Before his success in MotoGP Cal Crutchlow was a winner in World Supersport and World Superbike racing. Image: AP

 

A look at this year’s World Superbike standings shows that we currently have five riders competing for wins and the top five in the second race in Germany on Sunday were all from Britain or Ireland.

Their success has obviously not been a bad thing for British motorcycle racing, but it has certainly had a negative effect on our fortunes at the elite level of MotoGP.

While Fogarty did little more than dip his toe in the then-500cc World Championship, dominated at the time by the fearsome Mick Doohan, both Hodgson and Toseland made a more concerted but ultimately doomed attempt to blaze a trail in MotoGP for British riders in recent years.

Both riders had legitimate complaints about the tools they were given for the task – Hodgson in particular – but I am a great believer that any bike in MotoGP is enough to impress the people who matter, providing you show sufficient promise, and the bottom line is that both Hodgson and Toseland were unable to master the nuances of prototype racing in the short time they were afforded.

It was with great interest that I watched Matthew Syed's contributions to the BBC's coverage of the Olympic Games and by coincidence on the journey home from Brno I was reading his book Bounce, which offers an insight into why this might be.

In a first part entitled The Talent Myth, Syed explores the concept that thousands of hours of practice in a particular field is the only way to excel in it, whether that be sport, music or indeed any other practice.

Syed cites one particular study conducted back in 1991 by Anders Ericsson, a psychologist at Florida State University, on a group of violinists at the Music Academy of West Berlin in Germany. Ericsson found that without fail the most 'talented' violinists in the group – those earmarked by their tutors to become international soloists - had practised for an average of 10,000 hours by the age of 20.

This compared with an average of 8,000 for the 'good' violinists, those tipped to play in the world's top orchestras and 4,000 for those expected to go on to be music teachers.

Syed outlines the relevance of this theory to sport and argues the case that the ‘10-thousand hour rule' (also known as the ‘10-year rule' as a thousand hours is considered the optimum amount of practice per year) “is the minimum time necessary for the acquisition of expertise in any complex task.”

One example that particularly struck me was a study that showed how professional tennis players are instinctively able to judge the trajectory of an opponent's serve before it is made, due to an ability to read their body position, based on hours and hours of observation.

I believe that this theory also applies to motorcycle racing. While most professional racers start life on two wheels at a very early age, those who gather the experience of riding Grand Prix motorcycles from as young as 15 are far better equipped for the demands of MotoGP than those who make the switch at a later age from production racing in the Supersport and Superbike classes.

There are other contributory factors of course, but it can be no coincidence that the four men who have dominated MotoGP in recent seasons - Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner - all came through the 125cc and 250cc Grand Prix classes.

Going back to the start of the four-stroke MotoGP era in 2002, there have been a total of 182 races, with only eight of them won by riders who had not previously competed in at least one of the smaller GP classes: Nicky Hayden (three wins), Makoto Tamada (two), Troy Bayliss, Chris Vermeulen and Ben Spies (one win each).

A prototype chassis, carbon brakes and slick tyres make for a machine with very different behavioural habits to that of a production motorcycle, which among many things is a far heavier, more flexible piece of equipment. Superbikes also have slick tyres but Supersport, their junior equivalent, must be fitted with road legal rubber.

Without hours and hours of practice on these machines and tyres, it is extremely difficult for riders to form the kind of instinctive reactions required to predict the behaviour of a MotoGP bike.

After riding a MotoGP machine for the first time last week Northern Ireland's Jonathan Rea, who will stand in for the injured Casey Stoner for the next two rounds, talked about having to adjust his braking style, improving corner exit and learning how to adjust his riding when the tyres are worn.

Having lapped three seconds shy of team-mate Pedrosa in an initial one-day test at Brno he managed to halve the deficit over two days at Aragon but, as with all of the British riders who have gone before him in MotoGP, the final few tenths will no doubt prove the most difficult to find.

All this goes to highlight not only how difficult it will be for Jonny to be competitive at Misano and Aragon, but also the magnitude of Crutchlow's achievement to finish on the podium having only moved to MotoGP last year at the ripe old age of 25, having progressed through the British and World Supersport and Superbike ranks.

The next step for Cal, of course, is the top step and breaking up Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Stoner's dominance of it will be a mammoth challenge.

I moved onto something of a prototype machine myself this week, throwing my leg over Victoria Pendleton's old Pinarello Dogma bike to take part in the 'Cycle of Wishes', an 1,800km ride from Donington Park to Misano in honour of Marco Simoncelli.

In fact, by the time you read this we should already be well on our way through northern France.

Having only ever ridden a mountain bike previously, it has certainly been a steep learning curve since I picked the bike up three weeks ago and I've definitely not managed to get in 10,000 hours of practice.

Making it to the end of the ride and raising plenty of cash for charity is the only goal here though and we hope the effort will be a worthy tribute to Marco, who will be at the forefront of all our minds as the paddock assembles at his home circuit, which has been renamed in his honour, almost a year on from his untimely death.

To find out more about the ride and how to donate to the Marco Simoncelli Foundation and the other charities that are to benefit, visit www.cycleofwishes.com.

While I can't promise you emotion to match the Olympic Stadium, London Velodrome or Eton Dorney, on Sunday the world-famous 'Brickyard' circuit provides an equally iconic stage for talent that can rival anything those venues have had to offer over the past few weeks.

Watching Usain Bolt celebrating victory in the 200m final reminded me very much of Valentino Rossi at the peak of his enigmatic powers: charm, charisma and that rare ability to switch from crowd pleaser to ruthless racer in a split second.

Millions of fans around the world have grown to adore him because he's the funniest but also because he's the fastest - except not, in Rossi's case, any longer.

Rossi's time at Ducati represents colossal underachievement by all parties. Last season, riding the same bike on which Casey Stoner scored 10 podiums in 2010, he managed just one - at Le Mans in the wet. So far this season he has an identical podium return from identical circumstances in France and he trails team-mate Nicky Hayden in the championship by two points.

Valentino Rossi is a seven-time Moto GP champion. Photo: Getty

Rossi is not the first rider who has failed to tame the notorious Desmosedici, a bike so unpredictable and so genetically removed from its Japanese contemporaries that it all but ended the MotoGP careers of past race-winners including Marco Melandri, Loris Capirossi and Toni Elias.

Since the start of the 800cc era in 2007, only Stoner has won a race in dry conditions for the Italian factory and, perhaps understandably, Rossi has given up hope of being the man to turn around their fortunes as the end of a glittering career edges ever closer.

A two-year contract with Yamaha presents an opportunity for him to be immediately competitive again and means we will all get to revel once more in the sight of that bright yellow number 46 fighting at the front of the pack, an image synonymous with a golden era for MotoGP.

With Stoner announcing his retirement and an uncertain future for Ben Spies, this is a huge boost for the sport in general.

Rossi remains a top-class rider, one of a handful capable of winning at this level, and his place among the all-time legends of this sport is secure.

However, his own part in the Ducati debacle should not be overlooked.

Rossi was essentially allowed to leave Yamaha at the end of 2010 because Jorge Lorenzo was starting to prove that he could ride the YZR-M1 faster than his senior team-mate.

Two years later and Lorenzo has improved still further as a rider, the new 1,000cc bike has been developed around him and Rossi, of course, is arguably another 24 months beyond his athletic peak.

If he could win the championship again, it would be akin to Bolt being re-crowned as fastest man on two legs, not at Rio in 2016 but at the following Games in 2020.

Nobody knows this better than Rossi himself and a return to the boys in blue is perhaps less an attempt to be world number one again than a quest to restore self-pride.

And you can't put a price on that - not even 17 million euros (£13.3m), apparently.

That, reportedly, was the figure Ducati were offering in a desperate attempt to retain his services for another season - more a reflection of Rossi's commercial worth to their brand and their sponsors than his market value as a competitor.

While Rossi's replacement for 2013 looks increasingly likely to be the experienced and consistent Andrea Dovizioso, the theory that a fresh approach and a relative lack of MotoGP experience would be an advantage in terms of taming the Desmosedici makes Cal Crutchlow an interesting option for Ducati.

Long term, their best bet is to blood new talent so it was good to see them putting Plan B into action last week with a behind-closed-doors test at Mugello for young British Moto2 star Scott Redding, with a view to including the 19-year-old in a factory-backed satellite "Junior Team".

