MotoGP Blog

We’re part way through the lengthy finalisation of the rider line-up for 2009, but there is still plenty of juicy speculation around who will end up where, and if an old name from the past will make a re-appearance on the grid. Let us start with the certainties:

Yamaha
Valentino Rossi: signed for 2009 and 2010.
Jorge Lorenzo: signed for 2009, the second year of a two year deal.

Ducati
Casey Stoner: signed for 2009, the second year of a two year deal.
Nicky Hayden: signed for 2009.

Kawasaki
John Hopkins: signed for 2009, the second year of a two year deal.
Marco Melandri: signed for 2009.

Suzuki
Chris Vermeulen: signed for 2009.
Loris Capirossi: signed for 2009.

Tech 3 Yamaha
Colin Edwards: signed for 2009.
James Toseland: signed for 2009.

LCR Honda
Randy de Puniet: signed for 2009.

Now it starts to get interesting…

Repsol Honda
Dani Pedrosa: signed for 2009, the second year of a two year deal.
Andrea Dovizioso: suspected to be signing for 2009.

JiR Honda
JiR have Dovizioso under contract for 2009. However, it is expected he will move into Hayden’s place in the Repsol Honda team, and JiR will effectively swap him for a supply of Honda satellite bikes at a much reduced rate for 2009. JiR and Scott are also parting company, Scott looking to fund their own Honda satellite team for 2009. If JiR continue, a likely candidate is
StefanSylvain Guintoli: possible signing for 2009.

Scott Honda
If Scott pull off the far from simple trick of securing a supply of Hondas for the grid next year, they have a wide-open choice. A Japanese rider may find favour with Honda, and although it is widely rumoured that Nakano will be retiring at the end of the season, it is possible that Aoyama or another Japanese Honda faithful rider may fill the seat:
Yuki Takahashi: possible signing for 2009.

Gresini Honda
Alex de Angelis: signed for 2009.
Toni Elias: rumoured to be on the verge of signing for 2009 instead of a third Kawasaki, or another year on Alice Ducati. However, terms offered by Alice have probably recently improved given Toni’s great recent results, hence the delay in getting a deal agreed.

Alice Ducati
Things are no clearer for the satellite Ducati squad. What is clear is that the increased influence of Ducati in the team following the departure of d’Antin has done them a power of good and they are a more attractive proposal for riders as a result.
Mika Kallio: rumoured to have signed for 2009.
Nicolas Canepa: rumoured to have signed for 2009.

Onde Ducati
One from the left field this one - Onde to lease a satellite Ducati and put Sete Gibernau on it. MotoGPBlog will believe this one when it sees it.

Aspar Kawasaki
It’s all gone quiet on the third Ducati front, now Aspar has failed to get Elias, or any Spanish rider of any significance to sign up. It’s entirely possible West will end up in the seat unless Elias or Bautista has a change of heart.

Most of the uncertainty now lies with Elias and his final destination for the season. Given Guintoli is probably out of Alice Ducati, and de Puniet has, amazingly, been renewed by LCR Honda, his only option will be one of the Jir/Scott Honda rides, or a trip to WSB.

This coming weekend should see announcements around Kawasaki and the fate of this year’s JiR Scott team which may make things clearer. However, this is only one of lots of permutations - where do you think the ‘floaters’ will end up?

As Sunday morning dawned in Indianapolis, the organisers faced a tough call: to bring the MotoGP race forwards to avoid the onset of Hurricane Ike, or to stick to the proposed schedule of 125cc, MotoGP and 250cc, in that order. With the day shaping up with some rain but also some patchy sunshine, the decision was taken to stick to the schedule. It almost came off, but the warning signs were there when the 125cc race was red flagged. Of course, by this time it was too late to change anything, the MotoGP juggernaut would just roll on.

The initial laps were frantic, as you might expect in these conditions. Stoner grabbed the holeshot but was soon swamped by other riders, including Dovizioso who showed great control and feel on his Honda to take the lead. Not for long though, as through all the slips, near-highsides and losing of front ends (everyone had their moments but not even de Puniet fell off) Nicky Hayden rose to the top in style, hanging out the back end of the bike with what looked like minimal traction control, the Michelin taking all he could throw at it. I was cheering him on, I can only imagine what the American audience were doing.

