Poking the Sleeping (Koala) Bear

‘Koalas: just like if teddy bears were real and surprisingly aggressive.’ – John Oliver.

Less than a week ago I mentioned that the last two rounds of this year’s Moto3 world championship would set the tone for the rivalry between Alex Marquez and Jack Miller for years to come.  Well it seems we didn’t need to wait that long, with this weekend’s round at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia providing plenty of fireworks.

Alex takes after his older brother Marc, with a physically aggressive overtaking style paired with pure speed.  Like the late Marco Simoncelli, if they see a gap they go for it however small, and don’t mind who they upset in the process.  For a slower rider it might be an indication of riding outside of one’s limits, as if they’re out of control.  But for the Marquezes it’s indicative of the killer instinct evident in all great racers.  It’s the difference between being a cowboy and a bounty hunter.

A lot of riders complain about this kind of physicality, usually for one of two reasons: either they’re not willing to bash fairings in retaliation (like Casey Stoner against Valentino Rossi), or they are, but lack the speed required to keep up in order to do so (like Alvaro Bautista with Simoncelli).  Since Miller clearly didn’t fall into the latter category, I imagine Marquez assumed he would fall into the former like so many others.  He was wrong.

After Miller had been leading the championship from the first round at Qatar with Marquez clawing back the deficit round by round, it all kicked off at Aragon with this:

 

On a drying track Marquez braked late on the damp inside line trying to push Miller off the dry racing line.  It was a big ask, and Miller held his ground.  Marquez sat up in an effort to save the front, shoving Miller on to the damp outside track and into the kitty litter.  While the Red Bull KTM Ajo team didn’t lodge an official protest, race direction deemed it necessary to investigate, ultimately finding it to be a racing incident and hence no penalty points were given.  Marquez finished second, walking away with 20 points and the lead in the championship.

Two things happened that day that neither Marquez nor race direction anticipated.  Firstly, a precedent was set.  Dorna, the commercial rights holder for MotoGP, is constantly under criticism for perceived pro-Spanish bias, and by not giving Marquez a penalty point on his race license it was confirmed for all and sundry that in Moto3 rubbin’ certainly was racin’. 

Secondly, and more importantly, Marquez had poked the sleeping bear.  Miller – the clown prince of the paddock, famous for his ‘goon’ riding celebrations, for making stupid faces whenever a camera was around, for posting quotes from Will Farrell movies on social media – surely he wasn’t up for a bar brawl, was he?

At the next round at Motegi in Japan a new, street fighting Miller was on show.  Throughout the race he compensated for his KTM’s lack of straight line speed by being ambitiously late on the brakes, pushing Marquez off the racing line at the aptly named 90° and Victory corners.  A last lap tangle with off track pal and British Husqvarna rider Danny Kent meant that victory went to Marquez, extending his championship lead to 25 points.

A week later at Miller’s home GP at Phillip Island it was more of the same.  With the home crowd behind him, Miller kept pushing Marquez wide at Lukey Heights, taking the win and reducing the deficit to 20 points.

An important point to make is that, unlike Marquez, Miller’s aggressive moves are reserved for Marquez alone.  Against any other rider he is as clean as a whistle.  It seems that for Marquez any rider in front of him has a target on his back, while for Miller there’s only one, and given the lack of criticism of Miller from within the paddock (unlike Marquez), it seems that the other riders have given Miller their implicit approval.  Finally the school bully is getting a taste of his own medicine.

This weekend at Sepang Marquez had the opportunity to wrap up the championship by simply scoring 6 points more than Miller.  Miller was on pole, Marquez 5^th on the grid.  The early stages of the race were typical Moto3, with a breakaway group of Miller, Marquez, Marquez’s Estrella Galicia 0,0 teammate Alex Rins and the two German Racing Team Hondas of Italian Efren Vazquez and Scot John McPhee, with Kent not far behind.  Not so typical was Miller pushing Marquez wide at Turn 1 on no fewer than 5 occasions, then putting a little more mustard on it with some timely shoves down at Turn 9.