If there is one thing the success of the Olympics proved it's that we Brits love a home hero in any sport, so the consolidation of a talent like Crutchlow or Redding in the elite class of motorcycle racing would really propel the sport into the national psyche.

However, we also showed that we can appreciate the talents of the very best and Rossi's huge and faithful following in the UK is testament to that.

World champion or not, we at least get to enjoy watching him perform for another two years at the top.

It was with typical understated joy that Dovizioso stepped onto the box for the 19th time in his MotoGP career and his brilliant ride to hold off Cal Crutchlow and beat Ben Spies to third provided a timely reminder to factory team bosses planning for the 2013 post-Stoner shake-up that he remains one of the true class acts in the field.

As Repsol Honda scaled back from three to two riders at the end of last season, Dovizioso was in some ways unfortunate to be left out of the factory reckoning, but Honda’s loss was the immediate gain of Yamaha who instantly benefitted from his vast experience and famously concise feedback from the very first test at Valencia.

In fact, a good deal of the credit for the way Yamaha have closed the gap to Honda - and perhaps even overtaken them with the 1000cc YZR-M1 – over the winter must surely be attributed to Dovizioso's input.

Now, with Spies desperately struggling for form and Lorenzo with a championship to think about, Dovizioso's contribution to the machine's ongoing development will be vital.

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Indeed, in the post-race test at Barcelona last month, he was entrusted with a new engine and electronics package which he used to set the fastest time of the day, some seven tenths of a second quicker than Lorenzo's best effort in the previous day's race.

He backed that up with an impressive display at Aragon later that week, assessing a revised engine spec and giving additional feedback to Yamaha's engineers, and after crashing out of the next race at Silverstone he has followed up with back-to-back podiums at Assen and Sachsenring.

It makes you wonder if Honda are regretting not making more of an effort to keep the former 125cc world champion on one of their bikes for a 10th season.

With justifiable hype around Crutchlow's sparkling start to his second campaign at the top level, Stefan Bradl's impressive adaptation in his rookie season and an uncertain future for Valentino Rossi at Ducati, the unassuming Dovizioso is often overlooked in the speculation surrounding the factory rides for 2013.

However, with Yamaha feeling the benefit of his 60 grand prix podiums in all classes, it is hard to argue that the Italian does not deserve one.

This is our third visit to the iconic Northamptonshire circuit since the race returned from a 23-year stay at Donington Park in Leicestershire and in terms of motor racing nostalgia there are few venues in the world that compare.

British bike fans of a certain vintage will immediately cast their minds back to an era-defining race between the legendary Barry Sheene and his American nemesis "King" Kenny Roberts, which was decided on the final lap and featured a moment that caused millions of jaws to drop around the country.

"And look at that!" yelled Murray Walker as Sheene, leading the race, turned to flash a very British two-fingered salute at his rival. "Barry Sheene, with absolute effrontery, not only looks over his shoulder but takes his left clutch hand off the handlebar and waves to Kenny Roberts!"

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The 1979 British Grand Prix, eventually won by Roberts, was actually one of the few events in the iconic Cockney racer's illustrious career to be witnessed by a live television audience and while Murray's inimitable interpretation of events may never be bettered, media coverage in general has thankfully moved on since the grainy early days of Grandstand.

Indeed, with every race broadcast on terrestrial television and now in glorious HD, as well as qualifying, practice and the Moto2 and Moto3 races available online and on the Red Button, British bike fans have never had it this good.

At the BBC we are all very excited about our home race and we have some pretty cool plans for it, including an unusual opener that we hope will get to the heart of modern British culture as well as tipping a metaphorical bowler hat to our own legends of this amazing sport.

Sheene, the 500cc World Champion in 1976 and 1977, will be the face you are most likely to recognise (if only for those brilliant aftershave commercials he filmed with Henry Cooper. "Splash it all over," anyone?) but look out for our five other premier-class title winners: Leslie Graham, Geoff Duke, John Surtees, Mike Hailwood and Phil Read.

These legendary names give our country an unrivalled heritage in two-wheeled sport that we can be extremely proud of, even though the silverware has been in short supply over the past few decades.

The time for a new British hero is long overdue but this weekend we have nine contenders across the three classes looking to move a step closer to filling the void: Cal Crutchlow and James Ellison (MotoGP), Scott Redding, Bradley Smith and Gino Rea (Moto2), Danny Webb, Danny Kent, Fraser Rogers and John McPhee (Moto3).

Leading the charge, of course, is Crutchlow, our most realistic and genuine chance of a premier-class podium finish since Jeremy McWilliams secured third behind Kenny Roberts Jr and a young Valentino Rossi at a soaking wet Donington Park back in 2000.

Poor Cal must be bored of being reminded of that stat, not to mention talk of the last British winner: you guessed it, Sheene - back in 1981 at the Swedish GP at Anderstorp, four years before Crutchlow was born.

It is unfair to expect him to pick up Sheene's mantle just yet and nobody wants to raise expectations too high but yesterday I did a series of pre-recorded interviews for regional BBC radio stations to use this weekend and the question I was asked the most was: "Can Crutchlow win?"

The truthful answer is that he has an outside chance. His performances so far this year at circuits he had no knowledge of prior to last season suggest as much, especially with the uncertain weather forecast.

Crutchlow and the rest of the British boys are down in London today, meeting the national press and filming for various television crews. On Thursday they will be at Silverstone and you can meet them there by buying tickets for Day of Champions - an annual fundraiser in aid of the official MotoGP charity, Riders for Health.

As well as getting the rare opportunity to wander around the paddock and mingle with the teams and riders, punters are also treated to entertainment throughout the day on the main stage and an auction, which this year includes an incredible star lot: a pair of MotoGP grid passes. Hopefully I will meet plenty of you there (tickets are still available at www.silverstone.co.uk).

There will be plenty more serious activity going on within the paddock fences at Silverstone, as the rider transfer market picks up pace following Yamaha's announcement this week that Jorge Lorenzo has signed up for two more years.

It was a big statement from Yamaha because there was definite interest from Honda and it will be interesting to see who both factories turn to next in the post-Stoner shake-up.

There will certainly be no shortage of rumours, with the early season form of Crutchlow, Stefan Bradl making adapting impressively to MotoGP in his rookie season, an uncertain future for Rossi at Ducati and the likely graduation of Marc Marquez from Moto2. Amid all the romantic hype, Andrea Dovizioso's podium in Barcelona also provided a timely reminder to factory team bosses that he remains one of the true class acts in the field.

Whatever transpires at Silverstone it promises to be an entertaining weekend both on and off the track.

To quote the magical Murray Walker once again: "Anything happens in Grand Prix racing, and it usually does."

Always an enigmatic and outspoken character, Stoner cited a diminishing passion for the sport and his disappointment at the current shift away from pure prototype racing as the primary reasons behind his decision, although the fact he became a father just a couple of months ago has surely played a part.

It has long been a mystery to many - and most of the messages I have received on Twitter over the past few hours are testament to this - that a young man could fail to enjoy the money, the adulation and the fame that have come his way due to his unparalleled ability to ride a motorcycle.

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Sure, his earnings over the past five years alone will enable him to head home without needing to earn another penny for the rest of his life but I can assure you that the attention is something he has genuinely never been comfortable with.

His unease in front of the cameras and microphones has created an uncomfortable relationship with the press and, by extension, the many thousands of fans who criticise him for a "lack of personality".

It has long been a bugbear of Casey, who has no interest in celebrity culture, that he could not be appreciated purely for his riding ability and in his surprise news conference he made reference to those who have constantly questioned him throughout the highs and lows of his career.

Having left Australia as a 14-year-old, when his parents sold everything they had and moved to Europe to support his fledgling career, he has spent the last 12 years living in the spotlight, under pressure and occasionally under attack.

He has grown up away from home, often away from his loved ones and, for the past two months, away from his newborn daughter. Of course, many people do this... but only because they have to.

Casey has handled the pressure in his own way, often making mistakes but learning to cope every day in front of the unforgiving focus of a camera lens without benefiting from the lessons of the "normal life" he so craves.

In November he will throw his suitcase down at his remote farm in deepest New South Wales and, for the first time in his life, know that he does not have to pack it again until he decides to do so.

That moment may never come, or it may be the moment that he rediscovers his love for the only thing he knows.

