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Veijer rewards those loyal Dutch fans

I must be honest and tell you I was cheering on Dutch teenager Collin Veijer to win that fantastic Moto3™ race at the Red Bull Ring. If anybody deserved a bit of success and glory, it is those loyal Dutch fans. They have not had so much to celebrate in the 74 years of Grand Prix racing. Three 50cc World titles, sidecar World Championships and a handful of Grand Prix wins is scant reward. They are the only country to stage a Grand Prix in 1949, the first year of the World Championship and to continue every season since at the same circuit, apart from Covid years

The legendary Assen circuit, the Cathedral, the diamond in the MotoGP™ calendar that regularly attracts race day crowds of over 100,000. While their countrymen have celebrated the phenomenal Formula One success of Max Verstappen, they have remained loyal to two wheels despite having so little to raise a glass to, of that wonderful beer. Being an Englishman with a similar problem I have great sympathy. Hopefully 18-year-old Veijer is lighting up that long dark tunnel.

On Saturday Veijer became the first Dutchman for 33 years to take pole position in the 125/Moto3™ class. In the amazing Moto3™ race the next morning, he came so close to becoming the first Dutch Grand Prix winner for 33 years. In the end he had to settle for fourth with just 0.13 s separating winner Deniz Oncu, Daniel Holgado, Ayumu Sasaki and Veijer.

Hans Spaan was the last Dutch pole setter in the class at Phillip Island in 1990. He twice finished runner-up in the 125cc World Championship. Bo Bendsneyder’s podium at Austin this year brought hope in the Moto2™ class. Wilco Zeelenberg was the last 250cc pole setter in 1991. A year earlier, he won his only Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, while three months later Spaan was the last Dutch rider to win a Grand Prix at Brno in Czechoslovakia with his ninth 125cc victory

There have been just three Dutch riders winning premier class Grands Prix in those 74 years. Wil Hartog won five and I remember his last at Imatra in 1980. The red helmet and white leathers flashing through the forest with the lake glistening in the background on the border between Finland and Russia. Jack Middelburg deserved more than two. I will never forget his first at Assen in 1980 with the 150,000 crowd going crazy. It was my first Grand Prix as a ‘proper’ newspaper reporter. I thought after that experience every Grand Prix would be the same.

That second win came at Silverstone a year later when he fought off World Champion Kenny Roberts by 0.30s. Cigarette smoking and unassuming Boet van Dulmen’s only win came in 1979 at Imatra. The last Dutch rider to start from pole before this Sunday was in the premier class – Jurgen Van den Goorbergh put the super-fast Rolf Biland built 500cc MUZ on pole at Brno in 1999.

On two wheels Dutch World Championship glory came in the smaller classes in the early days. Jan de Vries won the 50cc World title in 1971 and 1973. Henk van Kessel was 50cc World Champion in 1974. On three wheels Assen born Egbert Streuer won three World titles in the eighties.

For the last four decades, especially in the premier class, The Dutch, German and English fans have cowered in the shadows with just a few shafts of light to grasp. First it was the Americans, then the Australians before the Italian and Spanish armadas swamped the opposition. It’s time for a change. The weight of expectation will weigh heavy on Veijer’s shoulders. No wonder I was cheering for a Dutch victory on Sunday.

By |2023-08-22T16:38:31+00:00August 22nd, 2023|Uncategorised|Comments Off on Veijer rewards those loyal Dutch fans

Aleix an inspiration to others at perfect venue

Remember what we were always told by parents, teachers and coaches when growing up. If you don’t succeed try, try again. The history of the Red Bull Ring and Aleix Espargaro’s crazy celebrations with family and the Aprilia team in the Silverstone pit lane last week just endorsed that advice. It also gave real inspiration to other MotoGP™ riders and perhaps Johan Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) in particular, to never give up the chase of that first premier class victory. Aleix’s brilliant win at Silverstone was not only his second premier class victory but also just his second Grand Prix in any class. That first win came in Argentina after a long, long wait. It was 12 years 216 days after making his MotoGP™ debut that Espargaro finally did it on the Aprilia in Argentina last season. That second win in the superb Silverstone race came one year and 125 days later. Twenty-six Grands Prix after the Argentinian victory on his 200th MotoGP™ appearance. I don’t think he will have to wait that long for his third.