In the dying stages Kent was able to rejoin the lead group, providing backup against Marquez.  After a desperate last corner dive Vazquez won, with Miller second, Rins third and Marquez coming home fifth behind Kent.  Marquez’s championship lead now stands at 11 points.

Unhappy with the outcome of the race Estrella Galicia 0,0 team principal Emilio Alzamora lodged formal protests against both Miller and Kent, for ‘unsportsmanlike conduct’ and ‘deliberately slowing another rider’ respectively.  Both protests were unanimously dismissed, while Marquez lodged an unofficial protest against Kent on the slow down lap.

So it looks like we’re in for a peach of a race less than two weeks from now.  One man will be crowned world champion, the other left with a bitter taste in his mouth.  Miller leapfrogs to MotoGP next year while Marquez steps up to Moto2, presumably to make his debut in the top class in 2017.  Whoever loses will have two years to plan their revenge.

*All images in this post property of Dorna Inc., used without permission.

The Big Year (so far): Bol d'Or

In the latest in the series, The Big Year took me to Magny-Cours:

The following week at work my mind was constantly wandering, drifting off to ponder the next weekend where I would not only see my first 24 hour bike race, but also finally see the famous Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours.  I was going by myself again (if you hadn’t worked it out, this is a recurring theme), so the A1 was conscripted into duty once again.

On the Friday evening I hit the road directly from work and only made it on to the French A36 after dark, finally making it to the small town of Nevers in the wee hours.  Some helpful Gendarmes helped me find the track, and I duly set up my tent, twisted open a Coopers Pale Ale and set about the campgrounds taking in the bonfires, burnouts and general debauchery for which French bikers are renowned.  Everywhere I turned I was reminded of scenes from Boris Mihailovic’s life-spent-motorcycling-memoirs ‘My Mother Warned Me About Blokes Like Me’, and was thankful that my own mother had no idea where I was or what I was getting up to.

One aspect of endurance racing that is often overlooked by the uninitiated is the effect that variances in weather, and especially temperatures, can have on racing.  In races that last between 45 minutes (like MotoGP) to 2 hours (like F1), you can generally be sure that the weather will be somewhat uniform throughout.  The gnarliest MotoGP gets is races declared wet but where the rain hasn't yet arrived, like the most recent race at Aragon, where riders are able to switch bikes, from slicks to wets, during the race.

But in endurance racing, for both bikes and cars, the weather can vary greatly, especially over 24 hours.  As night falls so do the temperatures for both the air and track, meaning less grip to go with the reduced visibility.

Predictably, crashes are not uncommon, however tend to be relatively benign low sides that only scrape fairings and dent confidence.

Like this guy.

One other consideration regarding dropping temperatures is for the riders themselves.  As anyone who has ridden a motorcycle on a wet, cold night can tell you, the mental effort to keep upright is rivalled only by tensing shoulders, hands and wrists, greatly affecting one's ability to ride.  Throw in a field of riders behind you who are just as determined to pass you as you are the rider in front, and it quickly becomes a high speed game of chicken.

Throughout the race the factory Honda squad of Sebastien Gimbert, Freddy Foray and Julien De Costa led, until just 3 hours from the end when a countershaft sprocket in their gearbox broke, taking them out of the race.  They were able to take a number of positives on to the next round of the championship, not least of all having arguably the strongest rider line-up around.

Fate wasn't kind to any other of the leading teams either, with both the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT) and Yamaha Austria Racing Team (YART) retiring along with their Honda rivals.

In the end it was SRT Kawasaki who took out overall honours, with Yamaha Racing GMT 94 finishing in second with Junior Team LMS Suzuki, in the Superstock class, taking out third overall.  Road Racing superstar Guy Martin's Team R2CL came home 7th in a race where just making it to the end is an achievement.  For these guys though, it was eyes forward as they prepared for another challenge: the Suzuka 8 Hour.

The Big Year (so far): 6 Hours of Silverstone

The Big Year (so far)

My plan failed miserably.  Go to a bunch of races, write witty reports and post them here with some photos shortly after, documenting my adventures in almost real time.  Simple enough.  But it turns out that my (totally non-motorsport related) employer actually expects me to provide services – work, if you will – for the money they pay me, which I in turn use to buy tickets, sunscreen and barbeque briquettes for said races.  It’s a vicious cycle that’s hard to break, and something had to suffer.  So here I am in some cases six months later finally tapping away on a series I’m calling The Big Year (so far).