In the meantime, whatever your thoughts about Stoner the rider or Stoner the man, it cannot be denied that it is the courage and the conviction of character that has taken him to two world titles already - and makes him a favourite to take a third this season - that sees him walk away from MotoGP at the peak of his powers.

"This year Cal is more... 'mantequilla'" he finally says, reverting to his native language.

Mantequilla, Spanish for butter, is the word Lorenzo uses to describe his own smooth approach to finding the fastest way around a circuit; a trait he believes he inherited from his mother because of the dextrous way she would flick her knife across his morning toast, using the perfect angle of lean to cover every corner with minimum effort.

The other half of Lorenzo's racing DNA is made up of 'el martillo' (the hammer), the relentless and consistently accurate way he is able to string together lap after lap with metronomic timing.

British rider Cal Crutchlow finished fourth in the opening race of the MotoGP season in Qatar. Photo: Getty

This, he believes, he picked up from his father, a motorcycle mechanic, having spent hours watching him tapping away in the family workshop.

Describing British rider Cal Crutchlow's new found speed as mantequilla was a huge compliment coming from one of only four MotoGP masters on the grid; not least because for riders making the switch to Grand Prix racing from World Superbikes in the past, command of this particular science has proven to be the biggest obstacle.

As Crutchlow was lauded for being the first British rider to qualify on the front row since James Toseland at the very same race in 2008, comparisons were immediately and inevitably being drawn between him and the most recent in a long line of WSB superstars to attempt and ultimately fail to make the Grand Prix grade.

However, there are key differences between what at first appears to be two unerringly similar achievements and their bearing on what the future could hold for the protagonist in question.

Let me explain...

Before tyre regulations came in at the end of 2008, which included a single supplier and set allocation, riders had a limitless supply of rubber that, to an extent, they could use to paper over the cracks in bike set-up or riding style.

Using Michelin's famously sticky rear 'qualifier', which was good for just two flying laps at best, double World Superbike champion Toseland's pace during qualifying for the 2008 Grand Prix of Qatar jumped from consistent laps of low one minute 56s in race trim to a jaw-dropping effort of 1:54.182.

By comparison eventual race winner Casey Stoner, using Bridgestones, had been setting mid-1:55s in race spec and could only improve to a 1:54.733, leaving him fourth on the grid.

Nowadays, with Bridgestone supplying the entire grid, each rider has a maximum of nine front and 10 rear tyres to use as they see fit across the entire weekend, which in Qatar consisted of three different choices of front (soft, medium and extra-hard) and two choices of rear (medium and asymmetric hard).

Both rear compounds are, in theory, designed to last the full race distance and although teams invariably try to keep a fresh set of the softer compound handy for a time attack there is no longer a quick fix to find the one thing that makes riders go faster: grip.

During last Saturday night's qualifying practice Crutchlow, like Toseland four years before him, had also lapped in the low 1:56s in race trim.

Sticking with a hard front tyre that already had five laps on it he switched to a new soft rear for his penultimate run, allowing him to improve to a 1:55.022 and secure third place on the grid.

Prior to that in free practice he had led the standings for most of Thursday's opening session, using the same soft rear tyre throughout, before ending the second of two sessions on Friday night second fastest overall thanks to a 1:55.456 that came on a new soft rear but with a used hard front.

This kind of pace was an extension of the form he has already shown in preseason testing at Sepang and Jerez, which is why his qualifying time came as no surprise, certainly not to the observant Lorenzo.

After a bad start in Sunday's race Crutchlow quickly recovered positions and on lap three he was the fastest man on track, clocking a 1:55.984 to close in on team-mate Andrea Dovizioso in fourth place.

Over the next 19 laps only Stoner went faster than that, with eventual race winner Lorenzo managing a best effort of 1:56.067; enough evidence to suggest that had Dovizioso not forced Crutchlow back into mainly the low 1:57s until he finally found a way past on lap 17, he could have been closer to the podium battle at least.

This, of course, would have required plenty of 'martillo', something the Brit will have to find to go with the extra 'mantequilla' if he is to challenge Lorenzo et al in the coming battles.

It is only right to point out that the switch to 1,000cc machinery this season has aided Crutchlow's transition and it is no doubt a move that Toseland would have relished.

Yorkshireman Toseland's valiant effort on what was his MotoGP debut was a worthy achievement in its own right but it ultimately served to create false anticipation and eventually perhaps even JT himself got tangled up in his attempts to live up to the hype.

This time, however, there is the substance to suggest that British challenge will not melt away.

Like most fans of the sport I am a little disappointed that the curtain-raiser to the new season will be limited to Red Button coverage due to scheduling clashes in the packed Sunday evening time slot but that is made up for by my excitement that the following seventeen races will be shown live on the BBCHD channel, as well as on BBC2 (the Qatar race will be repeated in full on both channels later on Sunday evening).

High Definition television is made for the colour and movement of a spectacle such as MotoGP and there will be plenty of extra detail to pick out this season, especially with the switch from 800cc to 1,000cc machinery.

You don't need to be a mechanical engineer to work out that bigger bikes create more power and when it comes to racing this invariably means more excitement.

Honda MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner of Australia (left) and team-mate Dani Pedrosa prepare for the season opener in Qatar. Photo: Getty

With more torque being channeled through the rear wheel, the riders have to control their machines like bucking broncos, which is always spectacular to watch.

However, the more exciting prospect for the viewer is that the new rules should lead to more overtaking.

Having more power allows riders to rectify any mistakes they make on their way into a turn by 'squaring off' the corner, picking the bike up and driving out.

With less to worry about on the brakes, riders can be more daring and inventive in their attempts to pass - an improvement from the 'Scalextric' style precision of the 800cc era.

Of course, this extreme power (reportedly in excess of 250hp in the case of Honda) is mostly kept under control by sophisticated electronic systems, which are in the process of being regulated in line with the gradual transition to CRT racing.

As I explained in my last blog, CRT bikes are essentially a prototype chassis powered by a production engine (CRT literally means Claiming Rule Team - they can claim ownership of the engine as opposed to merely leasing from the factories as current satellite teams do) and they represent the long-term future of MotoGP.

In time the idea will be to have custom-made engines built to parameters that make them affordable to purchase, attracting new teams and sponsors to the sport, but a period of transition over the next two seasons will see an exaggerated gap between the CRT guys and the 12 riders still on factory-built Honda, Yamaha or Ducati bikes.

However, no fewer than nine CRT bikes - powered by Honda, Aprilia, BMW and Kawasaki engines - will be lining up in Qatar, boosting the grid to 21 riders and therefore already vindicating governing body Dorna's decision to make the change, especially with a couple of riders looking capable of springing a surprise already.

In the last test at Jerez Randy de Puniet finished just 1.8 seconds off the fastest time, set by defending champion Casey Stoner on the Honda, and less than a second shy of leading factory Ducati rider Valentino Rossi.

The plight of Italian factory Ducati, incidentally, and their superstar rider remains worrying for his legion of fans around the world.

Sixth at Jerez, 0.9 seconds slower than Stoner, was an improvement on a disastrous winter programme at Sepang but it is hardly a ringing endorsement of his radical new Desmosedici GP12 machine.

With just days remaining until the start of the new season and with Stoner, Dani Pedrosa (Honda) and Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in a class of their own in testing, Rossi and his loyal fans are faced with the very real prospect of another barren year for the Italian legend, whose 16th season of Grand Prix competition in 2011 proved to be his first without a victory.

Out of contract at the end of this year, Rossi's chances of ever winning a race again currently look equally bleak, having burnt his bridges at Honda whilst the ones at Yamaha caught fire behind him.

The CRT revolution could perhaps not come quickly enough for a man who has MotoGP victories to his name on four different kinds of machinery.

The last but one of those wins came two years ago almost to the day, when Rossi opened the 2010 season in style at Losail, breaking a three-year unbeaten run for Stoner in Qatar that stretched back to the Australian's first ever MotoGP win on his Ducati debut in 2007.

Last year Stoner took a clean sweep of pole position, race fastest lap and victory in his first race on the 800cc Honda. It would take a brave man to bet against him doing that on his 1,000cc debut next Sunday.

Thankfully, there are a few out there.

It is an interesting and a contentious question that is being asked as much inside the paddock - from riders to journalists - as it is among fans, as premier-class grand prix motorcycle racing moves away from 100% prototype racing in 2012.

However, the first thing to point out is that the Claiming Rule Team (CRT) bikes that are being prepared in readiness for next season - the ones that will fill the grid in the not-too-distant future - are certainly not road bikes.

