iSport | For the Fans, by the Fans

Round 6 of motogp at Circuit de Catalunya has been the only GP in this season when rain did not have a hand in deciding the qualifying or the race result. With any sort of strategy out of question due to dry and hot whether, only thing that mattered was the hardcore riding, and hardcore it was till the very last corner of the last lap.

There was a bigger problem this time though, that was heat. Unlike rain, high temperature of up to 50ºC in the sun makes the race hugely dependent on the way the rider uses his tyres. One has to wait till the bike is set completely, for a few laps, and then try to improve the timings, otherwise the tyres will soon give in and graining will cause the rear to slide all over the place. Experience and skill is what it takes in such situations to understand the bike well and push hard in the right places.

In my last article, I`ve been talking about how Jorge Lorenzo is Rossi's toughest competition, the result of Catalunya only proves that. The 22 year old Spaniard had a crash at Catalunya practise in 08 season and hence could not finish on podium. This time though, he qualified to start at pole at his home GP, flaunting his Barcelona FC livery to express his support towards the UEFA Champions League winners. The fans loved it and he definitely loved the support too. Victory was his target, his first ever home GP win.

Lorenzo has achieved a lot in a very short time, and was desperate to win his home GP! He has the bike & team and the skill to match the competition, and especially Rossi. There is a proper physical wall between Jorge and Rossi's garage at every GP, but as confirmed by Jorge they both have access each others telemetry, in fact they have access to the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha teams telemetry as well. Clearly Rossi does not want his younger teammate to learn from his bike setup and testing data. The fact is, the two are riders for Fiat Yamaha team and are responsible to get the team their championship points and work as a team, but since the competition is still working out for the team, hey are happy to divide the two riders and rule.

Rossi comes to Catalunya in hopes to make it his 99th GP victory after he lost out at the 1st place at Mugello, again rain was to be blamed here and more than that, Stoner and Lorenzo. It is becoming more of a pride game these days for the Fiat Yamaha riders, because they are leading every race. Being criticised a lot by the Italian press for his 3rd place finish at Mugello, Rossi had to shut them up by showing them what he's made of.

The start was a good for both Lorenzo & Rossi, the Spaniard out braked Rossi at turn 1 but the two riders were riding inches apart till lap 3, thats when 'the doctor' displays his precision moves and takes lead at turn 1. Now Lorenzo continues to add pressure on Rossi and he actually looked to be a tough competition to Rossi, almost as good as Rossi!

Stoner, all this while was at pace with the two Yamaha riders, until about 10 laps or so. After that the Ozzy was "destroyed" as he mentioned post race. Stoner has been keeping fit through the weekend and lack of sleep and the heat had made him suffer even more. He starts falling back but keep his position, not pushing too hard but just making time in late-braking. Following him and taking the advantage is Italian rider Dovizioso on Repsol Honda, he never gave up the fight for the 3rd place podium finish till the end, but it just wasn't enough.

All was going like this till there were about 16 laps to go, thats when the tyres started loosing grip due to excessive degradation. Lorenzo and stoner started going wide at various corners and Toni Elias suffered a tank slap for the same reason. The rider who is conservative on his tyres at this point of time in the race will finish, or end up in the gravel. The pace definitely dropped for many in the race, but the race leaders didn't seem to think much about it. 

Till about 12 laps to finish, Lorenzo has been putting pressure on Rossi inch by inch, and to the delight of every fan present at Catalunya finally succeeded to overtake Rossi, he may not have access to Rossi's expertise of bike setup but he surely has learnt the secret to wait and strike at the right moment.

Now, Rossi is putting pressure on Lorenzo, try and force him to commit a mistake. A very defensive and safe move, typical Rossi, reason being that Rossi was just not able to go on the offensive and Lorenzo was closing the line at every corner. Till about 3 laps to go, then Rossi manages to overtake but then the most exciting part of the race begins as Lorenzo and Rossi overtake each other many times and it was beginning to seem they both may end in the gravel, such was the level of competition between them.

At this moment I started thinking, Rossi has still got it. He is giving his best against the toughest opponent he has ever seen. Not that Lorenzo was any slower or less brave. Fueled by adrenaline and ego if I may say, they both exchange places may be 4 or even 5 times in the last three laps. Lorenzo was always faster than Rossi down the straight, but Rossi was never left too far behind. The last lap is where Lorenzo was really in his element and displayed fantastic courage, but at the penultimate corner he did not close the riding line enough, went wide, may be by ten inches. The doctor seeing this made his move, which may be considered as the best move so far this season, the best I can remember in motogp yet and finishes ahead of Lorenzo, by 0.095 seconds!!!

And that's the kind of finish which motogp has not seen since 2006, snatching victory at the last corner. Rossi does it again and in what style, the move on Lorenzo was very brave, a little too brave I`d say. But thats what these guys do best, put their lives on the line for victory, even if it means taking on their own teammate.

The way I see it, Rossi did make a brave move but it was courtesy Lorenzo's mistake, both the riders are equally good if not better than each other, the experience does matter and hence Rossi emerged victorious. It was just about the timing of the move that allowed Rossi to take the victory.

Mind you, this definitely has been the sweetest and toughest victory that Rossi has ever seen, the expression and body language said it all. Rossi’s team members were going crazy over the move me made, just remembering the instance to write about it gives me those little shots of adrenaline.

Now that we move to Assen, the championship at the moment is a tie between Rossi, Lorenzo and Stoner. The Ducati ahs seen a few issues this season, was expected to some extent considering the drastic changes the team has made transiting from Desmosedici GP8 to GP9, almost custom made for Stoner, I still maintain that the Ducati is much faster than the Yamahas but only on some tracks and subject to Stoners form too.

Rossi will give it his best shot once again, just to get the 100th motogp premier class victory as soon as possible and then target the championship. Lorenzo is still and will remain Rossi biggest fear, and after the Monday testing at Catalunya, Lorenzo has improved the bikes acceleration and braking. Speaking of which, Dovizioso was fastest in the Monday test as Honda roll out their new chassis.

I will not be surprised to see Pedrosa some magic with the new chassis. Also, all the teams are preparing for the new set of rules, which are in effect from the Bruno onwards. We shall speak about the new regulations on a separate page soon.

It is like the Championship has just began, or rather a different level of Championship between these three riders that starts at 106-106-106 points each and two victories each.