Monthly Archives: August 2023

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.

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.

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.