MotoGP Blog

You know the drill. Here it is, in all it’s glory.

Alberto Puig launched an unprecedented attack on Nicky Hayden this week, accusing him of being a hypocrite, unable to set up a motorcycle and of suffering sour grapes as Honda chose to back Pedrosa rather than Hayden.

It started with Hayden giving an interview on the 6th October with Spanish newspaper El Pais (automatically translated to English) in which Hayden, obviously feeling a weight lifted from his shoulders with the official announcement of his move from Honda to Ducati, spoke his mind about the Honda team set-up.

In the interview, he says he does not like the fact that the team was split in two without the sharing of information between riders, that Puig runs the Honda team and that the decision not to share data was Puig’s not Honda’s. Hayden also makes it clear that he does not have a personal problem with Dani, and although it is not overtly stated, Hayden implies that the problem is with Puig and the extent of his control of the Honda team.

Puig responds on the 8th October in an interview with MotoGP.com “to put the record straight”. Puig claims Hayden had access to all of Pedrosa’s data before the ‘tyre wall’ went up in the garage and used this to improve his riding. He claims Hayden is put out by the ‘wall’ as he can’t set up a bike and cannot now copy Pedrosa.

Puig goes on to say that Hayden has had a problem with Pedrosa since Portugal (2006) when Pedrosa wiped out Hayden when he led the Championship, putting his eventual winning of the title at great risk. Puig claims Hayden has been acting in a passive-aggressive manner towards Pedrosa since the Portugal incident and has ‘brought people around Dani’ into his problem with Pedrosa. He also claims there is no rivalry in the garage as Pedrosa is far better than Hayden, and finally, he refutes Hayden’s claim that he is in charge at Honda, and all that counts is getting results.

It is an extraordinary interview, and one which brings into question the integrity of Puig. Aside from the obvious bad feeling towards Hayden, is it appropriate that an employee of Dorna uses Dorna MotoGP website (motogp.com) to bad-mouth a rider, even if the allegations the rider has made are untrue. MotoGPBlog believes Alerberto Puig’s multiple roles in the paddock are in essence a conflict of interest - reference his previous attempt to marshal a Michelin-rider walk-out at the Czech race.

Puig’s attitude to the media and requests for access to his prodigy (he will only allow Spanish press access to him or Pedrosa) have effectively meant that he and Dani are isolated within the MotoGP paddock. While this suits Puig, it does not appear to be doing Dani any favours, and Puig day by day appears to be more Machiavellian, or to use Rumblestrip’s characterisation, more and more like Rasputin. As much as Puig indicated that there can only be one winner, can he really be as arrogant as he appears and believe that Pedrosa could learn nothing from Hayden’s data, and that Hayden was copying Pedrosa’s set-up?

Since Pedrosa has switched to Bridgestone, Hayden has beaten him on the track (Indy and Phillip Island), and has run at the front of the race, for the duration of the race. This is something Pedrosa has not done since before Germany (when he crashed out while leading by a mile).

Puig intended his riposte to make Hayden appear childish and upset that he never got fair treatment at Honda. He has failed. When I read the Puig interview, what I hear is a paranoid, isolated, almost desperate control freak lashing out at a rider. The mid-season forced switch to Bridgestones (stage managed by Puig) reinforces this opinion. Make no mistake, Puig is right about one thing in his interview when he states “…they eventually got rid of [Hayden], and it could also happen to Dani Pedrosa at some point if he doesn´t get the results”.

Puig/Pedrosa have to win the title in 2009, or Honda will drop them like a stone for the latest favourite, Dovizioso. Unless Dani also then drops Puig, he may find it hard to locate a friendly garage in MotoGP for 2010.

A grid with Rossi placed towards the back is a grid likely to precede an eventful race. The grid in the spring sunshine of southern Australia lived up to this maxim, and then some.

The run down to the right-handed Doohan Curve and the left of the Southern Loop is perfect for mixing things up in the chaos of the start. Right from the off, Stoner hit the front and held his nerve through the first corners on cool tyres. Hayden and Pedrosa also got a great start, taking second and third into the Southern Loop. Meanwhile Dovizioso is pushed to the outside of Doohan, onto the rumblestrip and eventually the grass, exiting turn 1 dead last.