They remain largely prototypes, albeit currently with tuned Superbike engines, and although they have made a predictably slow start to life in testing with inexperienced riders on board, they will soon be lapping quicker than any production model at most circuits.

The more that chassis is adjusted and adapted to work purely on a circuit, as opposed to public roads, the faster the bike will become, not to mention engine updates etc.

The fact there will be only three factory teams in Honda, Yamaha and Ducati taking part next season just goes to underline why Carmelo Ezpeleta, the CEO of the sport's television and commercial rights holders Dorna, is making the right move in taking such drastic action now.

World champion Jorge Lorenzo struggled to encourage a title sponsor last season. Photo: Getty

Of course, an ideal world would see a grid full of factory-supported prototype machinery but the withdrawal of Suzuki follows on from that of Kawasaki in 2008 and Aprilia in 2004, and any further disengagement from one or, heaven forbid, all three of the remaining factories would pull the rug out from beneath the championship completely.

Last season the Yamaha factory team, with the number one plate and world champion Jorge Lorenzo on board, could not encourage a title sponsor, while Ducati are still bankrolled by a tobacco company which could be forgiven for cancelling its standing order if the team were to experience another campaign as disappointing as 2011.

The concept of CRTs is aimed at moving away from a championship between factories, instead opening it up to teams, just as Formula 1 has done, with the likes of Brawn GP, McLaren and Red Bull enjoying great success in recent seasons.

In much the same way, motorcycle manufacturers will become engine suppliers to MotoGP teams and, although there will still be the possibility of factories running their own "official" teams, future regulations to limit engine performance and, more critically, that of the electronics packages will further reduce their advantage.

Drastic rule changes are always met with scepticism but in my experience they are soon forgotten about once the racing starts, especially if they are to the benefit of the spectacle, as has been the case in F1.

The fact is that the current format of MotoGP is no longer cost-effective in today's economic climate, as the withdrawal of the aforementioned factories proves. As well as the huge expense of producing motorcycles that cost the best part of £1m each, manufacturers face the additional outlay of research and development, administration, logistics and personnel costs, which send their outlay soaring well above £10m per season.

A CRT team could, in theory, run for as little as 20% of that amount, with much of their outlay recouped by the share of television monies that Dorna distributes among private teams (factory teams do not receive a share), as well as sponsorship and hospitality packages.

There are also sure to be further incentives being offered by Dorna to encourage new CRT teams to sign established names such as Colin Edwards (Forward Racing), Anthony West (Speed Master) and De Puniet (Aspar Team).

When I recently spoke with Paul Bird, the owner of Paul Bird Motorsport, I asked him about the financial implications of his decision to withdraw from World Superbikes to join the CRT revolution with a single rider entry in Cumbria's James Ellison next season. He could barely stop himself from laughing. "Don't worry, it works out," he grinned.

These are changing times for MotoGP and it may be hard for the purists to take, but a radical shift has been needed for some time. Ezpeleta's priority is to defend his business interests, which thankfully for us fans represents the long-term health of the sport, and his idea is being embraced by the teams - if not the factories - with the paddock's two biggest outfits, Gresini and Aspar, already signed up, and Tech3 beginning work on their own chassis.

Like their four-wheeled counterparts in F1, MotoGP bikes of the future may no longer be the fastest two-wheeled machines man can design but they will still be the fastest motorcycles on the planet raced by the fastest riders.

In the meantime we face a transitional season or two that may well give further ammunition to the naysayers as the new bikes struggle to be competitive. However, there can be little doubt that CRT represents the future of MotoGP. By 2013, hopefully we should once again be talking about the racing, not the politics.

There can be scant higher praise to bestow on Marco Simoncelli than saying that he was the most exciting thing to happen to motorcycle racing since Valentino Rossi.

As outrageous on the track as he was off it, his wild afro hairstyle and swashbuckling riding style won the hearts of fans all over the world. His death has brought us all to our knees.

Simoncelli brought his unique style to the world of MotoGP. Photo: Getty

Inspired by Rossi but quite evidently another maverick entirely of his own breed, Marco feared no rival and made no allowances for reputation, not even that of his great friend, the greatest of all time.

His final act was a lap and a half of pure adrenaline, swapping positions with Alvaro Bautista, a familiar foe, with trademark panache and derring-do. Riding on the edge, the only way he knew, delighting in his own impudence and improvisation, revelling in the one act he loved the most.

His two race performances before that were arguably the best of his career, both of them breathtaking battles to the finish with compatriot and another fierce rival in Andrea Dovizioso. Marco won out on both occasions to take fourth - despite a ride-through penalty - and second - his career best result - at Motegi and Phillip Island respectively.

In those two races the signs were there that he had finally managed to curb the overly combative style that had cost him further podiums or even wins earlier in the season and worked out how to channel his fearless aggression in the most productive manner. Up to then it had been the only chink in his armour.

Dovizioso and Bautista both had previous with Simoncelli from their days together in the smaller classes, as did the likes of Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, the most vocal amidst virtually unanimous criticism of his riding in the early stages of this season - particularly after a collision with Pedrosa at Le Mans left the Spaniard with a badly broken collarbone.

Under pressure from his peers and from the media, Marco's confidence took a beating but it did not crack. He seemed to know what the fans wanted and his refusal to be intimidated by the establishment endeared him to them even more.

At Silverstone I had the pleasure to introduce him to many of you at the Day of Champions auction, where he was given the loudest cheer of the evening - a hero's welcome. I know it meant a lot to him, confirmation that he should never change his ways. Believe me, your esteem was mutual.

Always accommodating, pleasant and professional, I never saw Marco say no to an autograph or a photo. That was not because he enjoyed the attention, he simply took great pleasure in making other people happy.

Marco was not a rider that would sulk or hide. If he crashed out of practice or a race he would always front up and talk to the cameras and if it was his fault he would readily admit it, occasionally behind sunglasses to hide the tears. At Phillip Island he crashed three times during practice in the same corner. The second and third, he joked afterwards, were just to confirm what happened the first time.

At Le Mans earlier this year he agreed for us to interview him in his motor home between practice sessions, asking us if we minded that he eat his lunch - a plate of plain spaghetti - while we set up our cameras in his living room. "Of course not," I said. When I thanked him after we had finished filming he replied as he always did, with a firm handshake: "No problem. Thanks to you."

Born with talent but raised with humour, humility and good manners, Marco is a credit to the grief-stricken family left to mourn him. His father Paolo was at Sepang, as he was at every race, a chest we are so used to seeing bursting with pride now so devastatingly deflated by unthinkable hurt. For his son to depart at the age of 24, fatally struck by his hero and mentor, is a grave injustice to all of them.

There will be ramifications for our sport. Doubtless there will be questions about the immediate futures of Rossi and Colin Edwards, already in the twilight of glittering careers, and that of Team Gresini, who were relying heavily on Honda's support of Simoncelli for 2012 - their mutual faith in his future confirmed in a contract penned just three weeks ago.

But the sport itself will survive and will eventually be safer and stronger for this tragedy. It is important to remember that for every life that is lost in this way many thousands more are saved every day by the improvements made in rider protection and circuit design.

Sepang was a bruising weekend with several crashes, including those of Pedrosa and Ben Spies adding to those of Moto2 riders Marc Marquez, Bradley Smith and Axel Pons, who remains in hospital in Kuala Lumpur under observation for a sub-cranial haematoma.

The pain of these riders ultimately provides more valuable data that will help in making their chosen profession and passion as safe as it can possibly be yet, sadly, the quest for risk-free motor racing can never be fulfilled. It is a common and bitter irony that our sport's greatest appeal is also its greatest pitfall.

Motorcycle racing brought Marco Simoncelli to his death but it also brought him to life and you can rest assured that he would not have lived it any other way. Nor would any of his competitors, which is why they will all line up again in Valencia in less than two weeks' time, hand on the throttle, eager for those start lights to go out once again; hoping for the best, prepared for the worst.

Of the 18 riders who started the race (with Karel Abraham not even making the grid due to concussion) only 13 made it to the chequered flag and of those riders only seven avoided an off-track excursion of some kind, be it through the pit-lane or across the gravel.

It was an exciting one to watch from pit-lane and the drama continued long into the night as explanations were given and fingers pointed in the riders' post-race debriefs, with Rossi citing a mistake from Jorge Lorenzo as the reason for his first "DNF" of the year.

