Honda Road Racerhead #45

By the time this is posted, I’ll be on a plane headed to Europe for a weeklong trip that will be kicked off by catching qualifying and race day at the season-finale MotoGP race in Valencia, Spain. That’s why most of it was written in the wee hours of Friday morning California time, before today’s first free-practice session had been run, though thanks to MotoGP Matters’ David Emmett—already on the ground in Valencia—we’ve also got news from today’s action at the Spanish circuit.

Don’t worry though, I won’t have to resort to discussing Brad Pitt’s recent motorcycle crash (hard to believe someone could lose control of a machine with such an ergonomic layout); there’s still plenty to talk about, and the fact that it’s mainly off-track stuff is fine considering that Valentino “Old Hen” Rossi already wrapped up the premier-class title in Malaysia a couple weekends ago.

Since I’m stateside as I write this, I may as well kick off with the domestic news. After a vacuum of information from Daytona Beach for quite some time, the 2010 AMA Pro Road Racing schedule was released yesterday. It’s down from eleven rounds to nine, but the release says “negotiations are ongoing for a 10^th race”—presumably the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca stop that traditionally runs alongside the MotoGP boys—and that “those details will be released in the near future” (the Heartland Park-Topeka stop is also off the schedule after a one-year appearance that included a Mat Mladin boycott).

Will a deal be reached with Laguna? One would presume so, although Miller Motorsports Park showed this season that it’s possible to put on a world championship event without support classes from AMA Pro. The provisional 2010 MotoGP schedule says Laguna won’t include the support classes (a revised, firmer schedule is expected this weekend or shortly after it), but that new Moto2 class would seem a lot more interesting to the average American fan than the 250cc two-strokes. Time will tell, but of the events that are on the AMA Pro schedule, Barber Motorsports Park is one getting a significant date change, from relatively early in the year to the season finale in late September.

The best news in the release is that Speed will air flag-to-flag same-weekend American Superbike and Daytona SportBike coverage of each round following the Daytona opener, with highlights from other classes to be shown during those broadcasts.

Before we move to overseas racing, Miriam Deitcher brings us this note from the world of flat track:

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Rhonda and Cole Davis, wife and son of the late Will Davis, traveled from North Carolina to the AMA Flat Track season finale in Pomona a few weeks ago to see #21, Jared Mees, win the AMA Twins Championship. Will Davis was a top rider in the AMA Flat Track series who lost his life in a crash at Sedalia, Missouri, in 2001. He wore the number 21 throughout his career, so seeing Mees win the championship had special meaning for the Davis family. Rhonda shared an emotional moment with Mees on the Pomona podium, where he was awarded the #1 plate for next season. When Mees decided to run #21 in 2004, he actually called Rhonda to be sure she felt he was worthy of the number. After winning the championship, Mees proved he was more than worthy. Congrats to #21, and Godspeed Winkin’ Will.

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Thanks, Miriam, and our best to new champ Mees and to the entire Davis family.

Now on to world championship racing, which was pretty exciting this week (despite the fact that Valencia is somewhat of a lame-duck race), thanks to some drama at Ducati. The past month or so has already had an unusual amount of changes among MotoGP teams’ non-rider personnel, with Repsol Honda crew chief Pete Benson and Fiat Yamaha manager Daniele Romagnoli both leaving their positions, but the news that Ducati Marlboro team manager Livio Suppo is moving to HRC is the biggest yet.

When word first leaked a couple weeks ago that Suppo’s role might be changing and that erstwhile test rider Vitto Guareschi was at least temporarily being given increased responsibilities, there was speculation that Suppo was being ousted in hopes of creating a situation to Rossi’s liking in case of a 2011 signing of the nine-time world champ. That was never likely—Livio is a big fan of Vitto and was the one who brought him in—and it seems even less so now. On the other hand, while the move may not have been done specifically with an eye toward attracting Rossi, it could have that affect anyway. I know, it’s a long shot, but Rossi said in his book that the main factor that kept him from signing with Ducati in 2004 was a rather chilly, businesslike environment at the company that reminded him too much of Honda. That would suggest, incidentally, that Suppo should fit in just fine over at HRC.

It’s a double-whammy for the Italian manufacturer, as Ducati Xerox manager Davide Tardozzi is also stepping down. He claims not to know his next destination (he’s supposedly leaving because he’s noticed he recently lacks the “stimulation” required to run that team well), but the smart money is on a role at Aprilia.

In a way, Suppo’s hiring by HRC could shed more light on the news that had hit just a day or so earlier, that Honda was hiring Fiat Yamaha technicians Carlo Luzzi, Andrea Zugna, and Cristian Battaglia—all Italians who are accustomed to working with the Magneti Marelli electronics that Ducati also uses (but that Honda—at least until now—has eschewed for their own system). If nothing else, next year should find Repsol Honda with a much more Italian flavor (and a somewhat less Spanish one, considering the reduced role that Alberto Puig is said to be playing), which has to be good news for Andrea Dovizioso.

