Motor Animal: October 2006

Monday, October 30, 2006

American Nicky Hayden took advantage of a rare error by five-times champion Valentino Rossi to claim his first MotoGP world title in a dramatic race in the season-ending grand prix in Valencia on Sunday. Rossi, who went into the final race with an eight-point lead in the standings, slid off into the gravel as he lost control of his front tyre on the fifth lap and was unable to make up the lost ground.

The Italian finished in 13th place, but it was Hayden who took the title with a third place finish behind winning Ducati duo Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi. Rossi pulled alongside Hayden as he took the plaudits on his lap of honour and sportingly shook the Honda rider's hand.

The 25-year-old American, whose title chances seemed to have evaporated when he was brought down by team mate Dani Pedrosa in the penultimate race in Portugal, collapsed to his knees as he lit a series of firecrackers on the Ricardo Tormo track.

"I'm really proud," Hayden, visibly shaking with emotion as tears ran down his cheeks, told Spanish state television. "We didn't give up even when we were down and we never gave up fighting."``It was only the third time in the history of the premier class that a rider lying in second place in the standings going into the final race ended up winning the title. Italian great Giacomo Agostini did it to take the first of his eight 500cc world titles when he overhauled Mike Hailwood in 1966 and American Wayne Rainey repeated the feat in 1992 when he pipped Mick Doohan to the championship.

Rossi started the race as favourite to win a sixth consecutive world title in the blue riband category after earning his fifth pole position of the year. But the Italian made a slow start and dropped to seventh by the end of the first lap as Bayliss set the early pace. Hayden's Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa slotted into second and then let the American slip past him while he concentrated on keeping Rossi at bay.

But Rossi's chances of winning a sixth successive title went up in smoke when the front wheel of his Yamaha slipped from underneath him and the bike slid out into the gravel as he exited a corner on the fifth lap. The Italian managed to remount his bike but lost over 25 seconds on the leaders and dropped back into 19th place.

Hayden slotted into third place behind the Ducati duo of Bayliss and Capirossi, while Rossi did his utmost to pick off the riders to get among the points and keep his title hopes alive. Rossi finally managed to thread his way through the field to take 13th spot but it was not enough to prevent Hayden dispossessing him of the world championship.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

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Rossi on Valencia pole

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Rossi and Hayden ready for the final battle

It's the battle that will decide the war: 30 laps inside a Valencia 'cauldron', lined by 125,000 fans, will end with either Valentino Rossi or Nicky Hayden crowned the 2006 MotoGP world champion.

The Valencian Grand Prix will mark the first final round title showdown for 14 years and is a fitting climax for a season of unprecedented drama - highlighted by the penultimate round, at Estoril, two weeks ago. Rossi began that event 12 points behind Hayden, but the American was amazingly wiped out by his own Repsol Honda team-mate, Dani Pedrosa, early in the race. Rossi was then beaten in a photo finish by first time winner Toni Elias, but still took the points lead for the very first time this season.

As a result of his eight-point advantage over Hayden, and his incredible racing record, the reigning five-times title holder will start as the clear favourite for a sixth MotoGP crown on Sunday - which would make him the only champion of the 990cc era - but the Italian superstar is aware that another twist of fate could snatch the crown from him, even though he just needs to finish second on Sunday.

"It's the last battle," stated Rossi. "It's very interesting. We are in front, but eight points is not a lot and we'll just try to do as we have in the last few races: A big effort in practice, a good starting position and a good set-up on the bike. I think it'll be a hard and tough race for everybody. "This year has been very difficult, especially because we had a lot of bad luck. We broke down three times and I crashed at the first turn once, so I had three non-scores and once only scored two-points. The second part of the championship was good, after Laguna, and we came back at the top level. But it's been difficult to win this year. It's been more important to stay consistent and arrive on the podium."

Rossi has undoubtedly suffered more than his fair share of bad luck this season, with technical problems, accidents and injuries dropping him 51 points from Hayden by round eleven of 17 - when he began his incredible fight back. But Vale was lucky to avoid a penalty for overtaking under yellow flags at Phillip Island and even he couldn't have imagined that Pedrosa would act so devastatingly in his favour at Portugal.

For Hayden and Honda, the Estoril 'incident' was a bitter, bitter blow - marking the American's first non-score of the season at a track where, with hindsight, he could have joined Elias and Kenny Roberts Jr in battling Rossi for victory. Some have said Hayden was due 'bad luck' anyway - but 'bad luck' is something that happens throughout the field during a racing season? being eliminated by your team-mate while leading the world championship with one round to go is more of a 'freak incident' - but one which Hayden must quickly put behind him.

"It's a big weekend. It's the final showdown," began Hayden. "I'm looking forward to it. I've got to get over what happened last time at Estoril, sure it hurts and it was definitely a bad deal, but I've got to get over it and shake it off. Elias did me a big favour by beating Rossi and giving me hope, so I've just got to go out there and try and win the race.

