Red: Fatal Attraction.

Red is one of the most interesting colors. If in certain cultures is linked to luck, heroism, success and erotism, just to mention a few symbolisms, in motorsport, red is synonymous of speed and success, something built by Ferrari in F1 and Ducati in the WSBK.

The 2007 MotoGp World Championship won by Stoner in such authoritative way has projected Team Ducati at the top of the competition. In the last two years the Japanese have been forced to chase the development and the performances of the Red Missile. A lot of you still remember the 2007 MotoGp in China when at the end of the race Rossi claimed that in his career he had never seen such a difference in performance among factory bikes.

With Stoner winning the #1 plate and still being the fastest guy at every circuit, it’s normal to see riders hoping to get into Team Ducati. As Jimmy will probably recall, at the end of 2006 I was disappointed that Melandri had chosen Gresini and his satellite Honda instead of going to Borgo Panicale. I was also quite superficial in thinking that the issue Capirossi- Ducati was related to him and the new 800cc bikes in general. When Macho finally moved to Ducati, I was positive he would have had a great season ahead. Well, I am glad that I didn't bet money on it because now I would be in RED! Ducati is a fast horse but only with the right rider, the Aussie. I still have hard time to accept the fact that Capirossi and then Melandri have suffered their worst season in their career while riding the current World Champion’s bike.

While the first one has found a great team and a competitive bike in the Rizla Suzuki, I hope that Melandri’s choice with the Kawasaki in 2009, instead of the satellite Gresini-Honda, will be the right one: green is normally linked to hope.

With Rossi and Lorenzo in Yamaha and Pedrosa in Honda, as long as they give him Bridgestone tires I would add, the only “available” rider to become witched by the Red Beauty is Nicky Hayden: good luck champ, we wish you all the best!

Picture| Via Kneedraggers.com

Good manners count: always.

The Laguna Seca show couldn’t have happened at a better time: for three weeks, it left us wondering what will happen in the second leg of the season.
Rossi and Stoner, the protagonists of one of the most breathtaking races in the last few years, have vacationed in different parts of the world, but I am positive that they must have re-played in their minds, over and over, the crucial moments of their last race. Who knows how many times they have asked themselves if the outcome in Laguna, indeed, reflects their real level of skills. In a recent interview, Valentino wished that the rest of the races would be as much fun as the last one was. Stoner’s reply: I have rested in Australia with my family and my wife while training and now I cannot wait to race again. My guess is that the Aussie is still in pain from the last defeat during which his performance has raised obvious questions. Is he as good as Rossi? Can he stand that kind of pressure? Can he win in a tight dice where he cannot use the extra speed of his Ducati?
Have said that, as Rossi’s fan, I am not the most neutral person to conduct a comparison among the two riders, I believe that Stoner in Laguna Seca cracked under the pressure built by the Italian champion one overtaking action after another one. We don’t know if Stoner’s strategy was the result of something planned ahead of just the outcome of the testosterone typical of a young rider. Anyhow, in his boots, after realizing the type of race that I had ahead, I would have gave Rossi the false impression that I had given up, only to attack him in the last couple of laps. Also, with an eye on the championship it would have been better to “accept” a second place than to crash and jeopardize the final classification.
Last note just for the records of the PMP blog, we, Rossi’s fan, motorbike lovers and sport people in general, have not forgot Stoner’s refusal in shaking Valentino’s hand at the end of the race: a terrible example of sportsmanship for the millions of viewers all around the globe.

Picture Via|Motoblog

Motorcycle Racing: a long and deep passion

By Jimmy Martin

When I was a young kid in the 1980s, Barry Sheene was a national hero in the UK. Not only was he double 500cc Grand Prix world champion, but his cockney charms gained him literally millions of fans. What amazed me as a youngster was that Sheene's skeleton was held together with various metal plates and screws, mainly thanks to his rear tyre exploding at 178mph on the banking at Daytona. I mean, setting off airport metal detectors with your body, how cool is that?

I didn't get to see much 500GP racing because the BBC only televised the British GP, so my love of motorcycle racing was really formed by TV coverage of British national bike series such as F1. One of the coolest bikes in history came along in the early 1990s: the Norton rotary F1. With a sleek black colour scheme and the spine-tingling howl of its crazy Wankel rotary engine, if Darth Vader rode a motorcycle it would be this one.