Double Moto2™ World Champion Zarco may be fighting for his MotoGP™ future, as he chases that elusive first premier class win which would surely ease the pressure. The Frenchman is a mere novice compared to Espargaro. He has made 113 MotoGP™ starts since his debut in Qatar six years and 147 days ago. Zarco has come so close with an amazing 11 second place finishes in that period.

With fewer Grands Prix in the past, others had to wait even longer than Aleix before seeing that chequered flag. Australian Jack Findlay burnt plenty of rubber racing and travelling around Europe. He made his 500cc Grand Prix debut in the 1958 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. Thirteen years, 25 weeks later he secured that first win in the 1971 Ulster Grand Prix riding the Suzuki around the demanding Dundrod road circuit.

For some very talented riders that first victory just never came. Who will ever forget Colin Edwards crashing out of the very last bend in 2006 at Assen while in sight and sound of that elusive first Grand Prix win. His fall handed the race to American countryman Nick Hayden who went on to win the world title. For Colin, his big chance disappeared in the Dutch gravel, and it never returned. His loyalty to team-mate Valentino Rossi and Yamaha brought them world titles. His 12 podium finishes in 196 MotoGP™ appearances deserved so much more. It was not to be.

For others, it was such a very different story counting hours and minutes, rather than years and days, to that first premier class win. Italian Max Biaggi, Finn Jarno Saarinen and British Norton rider Geoff Duke were all members of that first-time club. Biaggi, the four time 250cc World Champion, became the first European rider to win a 500cc Grand Prix in Japan and the first rider to win in 25 years on his Premier class debut at Suzuka in 1998. It was Saarinen who was that previous winner, with victory on the new two-stroke Yamaha at Paul Ricard in France. In 1950 Duke won the Senior TT on the Isle of Man on his 500cc debut. Only Duke went on to achieve World Championship success with four 500cc world titles. Biaggi won 12 more Grands Prix and finished second three times in the World Championship. Saarinen won the opening two rounds but was killed in a multi-bike 250cc crash in Monza.

The riders arrive in Austria this weekend to compete at a circuit that has provided three riders their first MotoGP™ wins in the last seven years. Andrea Iannone, Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) and Miguel Olivera (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP™ Team) all stood on the top step of the podium for the first time at the Red Bull Ring in both Austrian and Styrian Grands Prix. So, the venue and the time is right for it to happen again on Sunday before time runs out for some.

By |2023-08-17T08:59:16+00:00August 17th, 2023|Uncategorised|Comments Off on Aleix an inspiration to others at perfect venue

Rins has pushed over the first domino

Even before the summer break ended at Silverstone this weekend the first domino in the row had tumbled. The move of Alex Rins to Monster Energy Yamaha from LCR Honda next season is just the start. Plenty more dominoes will fall in the next few weeks. It’s that time of the year. We have not even reached the halfway stage of this season and already next year is on our minds. It’s part and part of the process that just gets earlier and earlier every season. Some moves come completely out of the blue. Others are much more predictable.

Without a doubt the biggest defection and secret in every sense of the word came in 1961 when Ernst Degner left the East German MZ factory to join Suzuki. At the other end of the scale, Valentino Rossi’s announcement he was leaving Honda to join Yamaha in 2004 hardly came as a great surprise. Both moves played a massive part in the outcome of the World Championships for many years to follow

Degner’s story is more akin to a John le Carre cold war thriller than a Grand Prix paddock story. Riding the two-stroke East German MZ he led the 125cc World Championship from the four-stroke Honda of Tom Phillis going into the penultimate round of the Championship at Kristianstad in Sweden. Suzuki wanted Degner’s engineering and riding prowess to spearhead their attack on both 50 and 125cc World Championships in the coming seasons.

Degner was keen to shake of the shackles of living in communist-controlled East Germany and so his defection from his homeland was hatched in enormous and necessary secrecy. It was never going to be easy. Degner was accompanied and watched by a dreaded Stasi policeman at every Grand Prix to ensure he would return to his homeland after every race.

