MotoGp Poll: Grand Prix de France

It's already Friday, and normally I would have already posted our PMP MotoGp poll but I haven't been able to look at my computer in the last few days. Anyhow, this morning in FP1 and FP2 Pedrosa and Melandri were the fastest while everybody else was running off the track searching the new brake markers for the 800cc. LeMans is a Michelin track, somehow tight and with short straights: we expect Rossi to win but who is going to take second place? For Stoner it is going to be the track where he has to prove that his results have been achieved because of his skills and not only the extra top speed of his Ducati. So far Yamaha seemed to be very fast in qualification so I will not be surprised to find Edwards on the front row tomorrow, but Sunday, in the race, it is going to be totally different: I see Melandri to take second place and you?

Grand Prix of China: Math is not an opinion

“ …It was another perfect day …” Casey Stoner - 1st place

“… I have never raced in my career against a bike with such a difference of speed versus the rest of the competition …” Valentino Rossi - 2nd place


What happened in China? Very simple: Stoner with his Ducati has smoked the ex Camel Boy. Rossi's perfectly balanced FIAT Yamaha looked almost like a Toyota sedan challenging a red Ferrari. The difference in speed and in acceleration between the two bikes was huge. If we agree that at the end of the 1.2 km stretch Stoner was giving 30 meters or so to Rossi after 20 laps the gap would be 600m! And I am not taking in consideration the other straight! On Saturday the qualification with super sticky Michelin made all of us to dream. We thought that Rossi’s bionic skills along with some good rubber could offset the huge advantage in speed that the Ducatis had over the rest of the field. At the end of the day Stoner won but even Capirossi had very easy time to go from the 14th place to the 6th place and probably Barros would have done better without the accident at the beginning of the race. In a racetrack designed for a F1 where you do not see anymore a single overtake, the incredible speed of the Italian red missile Ducati made once again the difference. Stoner has won 3 races out of four; he is not that American Kid that won a Championship with just a couple of victories during the year. He is proving to be a mature and damn fast 21 year old “man”. It seems that he is not suffering the responsibility of the moment, inside and outside the track: he just goes out and does the job with his red missile, plain and simple. Yes, it looks so easy that I really wonder why Capirossi has not been able to do the same so far. On the other end the stress is only for Valentino. Again, once again, last Sunday he proved to be the best, absolutely the best rider in MotoGp. He could have set for the second position since the start of the race without fighting too much because it was evident that he had not chances against the Aussie. Still he tried to win, with the best strategy? I do not know. In USA the commentator at a certain point asked what Rossi had in his mind given the fact that his passes on the brakes were regularly wiped out with no effort by Stoner on the following straight. He looked more like a club event with the 1000 passing on the gas the small 600s than a MotoGp race! Indeed the commentator has never suggested an answer to his question, because he didn’t know or he couldn’t voice what he thought. His awkward situation was then solved when Rossi missed a turn point on the brakes ending up on the run off: a mistake that gave Stoner the chance to win the race by himself.
Rossi has too much experience and brain to waste front tires and brakes in those stunts. Someone can think that he wanted to make Stoner nervous and so more prone to make a mistake, but what kind of mistake he could have made in those types of hairpins? Personally, I think that the last accident with Elias had somehow suggested to Rossi his Chinese game, a very typical strategy in any type of racing: carry a lot of speed into the inside of your opponent and if he closes the door you can be sure that he will go for the tangent. Do you remember his pass on Gibernau, with the Spaniard going for daises? He would have been criticized, but the at the end of the day it was the only way to challenge a mathematical certainty: Stoner first, Rossi second place.