Adding to Fiat Yamaha’s drama of so many crewmembers leaving was the ongoing sniping in the press between Rossi and frenemy Jorge Lorenzo—only this time it escalated to a higher level, with Lorenzo’s business manager Marcus Hirsch taking offence to a quote by Yamaha engineering chief Masao Furusawa saying he hoped to win with Rossi in the future. According to Spanish news source AS, Hirsch—after expressing displeasure with Furusawa’s friendly relationship with The Doctor—said: “Rossi is an employee of Yamaha, a well-paid employee, with a multimillionaire salary, and he’s paid just for this, to make a brand win that hadn’t won in a long time, but he’s not the owner of either the motorcycle or the company.”

While what Hirsch says is inarguably true, the statement isn’t likely to make him (or Lorenzo) any friends in a sport where Rossi—far from being considered a mere “employee”—is largely thought of as something approaching supernatural. And even notwithstanding all of the hero-worship stuff, the whole reason Rossi moved from Honda to Yamaha was because he felt less like a worker and more like a friend. Anyway, with Lorenzo’s camp incensed at Rossi’s special status, and Rossi’s camp annoyed at Lorenzo having been given a one-year contract (making him available at the same time as Vale), and a high technician turnover, the next year or so should be very interesting. (Presumably, Lorenzo’s recent cameo as a donkey breeder in the Spanish television show Aquila Rossa is but a coincidence, and has nothing to do with Rossi’s donkey helmet at Misano.)

Up near the top, I sort of blew off the significance of the Valencia race, but the truth is that it should be pretty exciting in some ways. The final 250cc champion will be decided, although it appears very likely that it will be Scot Honda rider Hiroshi Aoyama. Some people have called this ridiculous in light of the fact that Honda (the supplier of Moto2’s spec engine) played a significant role in the move away from 250cc two-strokes, but in one important way, it would be appropriate for the class to go out with Honda on top: Big Red has more titles in the class (at fifteen, for now) than any other manufacturer. (Aoyama, on the other hand, would be only the class’ third Japanese king, following Tetsuya Harada in 1993 and the late Daijiro Kato in 2001.)

The Valencia race is also important in that it will mark the Yamaha MotoGP debut of newly crowned World Superbike champion Ben Spies, who’s taking advantage of the opportunity to get in some extra seat time as he embarks on this new challenge. In yesterday’s press conference, Elbows was properly humble and grounded with his stated goals, but that was the case as he headed into this World SBK season as well—and we quickly saw that he had higher ambitions than he’d let on. I think he’s got the right attitude—MotoGP will likely be the stiffest trial he’ll ever face—but if I were his competition, I certainly wouldn’t take his words as a sign that it’s safe to discount him.

Incidentally, Spies is running Sterilgarda livery that’s very similar to his World SBK look (though with #11 in place of #19), which apparently belies the rumors that he’d be sponsored by Michael Jordan. On the other hand, Laurel Allen pointed out to me that MJ could make a great sponsor for a certain all-American MotoGP team next year. Just think of the promotional opportunities, perhaps even something with Nike athlete and Texan Lance Armstrong. (Please know that Laurel and I are going on nothing but speculation with this.)

This race—and the subsequent test—will also be important for the fabulous four, all of whom will be hoping to have the momentum heading into the long winter. Dani Pedrosa—currently in fourth place—has a slight chance of overtaking Casey Stoner for third, and as Polish journalist Mick Fialkowski astutely pointed out to me in a Skype message yesterday, Casey even has a chance of overtaking Lorenzo for series runner-up (if the Aussie were to take his third consecutive win and Por Fuera were to crash out, they’d tie on points and Casey would get the tiebreaker based on more wins, five to four).

Pedrosa and Lorenzo will both be inspired to win at home, and Pedrosa is the only rider to have been victorious at Valencia in all three classes. My prediction, however, is for Rossi to go out on top—and not despite the fact that he has struggled at Valencia in recent years, but because of it. With no real pressure, Vale can do his best to exorcise some demons while also tossing out one rare perceived chink in his armor. Oh, and he also stands a good chance of wrapping up the BMW M Award in qualifying tomorrow, and on Sunday he should move even with Kenny Roberts Jr. for fourth-most premier-class starts, at 167 (only Alex Barros, Carlos Checa, and Loris Capirossi have more).

Valencia will also be important for some of the non-fabulous-four riders—for Colin Edwards because he has a chance to overtake Dovizioso for fifth (he’s just four points back); for Marco Melandri, Capirossi, Alex De Angelis, Toni Elias, Chris Vermeulen, and Randy De Puniet (all of whom, amazingly, are within seven points of one another in the fight for seventh); and for folks like Vermeulen, James Toseland, and others, for whom this could be their final MotoGP contest.