Rossi, having dropped as far as fourth started to climb the order, swapping places with a battling Dovizioso who did not give up his place easily, having mastered what many others struggled with all day - getting off the racing line was treacherous due to both slippery tarmac and deeper water.

It was all Rossi could to to match the rampant Hayden. For now tyre issues were forgotten, this was suddenly a head-to-head between Hayden and Rossi, a battle for grip and forward motion beyond electronics and rubber composition, pneumatic valves and team politics. It was MotoGP in the raw, two riders at the top of their game, trying everything to obtain and exploit grip. In particular, Hayden was moving about on the bike like we have not seen all year, hanging right off on the right-hander into the back straight to keep the bike upright and get the power down. He was a man transformed. He was also the man with the fastest lap.

Around lap 10, Hayden had the upper hand and in drying conditions pulled a lead on Rossi. Further back, Jorge Lorenzo pushed past Dovi for third, while Stoner seemed content to stay on the bike in 5th. Ben Spies, repeating his wet performance in Donington, sat in a creditable 6th with Pedrosa just behind on his Bridgestones.

Then the weather had a say again. The rain came, and with it came speed for Rossi and Lorenzo. Rossi again battled with Hayden, but this time the Michelin wets which had taken such a beating from the American in the early laps could not maintain their performance in the wet and Hayden had to concede to the Italian. The rain became heavier, and suddenly the wind picked up. First small debris was visible getting blown across the track, then the Yamaha tent in the infield fell victim to gusts, and the riders would later report avoiding beer cans and plastic cups as they were blown across the tarmac. The only sensible decision was to red-flag the race, a decision Lorenzo may wish was made a lap later as he had just passed a now struggling Hayden. However, Hayden held second place on the last trip over the yard of bricks and so took second place.

Some doubt remained over whether the race would resume. TV pictures of destroyed tents and air fences being lifted by the wind to be worse than useless soon made the decision easy - there would be no resumption. Rossi was declared the winner and celebrations could begin for the Yamaha team. The podium was a unique affair for MotoGP - a hydraulic lift raising the podium-sitter’s bikes to take part in the celebrations.

The victory takes Rossi into such a lead in the championship that a fourth place in Motegi will get the job done. This is where Stoner sealed his victory last year. Just four races ago, the title fight looked like going to the wire - how quickly things change in MotoGP.

Finally, a word about Pedrosa. I previously billed this as a potential career-defining weekend for the Spaniard, but such were the conditions little could be gleaned from his performance - better than most but far from a podium. He gets some breathing room, but must perform well in Japan to retain his credibility.

MotoGPBlog has a special report in the works from Indianapolis - an eye-witness report of the event from Bridget Kirkland who was there, camera in hand through all the weather, and an epic journey home. Check back soon for Bridget’s take on the weekend.

MotoGPBlog man of the weekend: A tough call this week, with Ben Spies proving his talent and trouncing the other Suzuki riders, and Rossi again giving a masterclass in consistency. However, the winner is Nicky Hayden for his epic battle with Rossi and brilliant tail-out style from start to finish. Couple this with the announcement from Ducatii that he will be joining them next year, and it has to be his weekend.

It was dry qualifying today, with FP3 having rewarded the riders with a dry final 30 minutes and a chance to get a handle on their track and settings, Tony Elias reaching the top of the timing sheets as FP3 ended.

First of the pole contenders to post a serious time was Casey Stoner with a 1:43.7 on race rubber, closely followed, and pipped, by Hayden with a 1:43.5. Ten minutes in to the session and Pedrosa’s best time so far was a 1:46.5. He was to languish down the order for some time yet.

As the riders adapted to the track at full speed, many of them on their hot laps were using the raised kerbing on the outside of the final corner as a berm to get them turned and off down the straight. This could almost have been made for Hayden’s tail-out style, a style he demonstrated throughout the session, often spewing blue smoke off the rear wheel through turns 4 to 7 and 13 - 15. There did not appear to be much in the way of traction control on his Honda, and it suits him: he gets second with a 1:43.0 from the latest pole-sitter Rossi (1:42.9). It was Rossi’s lap that beat the unofficial MotoGP lap record set by Canepa with a 1:43.0 set in tyre testing.

