Results from Motegi

Alright, so it's Monday afternoon and I have just gotten around to watching the Motegi race. I found myself in Hutchinson Island, GA yesterday racing the Moose, so I was unable to watch the MotoGP broadcast live during the wee hours of Sunday morning. Okay, that's a lie, I was not unable... nay, I was unwilling.... I needed my speed-sleep Saturday night, cause I sure as hell didn't get much Friday night. We won't go into my personal antics from Friday night, but I will let you nibble on this little nugget..... the parts that I DO remember were indeed entertaining (although, I would venture to guess that onlookers and neutral third parties may have been further entertained by the parts that I do NOT remember) Good times!!

I digress.... the race was worth the wait. I cheated Sunday morning on the trip up to GA and looked briefly at the results, so I knew what the podium order was, and I knew that several had crashed out. A little bit of a spoiler for myself, but not enough to strip the enjoyment from watching the race... I would never let me do that to me.

As I watched the race from start to finish, the only thing that ran through my mind was...... complete, total, unadulterated, brilliantly solid, ITALIAN DOMINATION. Ahhhhh Loris, what a vision you are on that big, booming Ducati. For the first half of the race, it was Loris, Marco Melandri and Valentino Rossi... in perfect form, tight succession, and stellar synchronization... the Italian tri-fecta of MotoGP racing. They ripped around the Twin Rings of Motegi with blinding speed. Loris never gave up his pole position. He held tight and fought off all advances from Melandri, who finally succumbed to Rossi's freakishly perfect riding ability and settled for a third place finish.

Sete Gibernau crossed the line in fourth place, which may or may not have happened had Shinya Nikano not crashed out on the last lap during an extremely valiant effort to pass Sete. I still don't know (after watching the crash replay an easy dozen times) how Shinya didn't take Sete with him when he went. A huge disappointment for Kawasaki after Randy de Puniet crashed out as well earlier in the race (I still love ya Randy!!!!). With Shinya's biff, came a bit of good luck for Nicky Hayden who struggled through the entire race to gain any ground he could and lengthen the gap between himself and Rossi in the championship points standings. Nicky ended up in fifth, but if not for Casey Stoner and Shinya Nikano exiting stage left at a high rate of speed, I am certain he would have landed in 7th at best. In the end, Hayden's lead was reduced to 12 points over Rossi..... a task well within reach of the superior force that is, The Doctor.

Casey rode one of his best races of the season.... right up until he crashed out. It was a righteous crash... he was attempting to overtake (insert name of top 10 MotoGP rider here) on one of the daunting hairpins of the Twin Rings, he went in a little hot and a little wide, grabbed the brake a little too hard and washed out. He slid clear and got up.. nothing hurt but his feelings. He had made his way into the top 5 and was slowly chipping away at the podium crew before he went skittering off the track.

All-in-all, another fantstic performance from the fastest men on two wheels. The fight for the championship will continue right down to the wire. There are only two races left in the 2006 MotoGP season, and each one of them will surely find me clinging to the edge of my seat, emitting Tourettes-like outbursts and emulating the spastic twitching of a stroke victim... for it is then, and only then that I know I am being 100% entertained :) :) :)

Until next time......

Rubb'er Down :)

Results of Australian GP from Phillips Island

Sweet Jesus!!! The entire race made my head hurt....

First of all, after some hurried speculation in and around the warm up lap, it was finally delcared a "Wet Race". Okay, no big deal.. it's happened before. The riders chose to stay on grid with their dry track set-ups since it wasn't raining too hard at the time in hopes that the weather would hold off.

Shinya Nikano had a spectacular start. He shot off the line and spent the first several laps cementing his lead. I think he was leading by over 4 seconds. Nicky Hayden found himself desperately losing ground after his brilliant pole postition start, and had slipped back to 16th. His teammate Dani Pedrosa, was enjoying a much more productive ride up in the top 5. Rossi was doing what Rossi does, and was steadily improving his position with every lap... creeping up on the podium. The dry leg of the race was what you would have expected to see in every way... except for Nicky. Then the rains came.....

A few of the "rearward" riders went in early to switch to their bikes that were set up for the wet track, warmed up and waiting for them in the paddock. A lap or two later, the rest of the group went in for the switch... except for Shinya Nikano, who stayed out on his slicks in attempts to solidify his lead. A good idea, in theory, but it ended up backfiring on him in the end.

The race continued, finding Sete Giberanu at the head of the class. Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden had a short head-to-head shoot-out just outside of the top 5 riders, which proved to be entertaining. Marco Milandri found his groove, and quickly found his way up to the top 3, as did Australia's very own Chris Vermeulen. Colin Edwards crashed out at some point, but there was very little even mentioned about it. A two second shot of them putting him on a stretcher, and nothing else was ever said about the incident.

In the end, the role reversed for Nicky and Dani, landing Nick in a decent 5th place finish, and Dani - after being lapped by almost the entire herd of riders - in a disappointing 15th. I was sure Rossi was going to finish just out of the top 3, but in an amazing last-ditch effort, he bulleted past Sete Gibernau to clinch 3rd. He overtook him just INCHES from the finish line. Marco Melandri secured an impressive win, and the hometown favorite, Chris Vermeulen found himself a nice spot on the podium in 2nd. Casey Stoner, another home boy, finished a respectable 6th. Shinya, who was running away with the race initially, ended up 8th. Subsequently, the focus on the battle for the championship has turned towards Hayden and Rossi, which is what everyone has been waiting for.... **** cue the evil laughter *****

It was an interesting race. It's certainly worth watching the coverage on SpeedTV this afternoon if you have an hour to kill and you are not prone to seizures.

I'm off to update rider profiles...

Until next time......

Rubb'er Down :)