The bittersweet at Valencia

ValenciaPost Race Review 2011

In the final 18^th round of the GP season, Spain’sValencia did not disappoint with an exciting race from start to finish!

Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner had to work for his first place finish by just crossing the finish line ahead of Yamaha’s Ben Spies by 15 thousandth of a second, after the talented Texas rider gave him a run for his money in the final few laps of an intense and wet race. Casey’s teammate, Andrea Dovizioso had to use some elbow grease to claim his third spot on the podium and for the Championship with a long and fervent battle with Dani Pedrosa for the majority of the race.

Several hours prior to the race all of the GP paddocks gathered on the front straight to pay tribute to Honda Grisini’s Marco Simoncelli. 1993 World Champion and good friend to Marco, Kevin Schwantz was given the honor to ride the #58 Grisini RC212V and lead a procession with all 3 classes for one ceremonial lap. This was the first time in GP history where all the GP classes took to the track simultaneously. The thirteen minute tribute ended with all 3 classes back on the start line with a short fireworks display to mark the end of the ceremony.

It was touching to see riders like Valentino Rossi wearing a #58 T shirt over his leathers holding a sizable flag with the same number as he rode. Loris Capirossi paid his respects with the number 58 on the nose of his Ducati instead of his classic #65 along with a new livery and helmet. It was evident, the number 58 was everywhere at the Spanish circuit and so was Marco’s spirit.

The race, declared last minute as wet, got off to a nail biting start within the first corner when Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista clipped the rear tire of Andrea Dovizioso causing a domino effect with 3 Ducati riders. Fans were completely flabbergasted as they watched Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden and Randy de Puniet hit the tarmac and slide into the gravel one after the other, instantaneously ejecting them out of the race for the season. It was a very demoralizing occurrence, not only for the obvious safety reasons, but in the spirit of Marco, the riders wanted to perform well and complete the race unscathed. I feel this was especially true for Valentino Rossi, I was gutted for him when went down. I think he really wanted to send his good friend that he never got to say good-bye to, a message as one rider to another…

The line up in the first few laps was Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Ben Spies and Andrea Dovizioso. Stoner did his standard ritual dance up the raceway, leaving his closest contenders in the dust. This left the other two Repsol riders to hash it out, while Ben Spies just sat back and enjoyed the wrestling match with the two orange bikes that lay just ahead. The back and forth fight for second between Pedrosa and Dovizioso went on for most of the race until Spies, patiently lying in wait, made his move in the 21^st lap and passed Pedrosa, allowing him full access to Dovizioso.

With the threat of precipitation starting to spit down, the two rookie riders, Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow and Cardio ab Motoracing’s Karel Abraham were head to head rallying for fifth position and the Rookie of the Year Award. It was a fight to the finish until Abraham brushed the back end of Crutchlow’s M1, sending him off into the kitty litter! The persistent Czech rider managed to reposition his Ducati back on the tarmac and cross the finish line in 8^th while hitting himself upside the helmet in a gesture to acknowledge his dumb move!

Cal Crutchlow captured the award and an astonishing 4^th place! Way to go Cal!

Ben Spies, now the fastest bike on the track, effortlessly passes Dovizioso and capitalizes on a small mistake Stoner made in the last 4 laps of the race and soon after, passes the Aussie as well. The GP boys stubbornly stayed with their slicks as the rain began to fall, with 3 laps to go, it was fruitless to pit, so Spies and Stoner remained focused and hoped the Bridgestones would hold for just one more lap.

As the two feisty riders rounded the final left corner into the straight and aimed for the finish line, in a last minute effort, Stoner gunned his RC212V and amazingly managed to squeeze a few more cc’s out of the obsolete 800 engine and beat Spies by a fraction of a second!

Filling in for Colin Edwards, AMA Superbike Champion, Josh Hayes did exceptionally well for his first time out on the GP grid, starting out in the last row and working his way up to 7^th. Very impressive for a rider dealing with a new, more powerful bike, unfamiliar track and wet weather conditions!

Marco Simoncelli’s teammate Hiroshi Aoyama had an emotional season, first with the devastation to his country in Japan after an earthquake and tsunami hit back in March and now losing his teammate two weeks ago. It would be fair to surmise that the emotional strain left the solo Grisini rider with a heavy heart and last to cross the finish line. This will be the last GP race for Aoyama, he will be joining the World Superbike team next season. I wish him all the best, and congratulations on making the top ten in standings!

And last, but most certainly, not least, it was wonderful to see the final GP race go without error for the retiring Loris Capirossi. Wearing his newly designed leathers and helmet with Marco’s #58 on the front of his Ducati was a very moving vision to behold. Regarded as one of the most personable and friendly riders in the paddock. I personally remember meeting Loris in the garages at Laguna Seca and how kind and agreeable he was to pose with me while we had our picture taken, almost insistent! At that point he became my favorite GP rider and it hasn’t changed since!

I will miss you Loris and I hope that you will be hanging around the GP paddocks in some capacity in the near future!

Cheste, Sunday, November 06, 2011

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	27	Casey STONER	AUS	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	149.2	48’18.645
2	20	11	Ben SPIES	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	149.2	+0.015
3	16	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	148.9	+5.936
4	13	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	148.8	+8.718
5	11	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	148.7	+9.321
6	10	89	Katsuyuki NAKASUGA	JPN	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	148.0	+23.818
7	9	41	Josh HAYES	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	147.5	+33.118
8	8	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	CardionABMotoracing	Ducati	147.3	+37.952
9	7	65	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	146.7	+48.953
10	6	24	Toni ELIAS	SPA	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	146.6	+52.501
11	5	8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP	Ducati	145.9	+1’06.519
12	4	7	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	145.8	+1’08.760
Not Classified
		14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati		0 Lap
		19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki		0 Lap
		46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati		0 Lap
		69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati		0 Lap

MotoGP World Standing 2011

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Casey STONER	Honda	AUS	350
2	Jorge LORENZO	Yamaha	SPA	260
3	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Honda	ITA	228
4	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	SPA	219
5	Ben SPIES	Yamaha	USA	176
6	Marco SIMONCELLI	Honda	ITA	139
7	Valentino ROSSI	Ducati	ITA	139
8	Nicky HAYDEN	Ducati	USA	132
9	Colin EDWARDS	Yamaha	USA	109
10	Hiroshi AOYAMA	Honda	JPN	98
11	Hector BARBERA	Ducati	SPA	82
12	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Yamaha	GBR	70
13	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Suzuki	SPA	67
14	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	CZE	64
15	Toni ELIAS	Honda	SPA	61
16	Randy DE PUNIET	Ducati	FRA	49
17	Loris CAPIROSSI	Ducati	ITA	43
18	Katsuyuki NAKASUGA	Yamaha	JPN	10
19	Josh HAYES	Yamaha	USA	9
20	Kousuke AKIYOSHI	Honda	JPN	7
21	John HOPKINS	Suzuki	USA	6
22	Shinichi ITO	Honda	JPN	3