Wonderful MotoGP...

[NismoZ]

Rossi given a gift on the last lap, but hey, that's what "pressure" is all about! Nicky on the podium, GOOD!

[spinner26]

Was that a pressure mistake? I think so too, went in hot trying to hold Rossi off and pooched it. Nicky looking better and better all the time. Laguna was a big weight off his shoulders too.

[RichK]

When Sete looked over his shoulder at 2 laps to go, I knew it was over. Rossi's got him psychologically!

Great race, did anyone hear about Hopkins' condition?

[NismoZ]

Heard nothing, but his knees were "up" on the board, he removed his own helmet and had his head up. Hope for the best.

[spinner26]

How long was the red flag? I tuned in late and afterwords Nicky said his bike worked better before the red.

I'm starting to really like that little hick from Ky.

[oddlycalm]

Rossi's got him psychologically! You've got that right, the Doc owns Gibernau this season. Hayden is starting to grow into the series, but it has to be a huge culture shock for him. Great race!

oc

[Rogue Leader]

Rossi said Sete will never win a race again... Rossi OWNS Gibernau, permanently.

[Dr. Corkski]

Sete Giveupnow. :gomer:

[eiregosod]

sete gibernau the damon hill of motogp.

rossi just finds where the other's weaknesses are then pounces.

too bad the race in Valencia will be a bit of a downer.

if Ferrari sack rubens during this season, they should rossi a try.

[oddlycalm]

if Ferrari sack rubens during this season, they should rossi a try. He's made it pretty clear that F1 is not his style. He's had offers in the past and passed on them. He did recently visit Prodrive to get a Subaru rally car fitted for him to do a one off at the Monza Rally. Rossi has driven in the British round of the WRC and the Wales Rally GB in 2002.

oc

[oddlycalm]

Update - Funny that we should be having this discussion as Rossi tested for Ferrari at Monza yesterday and did 80 laps. His best time was 59.21 which is over 3 seconds off the lap record set by MS in the F2004. Rossi previsiously tested with Ferrari last year. He has re-signed with Yamaha through the end of 2006.

oc

[RichK]

Update - Funny that we should be having this discussion as Rossi tested for Ferrari at Monza yesterday and did 80 laps. His best time was 59.21 which is over 3 seconds off the lap record set by MS in the F2004. Rossi previsiously tested with Ferrari last year. He has re-signed with Yamaha through the end of 2006.
oc

That's about the same time he did last year, IIRC. I was talking with a moto instructor a couple days ago about this, and we were talking about successful motorcycle racers moving into cars and being fast.

However, it's rarely (if ever?) the other way around. Has anyone moved from cars to bikes and been competitive? I remember that Mario Andretti (on Wind Tunnel) talked about taking Kenny Roberts' bike out for a spin at Laguna. He said that he went fast enough to qualify in the previous year's field!

[eiregosod]

That's about the same time he did last year, IIRC. I was talking with a moto instructor a couple days ago about this, and we were talking about successful motorcycle racers moving into cars and being fast.

However, it's rarely (if ever?) the other way around. Has anyone moved from cars to bikes and been competitive? I remember that Mario Andretti (on Wind Tunnel) talked about taking Kenny Roberts' bike out for a spin at Laguna. He said that he went fast enough to qualify in the previous year's field!

Damon Hill started out racing bikes.

Eddie Lawson & Kevin Schwantz went to Champcars and stock cars, their competetiveness in the cars is debatable ;)

I think Mick Doohan destroyed the front wing of the 1998 Williams in a test session.

[eiregosod]

interesting read.

150k over the weekend at Laguna and 1 million viewers on spudTV

Business Week Online

August 4, 2005 Thursday

LENGTH: 1030 words

HEADLINE: MotoGP Roars Back into America;
As the Motorcycle Grand Prix returns to the U.S., the sport's fans and deep-pocketed sponsors are revving up here and abroad

BYLINE: Rob Doyle

BODY:
It is the premier class of motorcycle racing, the equivalent of Formula 1 on two wheels. The MotoGP -- Motorcycle Grand Prix -- is all about incredible speed, power, and technology. And it just returned to the U.S. for the first time in 11 years, when the 8th of the 17-round series took place at Mazda's Laguna Seca Raceway, in Monterey, Calif., July 8-10.

At the center of the race are million-dollar motorcycles, featuring one of a kind, hand-built, race-bike prototypes with 990-cubic-centimeter 4-stroke engines made strictly for racing and not sold to the public. They're relatively lightweight at roughly 325 pounds, while producing up to 240 horsepower, enabling them to reach speeds close to 220 miles per hour.

R&D TRICKLES DOWN.

These rank as the fastest, most technologically advanced motorcycles on the planet. Even the engines are unique, with a variety of configuration designs: V-5, inline 4, V-4, and a V-6 cylinder that is a work in progress. Each produces a distinctive music of its own.

