Jan Witteveen Story Comes True

Catching up with the news after a few days away, it seems that Witteveen has indeed quit the Maxtra/Hajoe team - confirming his only role is to supply spare parts.

Given that the engine is his design, and the idea behind the engine was to create opportunities for future development, this is a real disaster for the prospects of the team in the near future.

It shows how hard it is to create a new venture like this - but not specifically in motorcycle racing. The italian press is speculating this is all down to the current economic crisis. But only racers could bring together a team of such different philosophies as Jan Witteveen and Steve Harris, and hope that it would work. For me it shows the lack of sophistication in the business of motorcycle racing compared to other industries.

Such a shame.

Melandri Doubts Persist...

Marco Melandri's prospects of actually racing in 09 on the Kawasaki, sorry Hayate, remain clouded in uncertainty.

After making it clear to the media before the Qatar test that he hadn't in fact agreed to race the bike, and would make that decision based on the Qatar testing performance, his public judgement was a rather uncommitted "too soon to judge".

So what does this mean?

Well given all the circumstances it was totally predictable that the testing would show that there is a lot to do to be competitive. So no bombshells on the result.

Surely what it all really means is one or all of:

1. Melandri is in protracted negotiations with Dorna over money. He must realise he can hold them to ransom after Carmelo so publicly over played his hand on the deal.

2. Melandri really doesn't fancy racing the bike under the circumstances and making up the numbers, but worries that it could well be his last chance. There are not many recent examples of riders coming back into MotoGP after a year out.

3. The grid girls aren't hot enough.

I'd love to ask him.

What do you think?

Rossi v Stoner getting more interesting already!

Well the Qatar test is done, and things at the front are looking as interesting as we'd hoped.

As expected Stoner is fastest, doing blistering lap times. Rossi doesn't seem to have the lap time, but as ever is working more on absolute race pace. The two approaches couldn't be more different.

Fingers crossed for more races like the Laguna round last year.

The one added dimension I've picked up for 2009 - which actually came from Lorenzo, not Rossi - is the possible wheelie problems the new M1 is experiencing.

My understanding is the new chassis has a shorter wheelbase due in part to a shorter swing arm. The desired effects on handling are all there for Rossi and Lorenzo. And so are the niggles - mainly a tendency to wheelie more.

Yamaha of course knew this would happen and have designed a new electronic system to control this, but the impression I have is that this isn't working.

One potentially vital consequence of this is the starts.

Rossi has never been the best starter. For years he has made an art form of wining races by passing most of the field in a few short laps. But last year with Stoner's blistering pace Rossi needed to concentrate more on starts and make sure he was away at the front and able to stick to Stoner like glue - preventing him from running away at the front. Laguna being the case in point.

But if they are experiencing wheelie problems, this will surely make the task much harder. And potentially we could see Stoner getting away at the front more.

We know he can do this. We also know that if Stoner hadn't made the mistakes he made trying to break the field totally at tracks like Brno last year (where he crashed with an early lead of a second or so) he could have been hard to beat.

So the key dynamic still stands. Stoner is faster. But last year he seemed to believe that if Rossi was close, Rossi would win. That's my view on why Stoner was so determined to beat him by the biggest possible margin in every session, on every lap.

Fans will be hoping for a few close fights between Rossi and Stoner on track. But the real fight is in the mind, and in the detail of the lap and spit times.

Thank god the Eurosport coverage is back - as this detail is all important.

And then of course there is Lorenzo. His role in all this could well be crucial.

Bring it on!

Edwards Continues to Dominate Toseland

Colin Edwards continued to rub James Toselands nose in it at Qatar tonight, posting the 3rd fastest time just 0.07 seconds behind reigning champ Rossi.

Despite completing 51 laps Toseland finished the day in last position some 2.5 seconds slower than Edwards.

1. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 1min 57.139 sec
2. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 1min 57.747 sec
3. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha 1min 57.817 sec
4. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 1min 57.879 sec
5. Chris Vermeulen AUS Team Suzuki 1min 58.018 sec
6. Loris Capirossi ITA Team Suzuki 1min 58.264 sec
7. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 1min 58.400 sec
8. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini 1min 58.441 sec
9. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 1min 58.577 sec
10. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team 1min 58.619 sec
11. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 1min 58.936 sec
12. Toni Elias SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1min 59.036 sec
13. Yuki Takahashi JPN Team Scot 1min 59.153 sec
14. Marco Melandri ITA Hayate Racing Team 1min 59.195 sec
15. Niccolo Canepa ITA Pramac Racing 1min 59.266 sec
16. Mika Kallio FIN Pramac Racing 1min 59.764 sec
17. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 2min 0.234 sec

Even Marco Melandri was 1 second quicker than JT on the 'should I stay or should I go' Kawasaki. Or should I say Hayate.

That name is never gunna stick.

But Edwards nickname for JT just might.

Pedrosa Down and Out. Again.

Dani Pedrosa is out of the final pre-season test after a crash tonight injured his knee and hand.

He now looks certain to miss the final test at Jerez, meaning he will have missed all tests prior to the opening round in a couple of weeks time.