With twenty five minutes remaining, the time of qualifiers arrived. Elias, looking strong and combative was first with a 1:42.7, and just behind him on the track, Edwards leapt from 14th to pole; 1:42.4

With the switch from race setup to qualifiers, times suddenly started tumbling: Hayden 1:42.2; de Puniet 1:41.5; Lorenzo 1:41.4, Stoner gets in a 1:41.6’s to stay in contention with pole and ahead of Rossi. With the rapid change in pace, someone had to suffer, and Elias on pole a few minutes ago took a tumble on the track and down the rankings to 14th place.

Hayden is riding like he is back on a dirt track, hanging it out all around the lap, a spectacular looking style, but is it the quickest? One thing is for sure, there is no obvious advantage for either tyre company

Ben Spies, outshining the regular Suzuki riders, was 0.25 seconds up on pole at T2, but loses 0.5 seconds in traffic through T3 and T4. Hayden continues hanging it out and it seems to be working for him with a 1:41.2, beaten only by a determined Rossi, with a 1:41.0.

With 6 minutes to go, the front two rows are as follows: Rossi, Hayden, Lorenzo, de Puniet, Stoner, Toseland. Suzuki (aside from the stellar Spies), Kawasaki and Alice Ducati are struggling to be competitive.

Pedrosa, adapting admirably to his new rubber, jumped from the bottom of the order up to 10th place with a 1:42.2. All hell then broke loose over the last few minutes of the session with almost the entire field on the track at the end. The final front two rows are as follows:

1st Rossi 1:40.7
2nd Stoner 1:40.8
3rd Lorenzo 1:41.1
4th Hayden 1:41.2
5th Spies 1:41.4
6th de Puniet 1:41.4

Pedrosa, making rapid progress, came in 7th with a 1:41.7. Suzukis, Kawasakis, and satellite teams made up the rest of the places, with Melandri and West bringing up the rear.

With weather uncertain for tomorrow, and Hurricane Ike making a bee-line for the circuit, Eurosport reported that the organisers may being the start of the race forwards tomorrow to ensure the race completes before the rain arrives. This may even be at the cost of the 125cc and 250cc races, so keep your eye on the TV schedules tomorrow.

MotoGPBlog Pick of the Field: Ben Spies for his trouncing of the other Suzukis and an incredible 5th place.

With conditions torrentially wet at Indy, the smoothest riders rose to the top of the pile. Vermeulen, West and Rossi running at or near the top. Little could be discerned for the race though - unless similar conditions prevail.

Super-slow motion pictures of Rossi’s bike showed how low a pressure he was running in his Bridgestones, the side walls visibly flexing and almost bouncing around in T1 and T2, the pressures low to get the maximum amount of tread in contact with the tarmac.

Most interesting during the session was the speculation from Randy Mamola around riders and teams next year. Check this list out, all straight from Mamola/Ryder/Moody commentating on Eurosport:

Pedrosa has one more year to win the title before getting the boot from Repsol Honda. If he fails to win the 2009 title, he’ll be replaced by Kiyonari. That means Dovizioso/Kiyonari on Repsol Honda for 2010.

Elias moving from Alice to Gresini Honda. Guintoli leaving Alice also, and being replaced by Kallio from 250’s and Ducati test rider Canepa.

A possibility of a 5th Ducati run for none other than Sete Gibernau, but the money still needs to be found. And finally, Spies possibly to Scot Honda: Scot want it to happen but Honda need to provide another bike and it is not clear whether this will be forthcoming from Big H.

Finally, well worth checking out is the audio from the Thursday Indy press conference on the circuit site.

Join us tomorrow for further splashing about.

Motorcycles return to Indy this weekend, having been the first motorised vehicles to race on the track in 1909. Very few of the current MotoGP riders have ridden, or even visited, Indianapolis before this weekend. The lucky few who have ridden here have done so as part of track inspection and testing, or as promotional events, such as Nicky Hayden’s trip around the track on a stock Honda CBR, and a 1909 machine in all the requisite garb. In other words, and to quote Dovizioso, it is a level playing field.

In 1909, the motorcycle races were abandoned after one day over concerns over the suitability of the surface, and in 2008, some concerns remain, and these focus on the areas of the track leading onto and off of the famous oval. Turn 1 is lacking grip (according to Michelin) and there has been some discussion around re-grinding the surface to improve traction here, but this has not been carried out. T16 is also a concern, as the riders will be exiting onto the start/finish straight at over 100mph with a wall in close proximity. This is not the TT after all. Ultimately the track has been passed by the Riders Safety Commission so the concerns cannot be too great.