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PMP Event: Pocono Raceway, May 3rd

After going to Jennings in Florida, last Thursday the PMP crew had its second event hosted by Absolute Cycle, but this time in Pocono Raceway in PA. Luckily, given the unstable temperatures in the North East, we were blessed with a blue sky and a warm sun that made even more pleasant a racetrack day where we started our engines in the morning a turned them off, who knows at what time, in the afternoon.
The PMP crew & Friends have done a wonderful job in helping this new club in organizing a really professional event. While Naim Behdzet, Steve Lombardi, Todd Cuso and I were instructing in the Lombardi School, Mario Pires and Alex Herrera guaranteed the Control Riding in the Intermediate Group and characterized the Expert Group with some exciting dicing.
The school itself was a success because the entire class, 11 riders, improved dramatically from one session to another one. A round of claps definitely goes to Michael and Kevin: these guys were able to push hard their German and British “Cows”. When in the morning I saw their touring bikes, a BMW and a Triumph, I feared the situation where we had to commit an instructor just for them, instead they end up rolling those machines as fast as their colleagues with sport Japanese bikes.
During the day I had the opportunity to leave the classroom to show my face and/or my wheels to all my friends around the track and I have to say that Roy and Mark from Absolute did a wonderful job in putting together a real “stress free” event: their boutique-style club has in its dimensions and care for details a unique combination that has not competitors at local level. Of course on the field we have to give credit to the professionalism of the corner workers, PA POSSE, guided by our friend Speedy and to the passionate work performed by our Control Riders.
I am going to let the email received from my friend, and pure motorbike lover, John Glass, to summarize the event:
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Alex, I would like to thank you for being so helpful and going out of your way to check out my progress yesterday at Pocono. Also, my thanks to Alex Herrera for the generous use of his time! My main concern yesterday was to get a good track day behind me without trying to go too fast, and that is exactly what I accomplished. Remember. this is only the second time I have ridden a motorbike since last Fall, but it did wonders for my confidence. I now feel ready for more track time. Also, I really enjoyed the way the event was run by Absolute. It seems to me that Roy is doing this simply for the love of the sport, which makes for a much different atmosphere than an event being run by an organization that is simply trying to make money. I also appreciate that they had an Advanced Life Support unit there. Something that we hope is not needed, but is very important to have if necessary.

Getting back to Alex Herrera, following him was a great experience! He is so quick and smooth and being behind him I saw how late he could turn in to a corner which gave me the necessary confidence to try it. I certainly can't do it like him (or you) but it gives me a good learning base to build on. We are never too old to learn! I spent some of my time between sessions watching the fast guys, and especially Alex H. I saw some very fast and excellent riding.

Lastly, I am sorry I missed you at the end of the day. I waited a while but did not see you and as it was getting late, me being tired and a long ride ahead, I decided it best to get started.

Best wishes to you and all the PMP guys. Hope to see you soon

John Glass

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Also I wish to Eliecer Montoya, PMP rider and owner of “Strawberry - Shakes and Grill”, our headquarter in North NJ, a quick recover from the accident that will keep him away from the race tracks for a few weeks.
I have attached a few pictures kindly offered by Dennis Cuevas, from Racedayphoto. The Lombardi School instructors are wearing blue shirts while the students are in red. The control riders were wearing orange shirts.











PMP bikes: Painting by Mario Pires, Decals by Diana

"Bionic" Rossi and Imatra RC Inc.

The Imatra brand that Rossi has been promoting in and outside the track is more than a simple brand of sunglasses produced by Safilo and advertised by Rossi. The Gilmar Group owned by the Gerani family uses the same brand name for a line of street-style clothing. What is interesting about the whole marketing operation is that the IMATRA RC Inc. name is the same name of a mysterious Imatra Rehabilitation Clinic. As explained by the Gilmar Group, the clinic was founded in 1965 in Tampere, Fynland by a certain doctor Bernie Rhodes and then transferred to Savan River in Tasmania. The expensive and luxurious centers are used by rich and famous people to recover from “the temporary excesses ..”: their clients range from rock stars to Hollywood actors, from sport champions to powerful politicians.
According to Spot and Web, Media Communication Magazine, last fall Rossi along with the tennis-hippy Ion Tiriac, the adventurous Mike Horn, and others met the Indian doctor Ali and the photographer Monty Shadow in the Prague Imatra Clinic to promote the 2006-2007 winter clothing line inspired to the most prominent and original clients of the clinique.
Almost to confirm the “special” services provided by the Imatra Centers, I have not been able to collect further information about the clinic: I am just wondering if some special medical secret is behind the bionic skills of the 7 times World Champion.

