PH2: MotoGP Japan
Cal thumbs a lift while Danny Kent cracks open the champagne...
Pedrosa victorious again in Japan
The Motegi MotoGP race followed form – Lorenzo and Pedrosa hit the front, Lorenzo leads, Dani passes mid-race and Jorge happily follows him home. Behind them Bautista, Cal, Bradl and Dovizioso were squaring up for what looked like a decent scrap after Ben Spies’ dismal 2012 season continued with an early exit. After stalking Bautista and sticking in some fierce moves in the closing laps, Cal looked on for his second podium of a cracking 2012 until disaster struck on his last lap and he ran out of fuel. Gutting, especially for his final points standings.
Moto2 and how the hell did Marquez not get nailed on the grid when he neutralled his bike on the line? Scary moments for everyone including the usually super cool Spaniard. But there is nothing more dangerous than a fired up Marquez and within a few laps he went from nearly last to top ten. At the front Scott Redding was giving it his all as usual but looked like he was struggling to hold the pace while Bradley Smith was forced to retire. Despite a comfortable championship lead, Marquez only knows one way to ride and with Pol Espargaro (his only title challenger) ahead the Spaniard still risked all to take the win. A lead of 53 points with 75 left to play for, the title is all but Marquez’, although that’s what it looked like last year…
Danny Kent makes it a British win in Moto3
Also a prime and obvious example that Moto2 really needs a minimum weight next year. The other teams should be beating a path to Dorna's door to demand one. Either that or every team will want a midget riding for them as a big heavy guy will be at an immediate disadvantage and some good riders could be forced away to WSBK because of their size.
It also helps that testing in moto2 is unrestricted and Marquez's teams get 'preferred status' from the chassis manufacturer and always get the updates first. That and the team is well backed and has, at an unofficial guess, tested half a dozen times outside the races themselves. Sure a lot of those reasons are open to other riders but it still tells me that lighter riders give a huge benefit compared to heavier ones who need to work the tyres much harder to maintain the same pace, as shown by Scott Redding often fading towards the end of races having used his tyres too much.
Every other class has a combined weight for rider and bike except Moto2 that only has a minimum bike weight of 140Kg. An extra 15kg is a big difference! 15 bags of sugar at the top of the bike, all moving around?
So with that in mind, if Stoner does return to form soon, will he "give" Danny a win at any stage?
It also helps that testing in moto2 is unrestricted and Marquez's teams get 'preferred status' from the chassis manufacturer and always get the updates first. That and the team is well backed and has, at an unofficial guess, tested half a dozen times outside the races themselves. Sure a lot of those reasons are open to other riders but it still tells me that lighter riders give a huge benefit compared to heavier ones who need to work the tyres much harder to maintain the same pace, as shown by Scott Redding often fading towards the end of races having used his tyres too much.
Every other class has a combined weight for rider and bike except Moto2 that only has a minimum bike weight of 140Kg. An extra 15kg is a big difference! 15 bags of sugar at the top of the bike, all moving around?
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