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Best Wishes,

Nick and Martin
Nick Harris Media Communications

We are not sending out Christmas cards this year and instead are donating to the Oxfordshire Charity for the Homeless

It’s amazing how much easier it is to commentate on a MotoGP™ race from your couch at home with a cup of tea in your hand. Why is it you see everything that is going on? Every pass, every mistake and every fastest lap just comfortably appears in front of you with such great clarity while in the confines of the commentary box with all the relevant facts and figures pinned on the wall around me, I could still miss things. I certainly now understand why viewers can get so annoyed and shout at the screen – Perhaps it’s that cup of tea that makes the difference. 

For the first time in 39 years I watched this year’s MotoGP World Championship from the outside and it was amazing experience for somebody who has been so involved for so long. It certainly made me realise what a truly unbelievable Championship it is. It’s absolutely made for the television viewer and very rarely have they switched over to watch its four wheel counterpart while any of the three Championship races have been on screen. 

Watching at first was so difficult but I got used to it and to the relief of the people around me stopped commentating from the couch by the time we got to Assen. I thought Dovizioso was going to win the title and just loved those battles with Marquez. I marvelled at Marquez’s ability to hang on and even pop his shoulder back into place when he didn’t. I so enjoyed watching that pure style of Lorenzo at last getting to grips with the Ducati and raised a glass to Rossi. Signing a new two deal with his 40^thbirthday on the horizon, setting up a team that won the Moto2™ World Championship for Peko Bagnaia, cheering his step – brother on to his first grand prix win is the story of a true legend. I just wish he’d won in Malaysia. I celebrated that Moto3™ title with Jorge Martin after handing over so many Tissot Pole position watches to him over the years and woke up the neighbours celebrating Cal Crutchlow’s win in Argentina. I was sad to see the departure of Scott Redding and not just for those amazing haircuts. He’s done so much to increase the popularity of the sport in Britain since that 2008 win at Donington Park. Also the departure of the likeable Alvaro Bautista after an amazing career in all three classes.

Of course I missed so many things apart from the racing. Breakfast at Ducati, watching the football over a beer and discussing the prospects of the Cornish Pirates Rugby team at Alpine stars. The commentary box humour, checking how Oxford United have fared on my phone in the middle of the Qualifying press conference and of course the friendship and camaraderie that so long in the paddock brings.

Most of all I’ve missed that amazing feeling at 14.00 on a Sunday afternoon when the lights switched from red. That’s a unique moment that is such a privilege to have  experienced and can never be repeated.

• This is the ninth year that Silverstone has hosted grand prix racing since the motorcycle world championship series returned to the circuit in 2010 after a gap of 23 years.

• The first motorcycle grand prix event to be held at Silverstone in 1977 was also the first motorcycle grand prix to be held on the British mainland; prior to 1977 the British round of the world championship had been held since 1949 on the 37.73mile long Isle of Man TT circuit. The move from the Isle of Man was made mainly for reasons of rider safety.

• The winners at that first grand prix at Silverstone in 1977 were: 500cc – Pat Hennen (Suzuki), 350cc & 250cc – Kork Ballington (Yamaha), 125cc – Pierluigi Conforti (Morbidelli).

• The original circuit layout used for the grand prix from 1977 to 1986 was 2.93 miles long (4.71 km) and the fastest lap in a race at the circuit during this time was set by Kenny Roberts riding a Yamaha in 1983 at an average speed of 119.5 mph (192.2 km/h).

• The British grand prix was held for ten successive years at the Silverstone circuit, before the event moved to Donington Park in 1987. The British GP returned to Silverstone in 2010 with a revised circuit layout measuring 5.9 km.

• Kork Ballington and Angel Nieto are the two riders with most GP victories at Silverstone, each having won there on six occasions.

• The only three riders who have had more than a single victory at Silverstone since GP racing returned to the circuit in 2010 are Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez and Maverick Viñales. Lorenzo has won the MotoGP race there three times: 2010, 2012 & 2013; Marquez won the 125cc race in 2010 and the MotoGP race in 2014; Viñales won the Moto3 race in 2012 and the MotoGP in 2016.

