MotoGP: 2014 Race 14 - Aragon (SPOILERS)

Circuit Info

Length: 5.078 m / 3.155 miles
Width: 15m
Left corners: 10
Right corners: 7
Longest straight: 968 m / 0.601 miles
Constructed: 2009
Race Length: 23 laps - 116.8 km - 72.6 miles

Weather





Making New Legends and Keeping Old Ones Alive

Movistar Yamaha



There are many people who well and truly wrote off Valentino Rossi at some point in the last 3 years. Truth be told, he gave them plenty of reason to at face value. The Italian's time with Ducati was, by his own admission, disastrous. There had been high hopes for the rider (possibly the only one in history) to have ended a season by winning for one manufacturer and starting the following season by winning for another. Then came the two year absence from the top step of the podium, his best chance squandered in a daredevil pass that earned him the ire, or at least criticism, of many a racing fan. With barely a handful of podiums to his name Rossi returned to Yamaha, hat (and a big pile of cash courtesy of his uncanny sponsorship draw) firmly in hand.

The early days were somewhat predictable. Rossi struggled to come to terms with a bike designed for one of his primary rivals. He did "better" than he had at Ducati, but while he landed the occasional podium and was generally closer to the front his overall performance still marked him as fourth on the ladder of untouchables. Lorenzo was certainly Yamaha's best hope of stopping the Honda juggernaut that pushed Marquez to his rookie podium.

Then came 2014, but more to the point then came San Marino. It would be easy to say that it has been a long, long time since we have seen Rossi ride the way he had. Like many things that seems too easy, it would be wrong. Rossi's win came as a result of making drastic changes to his riding style to adapt the evolution of the sport spurned by the influx of new talent. Combined with updates to M1 that make it more competitive with Honda's technologies, Rossi accomplished what the motorcycling world had been wondering for 12 races - who, if anyone, could stop the Honda domination of 2014.

Rossi's win places another record beside his name, that of the longest spanning winning career in MotoGP. Heading into this weekend he will be looking to push that record just a little bit further.

2013: Yamaha Factory M1 - 3rd
2012: Ducati GP12.x - 8th
2011: Ducati GP11.x - 10th

Repsol Honda



There's little left to say about Marc Marquez today. Youngest GP race winner, first rookie champion, boy wonder.... There has been so much going right for Marquez that it is always a bit of a surprise when something goes wrong. And last time out things definitely went wrong. Not horribly, disastrously wrong, but enough to remind everyone that Marquez in indeed human. Good for the competition, great for the spectators, less than ideal for the man himself. Yet somehow Marquez's crash only seems to have boosted his esteem in the eyes of fans around the world.

This is in small part because of Marquez's attitude after the crash occurred. Stranded just off the race line, the notoriously hard-to-restart RCV basking in the sun like a beached, orange whale, Marquez refused to stop trying until he got beast's heart to fire again (with just a tad bit of help from the marshals). On the move again, nearly half a minute down from the pack, he truly rode it like he stole it to secure a single point from the outing. His comments afterwards:[/ur] you never know when that single point can make all the difference. Clearly the man (and can you really call that boyish grin "a man"?) is a fan of WSBK.

The other, much larger part that continues to endear Marquez to the growing crowd of fans is the reason for the crash itself. Marquez heralded an entirely new way to ride in GP. He first arrived and started scraping elbows, which prompted a revamping of how racing leathers are made in the top class. With Repsol Honda's most recent test at Mugello [url=http://gpxtra.com/2014/08/18/marc-marquez-incredible-testing-save/]Marquez unveiled a method of using one's entire body to increase the motorcycle's contact patch while cornering. That close to (or far over) the edge is bound to have repercussions, and the move certainly seemed to have fallen short on race day, but it did allow for a very graceful accident to happen which gave Marquez the opportunity to finish the race. Beyond evolving and exciting riding styles the crash also highlighted Marquez's drive to be at the absolute top. While he may have settled for fourth place when it was obviously the best that he could manage, the mere hint that first place might have been attainable spurred him to put on a show despite a tough weeekend that any fan can appreciate instead of settling for a safe second place.