TBY(sf): 6 Hours of Silverstone

Fourteen years ago Porsche withdrew from the top tier of sports car racing.  In the intervening years there have been a few false starts for the sport’s most iconic marque, so I was determined to be there to witness its renaissance first hand.  That meant making the trek to the 6 Hours of Silverstone.

I decided to drive from Stuttgart as opposed to fly, and since I would be by myself I took my A1 TFSI S-Line instead of the S4, primarily due to the latter’s affinity for petrol stations.  When I ordered it back in 2012 quattro GmbH had hosed down any hopes of an S1 (liars!), and since I wasn’t flush with enough Euros to stump for the fire breathing A1 quattro limited edition this was the next best thing.  With 180 bhp it has plenty of poke, the only downside being that lazily driven M5s are often loath to move out of the fast lane of the autobahn when they see what’s essentially a specced-up Polo filling their mirrors.

After first crossing the border into France, then Luxembourg, then through Belgium and then, ahem, back into France, I arrived at the docks in Dunkirk.  I hadn’t ever taken a ferry across the English Channel, so it was something I was actually quite looking forward to, albeit somewhat sheepishly.  It was made all the more exciting by being parked next to an obviously well-loved Mini Cooper with rally lights up front and a noisy exhaust out back, all rolling on a set of Minilites.  Throw in its pretty female driver returning from a sommelier’s course in the Côte Rôtie, and it would be incorrect to blame my light headedness on seasickness.

The quick dash from Dover to London gave me a taste of what it must be like to drive a right hand drive car on the continent – let’s just say that navigating the Elephant & Castle roundabout from the passenger seat isn’t for the faint hearted.  Continuing on up to Towcester I managed to get to Silverstone in good time, and with driving on the wrong side of the road only once, too.

The last time I visited Silverstone was back in 2011 for the British round of the MotoGP championship, so I spent the Friday morning getting reacquainted with the track.  I do like Silverstone.  Usually tracks either have basic facilities and a free-for-all on what you can bring in, or good facilities but shake the punters by their ankles at the refreshment stands.  I find Silverstone balances the commercial considerations with the fan experience better than most – good facilities while not being unreasonable regarding what you can bring in with you.  You can’t bring in a barbecue and fire it up at Stowe, but someone somewhere in the organization realizes that nothing ruins a race weekend more than having a mate constantly moaning ‘I still can’t believe that arsehole security guard took my pork pie’.  Can you tell I’m speaking from experience?

Race day rolled around and 14 years of hope and trepidation came to a head.  The number 14 Porsche had qualified 3rd behind the 7 Toyota and 1 Audi.

Wrong Audi.

The Toyotas set the pace early, setting fast and consistent lap times while staying relatively out of trouble.  The same couldn't be said for the 14 Porsche, nor for the two Audis, especially the number 2.  Three hours in with Frenchman Benoit Treluyer behind the wheel, its rear left tyre kissed the outside rumble strip heading into Copse, resulting in massive oversteer, destroying the car's front end as it careened into the inside barrier.

That was after this photo was taken.

Treluyer tried in vain to get the car going again, ripping damaged components off the chassis and ignoring instructions from the marshalls to vacate the vehicle, only to eventually dig deeper and deeper into the gravel trap.  It was a disappointingly poetic end to Audi's day.

Not long after it started to rain heavily, the remaining cars slowing their pace considerably.  With only 6 full time LMP1-H entrants, making it to the end meant points that could prove themselves valuable late in the year.  With F1 convert Mark Webber behind the wheel, the 20 Porsche used this opportunity to close the gap.

With the 8 Toyota leading the 7, team direction understandably instructed their drivers to stay out of each others way, and to bring the cars home in one piece respectively.

As the rain continued to intensify, at the 5:30 mark race direction red flagged the race, not to be restarted.  It meant a Toyota 1-2 with Porsche on the podium of their first race in almost a decade and a half.  A tough day for Audi, but there's plenty more racing this year...