While he was en route to Sweden a friend smuggled Degner’s wife and children in the boot of an American car through the checkpoint in the Berlin Wall to safety in West Berlin. After the race once Degner knew his family were safe, he tricked the Stasi policeman and jumped on the ferry to Denmark taking with him all the MZ two-stroke secrets plus some engine parts to Suzuki. The Degner family was free and he rewarded Suzuki with their first 50cc World title the following season.

There is nothing the Grand Prix paddock likes more than a good old rumour especially over a beer at the end of a day. Those rumours flowed like that beer, in 2003. The rumour was that Valentino Rossi was leaving Honda and joining the underperforming Yamaha team. I honestly didn’t believe it at first. The BBC were not happy with me because I did not push Honda hard enough on the subject in an interview in Rio, but as the year progressed it was obvious it was going to happen.

Both Honda and Yamaha kept stum, but by the time I hosted the press conference at that final round in Valencia to make the official announcement it was old, but still sensational news. I will never forget Rossi’s first ride on the Yamaha at that opening round of the 2004 at Welkom in South Africa. Twenty-eight laps of pure theatre as those bitter rivals Rossi and Max Biaggi duelled in the sun. At the chequered flag Rossi held a two-tenths of a second advantage over the man he’d replaced at Yamaha. The rest is history and Rossi went on to win Yamaha the World title that season and three more times. I should have believed those rumours from the start!

So the silly season has already arrived with still 11 races remaining. The Silverstone paddock was buzzing with rumours especially concerning the three M’s. Marquez, Morbidelli and Martin. Rins has pushed over the first domino and be prepared for plenty more to follow in the next few weeks. We love it.

 

By |2023-08-11T15:34:53+00:00August 11th, 2023|Uncategorised|Comments Off on Rins has pushed over the first domino

Silverstone led the revolution

August 14, 1977, was not only a historic day for British Motorsport but for the future of Grand Prix motorcycle racing. It was the day that the very first two-wheeled Grand Prix was held on the British mainland. It was a day that heralded the start of a revolution that other circuits and counties followed. It was a day that those legendary road circuits that had been the very backbone of the pioneering days of the World Championship started to be replaced by purpose-built safer circuits as speeds and lap times increased rapidly.

The former second world war aerodrome hosted that first mainland Grand Prix 28 years after the very first World Championship event was held on the 60.721km TT mountain circuit on the Isle of Man in 1949. Silverstone had staged the first ever Formula One car Grand Prix in 1950 and had hosted some big international motorcycle events. The TT Mountain circuit was the spiritual home of World Championship motorcycle racing, but the writing was on the wall in the early seventies. Many of the top riders including World Champions Giacomo Agostini, Phil Read and Rodney Gould boycotted the event on safety grounds. The Spanish Federation banned any of their riders competing following the death of Santiago Herrero.

It was time to change if the sport was to progress. Silverstone led the way, but others soon followed. The parkland Montjuic Park circuit overlooking the city of Barcelona staged its last Spanish Grand Prix in 1976. Grand Prix motorcycle racing returned to this motorcycle mad city with the opening of the brand-new purpose-built Barcelona – Catalunya circuit to celebrate the Olympic games in 1992. The legendary Nürburgring road circuit nestling in the German Eifel mountains had staged Grand Prix racing since 1955 but 25 years later Marco Lucchinelli won the last 500cc Grand Prix at the Ring. Four years later Grand Prix racing returned at a new purpose-built track alongside the old 22.835 kms road circuit. Brno in Czechoslovakia, the Sachsenring in Germany and Rijeka in Yugoslavia also built new circuits to replace their road tracks.

Other circuits made drastic changes to safety to stay on the calendar. In 1977 Barry Sheene set the fastest ever average race speed of 217.37 km/h winning the Belgian Grand Prix at the 14.12 km Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. Two years later the track length was dramatically reduced to 6.95 km taking out sections regarded too dangerous for Grand Prix motorcycles. Sadly, in the end the magnificent venue was deemed too dangerous staging its last Grand Prix in 1990.