"Lorenzo went onto the grass slightly in turn one, and in the next turn he moved suddenly to get his trajectory right," explained Rossi. "He didn't see me because I was slightly behind. When he touched me, it pushed me into [Ben] Spies, who touched my front brake lever. It was normal racing contact, but I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Marco Simoncelli claimed he made his jump-start because he saw Andrea Dovizioso move out of the corner of his eye whilst Dovizioso, admitted it was his mistake.

Spain's Dani Pedrosa was jubilant after winning the Japanese Grand Prix. Photo: AP

The domino effect of Dovizioso's impetuosity also caught out Cal Crutchlow, who admitted jumping the start after seeing Simoncelli, while Nicky Hayden said he "almost got baited into jumping".

Álvaro Bautista also blamed a poor start on the confusion at the lights, although he was one of several riders later apologising to his team, including the debutant Damian Cudlin, who crashed when ambition got the better of him in the latter stages of in the race.

However, perhaps the man with the most to reflect on was Casey Stoner, who escaped with a podium finish and saw his title advantage cut by just four points despite running off track and dropping back to seventh place when his brakes failed after hitting a bump.

Up to that point Stoner was odds-on for a win that would have extended his lead to 53 points and left him needing simply to finish ahead of Jorge Lorenzo at Phillip Island next Sunday in order to seal the title. Now his best bet is to take victory and hope for the slightly less unlikely result of the Spaniard not making the podium in order to claim the title at his home grand prix on his 26th birthday.

On a circuit about 70 miles away from the damaged Fukushima powerplant, after all the controversy and some frankly scandalous headlines about radiation fears in the Spanish and Italian press (the latter were represented at Motegi by just one journalist), not to mention certain members of riders' entourages walking around the paddock with geigermeters, it was fitting that the only thing anybody wanted to talk about after the Grand Prix of Japan was the racing.

The Japanese people have shown so much dignity in the face of disaster and their determination to hold this event despite criticism from some quarters (there is an argument that the money spent on repairs to the track could have been better allocated to those areas still in desperate need of humanitarian aid) was summed up by Hiroshi Aoyama, who himself showed great restraint throughout the "will they, won't they" debate staged by some of his fellow riders.

"There are a lot of people still suffering and we have had a lot of support from different countries - a lot of people gave us money - but some things we cannot fix by money so if we can bring MotoGP here we can bring positive energy, a positive mentality," he told the BBC. "This means a lot for the Japanese people."

I am catching up with my blog a little later than usual this week, which is largely down to the mild narcolepsy that seems to come with jet-lag. For some reason I am suffering with it more this year than I have in the past, despite my best (and most noble, you understand) attempts to get onto UK time by heading for a karaoke bar on Sunday night, along with much of the rest of the paddock - riders included.

In fact, no fewer than four of the 11 who suffered some kind of mishap in the race were there to sing away their blues at the now notorious "Cage" in central Narita. I thought it would be good fun to ask people on Twitter to come up with some song requests for the riders, which threw up some pretty funny suggestions.

My favourite was the request from @jacklewin46 for Jorge Lorenzo to sing "Tie Me Kangaroo Down". If you think you can do better than that, I'd love to hear it.

By the time you read this Héctor Barberá will hopefully have completed successful surgery on the collarbone break he suffered when he crashed out of the race in Japan. Héctor spent 48 hours in intensive care in Dokkyo hospital near Utsonomiya before being cleared to travel back to Spain and go under the knife of Dr Xavier Mir, who conducted similar operations on Dani Pedrosa and Colin Edwards earlier this season.

Hopefully for Héctor's sake the break is more akin to Edwards' than Pedrosa's - likewise the recovery period - so that we can see him back on board at Phillip Island and Sepang in just over a week's time.

With two races in different continents across a seven-day period this is a vital period in which to stay fit, strong... and awake. Hopefully we can all manage it!

Bradley Smith sat edgily in his seat as the haunting voice of Ewan McGregor echoed around the famous walls of the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square on Tuesday night.

The 20-year-old had walked the red carpet into the premiere of the MotoGP movie Fastest in the knowledge that he himself will be joining motorcycle racing's A-list in just over a year's time - and he admitted after watching Mark Neale's brilliant new production that he felt more than a little nervous about the prospect.

The announcement last Sunday night that Smith had penned a rare three-year deal with his current Tech3 team, which will see him compete for one more season in Moto2 before taking the step up to MotoGP, is great news for British fans who are guaranteed at least one home-grown rider in the premier class for the next three seasons.

It is also great news for us at the BBC because while the spectacle of the world's best riders pushing the limits at 200mph on two wheels regularly gets the adrenaline of our hardcore audience of just over one million viewers pumping, there is nothing like a home hero to get the entire nation on the edge of their sofas.

British rider Bradley Smith will compete in the MotoGP World Championships in 2013 and 2014 after penning a three-year deal with Monster Yamaha Tech 3 MotoGP Team. PHOTO: GETTY

Of course, to convert those hundreds of thousands of 'floating' viewers into die-hards requires not only having a British competitor for them to get behind but a British winner to celebrate and Bradley certainly has the potential to eventually carry that mantle.

So does Cal Crutchlow, of course, but the challenge for Cal is so much greater because he did not come through the Grand Prix ranks.

Switching from Superbikes to MotoGP requires a complete overhaul of riding style and approach and when so much of what these guys do is based on pure instinct this process is easier said than done - especially when the majority of circuits are completely new. It also requires that preciously scarce resource: time.

Bradley, on the other hand, has been racing prototype Grand Prix motorcycles on Grand Prix circuits since the age of 15 and after taking 20 podiums - including three wins - in the 125cc class, finishing runner-up in 2009 and fourth in 2010, he already has three podiums in his first season of the ultra-competitive Moto2 class.

Staying for one more season with the goal of challenging for wins whilst also preparing himself for the physical challenge of MotoGP is a wise move that highlights his mature and measured approach to racing in general.

With Scott Redding also progressing successfully through the Moto2 class and Danny Kent beginning to challenge consistently at the front of the 125s, we could easily be looking at having three or four highly competitive Brits in MotoGP in the not-too-distant future.

Also knocking on the MotoGP door is Ireland's Eugene Laverty, who has followed in Crutchlow's footsteps by having success in the World Supersport series before stepping up to World Superbikes and winning races in this his first season.

Speaking to us after the race at Aragon Tech3 Team Principal Hervé Poncharal suggested Laverty is in the frame for the seat due to be vacated byColin Edwards next year, although his personal preference and no doubt that of Yamaha is to bring in an experienced replacement - and Poncharal confirmed that he was in talks with both Andrea Dovizioso and Álvaro Bautista.

However, with Italian Dovizioso keen to stay at Honda in some capacity and the Spaniard awaiting a decision on Suzuki's future plans, which should be announced at Motegi next week, a one-year deal for Laverty could suit both parties and open up an interesting battle between him and Crutchlow to be retained as Smith's team-mate in 2013.

It was an eventful weekend all round at Aragon, starting for us on Friday morning when our lovely production assistant Carol slipped in her bedroom and broke a rib!

The poor girl ended up in hospital for the remainder of the weekend with trapped air behind her ribcage and can't fly back home to Belfast until this coming Friday.

The role of PA is a vital one on any production but particularly on MotoGP because not only do they make all the logistical arrangements before we travel and when we're onsite, they are also the link between the OB (Outside Broadcast) unit and network controllers when we are live on air.

As a presenter they count you on and off air, as well as in and out of each piece of VT, so their voice becomes a vital part of your subconscious during a live broadcast.

With Carol stuck in a hospital bed and told she wouldn't be allowed to leave until at least Monday, producer Mike scrambled for his black book and began ringing around for a back-up that would be available to make the dash to a local airport.

A huge power cut at the track, which led to the cancellation of second free practice, added to some pretty chaotic scenes in and around our truck on Friday afternoon.

Mike managed to get a new production assistant booked but when she then missed her flight in the rush on Friday evening we were left to fend for ourselves during Saturday's qualifying programme on the Red Button. Thankfully, via plane to Barcelona, train to Zaragoza and automobile to Aragon, she made it to the circuit in time for race day and ensured that our show ran smoothly.

So thank you Ali and get well soon Carol!