• Cal Crutchlow’s second place in 2016 was the first podium finish in the premier-class at Silverstone by a British rider since Ron Haslam finished third in the 500cc GP race in 1984.

• Yamaha have won four of the eight MotoGP races that have taken place at Silverstone, the last of which was three years ago with Valentino Rossi.

• Honda have had two MotoGP victories at Silverstone, with Casey Stoner in 2011 and Marc Marquez in 2014.

• In 2016 at Silverstone Maverick Viñales gave Suzuki their first MotoGP win since Le Mans in 2007 when Chris Vermeulen won the wet French GP. This was also the first podium finish at Silverstone in the MotoGP era for Suzuki and the first win for Suzuki at Silverstone since Franco Uncini won the 500cc race at the British GP in 1982.

• Last year Andrea Dovizioso gave Ducati their first ever grand prix victory at Silverstone.

• Honda riders have qualified on pole in the MotoGP class at Silverstone for the last seven years. The only non-Honda rider to start from pole at Silverstone in the MotoGP class is Jorge Lorenzo on a Yamaha in 2010.

• In the last six years the only rider to win the MotoGP race at Silverstone from pole position is Marc Marquez in 2014.

• Three British riders have won a solo grand prix race at Silverstone; Danny Kent won the Moto3 race in 2015, Scott Redding won the Moto2 race in 2013 and Ian McConnachie won in the 80cc class back in 1986.

• Only three British riders have started from pole at Silverstone, across all solo GP classes; Barry Sheene in the 500cc class in 1977, Sam Lowes in Moto2 in 2015 & 2016, and Cal Crutchlow in the MotoGP class in 2016.

• The eight Moto2 races that have taken place at Silverstone have been won by eight different riders: 2010 – Jules Cluzel, 2011 – Stefan Bradl, 2012 – Pol Espargaro, 2013 – Scott Redding, 2014 – Tito Rabat, 2015 – Johann Zarco, 2016 – Tom Luthi, 2017 – Takaaki Nakagami. None of these riders are competing in the Moto2 class in 2018.

• Six different riders have won the six Moto3 races that have taken place at Silverstone: 2012 – Maverick Viñales, 2013 – Luis Salom, 2014 – Alex Rins, 2015 – Danny Kent, 2016 – Brad Binder, 2017 – Aron Canet.

Of course, riders worry about the weather before they go into battle but at the Austrian Grand Prix in the eighties, it was not rain or high winds that caused furrowed brows before the visors dropped. Snow and really thick snow was the problem.

The MotoGP™ riders looked up at the darkening sky as clouds amassed over the grid on Sunday – would the weather play yet another vital part on the 21-lap proceedings round the 5.403 km circuit that snaked its way through forests on its undulating journey up and down the hillside overlooking the city of Brno. This time those black clouds did not drop their contents and the asphalt remained dry throughout.

Next Sunday the riders will once again cast a wary eye over those magnificent mountains that surround the Red Bull Ring as they line up for the Austrian Grand Prix. Just ask anybody who was there in the nineties if it can rain, I promise you it can and very hard but snow in August, surely not a chance.

The Salzburgring was a magnificent venue but I didn’t have to race a fearsome 500cc two-stroke round the 4.240 km frighteningly fast undulating track that staged the Austrian Grand Prix 22 times. Magnificent scenery in the foothills above the city of Salzburg. A mountain stream ran through the tunnel that led you into the paddock and you’d walk alongside another stream that followed the wooded path to the start and finish line and the communications hut that was staffed with an iron fist by the apply named Fax Family who were very easy to upset, which we often did. We stayed in a great hotel in the lakeside village of Fuschl Am See, which is now the home of Red Bull. They not only understood why you needed to be on the phone at reception for a couple of hours to relay the race story back to England but would keep a supply of apple strudel and beer to keep you going on a yet another long Sunday night. Marlboro would stage a magnificent dinner usually hosted by Giacomo Agostini at the superb hotel half way up the mountain overlooking Salzburg before practice got underway on Thursday night.