Dial D for Drama

A common complaint regarding top-tier motorsport is that it’s ruled by politics.  So-and-so can’t get a decent drive/ride with whomever racing because someone else brings more money with them (one of the more interesting such comments I saw recently was a tweet from Jalopnik.com which simply stated ‘Fuck Marussia’ in response to the news that Max Chilton had found the necessary money to race at Spa, denying American Alex Rossi his F1 debut in the process).  But with the amount of money required to go racing, and the financial interests that in turn generates, it’s unfortunately always going to be part of the sport.

I say ‘unfortunately’, but the fact is there are times when all the jostling throughout the paddock can be intriguing, augmenting what happens out on track.  Take for example the latest movements by the motorcycle racing division of Marc VDS Racing Team.

In 2014 Marc VDS are running two bike and one bike programs in the Moto2 and Moto3 world championships respectively.  Marc VDS have not been shy over the last few years regarding their MotoGP aspirations, however previously had stated that due to the financial commitments required a move into the premier category would be unlikely until 2016 at the earliest.

That all changed recently with the announcement from Honda that if someone could find the necessary funds, Briton Scott Redding would be given access to a Factory-spec GP bike in 2015.  Redding spent four years with Marc VDS in Moto2 with varying success, his rise in the latter years mirroring that of the team’s and culminating in 2^nd place in the championship in 2013.  Naturally Redding feels comfortable in the Marc VDS garage, and after a frustrating rookie season on an Open-spec Honda a move back to the Belgian team, in addition to a Factory-spec bike, looked to be the answer to all his prayers.

There were a number of factors leading to the decision for Marc VDS to fast-track their entry into MotoGP.  In order to free up money and people, they will be shutting down their Moto3 program at the end of this year following disappointing results from Belgian youngster Livio Loi, who they fired mid-season.  Loi’s replacement, Jorge Navarro, has in turn also been unable to make the kind of splash team principal Michael Bartholemy expects of his riders.  This in combination with the possibility of a Factory bike with Redding on board seemed like all the pieces were falling into place.  But I wonder how much the fate of the Factory bike in question, were no one able to find the money for a Factory bike/Redding combination, played into Bartholemy’s decision as well.

Had that been the case, the bike would have been allocated to 2015 LCR Honda rider Jack Miller.  The same Jack Miller I mentioned in a previous post, with whom Marc VDS are currently tied up in litigation regarding his alleged reneging on a contract to race in Moto2 for them for 2015/16.  Miller and manager Aki Ajo maintain there was no contract to speak of, while Bartholemy and Marc VDS beg to differ.  The matter is currently in front of the courts, however what is clear is that the two camps are probably no longer on each other’s Christmas card lists.

So suddenly Bartholemy and the Marc VDS brains trust found themselves with an opportunity to move up to MotoGP a year earlier than planned, bring a beloved member of the team back into the fold on factory machinery, and deny Miller top shelf equipment who for at least 2015 will be riding the lesser Open-spec Honda.

Adding to the feud between the two parties is Marc VDS’s ‘replacement’ for Miller for 2015/16 – Miller’s fiercest rival in Moto3 this year, Alex Marquez, younger brother of double MotoGP world champion Marc.  There’s been no love lost between Marquez and Miller this season, and the two riders are currently locked in first and second places in the championship respectively with two rounds to go.  Marquez takes after his brother when it comes to ambitious, aggressive overtaking, and Miller has been on the receiving end of more dubious passes than most this year.  Despite being forced to dig deep late into the year, as Miller showed at Phillip Island he’s more than up for a fight.

Perhaps I’m reading too much into it all – I’m not suggesting Marc VDS fast tracked their MotoGP plans, managed to find more than €10 Million in a little over two weeks to lease a Factory-spec Honda, re-hired Redding and signed Marquez purely out of spite – but it certainly adds to the theatre.  With 20 points separating Marquez and Miller and 50 points up for grabs, theirs is a rivalry that will no doubt be prolific for years to come.  What happens between now and Valencia in three weeks time will simply set the tone for the next chapter.