A British rider has never won the premier class race at his mainland Grand Prix. Their best chance came at that very first race in 1977. Barry Sheene had brought the sport onto the front pages with his two World 500cc titles and exploits off the track. Unfortunately, he was sidelined with mechanical problems in that first 500cc Grand Prix, but his best friend Steve Parrish led the way with a few laps remaining. Sheene held out the legendary pit board ‘GAS IT W*****’ as Parrish raced towards Copse corner. It had just started to drizzle. Parrish smiled at Barry’s encouragement, lost the front end of the Suzuki, and went down accompanied by the groans of the patriotic crowd. All was not lost with John Williams taking over at the front only to crash three bends later. American Pat Hennen grabbed his chance to win his second Grand Prix. The Union Jack flag and National Anthem tape were quickly replaced and have never returned.

Fans of my generation have wonderful memories, perhaps through rose-tinted spectacles, of those old road circuits but for the sport not only to survive and also progress, those changes were vital.  Some such as the TT races in the Isle of Man have successfully survived without World Championship status. Top speeds and lap times continue to increase every season. It is what Grand Prix racing is all about. I wonder what innovations will have to be made to continue progress in the next decade.

 

By |2023-08-03T08:31:18+00:00August 3rd, 2023|Uncategorised|Comments Off on Silverstone led the revolution

Three GPs in 15 days – I’d never had made it

Never had to check the diary. The last Saturday in June was Assen, followed eight days later at Spa. Thursday night at Assen fired up ten days of total chaos and some brilliant racing. Car races, deadlines, overnight ferries, flights in ancient aircraft, chips covered in mayonnaise, plenty of cold beer and planned parking; all coming into play to ensure back-to-back grands prix at two European classic venues, that somehow produced copy and photographs onto the pages of our respective magazines.

The fun and games started on the overnight ferry between England and Holland. I remember Wayne Gardner having to go to the medical centre in Assen with a strained arm. He told the doctor it was arm pump, but it was caused by an arm-wrestling contest late one night in the middle of the English Channel. The pace hotted up on the Thursday evening at Assen. After a full afternoon of the six classes of Grand Prix practice the Dutch rounds of the TT Formula One and Two races took to the hallowed tarmac. It was Championships dominated by British and especially Irish riders, such as the great Joey Dunlop and Brian Reid. After the prize giving it was time for the celebrations or commiserations usually starting in Assen and often finishing in Groningen with the sidecar boys, always up for a party, joining in

Racing at Assen was always on Saturday, a throwback to the early days when they did not want to affect the attendance at the local churches. Parking early on race morning was a crucial part of the plan. As the final race ended you had to be out of Assen on the road with a bag of films and photocopied results from the 50cc, 125cc, 250cc, 350cc, 500cc and sidecar Grands Prix on route to the Hook of Holland and the overnight ferry back to England. That 250 km journey was our very own Grand Prix and time was tight. The FIM Stewards would have been very busy. Once back in England on Sunday morning it was drive to the office, write 2000 words of copy, type out the results get the films developed and then sleep.

Two days later we were ready to start the process all over again at the magnificent Spa Francorchamps circuit, carved out of the forest high in the Belgium Ardennes. Often we would fly across the Channel this time. Once we hitched a free flight on an ancient Viscount airliner being used by a certain Richard Branson to set up a new airline. Thank goodness, no TT Formula One or Two races, but just as much fun and games. A Sunday race meant tighter deadlines. We had leave even earlier to catch the flight back. I remember a bag of films being thrown over the track during the sidecar race from the inside of the La Source hairpin so we could get away before the traffic.

So Assen and Spa, the most memorable back-to-back races of the season – well actually not quite. Anybody who was lucky enough, although I might not have used those exact words at the time, to board that overnight party ferry between Finland and Sweden after their respective Grands Prix would agree. Was it the relief of leaving Imatra alive or the worry of leaving Anderstorp with the prospect racing over those Imatra railway lines looming? Was it the fact it never actually got dark as the boat wound its way through hundreds of tiny islands? Perhaps a combination of them both, but the party-loving Scandinavian blond ladies, loud music and beer certainly played their part.