So, a great place to work and spectate but it was the timing of the race which often was the first Grand Prix of the season that spoilt our fun. The Venezuelan Grand Prix had already been cancelled in 1980 because of financial problems and so Austria was due to start the new season on April 27th. Spring it may have been but some unseasonable thick snow – even for this part of the world – not only prevented riders actually tracing the outline of the circuit in the blizzards but blocked any chance of the trucks and motorhomes getting into the paddock. The first race of the season moved onto Misano in Italy two weeks later where Kenny Roberts was a comfortable winner. You would have thought they had learned their lesson but a year later on the same weekend practice had to be delayed for the opening Grand Prix of the season. You guessed it, because of the snow. Although the race won by Randy Mamola did take place.

Never say never but with Europe frying in the summer sunshine, the last thing on the riders mind lining up for the Austrian Grand Prix as Ducati chase a hatrick of victories will be snow.

• Last year Marc Marquez won at Brno by a margin of 12.438 seconds from team-mate Dani Pedrosa. This is the largest margin of victory by Marquez in the MotoGP class.

• At the Czech Grand Prix Marc Marquez is scheduled to make his 100^th Grand Prix start in the MotoGP class. At the age of just 25 years and 169 days Marquez is the second youngest ever rider to reach the milestone of 100 starts in the premier-class. The only rider to reach this milestone at a younger age is John Hopkins who was 24 years 348 days old when he made his 100^th premier-class start at the Chinese GP in 2008.

• Pol Espargaro’s ninth place finish last year at Brno was the first top ten finish in the MotoGP class for KTM.

• The two riders with most grand prix victories at the current Brno circuit, each with seven wins, are Max Biaggi (4 x 250cc, 2 x 500cc, 1 x MotoGP) and Valentino Rossi (1x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP).

• Valentino Rossi is the only rider to win the MotoGP race at Brno in successive years – in 2008 and 2009.

• The best result for a Czech rider in the MotoGP class at Brno is 9^th for Karel Abraham in 2012 riding a Ducati.

• When Valentino Rossi lines up on the grid at Brno it will be the 23^rd successive year that he will have started in a grand prix race at Brno, and will be just the second circuit, along with Jerez, he will have raced in every year of his grand prix career. The other three circuits that have appeared on the grand prix schedule every year whilst Rossi has been racing (Mugello, Catalunya and Assen) were all circuits he did not start following his accident in practice for the Italian Grand Prix in 2010.

• Cal Crutchlow’s win at Brno in 2016 was the first victory in the premier-class by a British rider for thirty-five years since Barry Sheene riding a Yamaha in the 500cc Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp on 16^th August 1981.

• This year’s Czech Grand Prix will be the 49^th to be held at Brno.

• The only venue that has hosted more grand prix events than Brno is Assen in The Netherlands, which has hosted the Dutch TT in each of the 70 years of the motorcycling world championship.

• The first Czechoslovakian Grand Prix was held at Brno in 1965. The 500cc race, held over thirteen laps of the original 13.94 km long road circuit, was won by Mike Hailwood (MV Agusta) in a time of 1hr 11 min 23.2 sec.

• The circuit was shortened to 10.92 km in 1975 in an effort to improve safety.

• The last premier-class race held on the road circuit at Brno was in 1977 and was won by Johnny Cecotto riding a Yamaha. The circuit was subsequently considered too dangerous for the large capacity machines.

• The smaller capacity machines continued to compete in grand prix races on the Brno road circuit until 1982 before it was removed from the grand prix calendar for safety reasons.

• The current circuit was first used for grand prix racing in 1987 and hosted the Czechoslovakian GP through until 1991. Brno did not appear on the calendar for 1992, but the event was revived in 1993 as the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic and has taken place every year since.

• This will be the 31^st time that the current circuit has hosted a grand prix event, during which time the circuit has remained virtually unchanged; minor modifications were made to the circuit in 1996 which extended the length from 5.394 km to the current 5.403 km.