Dovi held last place for only a few seconds as the dangers of cold tyres asserted themselves. Pedrosa first, running wide in Turn 2, wide enough to run onto the grass with the bike cranked over. The result was inevitable: him and his bike tumbling towards the gravel trap. Guintoli and Vermeulen then indulged in a few hundred metres of motocross, but were both able to rejoin.

A couple of frantic corners later and Stoner and Hayden have gapped the rest of the field, Toseland heading the chasing pack, in a scrap with Edwards, Lorenzo, Nakano and the rest in a bunch. de Angelis high-sides right in front of Rossi, gifting him 8th place at the end of the first lap, and Dovizioso has shot up to a surprising 10th, having already got past the Kawasakis, Suzukis and satellite Ducatis.

By lap two a pattern was starting to appear. Stoner and Hayden were in their own race away at the front, while a pack of four or five riders battled it out for third place. Initially, the pack consisted of Toseland, Lorenzo, Edwards and Nakano. Edwards would, over the next three laps, drop steadily back and be replaced by Rossi and Dovizioso, both riders charging through the field. Indeed by the end of lap three, Rossi would scythe past Edwards and Nakano in one move on the start/finish straight for fifth.

Toseland and Lorenzo were engaged in their own battle. Toseland, using his knowledge of the track for WSB races, was able to run slightly different lines from anyone else and held a worthy third place. His battle with Lorenzo, on similar tyres, made it clear that there is not much between the Tech3 and the factory bikes in terms of raw power. Rossi was hunting them both down, clearly faster than those around him in the race.

Up at the front, Stoner was lap by lap establishing his lead over Hayden, a tenth or two every lap. Behind them Rossi takes Lorenzo for 4th at the bottom of Lukey Heights and sets about Toseland. The Englishman was not for giving up his place however, and a series of overtakes between Toseland and Rossi was the most exciting passage of the race. Overtakes and re-takes all around the lap, for several laps, was reminiscent briefly of the Rossi/Stoner race in Laguna. Ultimately, Rossi wins out and starts the chase for Hayden.

Just behind the Rossi/Toseland battle, the chasing group re-forms. Toseland, Lorenzo, Nakano and Dovizioso are now enagaged in, with the exception of Nakano, a fight between the rookies. If these laps were any indication of the new talent in the paddock, we’re in for a good few years of cracking racing yet in MotoGP, daft rule changes or not.

Back to Stoner; he is giving everyone a lesson in consistency. Out in front on his own, he is banging in the laps, fast enough to grow the gap to Hayden without taking too many risks. It is a mature, capable performance from the Aussie. Hayden’s lap times start to suffer, as perhaps his Michelins start to deteriorate after the hiding he has handed out to them. The track is hard on the left side of the tyre, and Hayden seems to be struggling getting power down in corner exits.

Ten laps to go and Hayden is 5.6 seconds ahead of Rossi, and Stoner 3.9 seconds ahead of Hayden. Rossi needs to take half a second a lap out of Hayden to catch him before the end of the race, seemingly impossible as he is currently managing only a tenth or two. The rookie fight behind him is hotting up as Dovi, Jorge and JT are at it hammer and tongs, the satellite bikes matching the factory Yamaha all around the track. Nakano is having his best race of the season, taking a watching brief on the battle immediately in front of him. This circuit produces some wonderful racing from it’s flowing lines, it is no wonder so many of the riders love it.

Suddenly, on lap 26 of 27 Rossi closes by virtue of pulling a 1:30.5 to Hayden’s 1:31.7 and he takes Hayden, using the Hayden slipstream. The rear-facing camera on Hayden’s bike reveals a shot rear Michelin, chunks missing from it. Dovizioso, Lorenzo and Toseland swap positions in several places around the lap, at one time in Doohan three-abreast around the corner. Nakano watches.

