Author

Jensen Beeler

Browsing

Episode 76 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and in it we mix things up. Recorded at the Laguna Seca WorldSBK round, on the mics are Steve English and Jensen Beeler, and the duo covers the World Superbike Championship season thus far.

The show is the first part of a two-part series look at the WorldSBK paddock, which is currently on a two-month summer break.

Starting with the opening round at Phillip Island, we look at what has happened thus far in production racing. We then move to the WorldSBK silly season, as the rider market for next season is just starting to get interesting.

Lastly, we make some predictions for the rest of the season, and take some quick looks at what is to come for the 2019 season in terms of riders, teams, and machinery.

All in all, we think you will enjoy the show. It is packed with behind-the-scenes info on the World Superbike Championship, and insights from teams and riders in the paddock.

As always, be sure to follow the Paddock Pass Podcast on FacebookTwitter and subscribe to the show on iTunes and SoundCloud – we even have an RSS feed for you. If you like the show, we would really appreciate you giving it a review on iTunes. Thanks for listening!

Source: SoundCloud; Photo: © 2018 Jensen Beeler / Asphalt & Rubber – All Rights Reserved

MotoGP Qualifying Results from the German GP at Sachsenring, Germany:

Q2 Results
Pos. Rider Team Bike KM/H Time Diff.
1 Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team Honda 294.7 1’20.270
2 Danilo PETRUCCI Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 293.9 1’20.295 0.025
3 Jorge LORENZO Ducati Team Ducati 295.4 1’20.327 0.057
4 Maverick VIÑALES Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 295.0 1’20.441 0.171
5 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team Ducati 296.7 1’20.444 0.174
6 Valentino ROSSI Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 292.6 1’20.532 0.262
7 Cal CRUTCHLOW LCR Honda CASTROL Honda 294.1 1’20.675 0.405
8 Andrea IANNONE Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 291.4 1’20.682 0.412
9 Alvaro BAUTISTA Angel Nieto Team Ducati 293.6 1’20.700 0.430
10 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team Honda 294.9 1’20.831 0.561
11 Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 290.7 1’20.847 0.577
12 Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda 285.4 1’20.938 0.668
Q1 Results
13 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 288.3 1’20.972 0.221
14 Johann ZARCO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 290.8 1’21.059 0.308
15 Jack MILLER Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 291.3 1’21.183 0.432
16 Pol ESPARGARO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 290.4 1’21.242 0.491
17 Bradley SMITH Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 289.0 1’21.287 0.536
18 Hafizh SYAHRIN Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 287.1 1’21.460 0.709
19 Tito RABAT Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 288.4 1’21.546 0.795
20 Scott REDDING Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 286.3 1’21.749 0.998
21 Stefan BRADL EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 286.4 1’21.802 1.051
22 Thomas LUTHI EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 285.8 1’22.012 1.261
23 Karel ABRAHAM Angel Nieto Team Ducati 286.3 1’22.159 1.408
24 Xavier SIMEON Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 287.6 1’22.709 1.958

Source: MotoGP

If you don’t want to see spoilers on Asphalt & Rubber, then you should sign up for A&R Pro, which gets you access to exclusive content, view the site without advertisements, and browse the article listings without spoiling headlines and photos.

As if anyone needed reminding of just how close the MotoGP field is at the moment, you have to go a very long way down the standings to find the first rider more than a second slower than Jorge Lorenzo, the fastest man on the first day of practice at the Sachsenring. Eighteen riders are within a fraction over nine tenths of a second of each other, with Scott Redding the first over a second away.

It’s even closer than that, once you discount Lorenzo’s time. The Factory Ducati rider put in a searing lap at the end of FP2 to go fastest, and was over a quarter of a second quicker than second-place man Danilo Petrucci.

The gap between Petrucci in second and Johann Zarco in eighteenth was 0.645 seconds. Or approximately two blinks of an eye.

That makes it hard to judge riders by position. A tenth of a second would move you up three or four places; three tenths is the difference between eighteenth and eighth.

A small mistake in a single corner could be the difference between being comfortably through to Q2, and going to sleep on Friday night worrying about posting a fast enough time on Saturday morning in FP3.

“I needed to make a perfect lap,” Red Bull KTM’s Pol Espargaro bemoaned his twelfth place, before joking, “or my rivals needed to not make a perfect lap!”

How Does Ducati Do That?

For a track that is all about carrying corner speed, it is surprising to see three Ducatis in the top four, and two more Ducatis in the top ten.

The bike is supposed to have difficulty holding a line in long corners, and the Sachsenring is basically a couple of long corners connected by a couple of changes of direction and a downhill section. Yet Ducatis swamped the top of the timesheets.

Compared to the GP17, Ducati has made major steps forward with the Desmosedici this year, Jorge Lorenzo told us on Friday afternoon. “Looking at the results of today, we are in first position, and with great speed for one or two laps, I would say that the bike has improved a lot, no?” Lorenzo commented.

“But also for example Bautista and Miller, with the old bike, they have been faster, quite close to our lap time, so probably we have not improved as much as we think. Anyway, we have to see the race. Probably our bike can be a little bit better for consistency, because theoretically, it has more turning in the corners. But yes, in such a close championship, small steps are very important.”

He was not as surprised as he might have been at being fastest, the Factory Ducati said. “I knew already that our bike is more complete than last year. I am in great shape at the moment, because I have more experience with the bike, than ever.”

“And the last modifications that we made in the last few months, not only the ergonomics, but also in other areas of the bike, they made our package more competitive. So we arrived here in a good moment.”