Picture source

MotoGp Poll: Grand Prix of China

Last Sunday the second place for Elias was spectacular and totally unexpected, as matter of the fact his name was not listed as one of the first seven in the World Championship Standing. In China, next week it’s going to be even more difficult for the characteristic of the circuit with two long straights, one of which measure ¾ of a mile, the longest in the MotoGp calendar. Stoner and Capirossi are the favorite with their red Italian missile, but the resurgence of the Team Gresini with Elias and Melandri on improving Honda, could challenge the possibilities for the other contenders, Rossi, Pedrosa, Edwards and Hayden to get on the podium. Stoner has accumulated 10 points of advantage on Rossi and 25 on Pedrosa, he feels strong and absolutely not pressured by Rossi. It’s Rossi that has to prove that he is still the best, while Stoner has already done even more that his team was expecting from him. Anyhow, who is going to stand on the second step of the podium in China?

Grand Prix of Turkey: "Michelin Impossibile" ... even for Rossi

Last Sunday, back from the weekend in Pennsylvania, I went to check the results from Istanbul and it didn't take much to understand that something went wrong, very wrong if nobody out of the first three riders from the qualifications were able to make the podium. Stoner, the 21 year old Aussie on Ducati, won his second race of the season in a manner absolutely authoritative. After a crash on the first lap caused by Olivier wiping out Pedrosa and Edwards, Stoner took the lead on a mistake committed by Rossi, and maintained it to the end. Behind him, everything happened: Rossi, after taking a tour in the grass on the fastest turn of the circuit, found himself in 5th position. From there it took some time for the seven time World Champion to gain the second position: he seemed to struggle a little bit in making ground on the leaders of the race, maybe because he didn’t have the typical that extra corner speed that we had noticed in the first two rounds of the season. Probably the vibration that has churned the rear tire and forced him back to the tenth place was already challenging his confidence on the brakes. As matter of the fact when he was aggressively overtaken by Elias he did not reply. I would like to open a short parenthesis about the Spaniard who finished in second position at 6 seconds from Stoner but with 2 seconds on the rest of the group. Some people have pointed out that after what Rossi has done to Gibernau and other riders, last Sunday he shouldn’t have raised his elbow to fence off the young Honda rider and he should have avoided to comment (italian video) the accident with the press . About the first issue I am positive that raising the elbow and converging towards the other rider is totally normal in such a situation because there is a tendency to support each other in a moment of contact. Elias reached his side only by the turn point when Rossi was going to release the pressure on the brakes and dive toward the apex of the turn. It seems to me that Elias had never showed his front tire to the Italian, and he did gamble a little bit in a maneuver that, if not successful in its timing, would have sent Rossi out on the tangent compromising his race and in case of a bad accident even his championship. Also, Elias is the rider that knocked him down at the first race last year and he is the same guy that after some rough passing won by a couple of inches a race on Valentino that could have made him to win the 2006 MotoGp World Championship!
Anyhow, last Sunday the real show was for the third place: Capirossi at the end prevailed on the 37 year old Alex Barros and on the last year winner, Marco Melandri. Macho looked very aggressive but he was worn out by an extremely tough Hopkins, protagonist of a spectacular performance. Hayden, first Michelin rider, finished in a mere 7th position, definetely not enough for someone who is supposed to defend the crown.