From a production point of view we had a lot of work to do at Aragon, not just for Sunday's show but also trying to build up some extra material for the 'flyaway' races that are coming up in Japan, Australia and Malaysia. For obvious budgetary reasons we only take a skeleton crew to these races and as such over the past years we have only had a 10-minute build-up to the race.

However, this year we have been given our regular half-hour slot, which is great news but also a bit of a logistical headache.

With just one camera and no editing facilities onsite we are limited with how much we can film at the track and all our footage has to be sent back to Belfast via satellite to be cut by Saturday evening at the latest.

So it helps to plan ahead and get a couple of pieces 'in the can', such as an interview with Bautista that we will run in Japan as well as some nice generic features, like one that we are cutting on riders' pre-race rituals.

We have also been gathering material all year for a piece we plan to run in either Malaysia or Australia: we've asked each of the 17 current riders to choose their favourite corner in the world and plan to bolt them all together to make the ideal MotoGP circuit according to the class of 2011.

It's something we've never done before and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Of course it is important for us to find a balance between dateless pieces and breaking news - things relevant to the race build-up - especially at this stage of the season when titles are being won and lost and contracts decided for next year.

The season finale represents a gruelling schedule for everybody in the paddock but especially for the riders as they risk it all in extreme circumstances, with four races across three continents in just six weeks.

If you want to get a feel for just how tough that is, and to get a taste of what Bradley, Cal and the rest are up against, get yourself to a cinema on Monday or Tuesday of next week - the only two dates that Fastest will be available on the big screen.

And take a friend with you!

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It has been an intense summer for the Italian, spent contemplating his own future and that of his young family before finally making the decision to hang up his leathers after 22 years as a Grand Prix motorcycle racer.

Capirossi's emotional announcement to a packed press conference at Misano will have been made all the more difficult because, deep down, he knows that on the right package he could probably still be competitive, even at the age of 38.

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However, a tumultuous season on board the Ducati has led to injuries and inconspicuousness unbefitting of a rider of his calibre. With little room for improvement from the current Desmosedici, as well a new generation of stars snapping up all the prime real estate for next season, this is as good a time as any to say goodbye.

It is also apparent that Capirossi's notorious killer edge has been blunted by time, a fact he may well have felt compelled to reflect on this week when he looked across the school playground to see Tetsuya Harada, whose daughter will be in the same class as his four-year-old son this term.

Capirossi and Harada were the protagonists of one of the most controversial finishes to a world championship season back in 1998, when they arrived at the final round of the 250cc series in Argentina with the Italian leading the Japanese by just four points.

With Valentino Rossi leading the race on the final lap, Harada held second place ahead of Capirossi, a result that would have made the Japanese world champion by merit of having more wins. But then he was brutally rammed off the track and off his bike by his then team-mate, Capirossi, who went on to clinch second place and the crown.

Eight years earlier, Capirossi had been crowned 125cc world champion in the final round of the season at Phillip Island in similarly controversial circumstances, although this time it was compatriots Fausto Gresini, Bruno Casanova and Doriano Romboni who dished out the rough treatment on his behalf.

Blocking title rival Hans Spaan at every turn, to the point that the Dutchman became so frustrated he actually threw a punch at Gresini, the Italian 'mafia' gave Capirossi the opportunity to escape at the front and seal the title by a nine-point margin.

After repeating his title triumph in 1991, Capirossi began his first spell as a 250cc rider with limited success, finishing 12th in his first year. In both 1993 and 1994, he missed out on the championship because of what he described in our interview at Misano as "my aggression, my mistakes".

Capirossi also reflected on another potential title bid in 1996, his second season as a 500cc (now MotoGP) rider, that slipped through his fingers due to a series of crashes.

It wasn't until the final race of that year that he took his first premier-class win, by which time he was already destined for a return to the quarter-litre category for 1997.

His next opportunity at the MotoGP title didn't come until a decade later. And, in my opinion, it was the big one.

The 990cc Ducati GP6 had shown enough versatility at contrasting circuits such as Jerez, Losail, Mugello and Le Mans to suggest it was a title-winning package. Thanks to podiums at each of those four circuits, Capirossi was tied with Nicky Hayden for the championship lead after six rounds as the series headed to the Circuit de Catalunya, where he had scored an historic first win for Ducati three years earlier.

However, a six-rider pile-up caused by an initial collision between Capirossi and team-mate Sete Gibernau left him out of the race - unconscious, battered and badly bruised. By the time he had bravely limped home to a single point in the next race two weeks later at Assen, Hayden was celebrating the first of two victories that would help secure the title by a five-point margin from Rossi - with Capirossi 23 points adrift.

The 800cc era has been largely unkind to Capirossi. A single win at Motegi in 2007, when Ducati team-mate Casey Stoner clinched the title, would prove - barring a miracle over the last five races of 2011 - to be his last.

It was fitting that Wayne Rainey was on hand to witness Capirossi's Italian farewell at Misano on Sunday, having been his team manager for that first 500cc win in 1996. In fact, if you watch our show from Sunday back on the iPlayer and look closely at around 00:08:48 on the timeline you will see the pair celebrating that victory together.

You can see from this clip alone that, only three years after his career-ending crash at Misano, Rainey's enthusiasm for racing remained as strong as ever so perhaps it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise that his return to the Italian circuit almost two decades later was as pragmatic as it was poignant.

Having said that, I thought his comments to Steve Parrish, in particular that he felt the circuit had been spoiled by the safety changes made in the wake of his accident, were remarkably candid and gave an unparalleled insight into the mindset of a racer.

It was something of a coup and great credit to Steve that Rainey agreed to speak to the BBC as he accepted only a handful of interviews that weekend. As well as being wonderfully evocative viewing, it also served as a timely reminder that we should never underestimate the risks the riders assume for our entertainment.

Capirossi may be struggling right now but he will continue to put everything on the line over the final five races of a glorious career - just as he has for the past 325.

The comments of John Hopkins in our qualifying show on Saturday, as he reflected on the free-practice accident that ruled him out of racing as a wildcard at Brno, could have applied to a number of riders by the time the chequered flag fell on Sunday afternoon.

A crash for Dani Pedrosa and a poor tyre choice by Jorge Lorenzo allowed Casey Stoner to make it back-to-back wins at Laguna Seca and Brno, opening up a 32-point lead at the top of the championship in the process.

Before those races, Stoner's advantage stood at 15 points, a lead that could easily have been cut to 10 or even six by the time we left the USA had it not been for the diminishing physical fitness of the ailing Lorenzo and Pedrosa in the latter stages of that race.

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As at Laguna, Stoner's pace during practice at Brno suggested nothing more than a strong podium challenge. When a set-up experiment in warm-up backfired, leaving him fifth fastest and a second off the pace of Pedrosa, he had stormed out of the garage in a furious mood.

For the race, Repsol Honda switched back to Stoner's qualifying setting and - although there was no change in bike performance - the gritty Aussie decided, in his words, "to lay it on the line." When Pedrosa and Lorenzo attempted to break, as predicted, on the opening lap, Stoner responded with what would prove to be the fastest lap time of the race on lap two.

As Pedrosa crashed in front and Lorenzo floundered behind him, Stoner took maximum points for the sixth time this season. "I know you have to be consistent to win championships but you have to win races, too," he reflected.

The unfortunate loss of Hopkins to the starting grid was definitely the BBC's gain on Sunday. Having been out with the guys on track and lapping faster than most of them already that weekend, his analysis was second to none.

Some viewers who are relatively new to the sport may not be familiar with 'Hopper' or realise the significance of his presence at Brno, so let me briefly fill you in.

He made his MotoGP debut on the unforgiving 500cc two-stroke Yamaha back in 2002 at the tender age of 18, quickly gaining a reputation as a rider with huge potential and a wonderful personality but with a tendency to self-destruct away from the track.

After being picked up by the struggling factory Suzuki team in 2003, his fame and fortune began to escalate to the point where some brilliant form in 2007 earned him four podium finishes and a multi-million dollar move to Kawasaki.

However, a run of big crashes and serious injuries led to an increasing dependency on pain killers and alcohol, which in turn created major problems in his personal life. When Kawasaki withdrew from the series at the end of that season, he was left in the MotoGP wilderness.

A year in World Superbikes was fraught with more crashes and Hopkins competed in only six races before his season ended prematurely with a crash in Germany that left him with head trauma, as well as wrist, shoulder and hip injuries. He finally hit rock bottom at the final round of the season, when he travelled to Portimao, Portugal, to support the team but went on a three-day drinking binge that he later admitted was "the most unprofessional I've ever been in my life".