His pride may have been hurt a bit by the crash, and he got a small dent in his championship lead, but he earned some credit in the paddock that day.

2013: Repsol Honda - 1st
2012: Moto 2 Repsol Honda - 2nd
2011: Moto 2 Repsol Honda - 1st

Ducati Factory



It's been a long, hard road for Team Red but things are looking up! Yes, it's true that lead rider Andrea Dovizioso still finished fourth behind the other four riders in a dry race. However sometimes the truth is deeper than the numbers. What the finishing order doesn't show and what made the race very interesting indeed was the fact that the GP14.1 was finally able to harry a top flight racer for the entire race, right up to the finish. Dani Pedrosa took the last step on the podium, but he put in an honest day's word to get there. Even better, under dry racing conditions Dovi was a scant 5 seconds from the winner. Such a feat was unheard of last year... and the year before... and the year before that.

The progress made in the past few months is really staggering yet Gigi is, of course, far from satisfied. There is work to be done, and he was brought in to do it. This weekend will mark the debut of the GP 14.2, with expected significant changes to the chassis and engine that bring the bike closer in line with the "all new" GP15 that the factory will campaign next year. The 14.1 was fantastic in France under wet weather conditions, and with rain expected on race day Ducati stands a chance of earning their first win of the season. With Marquez already clocking a DNF that started to decimate his lead in the standings, racing Dovi as hard as he did in tricky conditions earlier int he season may be folly open the door that Ducati needs.

If dry conditions hold, though, all bets are off.

MigsAngel said:

JLo - Congrats
A.Espragus - better to be luck than good

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Don't know that you can congratulate Lorenzo and then call Aleix lucky. He was the first one into the pits to change. Even one lap later, all else being equal, and he'd have gotten passed by at least Crutchlow. He now has the highest finish for a non factory bike so far this year thanks to that strategy.]

Rossi is supposed to be doing fine - might have lost consciousness briefly and suffered a minor concussion but is recovering quickly.

The GP14.2 looked up for a fight under Iannone for a minute there, and it would be interesting to see what could have happened if the race had remained dry. Dovi is apparently not getting on as well with it, but Iannone is part of the next generation rider so Gigi I think might be really trying to make it work for him if he's thinking long term. Still, who'da thought Crutchlow for top Ducati?

povol said:

Someone at HRC needs to grab that team by the scruff and let them know that stupidity will not be tolerated. If the rider is to young, dumb, full of piss and vinegar to make solid decisions, someone in charge needs to make those decisions for him until he grows up.

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Their "stupidity" has them ruling the grid this year, and despite two crashes they are still a whopping 75 points ahead of their nearest competitor. In fact they actually extended their lead last round. In contrast Pedrosa is getting closer to being passed for 2nd place. That side of the garage brought Honda the championship last year over Yamaha, has broken several records over the past two years and is still Honda's best hope for the championship this year. I'd have to say that Honda's energy would be better spent focusing on Pedrosa's side of the garage.

povol said:

I agree, but 2 major brain fades, {one of them could easily have cost them the title last year} needs attention. HRC spends way to much money to have rider, manager, etc making bone head decisions. And like i said, Pedrosa's decision was dumber than Marquez's considering the standings, but make no mistake, both made stupid decisions.

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Oh they were both definitely bad decisions. When every other rider on the grid comes in and you don't then you've either made a brilliant strategic move (which has happened in the past when riders have had to swap bikes twice because the rain tires get shredded when the drizzle abates) or you've really messed up. My point is just that if Honda is going to have a talk with any one side of the garage, I would assume that it would be Pedrosa's. How he managed to still lose ground to Marquez despite them both crashing out is befuddling.