Since Misano, there has been some movement in the rider contract situation, though not as I predicted the announcement of Hayden moving to Ducati, although this is all but signed according to Hayden himself.

Other moves have included Capirossi and Vermeulen re-signing for Suzuki. While Capirex looked sure to re-sign, some doubt persisted over Vermeulen’s contract with some predicting a move for the Aussie to WSB and his replacement by Ben Spies (who will be wild-carding for Suzuki this weekend). No place is yet secured for the AMA Superbike Champion, and he looks likely to win a satellite bike ride at best; far from his original expectations. One satellite ride he won’t get is the San Carlo Gresini ride of de Angelis, just confirmed for 2009.

The other move has been Pedrosa to Bridgestone, and while the rider was fast in post-Misano testing on his new rubber, the true test will come here, in Indianapolis, this weekend. If he does not perform well enough to qualify on the front row of the grid, and at least threaten a podium, his decision will be written off as mistake. If he wins, he’ll be lauded as a hero. It could be a career-defining weekend for Pedrosa.

All this means little for the white-heat of the race, however. Only tyre test teams have had any real track time, and qualifying and race classifications are very difficult to predict. It’s a banked oval but, as Dovi says, a level playing field for all this weekend.

Your Indy quick guide is up and ready for you. This is a special edition, including some imaginitive use of the Google maps line drawing facility to simulate the new section of the course created just for MotoGP. Get ready for shock and awe at my artistic skill.

Keith at the excellent f1fanatic blog has details of the track changes to be made to Donington for the 2010 British F1 GP, having dug out the local planning application (PDF format) in a cracking bit of detective work.

As originally promised by Simon Gillet, the circuit does not change between Redgate and McLeans, so the iconic Craner Curves remains intact. However, the straight between McLeans and Coppice is slightly extended to bring the track around in front of the new and much-needed paddock area and start/finish straight, now close to where the Dunlop Bridge currently sits.

The Esses are gone, but sadly the daft Melbourne Hairpin remains and now leads down to a re-modelled Melbourne Loop (T1 on the map). After the hairpin follows and entirely new section of infield-loop, a long left-hander (T2) followed by another left-hand hairpin (T3), before the track then curves right and catches another sharp right-hander (T4) which effectively replaced Goddards. The track then feeds back to the Redgate/Craner complex.

There are three possible circuit variations:
A “short circuit” option, where the hairpin and new infield loop is missed out, which would be close to the original track layout before the Melbourne Loop was added to extend the track to a length suitable for Grands Prix.

A “west loop” consisting of Redgate, Craner and a curve back up the hill to the revised Goddards.

An “east loop” consisting of Starkeys to McLeans, the new start/finish straight and the Melbourne Loop.

The plans are no real surprise - an infield loop was inevitable given the restricted area available to the planners. It is however a pity that the hairpin has been retained - never my favourite part of the track. It is not at this point clear if the Redgate -> McLeans section will be widened for F1, but the width proposition for the new sections of track is 15m wide, implying the track that survives may be widened, which will change it’s nature. The new infield section may provide overtaking opportunities for bikes (not very likely for wide F1 cars) on the run in to the sharp left (marked T3 on the map) but it is not clear if anyone but TV cameras will see it as the spectator provision is not shown.

New paddock and support buildings are on the plan, which are much needed. However, spectator facilities appear to continue to be limited to temporary scaffold structures (marked as “hard standing/scaffold areas” on the plan).

Aside from the revised track and whether this will produce good racing, there are two other serious issues to consider:

Cash
The funding of these changes - no announcement has yet been made around the possible debenture scheme, although this is unlikely to happen until the planning application is approved. 2010 is not far away, and to avoid disruption of the calendars of MotoGP and F1, the cash must be in place soon to allow work to start in time.

Traffic
Little in the way of planning about traffic management and parking is evident in the plan, with some poorly conceived ideas about sharing parking facilities with the nearby East Midlands Airport being bandied about in the local press. Access to the circuit is still down a single country lane, and queuing to get in and out of the ground on a MotoGP Saturday and Sunday is a long, frustrating process. Bringing F1 to the circuit will not make this any better - F1 queues will if anything, be longer.