That fateful weekend two years ago proved to be the turning point in his career and his life. "I just decided I had to cut that completely," he revealed. "I wanted to go back and give it an honest shot without the partying or anything, just completely, solely, focused on the racing."

Building himself back up from scratch in the American Superbike series, Hopkins finally underwent career-saving surgery on a nagging wrist injury and, after proving his fitness with a run of podium finishes towards the end of the season, secured a ride for this season with the Samsung Crescent Suzuki British Superbike team, who have close ties with the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP effort thanks to team manager Paul Denning.

The American's form in the domestic series has been outstanding and he currently lies second in the championship and strongly in contention to win the title at his first attempt.
He gave a reminder of his class on the international stage with a competent return to MotoGP as replacement for the injured Alvaro Bautista at Jerez back in April, finishing 10th, as well as qualifying on pole as a wildcard at the British round of the World Superbike series this month.

Hopkins returned to MotoGP as a wildcard at Brno with a twin aim: to show the world that he still has the talent to compete at the highest level and to prove to Suzuki's Japanese bosses that they have a competitive package and a project worth extending into 2012 and beyond, as fears of an impending withdrawal increase.

Despite failing to make the start after a crash on Saturday morning left him with dislocated and broken fingers, Hopkins did enough in just two dry free practice sessions to complete both of those objectives. He lapped seventh fastest on Friday morning - ahead of team regular Bautista - and 10th in the afternoon, when he was just 1.4 seconds off the blistering pace set by Dani Pedrosa.

Not only was his performance impressive but his pace and input clearly provided the already improving Bautista with added impetus, the Spaniard dicing with Valentino Rossi for sixth place and lapping just three seconds shy of podium contention before crashing after 15 laps of his best race so far this season. Hopefully, the resounding message from both riders was heard in Japan because MotoGP can ill-afford to lose another factory as the series moves into the 1000cc era.

Hopkins has slowly made his way back into the MotoGP fold. Photo: Getty

Paul Denning tweeted on Monday that, as he waved Hopkins off to California for treatment on his latest injury, the rider was already "threatening to cut his cast off at check-in if BA didn't let him on the plane with it", which brought back memories of one funny anecdote from Hopper's MotoGP career.

After injuring himself at the Japanese GP back in 2004, Hopkins was struggling to lift his bag into the overhead locker on the plane that was due to take him back to London. A steward came over to offer assistance and he told her that he was in a lot of pain because he had broken his ribs earlier that day. "In that case, you can't fly - not without a doctor's note," she informed him.

As Hopkins began to panic at the prospect of being left behind in Tokyo, an unnamed television commentator stepped in, claiming to be his doctor and insisting the patient was fit to fly. A waiver document was swiftly produced for the self-proclaimed medical expert to sign, which he duly did, and Hopkins gratefully took his seat. It was an uncomfortable flight for the commentator though, who was woken up in the middle of the night to assist the stewards with a drunk passenger!

They do say that what goes around comes around and I hope that's the case for John Hopkins in a positive way now that he is faced with another fightback from injury. I'm sure I'm not his only fan praying that he finally gets the fortune his endeavour deserves: the British Superbike title and a full-time return to MotoGP with Suzuki in 2012.

I can't sign off from this blog without mentioning a first ever podium for Marco Simoncelli. The man they call Sideshow Bob finally took centre stage at Brno with his first podium at the 11th attempt in a 2011 season that has seen him gain notoriety and support in equal measure thanks to his wild riding and even wilder hairstyle.

"I think he'd get a little more speed if he cut the hair!" Hopkins grinned at the end of our show, but there's no doubt he has full respect for a man who could challenge for the title next year if he can add consistency to his game now he has broken his podium duck.

Speaking of bad barnets, I should mention our build-up to Sunday's race, which I hope you enjoyed. We had more pre-recorded features than we normally like but we felt it was worth compromising a few minutes of live coverage because of the quality of the pieces.

The only problem for me was dashing around the paddock to record everything on Thursday. After filming with Karel Abraham out on the track ran slightly late I had to grab a scooter and make a mad dash in strong winds to the Repsol Honda hospitality unit for my chat with Pedrosa - hence a larger than normal bouffant and a torrent of abuse on Twitter, with comparisons ranging from Joey Essex to the entire Spandau Ballet line-up via Phillip Schofield and Davy Crockett's hat!

The last one made me laugh out loud so please keep the banter coming, along with any other thoughts about the programme. It is amazing to think that we only have seven races left, so if you think there's anything we have missed out or could improve on before the end of the year then now's your chance!

The US Department of State, for example, had already declared that the levels outside a 50-mile radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are low and do not pose significant risks, whilst the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office have been advising "against all travel to within a 37-mile radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility with the exception of transit through the area" but added that "the situation in Japan outside of these specific areas has largely returned to normal". Motegi lies 85 miles from Fukushima.

So perhaps the most surprising thing about a sensitive debate that has been rumbling since Jorge Lorenzo first announced his intention not to travel at a press conference in Barcelona in early June, citing a documentary about the effects of the Chernobyl disaster as the source of his discomfort, is that the riders are still refusing to go.

At the German Grand Prix two weeks ago, a full week before the initial findings of the report they themselves had supposedly requested were due to be revealed, Casey Stoner's stance could not have been made clearer. “I will not go,” stated the Australian, his defiance publicly backed up by Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa as the remainder of the field, Japanese rider Hiroshi Aoyama excluded, reportedly made their reluctance clear to Dorna chief executive Carmelo Ezpeleta in a private meeting of the MotoGP Safety Commission.

 

MotoGP rookie Crutchlow scored 30 of his 34 points in the first five rounds, but is now languishing 15th in the championship and 12 points behind fellow rookie Karel Abraham. Photo: GETTY

Their position has been met with criticism and derision amongst large sectors of the media, who accuse them of double standards (they have carried "With You Japan" stickers on their bikes since the disaster) and a lack of respect for their Japanese employers and colleagues (Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki currently provide 13 of the 17 bikes on the grid), whilst several hacks have thirstily picked up on the irony of merchants of miles-per-hour being put off the job by such an apparently insignificant level of danger.

Each person is entitled to their own theory on the above but in my opinion this is missing the main point.

Like all of us the riders are perfectly entitled to prioritise their own safety as they see fit and form their own opinions about critical situations related to health.

If they have reasons not to trust the imminent findings of the independent report or the advice of their own governments that is quite simply their prerogative.

After all, history shows that the authorities don't always get it right.

However, if they take that decision not to travel and not to race then they do have an obligation to provide their employers, their fans, the race organisers, the Japanese people in general and the rest of us making a living from this business with a satisfactory and considered explanation.

So far it appears their position is based purely on gut feeling, with casual disregard for the available facts.

Their adamance is going to be severely tested over the coming weeks, with Honda, Suzuki and Ducati factory team bosses publicly revealing at Laguna Seca that they expect their riders to race in Japan, assuming the definitive report is clear and there are no further developments out there.

Having made the strength of their feelings public, Stoner and Lorenzo have painted themselves into a corner but with 20 points currently separating them at the top of the championship and 25 available for a win, it will be intriguing to see if either of them jumps.

After the intensity of six races in just eight weekends the MotoGP World Championship paddock now takes a well-earned two-week summer break before the season resumes, which should provide everybody with an important opportunity to rest and reflect.

As far as the championship is concerned, the title battle is evenly poised after 10 rounds of 18 and it should be a thrilling second half to the campaign. Stoner's current advantage over Lorenzo compares to a 77-point cushion that the Spaniard held over his compatriot Dani Pedrosa at the same stage last season and with the Yamaha looking resurgent it promises to go right to the wire this time around.

The pair could not have been much closer at Laguna Seca and whilst Lorenzo undoubtedly paid for his under-par fitness, caused by a frightening crash in practice, in the latter stages of the race Stoner's charge was more than impressive.

A daring pass on his team-mate Pedrosa into the Corkscrew and an eye-watering move around the outside of Lorenzo into the formidable turn one – on the paint, over a blind crest at 160mph with a concrete wall just a few feet to his right – took nerves of steel.

The level of bravery required for that manoeuvre is perhaps matched only by the measure of its importance: crucially, instead of being reduced to 10 points, Stoner's championship lead actually increased to 20.

