I lost money on a bet. Slapping down £10 on a bet to Lorenzo at the top of the podium, followed by Rossi, followed by Stoner was so close yet so far, far away. All the right riders, just not in the right order. Then again, some might argue it was a pretty brave bet to place your money against Rossi taking his 8th consecutive victory at Mugello. What can I say? I'm a brave guy.
Yet again, the weather has been utter toilet, with a variety of conditions blessing the Italian track this weekend. The practice session are exactly what you would've expected with Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi all chopping around the various session, with the exception of the Sunday morning warm-up where notorious masters of the wet, Marco Melandri and Chris Vermeulen decided to make an appearance in the top three.
The qualifying session was a good one and veteran rider Loris Capirossi decided to get a tow with Rossi which helped him to just pip him to the last place on the first row of the grid.You may not be able to teach an old dog new tricks but that doesn't matter as the tricks he already knows seem to be doing a good enough job.
The race in itself was a faint echo of Le Mans but with a dollop of circus thrown on top for good measure. Lorenzo decided to show us all what grip wasn't available by throwing his bike away on the out-lap, which must've been a huge confidence crusher but he managed to get back to the pits in time to get his 2nd bike on wets and lined up on the grid ready for the race proper. Fresh cold, wet tyres didn't really help Lorenzo's start, which looked more like something you'd see as a post-race celebration as the wet tyre was nowhere near temperature resulting in a huge, slippery rolling burn out. It may have looked good but not really want you want at the start of a GP race, eh?
From that point on, chaos ensued as we all watched, waiting to see who would be the first to change from wet tyres to slicks. Stoner made some nice passes on the wets to squeeze his way up to the front of the pack but what the lord giveth, the lord taketh away and sure enough that magical reverse gear on the GP9 kicked into play as Stoner lost places to erm, well, pretty much everyone stacked up behind him ready to take their pound of red, Italian flesh. Time for a bike change, methinks.
James Toseland was the first to switch to slicks and post-race he admitted that he was pretty much forced into being the first in as he'd gambled on a dry bike setup with wet tyres in the hope the track would dry out quickly. It didn't and he had to change, favouring hard compound slicks. It took him a handful of laps to find temperature but got there in the end and rifled through the pack. A sure indicator that everyone else should switch. So they did.
One would note at this point that Rossi was considerably more careful on his fresh slicks this time out, relative to what happened at Le Mans. Then everything becomes a bit of a blur and this is going to be the worst write-up ever from me: trying to keep up with changes in position after bike swaps is a nightmare and my brain is far too small and inept to deal with such matters. So to try and save a little bit of face, I'm going to skip to the end and work back.
Stoner won. Good. That's that out of the way. He got his hunt on and managed to stalk his way past Dovizioso and Capirossi and start building up a bit of a gap before taking the win.
Dovizioso and Capirossi were in more or less the same boat. The boat of having an inadequate bike, but for two different reasons. The Suzuki GSV-R looks like a sorted machine that lacks powers. The Honda RC212V looks like an unsorted bike with enough power. Unfortunately for both of them, the Yamaha M1 looks like a sorted bike with plenty of power. So it was no surprise that Lorenzo and Rossi managed to catch and pass the aforementioned in the last laps, to take second and third place, respectively.
Man of the race? Hate to say it but I think it has to be Lorenzo again. A crash on the sighting lap and a diabolical start in a race with mixed conditions and still manages to keep his confidence, keep his mind on the game and his eye on the balls, and still manages to hunt down and pass everyone infront of him, with the exception of Stoner of course, whilst beating his team mate. The arrogant child of former years has turned into a man with irrepressible confidence and talent. He will be a MotoGP World Champion, probably even this year.
Stoner did really well and I'm pleased about it. Not just because he won the race but because he managed to fight through the conditions in one of the smoothest forms I've seen him race. The nail-biting bucking bronco style of riding appears to have given way to a more sensible, thought out ride with a distinct lack of red mist when things aren't going to plan. Don't fuck about, stick with this, it works.
I should mention Melandri, too. Again, similar to Le Mans, he performed incredibly well and even held the race lead for a while. It's great to see him doing so well after his tragic 2008 season. Maybe Nicky can take something from this?
And finally, there's Dani. A bad off on lap 14 has, I believe, ended his 2009 championship chances. Falling on his already mostly knackered injured side and being carried off the track on a stretcher isn't good news. I feel sorry for him. He's a great rider and we've seen not only a more human personality from him this year but something different in his riding which led me to believe he could be a real threat, despite the high level of competition. All I can say is that I hope the injuries aren't too bad and that I await his return with a degree of excited anticipation.
Valentino Rossi. Every year it was getting harder and harder to maintain the Mugello winning streak and I think everyone realises the level of competition this year is probably the highest its been in the last 10 years. It was an inevitability it wouldn't last forever and I'm not sure if he's thankful the streak was killed by someone other than his team mate. Either way, at least there won't be any pressure next year.
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