Although the MotoGP bikes classify strictly as race-bred machines, the R&D trickles down to the street. Even the wild paint schemes are starting to appear on current-day sport bikes such as the Honda CBR1000RR. It borrows some technology from its MotoGP sibling, but it does not use Honda's high-tech V-5 cylinder power plant.

There are roughly a dozen race teams in the MotoGP, most having two riders per team. The riders come from a variety of countries, but Italy has produced the majority -- and the best -- of the them, including the defending champion and undeniable star, Valentino Rossi, with the Gauloises Yamaha team. (Sponsor Gauloises is a European cigarette maker.) Rossi is a superstar in Europe, one who commands a $28 million yearly income, including salary and endorsements.

JAPAN'S BIG FOUR.

Racing and all its technology is superexpensive. With each motorcycle costing close to a million dollars, it breaks down to about $1,000 for each cubic centimeter of engine displacement. Then there's the cost of employing riders and support crews that travel with equipment worldwide.

The Big Four Japanese manufacturers, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki, each have at least one team. Both Yamaha and Honda have multiple teams with different sponsors. Ducati of Italy is sponsored by Marlboro, and it also has a second, satellite team called Ducati D'Antin, sponsored by Pramac Group, an Italian maker of industrial power equipment.

Two less-known teams are Kenny Roberts' KR Proton/KTM Team and the Blata WCM Team. Kenny Roberts is a former world champion himself who receives sponsorship from Proton, a Malaysian auto maker, and KTM, an Austrian motorcycle manufacturer. Blata, based in the Czech Republic, builds minibikes, better known as pocket bikes. Blata has recently formed a partnership with WCM (World Champion Motor Sports), a race team that has competed in the premier class of GP for more than a decade.

AMERICAN COMEBACK?

When MotoGP was last seen in the U.S., American riders dominated the racing. They held sway through much of the 1980s. Kenny Roberts and Freddie Spencer were the earlier American champions. Freddie Spencer did the nearly impossible and became the only rider in history to win both the 250 and the premier classes of GP in the same year, a record that stands today.

The American dominance continued with Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, and Kevin Schwantz. All remain household names in Europe. Today, American riders are rising stars once again in the series. Kenny Roberts Jr., the son of the aforementioned former world champion, is a teammate of John Hopkins, who rides for Red Bull Suzuki MotoGP. Red Bull energy drink is also the title sponsor of the Laguna Seca race.

Joining current champion Valentino Rossi on the Yamaha Team this year is Texas-born Colin Edwards. Topping off the U.S. list is young Nicky Hayden, riding for the Repsol Honda Team. (Repsol is a European maker of engine oils and lubricants.) People magazine recently voted Hayden one of the Top 50 most eligible bachelors, and he has appeared on NBC's Today Show -- signs of motorcycling gaining mainstream popularity.

STAR ENTHUSIASTS.

The MotoGP race at Laguna Seca in July was spectacular. The spotlight was on Nicky Hayden when he clinched the pole position during Saturday's qualifying laps. And on Sunday he launched from that front position and led the entire race to his first ever MotoGP win. Colin Edwards finished a close second, followed even more closely by reigning champion Valentino Rossi.

MotoGP racing is attracting a growing number of celebrities, most of whom are avid street riders themselves. Brad Pitt and Michael Jordon attended the July 10 Laguna Seca event, and Jordon actually owns a motorcycle race team that competes in the American Motorcyclist Assn.'s U.S. National Series. At MotoGP, celebrities become fans and act like them, seeking autographs and photos from the riders.

The Laguna Seca race attracted some 150,000 spectators and more than 1 million viewers on Speed Channel. The ninth round was held a week later in Britain, and Rossi won in a rain-soaked race. Even since the most recent 10th round in Germany over the July 31 weekend, Rossi continues his points lead, with Colin Edwards in third -- but only a single point from second. Another near winner, Nicky Hayden, is just 21 points behind Edwards, standing at seventh in the points race. The last race of the season is in Valencia, Spain, on Nov. 6.

CHANNELING SPEED.

Both Hayden and Edwards have good chances of reviving American bike-rider dominance of the MotoGP. And even if they don't, the race of million-dollar bikes is as exciting as it gets. As former world champion Kenny Roberts Sr. hinted, maybe one day the competition will even see an American-made bike and engine -- perhaps one produced by industries outside of the current realm if big mainstream sponsors continue their growing interest in MotoGP.

For those of you who are newly enamored of MotoGP: TiVo the Speed Channel on cable and buy Faster on DVD.

LOAD-DATE: August 4, 2005

[The Doctor]

Don't know where he got his info, but the USGP didn't draw 1m viewers. Far from it. Something like a .2 on Speed.

[oddlycalm]

Don't know where he got his info, but the USGP didn't draw 1m viewers. Far from it. Something like a .2 on Speed. Is it possible they counted the re-broadcasts as well as those of the 250 and 125 races? Unlike Business Week to out and out fabricate numbers, but they often summarize in ways that aren't clear.