There is a lot of work to do before 2010 Mr Gillet. Four months of consultation on the plans has now been started before the local council planning committee makes a decision.

The Misano race was notable for many different reasons. Elias on the podium for the second race in a row, Stoner dropping the bike again, Rossi equalling Agostini’s record, Rossi winning at the one track he had not won a GP at before, and the amazing, staggering switch of Pedrosa to Bridgestone mid-season. The Pedrosa affair is covered elsewhere on MotoGPBlog, and so here we will concentrate on the race itself, and the championship.

In the run up to the race, it was all about Stoner as per usual; qualifying ahead of everyone, even Rossi on qualifiers struggling to beat the Australian’s pace on race tyres. The first 20 seconds of the race at first appeared to decide the winner. Stoner got the holeshot and headed away from the field at an unmatchable pace. Pedrosa followed ahead of Rossi, who incurred a massive slide of his rear tyre resulting in a kick which flung him out of the saddle. Vermeulen just prior to this had a similar issue with a cold left side of his rear tyre. As events unfurled, it became evident that the race was far from decided in those first seconds.

By the end of lap 1, the race really was Stoner’s to lose. Rossi holding off the pack in third place, Pedrosa not able to match Casey’s pace, and Casey as a result pulling away. de Puniet had by now, true to form, fallen off.

Lap 2 and Rossi pushes past Pedrosa, setting him up with a clever move to the inside of a left hander giving him an earlier apex into the following right and blocking Pedosa’s line. Rossi now sets about chasing Stoner, already three seconds ahead of the Italian. Lorenzo and Elias begin to pressure the Repsol bike which is looking slow by comparison to the Yamaha and satellite Ducati. Pedrosa at no point in these early laps looked up to the fight whether because of his damaged wrist, lack of confidence in his tyres or demotivation knowing he was about to announce this as his last race on Michelins.

With 23 laps still to go, Rossi begins to close the gap to Stoner, Elias and Lorenzo slip past Pedrosa and battles are starting to develop further down the field. Notably Dovizioso, Nakano and Toseland were scrapping away and would soon be joined by Vermeulen. Kawasaki are already having a miserable day, with both Hopkins and West bringing up the rear. There wll be no postcard home to Japan from Misano for Team Green.

On lap 7, Stoner apparently seeing the decreasing gap to Rossi on his pit board, pushes hard and increases the gap back to 3 seconds from 2.8 with a 1:34.996. Stoner continues to push on lap 8 and loses the front end resulting with a low-side in a right-hander. He would later complain about a lack of grip from the front tyre as the cause of the crash; Stoner was running the hardest compound available to him, but nothing different to the tyres he had used and settled on over the course of the weekend. This was three crashes in three races for Stoner in a reversion to his 2006 form and in stark contrast to his untouchable consistency in 2007.

Rossi would continue to push and maintain his gap to Lorenzo for the rest of the race, with Elias in a stunning ride to third place for the second race in a row. The interest in the race switched to the lower positions, in particular Vermeulen’s pursuit of Nakano and Toseland which started to bear fruit just as Dovizioso makes a break from the Japanese and British rider. Meanwhile Pedrosa continued to circulate in 4th, closing on Elias in 3rd.

In laps 10 to 15, Vermeulen finally arrived to challenge Toseland and Dovizioso for 5th place. Interestingly at this point Michelins held second, fourth, fifth and sixth place. Toseland makes his way to 5th past Dovizioso, showing a shade of his talent given a dry weekend to set the bike up. Vermeulen, meanwhile is looking ominous in seventh. Pedrosa inexplicably fades off the back of Elias, looking suspiciously like he simply lacked the motivation to fight for the place, but of course it could have been his tyres going off.

Vermeulen finally forces way through to 5th past Toseland using overtaking moves the like of which JT came in for criticism for in the early races this season. Capirossi, suddenly rejuvinated also closed up on the back of Toseland and Dovizioso and started to harry them, while CV pulled away in an ultimately vain chase of Pedrosa.

And that was it for the race action, aside from a three-way battle between Capirossi, Dovizioso and Toseland on the last lap, which Toseland would eventually win, Capirex coming a close second.

Rossi won with ease in the end, emulating Ago and taking his final track ’scalp’. He also sealed, bar the shouting, the championship this year.