Pedrosa has to be under pressure this season. Despite favoritism from Honda, at times absurdly so, since he joined the MotoGP class Dani is yet to win the championship and arguably his only significant impact on the destination of the crown to date was when he carelessly knocked his team mate down at Estoril, destroying Hayden's championship lead going into the final race of 2006.

If Rossi hadn't fallen at that race Dani would not only have not won a MotoGP championship for Honda, he would have lost one for them too.

With Jorge Lorenzo being far more charismatic and exciting, there is the strong possibility that he will overtake Pedrosa as the Spanish fans favourite. Adding more pressure.

Not an ideal pre-season then.

Aprilia RSV4 Goes On Sale. I Want One

Aprilia UK announced the website for pre-orders.

50p says they have already all gone.

www.rsv4aprilia.com

Nice website though. Check it out.

Kawasaki: The Never Ending Story...

The latest twist in the Kawasaki MotoGP saga came today as Marco Melandri revealed he hasn't actually agreed to ride the bike!

In an interview with Italian publication Sportmediaset.it Melandri claimed to be as surprised as anyone at Kawasaki's official announcement and further explained that he was going to ride the bike at the Qatar test with a view to then deciding if he will race the bike.

In many ways this hardly comes as a surprise as no doubt a rider like Melandri wouldn't at all relish the prospect of making up the numbers on an uncompetitive bike with no development back up or prospects for improvement.

It's all getting rather boring - but this is by no means the first time Dorna have gone off half cocked, so to speak, and with Carmelo Ezpeleta so personally involved in this his own credibility is being brought more into question on a daily basis.

Spies shows his class with victory in race 2

Watching Haga slice through the field in race 2 was truly awesome. One thing is for sure in this years WSB championships - it's a fat field. You gotta work super hard for your places after the first lap.

Haga is rising superbly. The 5 way mid race battle for the lead between Haga, Spies, Biaggi, Fabrizio and Haslam is quality and is the sort of action we are sadly unlikely to see in MotoGP this year. It's not fairing bashing, but its great to watch these different riders on different bikes trying to push each other and figure out ways past.

At the mid-point of the race, it looked liked Haga was well set for a double win. But the later stages seemed to favour the 4 cylinder bikes as the Ducati's clearly had less grip left that both Ben Spies and further back Leon Haslam, who came through for a brilliant podium finish. The tyres on the Honda and Yamaha looked in much better condition than Haga's in parc ferme - with Haga claiming after the race that his tyre was totally finished with 5 laps to go.

But the race win went to Ben Spies who timed his move past Haga perfectly and had enough left in the tank to break Haga in the final few laps.

This left the battle for the final podium place to be sorted out in the final 2 laps. By this point Haslam and Laconi had caught Biaggi and Fabrizio. Laconi's late arrival and aggressive moves caught out Biaggi who out braked himself and had to run off track to avoid crashing, limping home in 15th place.

But it was the British pocket rocket who had the grip, race craft and speed to claim the final podium spot. Go Leon.

Like I said last night, if only the TV coverage was up to scratch.

Shinya Nakano is a rider I'd love to see doing well this year. His riding style is totally immaculate and he is one of the riders whose career really suffered as MotoGP switched from 500's to 990's being just outside the chosen few.

Another stand out theme for me in this race is the size of the bikes. Only the Kawasaki and in part the Suzuki, actually look like big bus road bikes. These other bikes are super small compact racing bikes.

Loser of the weekend had to be Shakey Byrne. Poor qualifying and two race crashes. He would have been hoping for so much more, but did just enough to pip Baiggi for disappointment.

Haga by 3 hundredth's in Race 1 at Philip Island

Well a decent first race of the year for WSB with Haga and Neukirchner breaking the field to duke it out in the final laps.

Max Neukirchner looked to have the race in the bag, moving ahead of Haga into Doohan's final time round and being quicker than Haga in the first half of the lap. Haga's strength on the Ducati was the second half of the lap however and he closed right up, but it seemed to be the cool weather and a few spots of rain on the last lap that decided matters.

Running up and over Lukey Heights Neukirchner's Suzuki snapped out of line throwing Max out of the seat allowing Haga to pass. Max regained control and dragged Haga up the straight to close the gap over the line to just 0.032 of a second. Close stuff.

The fortunes of these two couldn't be more different to the other Max. Biaggi got off the line well, not quite getting the holeshot from Johny Rea. But having got away in 2nd place, he was predictably duffed up and fell down the field. In fact it was a rider cutting across Biaggi, causing him to sit up and run wider, that pushed new boy and pole sitter Ben Spies off the track ruining his race.

In stark contrast Haga and Neukirchner pushed through from 13th and 14th on the grid to finish the first lap 2nd and 5th.

Why Biaggi can't seem to race anymore is beyond me and must drive his team manager insane. He settled for 11th place.

But arguably the surprise of the race was the 3rd place finisher Yukio Kagayama. What a dude. His English for my bike is fast is getting better too!

World SuperBike is looking really good this year, as has been said many times. But I have to say the TV coverage is very poor in comparison to MotoGP. Very little on screen info, no on bike pictures, not enough cameras around the track, and pretty poor direction.

Dorna might not be very good at growing the sport and making it more commercially attractive, but they do a much better job of making a TV show out of a race than their SuperBike rivals.

What a shame.