The riders, teams and media have just completed three back-to-back Grands Prix in just 15 days. Back in the day I don’t think my brain, body or liver could have taken the strain. Enjoy the summer break – you deserve it.

 

By |2023-06-29T09:28:09+00:00June 29th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off on Three GPs in 15 days – I’d never had made it

The Italian Job

Fifty-four years ago, Grand Prix racing history was being made on the Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia, although nobody would have believed it at the time. It was only after another Ducati-dominated MotoGP™ race at the Sachsenring on Sunday that it really emerged just how much the tide had turned into an Italian job. Unbelievably there were just three Japanese machines on the starting grid for the 30-lap race on Sunday. It was over half a century ago on September 7th 1969 that fewer Japanese motorcycle lined up for the start of a premier class Grand Prix. It was only a year ago the then World Champion Fabio Quartararo brought Yamaha their last MotoGP™ win at the Sachsenring.

Alex Rins kept the Japanese flag aloft with wins for Suzuki at Phillip Island and Valencia. Suzuki stepped down from the rigours of MotoGP™ but Rins continued to fly the flag bringing the LCR Honda team victory in Austin, however, that was that for the Japanese factories who had dominated Grand Prix motorcycle racing for six long decades.

Twelve months ago it would have been unthinkable that just three Japanese machines started a MotoGP™ race. Injuries to key players Marc Marquez, Joan Mir and Rins kept them off the grid but you still have to go back those 54 years to find less Japanese machines preparing to start a premier class Grand Prix. At the final round of the 1969 500cc World Championship, Australian Terry Dennehy was the only rider on the grid for the Adriatic Grand Prix riding a Japanese motorcycle. Fresh from a fourth place at the penultimate round at Imola, he arrived at the infamous 6.00 kms cliff-top road circuit at Opatija for the 29-lap race riding the Honda he’d converted from a CB450 cc road bike housed in Drixton frame. Unfortunately, he retired from that race in Yugoslavia but still finished a credible 12th in the final World Championship standings. Not only was the pioneering Australian the only Japanese starter but he was also the only rider to score points in the 12-round World Championship riding a Japanese machine

Ironically the 174 kms race produced the end of an era. British rider Godfrey Nash secured his one and only grand prix win riding a single-cylinder British built Norton. It was the last Grand Prix victory for the British factory and the last time a single-cylinder machine won a Premier class grand prix.  Norton had won 41 350 and 500cc Grands Prix and played such a massive part in developing the World Championship in those early days. Their time was up, as the Japanese factories moved in.

In 2003 Honda, led by Valentino Rossi, took the first five places in the Rio Grand Prix. Twenty years later it was Ducati that produced a similar result for the first time since Rio, led by Jorge Martin in Germany. For the last 33 MotoGP™ races a Ducati has been on the podium and they have already won six Grands Prix, which is half the total they won last year. Throw in a couple of Tissot Sprint wins for Brad Binder on the Austrian-built KTM and you realise just what the Japanese factories face in their fight to return to the top.

No way do Honda or Yamaha find themselves in a similar position to Norton half a century later. It is not in their culture or history to throw in the towel. They will return to starting grids and the top step of the podium but there are signs they could be in for a long wait.

By |2023-06-23T07:25:22+00:00June 23rd, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off on The Italian Job

Genius of the Swinging Sixties

This was the Swinging Sixties. A decade of revolution and innovation. A never to be forgotten era embraced by Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Multi-cylinder Japanese designed and built engines. Maverick riders who displayed such skill to ride these mechanical masterpieces to Grands Prix and World Championship victories, accompanied by the music of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and Jimmy Hendrix.

Forget those terrifying 500cc two-strokes, the V8 Moto Guzzi 500cc monster or the 360km/h modern-day MotoGP™ machines, because they were, and are, a doddle to ride compared to that incredible 50cc motorcycle that Hans-Georg Anscheidt coaxed to three World titles. A Grand Prix motorcycle that demanded a genius to ride to the limit. Anscheidt certainly earned that particular title.

In the modern Grand Prix world of electronics, multiple tyre choices, carbon fibre disc brakes and wings it is hard to fully understand just what a jack of all trades you had to be to even ride, let alone win on these 50cc machines. Mechanical masterpieces they may have been, but to harness all that potential you required a skill never witnessed before or after. The RK67 Suzuki on which Anscheidt won the 1967 and 1968 World titles was the perfect example of what was required by the man in the saddle.

