for the 2013 season.

As always, the main subject of conversation was Valentino Rossi. For months rumors have floated around about the return of the 'G.O.A.T' to the Yamaha factory squad, that had for years helped him to accomplish greatness. At current Yamaha doesn't have the budget to pay both Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi and as such it seems that Rossi would have to bring a large, probably title, sponsor with him. For this there have been two main candidates, the first is Marlboro who currently sponsor the Ducati Corse team. This seems to be the least likely as sponsoring two factory teams is a stretch even for a company like Philip-Morris, especially considering they can't be named or shown on the bike itself. If Marlboro were to back Rossi completely then Ducati, even with support from Audi, would be left without enough money to compete in GPs, meaning that there would be 8 prototype bikes on the grid, four from Yamaha and four from Honda. If this scenario were to happen it would surely result in the death of GP as we know it, something the fans and Dorna don't want to happen. It's for this reason that the Marlboro sponsored Rossi seems unlikely.

A more likely possibility is that Monster will switch from supporting the satellite Tech 3 team and sponsorship the factory team, and pay much of Valentino's salary. Monster already pay Rossi a hefty sum as their logo not only features at the front of his hat, but also on the hat of the cartoon version of himself that adorns his Ducati and various other merchandise. Monster would most likely continue their sponsorship of Tech 3, although in a slightly reduced manor, as young Brit Bradley Smith is also sponsored by the energy drink giant and has a 'contract' to ride in the Tech 3 squad next year.

 The only slight conflict if Monster were to become the primary Yamaha sponsor would be that of Jorge's Rockstar sponsorship. Rockstar would likely bow out and find another rider to sponsor as Rockstar's reported net income last year was $48 Million, compared to Monster's $286.2 Million.

There are many permutations of Monster sponsoring Rossi and/or Yamaha, but this seems far more likely than the sponsorship of Marlboro. Despite the likelihood of this anything could still happen. Yamaha don't need Rossi to win another title, they have Jorge, and as such may take a cheaper Italian such as Andrea Dovizioso, who has shown excellent form on the Tech 3 bike, to fill the second seat. Or they could choose British fan favourite Cal Crutchlow who was meant to have a Ducati contract signed by Mugello. The Italian press is flooded with 'news' of 'deals' between Rossi and Yamaha and Ben's step away from the factory team seems to support this, but as with all things in silly season it is impossible to know what will happen. In all likelihood there are probably only 10 people who know for sure who will be taking the Yamaha seat next season, and none of them are about to talk before an official press release.

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