Now here’s David, with the latest from Valencia:

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Thanks, CJ. The last race of the year is always a big occasion, and 130,000 bike-crazy Spanish fans always create a great atmosphere, but the paddock is even more hyperactive than usual this weekend. We were expecting a little bit of extra buzz, with Ben Spies turning up as a wildcard at Valencia and the last-ever race for the 250cc class (its title still to be settled between Aoyama and Simoncelli), but since arriving in the paddock, a tsunami of news and shock announcements has washed through the press room.

The biggest news of the weekend is surely Ducati team boss Livio Suppo’s move to HRC, as CJ mentioned above. The Italian will act as the HRC’s Marketing Manager, and his role there will be to go out and raise sponsorship for the Japanese giant, something he did so well at Ducati. With Suppo being sent off to chase extra funds and the aforementioned Fiat Yamaha electronics specialists being drafted in to push forward development of the RC212V, speculation is rising that Honda are poised to make some big moves on the rider market next year.

But let’s return now to Valencia 2009. Spies emphasized in the pre race press conference that he’s here just to get a jump on 2010. “For me,” he said, “the whole reason is to get more time on the bike; it’s basically three more days of testing.” His superbike and the MotoGP bike are worlds apart, Spies pointed out, adding that he’d have to return to the smoother style he had when he raced 250s. This weekend, he concluded, he’ll focus on learning and not worry about where he finishes. “I’d be very happy with a top-ten result for the first weekend on the bike, but that will be very difficult too.”

By the end of today’s free practice, Spies was just over half a second outside of that target, Nicky Hayden holding the tenth spot on the Ducati. But Spies made steady progress throughout the session, and it’s worth remembering that he’s previously finished with two regulars (Chris Vermeulen and Gabor Talmacsi) and one highly rated replacement rider (Aleix Espargaro) behind him. There’s plenty more practice to go until Sunday’s race, and a top-ten finish looks entirely feasible.

Spies may want to think twice before dropping that superbike style, though. The Grand Prix Commission (MotoGP’s rulemaking body) is due to meet this weekend, and momentum is growing behind what has been dubbed “Moto1,” the idea of allowing modified 1000cc engines from street bikes to be used in a prototype chassis. Herve Poncharal, IRTA’s representative on the Grand Prix Commission, is a very strong advocate of the formula, and Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta told a Spanish TV audience that he would be putting forward that proposal at the meeting this weekend. Faced with dwindling grids and rising costs, the growing support isn’t surprising. The days of the 800cc formula look to be numbered.

And so everyone is looking with interest at the host of Moto2 bikes being unveiled in the paddock this weekend. Tech3 has their machine (without a fairing as yet) standing in the hospitality unit, and it feels like there’s a Moto2 launch just about every hour. There are likely to be plenty of entries in the class, but there are still question marks over how many of those entries will actually make it to the grid. The purpose of the class is to expand competition and reduce costs, and while we have no idea just how close the racing will be until the bikes actually hit the track at Qatar next year, team owners are saying that costs are, at least, coming down. Tech3’s Poncharal expects to spend between 2.2 and 2.8 million dollars next season for a two-man team, and though that seems a lot, the lease on a factory-spec Aprilia RSA 250—just about the only way of being competitive in the MotoGP class previously—was approximately 1.5 million dollars a season, for a single bike.

Before the Moto2 bikes can hit the track, however, the 250s will get a final outing. There is a good deal of maudlin reminiscing going on in the paddock, and people are already bemoaning the loss of the sweet smell of burning two-stroke oil. The 250s are out on track as I sit in the pressroom at Valencia writing this, and I have to say that I too will miss the buzz-saw howl of a 250 stroker at full throttle.

That’s all from me—I’m off to gawp at some more Moto2 bikes!

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Thanks, David—great stuff.

As long as we’re on the subject of big changes, did you catch the news that Bridgestone is set to withdraw from Formula 1 racing after their spec-tire contract expires at the end of next season? This follows on their recent ceasing of sponsoring U.S. motocross and supercross teams, and it has to make Dorna wonder what could happen when the Japanese company’s MotoGP spec-tire contract expires at the end of 2011.

Speaking of F1, with Donington Park’s apparent loss of the British four-wheel Grand Prix before it had even started, there’s talk that Silverstone—which had just “traded” that race with Donington for the UK MotoGP round—may get the car race back next season. No word on how that would affect the bikes, but perhaps the upcoming revised MotoGP schedule will shed some light.

And speaking of Jolly Olde England, Motorcycle News broke word this week that Neil Hodgson could be making a return to British Superbike next year.

Alright, folks, I need to load up my iPod with podcasts (including the new Rumblestrip Radio, which includes a Chad Davies interview) and catch a few hours of sleep before the airport shuttle picks me up. Before I go, though, check out this photo by Andrew Wheeler, who for the past few weeks has been enjoying (with wife Emily) a much more leisurely Iberian trip than might is likely to be. The lovely couple’s itinerary included a stop at a Tio Pepe Bodega, where he noticed a new barrel of sherry belonging to a certain talented Spanish racing star.