Further down the order there were disappointing performances from Marco Simoncelli, who seems to have lost his cutting edge since coming under so much criticism for his aggressive tactics early in the season, and Britain's Cal Crutchlow, who also slid out to record a zero points for the fourth time in seven rounds since making such a promising start to his rookie campaign.

Like Simoncelli, Crutchlow is going through something of a confidence crisis – caused partly by his crash and injury at Silverstone and not helped by the pressure being put on him by his team. As we saw with James Toseland in 2008 and 2009 early success can lead to over-expectancy and it should not be lost on anybody that this is still Cal's learning year.

Just like James he made quick progress in his adaptation to MotoGP but now needs time and patience to make the next, most difficult step, which is finding the few tenths required to battle consistently in the leading group.

Hopefully a short break and a return to a circuit he knows in Brno next time out can help him reset and refocus.

I have been taking quite a bit of stick on Twitter from fans complaining about our lack of pre-race build-up at Laguna Seca, which was reduced to a matter of seconds compared to the full half-hour we enjoy at most other races.

The reason for this is the busy Sunday evening schedules on BBC2 and whilst I am just as frustrated as the fans that MotoGP is not given priority over other programmes we have to accept this is currently the case and there are a lot of other tastes the BBC have an obligation to cater to.

Over the 11 years that I have been working in this sport I have seen it go from not having any terrestrial coverage at all in the UK to being able to watch every single race live (with the exception of Assen this year, which coincided with Wimbledon and Formula 1) - with qualifying and the 125cc and Moto2 races also available live on what is an occasionally fallible but largely brilliant interactive service; a scenario I could barely have dreamed of a decade ago.

Again, I suppose you could say that success leads to over-expectancy but I am sure that, like Cal, with support and patience we can continue to move forward over the coming years.

Whilst I am hoping to recharge my batteries driving around Scotland for a few days with my wife next week I plan to keep my summer break revolving largely around two wheels.

As well as doing some road testing on a Ducati Diavel and the new Multistrada, I'm hoping to spend my first free weekend down at Silverstone to watch our British boys do battle on home turf in the World Superbike series – in particular my old mate Chaz Davies, who leads the World Supersport class by 36 points – and I will be back down in Northamptonshire to attend the California Superbike School on 8 - 9 August.

Whatever you are up to, don't forget that we are back on 14 August with what I can promise you will be a packed half-hour build up to the Czech Republic Grand Prix - including an extended interview with Dani Pedrosa, the secrets of the Brno circuit uncovered with Karel Abraham and a fun half-term report for all the Brits in the MotoGP, Moto2 and 125cc classes.

Get a friend involved, spread the word and let's all help get the sport we love the attention it deserves!

Eventually, like the Pope addressing his adoring followers from the Vatican balcony, Valentino Rossi emerged and the crowd erupted. As he waved and took a bow the home hero seemed embarrassed by the whole affair, but he knew as well as we did that if he didn't make an appearance the anarchic bonhomie could quickly turn into a full-scale riot.

Moments earlier the final minutes of our network broadcast on BBC Two had already been hijacked as our coveted vantage point on the race director's platform was invaded by pirate punters and over-zealous carabinieri, who were attempting to eject some of our crew and even official MotoGP security staff amidst the confusion.

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Having already realised that Steve Parrish would not be able make it through the throng to join me for our usual post-race analysis, I had asked former MotoGP rider Sylvain Guintoli to step in, as he will be doing for another veteran racer in Loris Capirossi at the next two rounds in Germany and the United States.

For his impromptu debut as a pundit I thought Sylvain did brilliantly, especially considering the melee we were surrounded by, which made for some of the most challenging live television I have worked on yet. Our floor manager was being pushed and pulled around while we tried to watch replays on the monitor and I had to step in to help wrestle it back into a position that Sylvain and I could see as the director cut back to us. It may not have made for a slick broadcast but hopefully it kept you entertained and transmitted the sense of chaos of that moment.

Sylvain provided great insight into the racing and into the scenes around us and it was worth having him on if only to hear his brilliant French-Leicestershire accent, which has evolved since meeting his lovely wife Caroline while convalescing at the home of family friends following an injury at Donington Park during his 250cc grand prix days. It's not every day you get to hear a Frenchman say something like "He couldn't do nuffing!"

I stood with him on the pit wall at the start of the race and it was great to see a professional rider get so excited by the buzz of the grid. "I jus' can't believe the noise," he beamed. "Ah miss it, ah really miss it!" 'Guinters', as he is also affectionately known, faded from the MotoGP scene after privateer teams felt the squeeze at the end of 2008. But since then he has fought his way back through the British and World Superbike scene, despite some horrific injuries on the way.

Having ridden the Pramac Ducati GP11 in an official test at Mugello he will now return to the MotoGP grid on the right side of the fence at two of his favourite tracks in the coming weeks. And with the likes of the Marc VDS team - who also rolled out their 1000cc 2012 prototype at the test with Mika Kallio on board - joining a new-look series next year, he is just the kind of experienced rider that new teams will be looking for. The same can be said of John Hopkins, another guest on our show last week at Assen, who will ride a second Suzuki as a wildcard at Brno in August.

As for the actual racing at Mugello, it was nice to have a dry day after the damp and drizzle of Silverstone and Assen and the action was every bit as hot as the 54ºC track temperatures.

Jorge Lorenzo's second victory of the season was a landmark one as it signalled a turnaround in the performance of his YZR-M1 and suggested that the traditionally sweet-handling Yamaha can be an even bigger force at two tight and twisty circuits coming up, in Sachsenring and Laguna Seca.

Lorenzo's ride was one of determination and concentration as he patiently reeled in and passed Stoner at the front with some relentlessly consistent lap times. From lap 15 to 23 he went on a charge, which he described in his online blog as "the return of the hammer" – a reference to his "hammer and butter" approach to riding. It was appropriate because, as I said at the time in my column right here on this website, last year he opted for butter and melted.

Lorenzo celebrates his victory. Photo: AFP

Mugello also proved once again the tiny margins MotoGP deals with - a 23ºC rise in track temperature between Saturday's dry free practice session and Sunday's race led to Stoner suddenly dropping crucial tenths of a second off his lap time as his tyre pressure increased, allowing Lorenzo the opportunity to swoop.

I am also pretty convinced that the world champion's confidence and motivation at Mugello had been given a boost by watching his team-mate Ben Spies take his first MotoGP victory at Assen just a week earlier. For any top-level rider or driver there can be no greater driving force than a successful team-mate and Spies' broken duck is great news for Yamaha, if only because it has proved to Lorenzo that he now has a winning package underneath him and no excuses for failure.

Ben's maiden win is not only a much-needed fillip for Yamaha but for the sport in general. Apart from wet weather wins for Dovizioso, Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi, no other rider has broken the stranglehold of the four "aliens" – Stoner, Lorenzo, Rossi and Dani Pedrosa – on the top step of the podium during the 800cc era, which started in 2007 and ends this year. In fact, the last other dry-race winner was Troy Bayliss at Valencia in a dramatic final round of the 2006 season.

In an extended interview with Ben for our programme in Italy he revealed that, one week on, the magnitude of his achievement had finally started to sink in. It was interesting to hear him say that breaking the mental barrier of defeating the MotoGP elite was more of a relief than the personal accomplishment of winning a premier-class race.

Ben is often portrayed as a very serious character and that is certainly the case when it comes to racing – it has to be. However, it is an image he is quite conscious about and away from the track he is good fun and self-deprecating.

Stoner has also been showing a different side to his public persona on our shows in recent weeks, winding up our pit-lane reporter Azi Farni by deliberately calling her the wrong name in interviews.

After his win at Assen he called her Izzy but, worried that people might have thought it was his Australian accent, this time he made sure there were no misinterpretations and went for Lucy! Casey can also come across as a serious character who fans struggle to warm to, so it was nice to see him drop a little gag into his interview at a moment when he was clearly frustrated and disappointed with the race result.

Mugello was our fourth race in five weeks and after a few days off this coming weekend, we have two more back-to-back races at Sachsenring and Laguna Seca. It is a crucial period of a season that is quickly gathering pace. Thankfully for the championship, so are the Yamahas.

]]> Matt Roberts Matt Roberts https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/mattroberts/2011/07/madness_at_mugello.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/mattroberts/2011/07/madness_at_mugello.html MotoGP Tue, 05 Jul 2011 17:01:55 +0000