Ups and downs of bike race season

Larry Tate

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Moto GP

As the Moto GP summer holiday starts, Australian Casey Stoner and his factory Ducati are firmly in the driver's seat for the 2008 title, with two-thirds of the season done.

After last week's U.S. round at Laguna Seca near Monterey, Calif., there's a break until the Aug. 19 race at Brno, Czech Republic.

Stoner's victory at Laguna, where he led every practice and qualifying session, then simply checked out in the race, did a great deal to enhance the young Aussie's reputation.

The Ducati has killer top speed, but Laguna has no straights worth mentioning, so his ability and the Bridgestone tires he was on made his sixth victory in 11 races look even more impressive.

This 2007 season, the first with a new 800 cc displacement rule, has become something of a tire war. Hard as it is to imagine, current technology literally allows the manufacturers to build tires suited to each individual rider's style, so with three manufacturers split among 18 riders, it must be a nightmare to find the right mix every weekend for everyone.

Michelin, for so long the dominant tire supplier at the top rung of motorcycle racing, is playing a bit of catch-up this season.

The Japanese Bridgestone company, working with Ducati, Kawasaki, and Suzuki, has been at the top of the charts more often than not, to the chagrin of the French Michelin group.

That's particularly hurting the Fiat-sponsored Yamaha team of multi-time champion Valentino Rossi and his Texan partner Colin Edwards, and the Repsol Oils-sponsored Honda team of defending world champion Nicky Hayden of Kentucky and team-mate Dani Pedrosa from Spain.

All four Michelin-shod riders have become more vocal in their complaints about tires as the season has progressed, and it does seem that Michelin is scrambling more than ever before to keep on top of things.

There were three new riders appearing at Laguna, two due to injury replacements, and one more as a try-out for the future. Canadian (now Las Vegas resident) Miguel Duhamel, a long-time U.S. Honda superbike star, was drafted in to fill the shoes of Spaniard Tony Elias, whose seat on the customer Gresini Honda has been empty since Elias broke a leg at the Assen track in the Netherlands several weeks back. Unfortunately, Duhamel couldn't get the bike working well, and retired during the race.

On the weekend, Alex Hoffman on the customer D'Antin team Ducati injured his hand badly in a practice accident when he was torpedoed by French rider Sylvain Guintoli.

Young Welsh rider Chaz Davies, in the U.S. riding 600 production bikes this year, was drafted in as a replacement and did an excellent job. He managed only a 16th place finish, but that included a pit stop to change a broken drive sprocket (!), and his times impressed many in the paddock.

The third new rider was Roger Lee Hayden, younger brother of 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden. Roger Lee rides for the U.S. Kawasaki superbike team, and was offered a Moto GP ride this past weekend as something of a treat or as an experiment – call it what you will.

Either way, he did a superb job, keeping within himself, making no mistakes, going faster all weekend, and finishing 10th overall at the end. His team-mates Randy de Puniet of France and Anthony West of Australia were also in the top 10, making the Kawasaki team the most successful of the weekend.

In the race itself, top contenders Nicky Hayden and John Hopkins (Rizla Suzuki) collided on the first lap, ending both their challenges. Hopkins is moving to Kawasaki in 2008, giving the Green Team a surplus of talent to work with.

Second in the race went to Hopkins's team-mate Chris Vermeulen, another Aussie. Vermeulen announced this weekend that he's going to be staying with Suzuki for at least two more years.

Third on the day was Italian Marco Melandri on the second Gresini Honda, and like Hopkins this weekend, he announced a team change for next year. He will be joining Stoner on the Ducati team for 2008.

This leaves Loris Capirossi, originally the No. 1 Ducati guy, hanging in the breeze for 2008, but reports have him signing for Suzuki to replace Hopkins even though Ducati is searching for funding to run a third bike for him.

For sure, it's an interesting season!

Great White North

Closer to home, Jordan Szoke on his Canadian Kawasaki bikes is moving closer toward taking twin Pro Superbike and 600 titles for the second year running.

After the double-header race at Mosport July 14-15, Szoke took one victory in each class and is in a strong position with only two races left in the schedule, one at Shubenacadie in Nova Scotia in August, and then the final at Shannonville, near Belleville, on the September long weekend.

And in Ontario regional action at Shannonville in the fourth of seven events, defending RACE champion Frank Trombino had a perfect weekend July 21-22, winning the 600 and Superbike races despite a horrendous crash in practice when the frame on his GSX-R600 broke.

His team borrowed a bike from a fellow competitor – ironically, one he'd ridden in the past that had been sold only recently – and he used it to good effect in the finals. In the Superbike final, in fact, he ran off the track on the first lap, avoided crashing and rejoined dead last, and managed to slice his way through the field to take the win – a most impressive ride.

Also impressive was the Amateur Superbike race, where Alain Lefebvre, Marie-Josée Boucher and Paul Glenn ran like a train in front of a full field until the last lap, when "Mary Jo" pulled off a remarkable pass at the end of the back straight to surprise Lefebvre and hang on for the win.

Boucher is the fastest product so far of the Women's Cup series that's been running in Canada for four seasons now. It's intended to provide an easier entry for female racers into a traditionally male sport, and has been very successful.

Boucher is only one of half a dozen young women who are capable of top 10 finishes in the smoking hot cauldron of Amateur 600/Superbike racing, and more seem to be arriving every season.

larryt@primus.ca

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