Around the mid-1990s there was a shake up of the British racing scene with the introduction of an all-new British Superbike championship. My fellow Scotsman Niall McKenzie had taken podiums in 500GP, and he won the first 3 BSB titles in a row with his smooth, calm riding style, despite making atrocious starts in nearly every race. His main rivals in those 3 years were his Yamaha team-mates, who were Steve Hislop, Jamie Whitham and Chris Walker. The late Steve Hislop was a Scotsman who had won many Isle of Man TT races. He was an extremely quick rider who usually thought that his bike was unrideable and that the entire world was lined up against him (very Biaggi-like in that respect), but was a fans' favourite. Jamie Whitham's hair-raising riding style was reminiscent of Ruben Xaus. Whitham claimed that he used the race number 69 because it looks the same when it's upside-down in a gravel trap. He is now a TV commentator known for his outrageous sense of humour. Chris Walker took a double victory at the first British Superbike round that I attended at Knockhill, Scotland. Knockhill is a short, twisty track in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by sheep-covered hillsides. Turn one is a mirror image of the Laguna Seca corkscrew: turn right, plummet off the edge of the world and remember to turn left when you reach the bottom. There is a chicane insanely situated on the crest of a hill, with the start-finish line on the crest of another. The track's only hairpin sits in a natural arena filled with crazed fans, making it more like a rock concert than a bike race.
This is where I was standing when Walker, by then a Suzuki rider, passed Neil Hodgson's Ducati for the lead. The crowd, who were bigger fans of "The Stalker" than of the clean-cut Hodgson, erupted with joy as if Ozzy Osbourne had just bitten the head off a chicken in front of them. Walker repaid the compliment by stopping for a huge victory burnout, choking us half to death on rubber smoke as we were so close to the track.

Ducati dominated superbike racing at the time, and it was electrifying to stand just fifteen yards away while a pack of Ducatis thundered past at 150mph, the ground shaking under your feet. In between them were the screaming 4-cylinder Japanese bikes, making the kind of noise that a UFO would be proud of. These are the experiences that created my passion for motorcycle racing. I don't care whether a bike is a prototype or a road bike with the headlight removed. As long as the racing is close and the riders are crazy, I'll be watching.

Jimmy

Stoner and Ducati greeted by the Italian President

Stoner and DUCATI are still celebrating the magical experience of winning the World Title with a formal visit to Quirinale, the official residence of the Italian Head of State, Giorgio Napolitano. On November 15, Casey and his wife Adriana were received by the Italian President after “parking” two bikes in the precious gardens that surround the building. One the two was a red Desmosedici GP7 missile used by the Aussie to rule the 2007 season.







Photographs by our friend Aldo Fabrizi

Grand Prix of Qatar: Australian "canguru" wins on Italian red missile

In the first race of the season we could have had a final classification with riders stretched in longer time span if it wasn't for Rossi slowing down, somehow, the Australian rider on his new Italian missile. The Ducati was much faster than any other bike: in practice Stoner reached 324.7 km/h, much faster than Rossi’s 309.9 km/h and Pedrosa 317.9km/h. The red bike from Borgo Panicale has always been fast over the years, but the extra speed was seldom matched by appropriate stability and grip. Last year, after winning his first race with a bike sliding sideway in every turn of the circuit,Capirossi was compared to a red crab by his fans.
Last Saturday, instead, Casey Stoner looked outstanding on a bike that seemed solid, precise, reasonably quick in changing direction and … fast, very fast. On every lap he stormed Rossi on the front straight: it didn’t matter how many bikes of distance the Tavullia champion had on him at the exit of the last turn, because regardless, Stoner was able to pass his opponent in half straight and gain, maybe, another 70-90 ft by the end of the fornt stretch. Only because of Rossi’s immense talent and his desire to re-conquest the lost World Champion title, we were able to actually see some dicing in the infield. Indeed Rossi, strong of an impeccable Fiat-Yamaha was able to carry much more speed at the entrance of turn 1 so that at the exit of the same turn he was already back on the tail of the young Ducati rider. From there, during the race Rossi has launched his assalts passing the Australian youngster several times: on the brakes or on the outside of a turn leading to an opposite twist. Well, anytime Rossi has been able to pull in front the Ducati, his lead was then wiped out on the front long straight as if Stoner was still riding last year bike.

On the other end Pedrosa’s extra speed was not enough to challenge either Stoner or Rossi, but good enough to put him on the third step of the podium. In a few occasion it seemed that he had passed Rossi toward the end of the front straight but once on the brakes he could not match Valentino's higher entrance speed. As we have already noticed last year, it seems that Pedrosa is still not used to “Rossi’s confidence” when it comes to tight passing. Someone has claimed that Danny is still paying his easy years in 125cc and 250cc when he often won after passing his opponents and taking off to lead the race until the end. Conversely last Saturday he ended up suffering even Hopkin's pressure who, fighting the pain of the recent injuries and a poor performance in his last winter test, pulled out an incredible race for which he almost won a final third place.
There is not much to say about the rest of the riders, including the World Champion Nicky Hayden for his meager 8th place that looks even worse if we consider that two riders have crashed in front of him: Ceca and … Capirossi. Last year, Bayliss stole a secure victory from Capirossi and last Saturday his new teammate was doing it again. Maybe this situation was really bothering him, anyhow after a bad start due to a contact with another rider, Capirossi had unleashed the extra power of his bike to try to catch the front riders but unfortunately he low-sided when in 5th position. Was he pushing too much? Did he trail brake to much? Or was he exploring faster lines? In any case he wasted a secure podium and 16 points that could have been useful for the Championship especially now that the even the young Aussie is in the list of potential winners. As matter of the fact, Stoner has already displayed a cocky attitude: after being asked "... how does it feel to have a 7 time World Champion attached on your tail for the whole race?"... he said something very similar to “ …It was like to have anybody else behind”.


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