Just how did they cope? Let’s start with the 14-speed gearbox. No wonder they wore off so much leather from those left boots. Constant gear changing was vital to keep the 50cc two-stroke water-cooled parallel twin engine peaking at around 17,500 rpm. The tiny engine with pistons the size of eggs which produced an incredible 17.5 hp was totally unforgiving. If you did not keep the engine in the narrowest 1000 rpm power band the speed simply disappeared. Certainly, Anscheidt found the speed and winning the 1968 Belgium Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps was reported to have gone through the speed trap at a truly extraordinary 205 km/h on the RK 67 Suzuki. Over 200km/h on a 50cc machine was not enough for Suzuki and they started to develop a three-cylinder version, but then the FIM stepped in to limit the number of cylinders and gearbox cogs to keep the spiralling costs down and the development ended. Just where would it have ended up in all classes? These speeds and gear changes were kept in contact with the tarmac by tiny 5cm wide tyres more suited to a push bike. The engine was housed in an aluminium frame with the whole package weighing just 58kg.

Anscheidt really was the undisputed king of the 50s. He won the very first 50cc Grand Prix at Montjuic Park Barcelona in 1962 riding the Kreidler. He won five more Grands Prix for Kreidler before switching to Suzuki in 1966. Anscheidt won the World title for the Japanese factory that year and retained the title for the next two years and in total won 14 GPs. The 50s disappeared in 1983 switching to 80cc. Many World Champions, and especially those in Britain, started their careers racing 50cc machines before moving on. Mike Hailwood, Bill Ivy and Barry Sheene all cut their teeth on the tiddlers. Sheene’s second Grand Prix win was in a one-off ride for Kreidler at the 50cc Czechoslovakian Grand Prix in Brno. He is the only rider to have won both 50cc and 500cc Grands Prix.

What a decade to grow up in. Five-cylinder 125s, England winning the World Cup, six-cylinder 250s, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, three-cylinder 50cc two-strokes with 14 gears and Hans-Georg Anscheidt.

By |2023-06-15T07:25:28+00:00June 15th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off on Genius of the Swinging Sixties

Nice to be so wrong

I’ll put my hands up and admit it. When Andrea Dovizioso brought Ducati just their second MotoGP™ win for six long years in 2016 and his first win for 2650 days, I didn’t have the foresight to realise this was the start of a challenge against the seemingly unbeatable Marc Marquez and Honda. A resurrection of the fortunes of the legendary Italian factory spearheaded by a revitalised Dovi. Of course, the Italian from the Adriatic coast had always been a world class motorcycle racer but, wrongly, I’d only thought of him as Mr Consistency, Mr Reliable, and a really nice guy.

I’d seen him win the 125cc World Championship on the Honda in 2004 fighting off the Aprilia challenge of Hector Barbera and Roberto Locatelli. He was unlucky to face Jorge Lorenzo riding the Aprilia in 2006 and 2007 in the 250cc World Championships. Dovi finished second to Lorenzo both years riding the Honda after finishing third in 2005 behind the pretty impressive duo of Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner. All three of those 250cc contenders joined MotoGP™ with both Lorenzo and Stoner going on to taste world title successes. In 2009 Dovi, riding the Repsol Honda, won the very last MotoGP™ Grand Prix at a damp Donington Park in England. For the next seven years, he rightly earned the title of Mr Consistency – picking up 30 podium finishes for Honda, Monster Tech 3 Yamaha, and Ducati who he joined in 2013

Honestly, I thought that Donington win might be it but there were stirrings in the red side of the paddock. After resting on their laurels for far too long after Stoner’s magnificent World title in 2007 on the 800 cc Ducati, the Bologna-based factory were back in the hunt to fight against the might of Japan. Who will forget that fantastic all Ducati last lap battle at the Red Bull Ring in Austria in 2016 where Andrea Iannone grabbed his one and only MotoGP™ win by less than one second? Iannone disappeared to Ibiza to celebrate. Dovi stayed at home to plot his second MotoGP™ win and he didn’t have to wait for long.