Next appointment in China: another fast track where the Ducati will show off the extra speed. At this point all the attention is on Michelin: we have not forgot the faulty front tire that stopped Rossi last year and in consideration of the work done by Yamaha and its riders, the Michelin man has to be sure not to fail again ….
Video source

PMP Event: Pocono Raceway 4/21 – 4/22

We could have not dreamed a better weekend than this one! Last week started with torrential rain that has caused severe flooding in the Tri-State area. On Monday, Pocono International Raceway was covered by more than 11 inches of snow, and when we learned that the forecast was calling for a warm and seasonal weekend we were obviously skeptical about it. Well, the bleached smile people were damn right, because April gave us a memorable weekend.
The two-day event was organized by SBTT, Sport Bike Track Time, a club that has absorbed the former local Red-Duc organization that we had already used in the past. My impression is that the new club has somehow maintained the same warm and pleasant atmosphere, with a relaxed but well regulated organization that was able to guarantee a flawless weekend.
Even missing all the guys from NJ, the PMP crew had more than 10-15 riders from NY that along with friends and family members made a nice thick group of people eager to enjoy these two wonderful days. The dicing in the track and the playful mocking around the trailers have entertained everybody causing loud laughing and big smiles on our faces. In a club track event, there are obviously people faster than others, but somehow the interpretation of the facts is always very “personal” especially without the support of a lap timer. It goes from “..I didn’t want to stuff you …” to “ I could have passed you in that turn but I didn’t want to embarrass you” or ”… let me ride your bike and I will show you how you are supposed to ride it …” The historical situations between Rossi and Biaggi were nothing when compared to those created by our Frank and Naim, especially when you had everybody else pouring “gasoline over the fire”.

A special thank to Diana (JS Typography) for bringing the PMP shirts to us; Tina, Diana and Benny for the trays of freshly brewed coffee; Dave and Dima (Lee Miles Brooklyn) for offering their ethnic delicatessen; Almos (666 Cycle) and Rob Lombardi for the mechanical help to fix my GSX-R, and John, Peter and Antonio (Techline) to spare their bikes with me on Saturday.








For more action pictures visit RaceDayPhoto

PMP bikes: Painting by Mario Pires, Decals by Diana

Rossi is still involved with .... poultry

And we ended up with real chickens on the Yamaha … Do you remember last winter when Rossi decided to re-use the “old” Polleria Osvaldo sponsor while his team was searching for a new one replacing Camel. Well, today as per SuperbikePlanet.com, AIA a leading Italian poultry brand has formalized a new sponsorship with Fiat Yamaha Team: someone must have seen in Rossi the famous Hen and the Golden Eggs …

MotoGp Poll: Grand Prix of Turkey

In the last MotoGp Poll for the race in Spain the majority of people (83%)were correct in picking Pedrosa: the fastest rider … after Rossi. Sunday it is going to be totally different with several riders that could win the race, starting from Melandri, the winner of the past two editions, Stoner, Pedrosa, Rossi …. But the in the PMP MotoGp Poll, as usual, we try to guess the name of the rider that will finish in second position, and in Istanbul anything could happen ….

May You Rest In Peace: Sal Benanti

Two weeks ago, on March 30th, our friend Sal Benanti passed away while sleeping in his house. Sal was 70 years old and he was still racing motocross every weekend during the season. As matter of the fact the following day he was expected to attend an event upstate in New York.
Our initial surprise and pain for the loss of our friend have left us now with a sense of emptiness because he was always around in our whereabouts, helping in fixing bikes or just entertaining us with his unique manners.
In memory of our beloved friend I want to write again why he became a living legend, why he was able to do what most people even forty years younger cannot do even in their dreams:
“What’s his secret? You would expect some sort of special diet, magic pills or strenuous workout. Wrong! Sal is a witty person who doesn’t like to hang out with complainers (most of people of his age) and negative people. He is not afraid to try and he does not fear failure because even that it’s part of the game. He would tell you to live your present and not to worry about the future: deal with that when it comes.
Sal would tell your that whatever it is your age start the engine and just …do it.”


Rest In Peace Our Friend