Somehow, Michelin averted disaster this weekend, at least in the race if not in the press room, by producing a fighting performance in a dramatic reversal from the Czech Republic. Alternating positions through the top ten with Bridgestone, honour was restored. Perhaps the decision not to fight the Pedrosa change will have averted a one-make-tyre rule next year.

For Michelin, the unthinkable has happened. The French company is no longer supplying Dani Pedrosa with tyres. Announced after the Misano race, such a mid-season change is unprecedented, and unlikely to bear immediate fruit, as the Rossi side of the Fiat Yamaha garage can testify, because the Honda will need to be set up to make best use of the new rubber.

The decision seems a bizarre one, almost desperate, and the agreement of the tyre companies and Honda to the change even more so. Let’s put this in perspective and try to pick apart the bones of the deal; Pedrosa was leading the championship on Michelins up until July 14th, when he fell off at turn 1 of the Sachsenring in heavy rain. That’s race 10 and well past half-way through the season. He was also 7.4 seconds ahead after just 5 laps. He broke his wrist in the fall and this has hampered his challenge ever since.

Unable to ride in Laguna Seca, he lost points. In the Czech Republic, Michelins were not the tyre to be on. Even Michelin stalwart Edwards was complaining, and Bibendum had his worst competitive moment since the 2005 US F1 race when they withdrew their tyres and only the six Bridgestone runners made the start line. However, in Misano Michelin recovered. Bridgestone won the race, but Michelin and Bridgestone alternated all the way down the top ten positions, including Pedrosa in 4th place.

Behind the scenes Albert Puig, Pedrosa’s manager, attempted to organise a boycott of the Czech race by all Michelin runners, according to the reliable Dennis Noyes. Puig also runs the MotoGP Academy for Dorna and has a role in the running of the Repsol Honda team. As Noyes points out, Dorna can not have been too happy with his meddling.

This story began back in the 2007 season. Pedrosa fought for Bridgestones for ‘08 and was looking likely to get them, supported by HRC until Mr. Fukui, the head of Honda worldwide overruled the idea of a switch away from their loyal tyre suppliers of so many seasons and victories on the basis of one bad season. This time, it appears that there may have been more at stake.

It seems likely that the move to allow Pedrosa onto Bridgestone is part of an agreement by both the tyre companies and Honda to avoid a single-tyre regulation for 2009. Michelin will have wanted to fight to keep both Repsol Honda bikes, and Bridgestone have previously stated that they are unable to supply more riders (the initial reason for resisting the supply to Rossi). However all parties, Honda included, are reluctant to see a control tyre introduced, and this capitulation to the demands of Puig/Pedrosa may very well be a credible alternative to keep Michelin and Bridgestone at the party next year. The tyre companies, brought to the brink of regulation for 2008 over the supply of Rossi have avoided such a showdown this time. Will this be enough to prevent the seemingly-inevitable slide to one make of rubber for 2009?

The riders and teams arrive in Northern Italy seemingly in advance of the avalanche of rider moves waiting to be announced. Melandri unexpectedly pre-empted the start of the avalanche with his announcement of a move to Kawasaki. As the weekend in Misano approaches ever closer, this seems like a Ducati stage-managed move to clear the air in advance of the Bologna factory’s announcement of the arrival of Nicky Hayden for the 2009 season. As close as it gets to a home race for the Red team, this is the opportunity to announce such a coup-de-grace: two recent world champions in the one team. Ducati can hardly have believed they would achieve so much in just six seasons.

Once Hayden’s move is announced, probably much to Honda’s distaste, the field opens. Dovizioso, Bautista, Elias, Guintoli, even Vermeulen’s future may become more more clear before Sunday evening finally arrives. Before then, though, there is a race to be won. Last year saw Stoner win by a mile and Bridgestone again bitch-slap Michelin, something which Michelin will be trying very hard to prevent happening again. Rossi’s early exit was a massive anti-climax for the Yellow Hoards and there will be more than 46 fingers crossed for a different result this year. We also had extra-ordinary weather on the Friday, casting doubt on the entire event.

For the sake of the championship, it would be good to see a Stoner victory. For the sake of the race, it would be better to see Rossi, Pedrosa and Stoner battle it out as they have all season, injuries and tyres allowing. Pedrosa is the long shot of these three, but with Ducati and Rossi with home advantage, calling the winner is for a better man than I.