Two thousand six hundred and fifty-three days since that Donington victory he was back on the top step of the podium after a comfortable three second win over Valentino Rossi in the searing heat of Sepang in Malaysia. A more different venue to a damp Donington you could not imagine. Dovi and Ducati, wings and all were back in business and ready to take on Marquez and Honda. Out of the saddle, Dovi was still the friendly pleasant quietly spoken guy but once the lights changed something had altered. He explained a settled personal life had helped but spearheading a patriotic team fighting for a world title must have been such an incentive.

Right from the start in 2017, they were at it. Victory at a crazy Mugello was followed by wins at Barcelona, Austria, Britain, Japan and Malaysia resulting in the Championship fight with Marquez going into the final round in Valencia, where third place for Marquez was enough to keep the title. Second place for Dovi and Ducati perhaps not just rewards for their efforts to push Marquez and Honda off the top step

Two Grands Prix summed up that memorable season. Both last lap, last bend confrontations with Marquez who simply loved these head-to-head last bend scraps because he usually came out on top. The World Champion didn’t at the Red Bull Ring in Austria and in the rain at Motegi in Japan. I’ll never forget the look Dovi gave Marquez when he beat him in Austria but the win in Motegi was the one to savour. Ducati beating Honda at their home circuit in the pouring rain was pretty special. Two weeks later he won again in Malaysia to keep his Championship chances alive, but it was not to be. It was a similar story a year later when four wins gave him second place to Marquez. In 2019 second again behind the Spanish Honda rider and a year later his last Grand Prix victory of 24 including 15 in MotoGP™ in Austria.

Sometimes it’s nice to be so wrong even if it takes 2650 days to realise it.

 

By |2023-06-07T14:56:16+00:00June 7th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off on Nice to be so wrong

MotoGP™ fans are a savvy lot

Of course, sunshine helps and there was plenty of it pouring down on that record crowd at Le Mans a couple of weeks back. Good weather is the perfect start to encourage big crowds to witness Grands Prix first hand but there are so many other factors which have changed during the 74-year battle to lure spectators through the gates at circuits throughout the world. Admission prices, quality of racing, facilities, parking, and camping are the obvious ones but over the last seven decades politics, combined Grands Prix with Formula One cars and motorcycles, tradition and national pride have played their part

The 280,000 weekend and 125,000 race day crowds at the Shark French Grand Prix was generally regarded as the biggest in the MotoGP™ era, but a Grand Prix 71 years previously is still regarded to have attracted the largest ever attendance, and the reasons are not hard to identify. On the weekend of July 20, 1952, a crowd estimated at over 400,000 flocked to Solitude for the West German Grand Prix. It was the first Grand Prix to be held in Germany since the end of the Second World War and the first World Championship event to be staged in Germany. British rider Reg Armstrong won both 350 and 500cc races riding Norton machinery.

The World Championship was in its fourth year and promoters were already looking at new ways to attract fans. At the very first Swiss Grand Prix in 1949 at the 7,280km Berne circuit, they staged a joint race meeting with Formula One cars, who started their World Championship a year later. Les Graham, who went on to become World Champion, won the 500cc race while Alberto Ascari brought Ferrari to victory on four wheels. The success of the double act encouraged the promoters to continue with the theme. Combined World Championship Grands Prix were held at Berne from 1951 – 1954. What a weekend for spectators, but impossible and dangerous in the modern day however, what a dream.

While spectators in West Germany celebrated the new post-war era, it was a different story for the population of East Germany and Czechoslovakia as the Iron Curtain separated them from the Western World. Grands Prix motorcycle racing proved their salvation at the Sachsenring and Brno. Vast crowds were allowed by the authorities to flock to these legendary road circuits to catch a rare glimpse of the world outside. I will never forget the pictures of the manmade grandstands with fans perched high in chairs at the top of a pole above a sea of faces. Authorities were never comfortable with the influx of Western riders to compete.