Back in the late 80's we imagined Champcar might one day get to the place where it represented competition to F1 one day, but in reality it is MotoGP that is beginning to provide the stiffest competition for viewers worldwide.

oc

[nrc]

Is it possible they counted the re-broadcasts as well as those of the 250 and 125 races? Unlike Business Week to out and out fabricate numbers, but they often summarize in ways that aren't clear.

Maybe adding multiple races and multiple airings. Usually rebroadcasts only get a fraction of the first broadcast so even at that a million is a stretch. I think the other fudge factor is "viewers". Normally Nielsen counts households. You can get a "viewers" number by multiplying the average viewers per households by households.

All in all, it's not meaningless, but it's not comparable to the typical ratings numbers so popular in open wheel debates. I'm sure the Seekers of the Truth will be as outrages at this as three day attendance numbers.

[KLang]

Back in the late 80's we imagined Champcar might one day get to the place where it represented competition to F1 one day, but in reality it is MotoGP that is beginning to provide the stiffest competition for viewers worldwide.

oc

That deserves an FTG! And a F to most of the CART board at the time who couldn't see past Indy to take care of their own series.

[eiregosod]

Back in the late 80's we imagined Champcar might one day get to the place where it represented competition to F1 one day, but in reality it is MotoGP that is beginning to provide the stiffest competition for viewers worldwide.

oc


Satellite Tv covered motogp in depth over the past decade. motogp is shown live on sunday afternoons on channels that used to show F1 live on sunday afternoons. Albeit that the 500 class is getting the live coverage, the 250/125 are relegated to highlights.

MotoGP is providing great racing , and is accesible on the TV. Guys like Rossi , Biaggi, Gibernau , Barros are characters, though no one is as big a character as Rossi.

[eiregosod]

The only sort of 'split' in motorcycle racing is motoGP and World Superbikes. My understanding is that Superbikes are actually production bikes whereas motogp races thoroughbred racing machines.

Superbikes race/d at Monza & Imola. Monza provided some great draft racing, and Imola provided some of the best road course racing ever.

However both series seem to coexist peacefully :gomer:

[The Doctor]

The only sort of 'split' in motorcycle racing is motoGP and World Superbikes. My understanding is that Superbikes are actually production bikes whereas motogp races thoroughbred racing machines.

Superbikes race/d at Monza & Imola. Monza provided some great draft racing, and Imola provided some of the best road course racing ever.

However both series seem to coexist peacefully :gomer:

SBK still races at Monza and Imola, as well as Misano. Imola is still a fantastic bike track (2002, Edwards v. Bayliss as the best example) and Monza is still a draft battle.

Not really a split, either. Both have been around for a long while and serve two different functions. SBK shows off prod.-based bikes whereas the GP bikes show off engineering marvels. Loud engineering marvels, at that. ;)

[oddlycalm]

Bottom Line: Motorcycle GP racing has always had characters in spades but what it didn't have since the late 1960's is GP bikes the public was interested in watching until the FIM changed the equipment regulations and MotoGP was born.

Long Rant: I don't care how many horsepower a half liter two stroke has, how fast it is or how great the rider, those bikes sounded awful, bore no relationship to bikes on the street, and the audience declined each year. The world superbike series was implemented in the 70's, and grew steadily in popularity while the FIM GP series languished. MotoGP has exploded in popularity because of the equipment. Bear in mind that it's virtually the same riders riding the MotoGP bikes as rode the 500 GP bikes. IMO MotoGP has proved wrong the theory so often spewed by "experts" and wishful sanctioning body managers that the audience doesn't know or care about the equipment. GP racing was dying and now it's more popular that it's every been, all with virtually the same field of riders and in doing so it has put the hurt on the superbike series.

The difference between MotoGP and F1 & Champcar is that MotoGP paid attention to what the paying customer didn't want, which was shrieking two strokes they couldn't relate to. The recent large scale F1 poll is an indication the FIA might finally be getting the message. One thing for certain, seeing MotoGP riders pitch the bike into a turn and slide it at 160mph then accellerate out of the turn laying rubber while passing another rider for position isn't something you're going to see in any other racing series these days. That's what F1, Can Am, IMSA and Champcars used to offer, brutally powerful cars that would drift and slide through the corners and that allowed overtaking of slower cars. I don't care if I ever see another race with 7 faster cars lined up behind Trulli for 20 laps with the leaders disappearing into the distance, and you probably don't either.

While we all cringed (and rightly so) at the streetcar track bounce at San Hosey, the crowd loved it. Bring back the 950hp cars and get rid of most of the downforce and the crowd will love it every race weekend without the artifice of a "jump.". The audience doesn't give a rip about lap times, they want to see a race between skilled drivers in brutally fast equipment that actually looks like it's brutally fast. It won't cost any more more money, it will just be more exciting to watch. It will also set apart those series that wise up from those determined to mandate castrated eunuch wagons that Montoya's grandmother can drive. You won't have to take the racing to city streets if you make the show compelling enough that folks are willing to drive to the track. MotoGP has shown the way back, now it's up to the rest.

oc

[eiregosod]

[Is it safe to peep out now? ;) ]