Stoner takes the victory, making it look easy with a monster wheelie across the line. Rossi second and Hayden a worthy third place. Somehow in the final corners, Lorenzo slips ahead of the pack and Nakano gets the advantage ahead of the battling JT and Dovizioso, using his old racing head to take advantage of the confusion caused by Lorenzo’s move.

A cracker of a race from Phillip Island.

MotoGPBlog Man of the Weekend: a close call this weekend between the dominance of Stoner, the tenacious Rossi and the rapid Dovizioso. Ultimately, it has to be Rossi for his fight from 12th to second.

A beautiful, sunny spring day in Australia sees a dry session for qualification.

Toseland sets the early pace 1:31.9, a foreshadowing of Toseland’s performance for the session, and possibly the weekend. He does not hold the top spot for long before Stoner puts in a strong 1:30.4, then 1:30.1. The TV coverage shows Stoner drifting it sideways over Lukey Heights.

From the early laps, the riders looking strong early on are as follows: Pedrosa, Toseland, Lorenzo, Rossi, Dovizioso, and Stoner. No Suzukis and no Kawasakis are looking comfortable or fast here.

Edwards pops up with 30 minutes to go 1:30.0 - has he beaten de Puniet to the qualifier? It very much looks like it. Qualifiers have broken quite early today, as Dovizioso is next to try them with a 1:29.6.

Hayden is looking good this weekend, his Ducati announcement seeming to have given him the ability to have fun on the bike again. He puts is a 1:29.6. Rossi is still some way off the pace, but puts in a 1:30.0, for 4th place. Fastest of this round of qualifying tyres is Lorenzo, with a 1:29.4 for pole on his Michelins, closely followed by Toseland 1:29.5. The Michelins are working well here today.

Into the final quarter of the session and Stoner heads out on a qualifier, and although slow in the first sector and with a big slip in Lukey Heights, takes second before Hayden, just behind him, takes pole with 1:29.2.

Rossi spices up the session with some drama when he takes a fall, getting the Southern Loop wrong, running out wide out on the grass parallel to the track, unable to stop or turn. He finally reaches the gravel run-off at Honda Corner and the bike is pitched up in the air and as a result he hits the ground hard. Later in the pits it looks like he may have whiplash but nothing more serious than this.

Jorge sets a new outright lap record at the circuit with a 1:28.9, faster than Hayden’s 990cc lap record, and the first sub-1:29 lap at the Island.

Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Hayden now make up the front row with 10 mins to go, before Stoner gets second, and he is very fast in the last sector, the long left-handers. Hayden follows him over the line with a 1:28.756, immediately demoting Stoner to 3rd. Lorenzo replies, but loses speed in the second sector (Honda Corner), and is as a result 1/10th down over the line.

Last minute madness prevails and the laps are completed thick and fast:
- Stoner: 1:28.665 for provisional pole
- Pedrosa: 1:29.2
- Hayden: 1:28.75
- Lorenzo: 1:28.73
- de Puniet 1:28.8, following Lorenzo closely.
- Toseland: 1:29.0

As a result the front two rows for tomorrow are:
- Stoner, Lorenzo, Hayden
- De Puniet, Toseland, Pedrosa

Pedrosa failed to get a quick lap on his final qualifier, meaning de Puniet with his tow from Lorenzo was able to push past him and almost onto the front row. He stayed out for an additional lap, but by then his qualifiers were shot. Rossi ended 12th, despite heading out in the final minutes of qualifying. It looks like he’ll be fine to take part tomorrow, and will no doubt be fighting his way up the field.

Stoner rode the Ducati for pole with great skill, battling the deteriorating qualifiers and keeping the power on despite the bike kicking and bucking through the final corners. A well deserved pole, and as so often this season the other Ducatis were nowhere to be seen. Lorenzo looked fast on race setup and with qualifiers and the battle tomorrow may be a showdown between Stoner, Lorenzo and Hayden, with a Rossi overtaking sideshow to entertain us, as well as an in-form Toseland, familiar with the track, swapping punches with Edwards and de Puniet.

The MotoGPBlog quick guide to Phillip Island has been published, and don’t forget to check out the embedded video of an on-board lap of the track in the Google Map.