Prize money was paid in local currency and not allowed out of the country resulting in a few beer fuelled clashes between celebrating riders spending their prize money and the local police in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) and Brno. Phil Read once drove to the Sachsenring in a Rolls Royce which caused a right old commotion. In 1971, 125cc World Champion West German Dieter Braun won the 250cc race, and the Police (the Stasi) prevented the West German national anthem from being played over the loudspeakers to the East German crowd although, to their disgust, they had to play it at the podium

There is nothing a patriotic nation loves more than a national hero. The likes of Valentino Rossi, Barry Sheene and Wayne Gardner brought a completely new audience to Grand Prix racing in the World Championship-winning years. The success of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) has sparked enormous interest in France. The Le Mans Sunday crowd was reported to be the largest one-day sporting crowd of the year in France. The former World Champion played a massive part in attracting so many people but there are many other reasons. MotoGP™ fans are a savvy lot, and they appreciate and will support Grands Prix that provide value for their hard-earned money and Le Mans did just that in every way. Of course, that wonderful sunshine did help.

By |2023-06-01T09:47:12+00:00June 1st, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off on MotoGP™ fans are a savvy lot

Jarno

It’s a day 50 years ago that many of us will never forget. May 20th, 1973, the day World Championship Motorcycle racing lost a rider who was destined to join the likes of Hailwood, Agostini, Nieto, Rossi, and Marquez as one of the true greats, if not the greatest.

The only rider in the 74-year history of the sport to win his opening two premier class Grands Prix. The likes of Geoff Duke and Max Biaggi are among a distinguished club of riders who won on their premier class debuts, but only one won on his opening two. A rider who was destined to win both 250cc and 500cc world titles in the same season 12 years before Freddie Spencer became the first and only rider to achieve that double.

A rider, it was rumoured, that was even contemplating adding a 350cc world title the same year to make it a treble. A rider who honed his road racing skills back on the frozen lakes in his Finnish homeland before arriving on the World scene to win the 250cc World Championship. A rider who won both the legendary 200 Mile races at Daytona and Imola in 1973 beating the 750s riding a 350cc Yamaha. A rider Yamaha chose to spearhead their first 500cc world title challenge on a four-cylinder two-stroke machine.

Twenty-seven-year-old Jarno Saarinen lost his life in a horrendous multi-rider accident in the 250cc race in the 1973 Grand Prix of Nations at Monza. It was a crash that also claimed the life of Italian Renzo Pasolini, who had finished runner-up to Saarinen in the 250cc Championship the previous year. Grand Prix racing and Finland grieved. Yamaha immediately pulled out of the 500cc World Championship for the season. No wonder Yamaha chose Saarinen to spearhead the two-stroke challenge in the four-stroke dominated 500cc class and he did not let them down.

The Finn arrived in the premier class after dominating the 250cc World Championship and winning five 350cc Grands Prix. Often, we would see this new phenomenon at British circuits where he eclipsed the likes of Barry Sheene at places such as Mallory Park, Silverstone and even the infamous Scarborough Road circuit. He needed the money to finance his Grand Prix racing and we were lucky there were organisers who had the foresight to pay him.

Saarinen’s debut season in the 500cc class was nothing short of sensational. After winning the 250cc race at Paul Ricard in France he went on to beat Phil Read’s MV Agusta by 15 seconds on his 500cc debut ride. He almost doubled that winning advantage at the next round at the Salzburging in Austria with his Yamaha teammate Hideo Kanaya second. Earlier he’d won the 250cc race. It looked a hat trick at the next round in Hockenheim but after a third 250cc win the Yamaha’s chain broke in the 500cc race and his winning run came to an end.

He arrived in Monza for round four with his wife Soili looking to return to double winning ways. On the first lap of the 250cc race 15 riders crashed at Gran Curve after oil it was suggested had been dropped on the tarmac in the previous 350cc race. An ominous pall of black smoke rose above the Grand Curve and slowly the riders made their way back to the start the wrong way round the legendary circuit. Saarinen and Pasolini did not return. We will never know where his World Championship journey would have ended. I’m just thankful I was so lucky to watch a true Champion in action.

Thanks, Jarno, I will never forget.

 

By |2023-05-25T08:04:42+00:00May 25th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off on Jarno
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