• Since the introduction of the four-stroke MotoGP class in 2002 Honda have been the most successful manufacturer with eight victories, including the last two years with Cal Crutchlow in 2016 and Marc Marquez last year.

• Yamaha have taken six MotoGP victories at Brno, but only one in the last seven years, which was with Jorge Lorenzo in 2015.

• Ducati have twice won the MotoGP race at Brno, with Loris Capirossi in 2006 and Casey Stoner in 2007. The last podium for a Ducati rider at Brno was when Stoner finished third in 2010.

• The last win for Suzuki at Brno was in the 500cc class in 1989 with Kevin Schwantz. Loris Capirossi was the last rider to finish on the podium at Brno riding a Suzuki – 3^rd in 2008.

• There has only been one podium finish by a Czech rider at the current Brno circuit across all classes – Lukas Pesek’s third place in the 125cc race in 2007 riding a Derbi.

• The eight Moto2 races that have taken place at Brno have been won by eight different riders: 2010 – Toni Elias, 2011 – Andrea Iannone, 2012 – Marc Marquez, 2013 – Mika Kallio, 2014 – Tito Rabat, 2015 – Johann Zarco, 2016 – Jonas Folger, 2017 – Tom Luthi. None of these riders are now competing in the Moto2 class.

• Six different riders have won the six Moto3 races that have taken place at Brno: 2012 -Jonas Folger, 2013 – Luis Salom, 2014 – Alexis Masbou, 2015 – Niccolo Antonelli, 2016 – John McPhee, 2017 – Joan Mir.

The two weeks of pain, anguish and that so familiar feeling of disappointment and ultimate let down is about to start once again. Every four years we patriotic English fans in the MotoGP paddock community prepare for the worst. We start with so much hope and optimism which is slowly drained from every bone in your body before the final humiliation much to the delight of the other nationalities – Yes the Football World Cup in Russia is about to start.

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve stumbled out of the IRTA paddock office late at night after witnessing yet another England defeat. The misery shared by many others amid the empty beer cans and pizza boxes. An evening which would have started with so much excitement and laughter ended with more than a choice few words and then total silence as we walked through the dark deserted MotoGP paddock.

This is not a new experience. Even I was not in the MotoGP paddock when England won the World Cup in 1966 but I was there 24 years later when they came very close although my choice of venue and fellow television viewers was not perfect. A small hotel deep in the Ardennes forest on the border of Belgium and Germany would not have been my preferred venue for a World Cup semi-final clash in Italy between England and Germany. I never realised that the Spa Francorchamps circuit, which was hosting the Belgium Grand Prix that weekend, was so close to the German border. I was the lone English voice amongst the German fans still smarting from that final defeat 24 long years earlier. It was a truly epic encounter that went to a penalty shoot- out. Enough said, because we all know how England always fares in dreaded penalty shoot outs and especially against Germany.

I remember the Qualifying press conference for the 2006 British Grand Prix at Donington Park. The World Cup game between England and Portugal in Germany was taking place at the same time. Distracted from announcing the Tissot watch winners would be a fair assessment of my state of mind at the time. While the photographs of the pole setters was being conducted I received a note from the Italian journalists telling me with great delight that England’s star player Wayne Rooney had been sent off. I rushed to the IRTA office when conference had finished without too many questions from the floor being offered to the journalists. I arrived in time for the penalty shoot–out and so no need to say anymore.

I’ve also jealously watched a nation celebrate success in a major football tournament. The night of the 1988 Dutch TT in Assen Holland beat Russia in the final of the European Championship in Germany and how they celebrated. I was in Amsterdam which went even crazier than normal while Schiphol airport the next morning was a sea of orange and tulips to welcome the victorious team back home.

Ironically I watched the last World Cup final with the only Argentinian in Germany. The final between Germany and Argentina was being played in Brazil and we were at Leipzig airport preparing to fly home after the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring. I sat with Diego the Dorna photographer watching his side lose as the Germans celebrated all around. It was feeling I knew so well although as I told Diego at least Argentina had reached the final. The last time England did that was in 1966.

So here we go again.