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Rossi break record in Valencia

Monday, October 23, 2006

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1st final round title showdown for Rossi

There's not much that reigning five-times MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi hasn't done during his illustrious career - but this weekend at Valencia he'll face his first ever final round title showdown.

Since being knocked from his bike in the first corner of the first race of the 2006 season at Jerez, Rossi has been through virtually every emotion known to a motorcycle racer leading up to Sunday's spectacular Spanish climax.

A dramatically unpredictable season of twists and turns has seen Rossi visit the gravel traps, the hospital and the top step of the podium in almost equal measures, with technical problems also robbing him of vital points in the first half of the season.

However, since finding himself a massive 51 points behind Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden, after round eleven of seventeen at Laguna Seca, The Doctor has mounted a dramatic comeback, claiming a string of five consecutive podium finishes - while Hayden has suffered five consecutive non-podiums, the most costly of which came last time out in Portugal.

Rossi began the penultimate round of the season 12 points behind Hayden but, despite just being beaten to the chequered flag by Toni Elias, will take a vital eight-point lead into Valencia after Hayden was eliminated on lap five at Estoril - by his own team-mate Dani Pedrosa.

Honda's home goal means Rossi leads the world championship for the first time this season - but also that, for the first time in fourteen years, the MotoGP World Championship will be decided at the final round, with the drama set to unfold in front of a sell-out crowd in excess of 120,000 people.

Few would bet against Rossi even if he was equal with Hayden heading into the event, but the American can only hope that his RCV 'team-mates' will aid his title bid - and that the new experience of final-round pressure will trouble Rossi more than him. That's unlikely, especially as Hayden has never won a world title before, but Rossi is more than aware that there will be no second chance - it's now or never this weekend.

"We're all very excited about this final race," said Rossi, who can afford to finish second even if Hayden wins on Sunday. "Of course it's not going to be like other times, when I have won the championship with some races to spare and less pressure.

Now I only have one chance. It's a big pressure for everyone but it's great for the show. Things went very well for us in Estoril - we've achieved our goal of coming here still fighting for the championship and for this I have to thank everyone in the team so much.

"Valencia isn't one of my best tracks and we also know that Hayden is really strong there, so it's definitely not going to be easy," he continued. "On the other hand we know that the M1 works quite well there and in the race last year it was very good in the second half of the race especially. If we can start from the front then I think we can try for the win, but whatever happens it's going to be a really exciting race. Hopefully Colin and I can be at the front together like in Estoril and we'll just see what we can do!"

As Rossi mentioned, Camel Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards played the perfect team role at Estoril - dutifully battling the Repsol riders for second position, while protecting Rossi's lead. When the RCV riders collided, Edwards continued to sit safely behind the unusually off-pace #46 - not knowing Hayden was out - and was later passed by both Elias and Kenny Roberts as a result.

Nevertheless, with a new Yamaha contract already believed to be in the Texan's pocket, Rossi can rely on Edwards to be the perfect team-mate again this weekend.

"I'm pretty excited about the last race of the season, it's going to be pretty close I reckon," said Edwards. "Estoril worked out well for the team and I was able to help Valentino out, which was the number one aim. Obviously I was disappointed not to be on the podium but my bike worked great and I think that we're in good shape to do it all again at Valencia.

"I've raced at Valencia for years so I know it really well and I know I am quite fast there. Like in Estoril, the aim is going to be to get on the front row alongside Valentino and then just to help him out in the race as much as possible. Of course this time out I want to be on the podium too, a Yamaha one-two would be the perfect end to the season!"

"Since the summer break we have just taken the races one-by-one, working our hardest and keeping our focus, and the results have been excellent," added team director Davide Brivio. "Our objective from Brno onwards was to keep fighting until the end of the season and try to get to the last round with a mathematical chance of winning the title. After Portugal that mathematical chance is a lot stronger than we expected but it is not over yet and, as we all know from our experience this season, anything can still happen."

In terms of past performance, on the three occasions that both Rossi and Hayden have raced at Valencia, Rossi has finished 1st (2003), 1st (2004) and 3rd (2005), with Hayden 16th (after a fall in 2003), not finishing (2004) and 2nd (2005).

"Valencia isn't one of Valentino's favourite tracks because it is so tight and twisty, but we won there in 2004 and finished third last year after starting well down the grid, so we know the M1 works well," said Jeremy Burgess, chief engineer to Rossi. "One of the big lessons we have learnt this season is that if you want to win in this class nowadays then you really have to start from the front so we will again be using the free practice sessions to make sure we have the right bike settings for both qualifying and the race."

Should Rossi take the title this weekend, he will go down in history as the only rider ever to win a 990cc world championship. 800cc engines will be introduced for the 2007 season onwards.