While waiting for the next GP

Next MotoGp in Turkey is going to be the 100th consecutive GP race in the top class for Valentino. Also with the victory in Qatar he matched Mick Doohan's record and if Sunday Rossi gets at least a 9th place, he is going to overtake Max Biaggi's record of total 2886 points accumulated during his career. It's important to notice that Valentino has never won in Turkey and last year he took 1.5 second from Melandri at his first MotoGP win.
While waiting for the event we can enjoy an old video of his that ends with the famous Lambretta riding style.

NESBA event in Pocono Raceway (PA)

The Brooklyn Crew gathered this past Saturday at the Pocono Raceway for the first event of the season. The day was organized by NESBA, the big but still very friendly club for which I have been a control rider for almost 6 years. Unusually warm for this time of the year we had a great day of riding and …dicing. This is "our backyard" and even though the past winter provided us with new bumps and potholes to deal with,still we were able to put together several hot laps during the middle part of the day. In the pictures besides me, Alex Matteucci on the blue Yamaha R6 555, there is Steven Lombardi, Suzuki 600 324, Giuseppe Uricchio, Frank Aluzzo, president and owner of United Watermains, Brooklyn (NY) and his son Vito.

Pics of the event at racedayphoto.com

Round two: Qatar

It’s not the first time that Valentino proves his mental skills, but in the last race in Qatar we witnessed the execution of a masterpiece. After crashing in Jerez and struggling in finding the solution to the chattering of his M1, it’s now clear that at the start of his second race of the season, he had a precise plan. The qualifications left him in the second row, behind Honda and Ducati, the two bikes that, as of now, are ruling the pre-race tests. Regardless, Rossi was aware that he could have had his opportunity once his tires had lost part of the grip because he would have had less chattering. Yes, a bike that slides and spins makes difficult to accelerate, but on these conditions Rossi is the master and the M1 probably becomes easier to ride than the competitor brands. So, given the conditions and variables he needed to stay in the front pack in the first part of the race to use his edge toward the end. And this is exactly what he did: starting from the 6^th position at the exit of the first turn he was already 3^rd. It took him 5 laps to pass Hayden and chase Stoner. The Australian talent was passed at the 9^th lap and then Rossi maintained the lead until the end with the exception of the 19^th lap when he left Hayden to take the lead, Capirossi to catch them and then to leave the two other competitors to dice while him running away to win his first race of the season. It’s interesting to notice that he crashed the competition with 14 laps at 1’57, against 9 for Hayden and 10 for Capirossi, and the bulk of them were realized in the last 2/3 of the race, when Hayden was riding in the 8s. Capirossi put a few laps right before the end in the 7s to get Hayden, but it’s not surprise given his quality of “sprinter”. To really appreciate what Rossi was able to accomplish we should look at the other Yamaha: Colin went in the 7s only once at the 3^rd lap and since then he became progressively slower finishing the last 2 laps with a time of 2’ 00.

My personal bet is that during the season we will have more races like in Qatar where Valentino’s superior riding and mental skills will offset the gap between Yamaha and the duo Honda – Ducati. In what seems to be a chess game, their riders had the advantage of the first move at the opening but Rossi’s strategy is clear: he will use all the tactics he knows to collect points and victories to prepare the final battle against the real challenger, that as of now is still to soon to call by name.

Picture source

New Road Racing School in Brooklyn, NY

The NYSBC web site reports that Robert Lombardi will be teaching the Sportbike Basic School. After a short presentation of Robert’s racing achievements, the article describes what to expect from these “one day” school events organized at the Pocono Raceaway track. At the exciting news, I am going to add that I have just formalized with Robert Lombardi my commitment in collaborating to his new challenge. By having worked together in the past, Rob and I have blended perfectly our skills and experience in teaching the foundamentals of road racing.


By combining a friendly atmosfere to a method that splits complex techniques in easy to learn steps, we let the rider to relax while enjoying his substantial improvements from one session to the other one.
Our program is aimed to challenge the traditional tradeoff between speed and safety, thrill and peril. Going faster doesn't mean to take automatically more risks if the improvement is the natural result of a better and more systematic execution of the act of riding.

I can not wait ….see ya.

Pictures: Robert Lombardi Suzuki # 382, Formula USA Solo Challenge National Champion 2005
Alex Matteucci, Yahama # 555, during a NESBA event as Control Rider