“Also, first position is important, but it can also be a little bit from circumstances, because Marc didn’t use a new tire, so maybe we could finish second place today. But we are one of the fastest and we are one of the strongest, also in the Sachsenring. So it’s a nice feeling.”

Bigger Tank

Lorenzo had been helped by a further extension of the tank pad which he first tried at Mugello, and which had helped him to back his first victory on the Ducati. But he downplayed the effect of the new tank pad.

“We are making the last small changes in that area, it doesn’t change too much. Just to try to have even more support in braking. I didn’t feel so much difference, honestly.”

His teammate, fourth behind Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Iannone, concurred with Lorenzo’s assessment. “For sure from last year we are better,” Andrea Dovizioso said.

“There are three Ducatis on top. This is confirmed and this is what I expected yesterday. I’m happy because I think we improved small things everywhere created a good base from the beginning, like in Assen or in Jerez where in the past we struggled. This year we are able to start with a better base. So we are closer to Marc.”

Accelerating while the bike is leaned over has traditionally been a weak spot for Ducati, but Dovizioso believed that some progress had been made in that area.

“Still our turning, especially when the tire drops, is not easy. It’s very difficult to turn fast enough. But like I said before, the base is a bit better so we’re able to make a good lap time.”

The real issue was in how much tire wear there was, Dovizioso explained. “The point is you have to be fast here and you can’t use the best potential of the tire because you can’t finish the race.”

“That is difficult. You can’t exit with the full power. You can’t open where you want. You have to reduce the power, wait until you open the throttle and you have to do the lap time.”

Marc Márquez remained the benchmark for Dovizioso. “We are closer to Marc. Last year he was completely in a different pace. This year we are a bit closer. I don’t know if we have a chance to fight with him because today he was fast, but especially consistent.”

“Here that is very difficult because like the consumption of the rear tire is so high – higher than last year. The speed is one story. To be fast for 30 laps with the rear tire is a different tire is a different story. So the practice shows one thing, but not everything.”

Mr. Consistent

Dovizioso highlighted something which is not so apparent from the headline times, but becomes clear once you dig into the lap times. At first glance, it looks like everyone is very close together, but in reality, Marc Márquez has a much bigger advantage in terms of consistently fast pace.

In race trim, with a medium tire he would go on to put nearly 27 laps on, Márquez did three 1’21.3s, a 1’21.4, and two 1’21.5s. At just over half race distance, he did a couple of 1’21.9s.

By comparison, Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso did 1’21.7s on used tires, Danilo Petrucci popped in a 1’21.8, and Maverick Viñales did a 1’21.9.

The fact that Márquez did not even bother putting in a new soft rear to chase a fast lap time was a sign of just how confident the Repsol Honda rider is. “From the beginning I felt good with the bike,” Márquez said.

“Then we started to work for the race, like every Friday. Just I concentrate on the used tires and try to understand the drop of the tires. We can say it was a good day. This afternoon we did a small improvement and we are working on that, trying to improve a few things on the bike.”

He reiterated that his only concern on Friday had been race pace. “Like I said, we just concentrated on the race pace on Friday, like always,” Márquez told us.

“This morning I did all the session with the same tire – a soft rear. This afternoon I did all the session with medium rear. It looks like for trying to understand how it drops.”

“Then I tried the hard front but it was what we planned. We didn’t put the soft new in the end. For that reason we didn’t improve in the last laps, but it was what we planned because our priorities were another one.”

Same Old Same Old

The Movistar Yamaha team had a better day than usual, but they were soon running into the one limiting factor for the YZR-M1.

Though electronics are not crucial to a good lap time everywhere around the Sachsenring, there are one or two key points where they have to be right, such as the hard acceleration uphill out of the final corner.

Maverick Viñales had ended the day in sixth, slap bang in the middle of the leading group. “I’m actually happy, I felt really good on the bike, I think I’m in really good form,” the Spaniard said.

“But anyway, there are still a lot of things to improve, especially on the electronics, because it’s very important here to have good acceleration, and for the moment, that seems to be very complicated with our bike.”

Teammate Valentino Rossi echoed those sentiments, getting caught between being third fastest in the morning, and seventeenth in the afternoon session. “I think that it’s not true the third place in the morning, but it is also not true the 17th place in the afternoon,” he said.

“I think that we can do better. But unfortunately the problem is always the same. In acceleration, when we open the throttle, we spin too much and we are not able to put enough power on the ground so we lose in acceleration.”

“At the same time also we lose too much the rear tire, so it becomes also difficult to ride the bike. But more or less the problem is that. So tomorrow we try to follow another way, try to make the best and we see our performance.”

The situation surrounding the electronics was a continuing source of frustration, both for Rossi and for Maverick Viñales. “It’s a difficult situation because for me we have this problem from August 2017,” Rossi said.

“And I said a lot of times, but sincerely at this moment also if it’s July 2018 we don’t try anything new. More or less we are like last year. So we have to be optimistic and hope that we can try something because for me personally and I said a lot of times to Yamaha, the problem is very clear.”

A Straight, And a Not-So-Straight Answer

The Movistar Yamaha riders had been hoping to have an update at the Sachsenring, but they have nothing new for the moment. “Right now, no,” Viñales told us. “We don’t have anything new. So still, we have to wait for the summer.”

He was vague on whether Brno would be the race where Yamaha brought updates for them, but it needed to be soon.

“It’s important. Because right now, our bike has a good package, a good base setup, but the electronics limit us a lot. So we need to work hard on that. I think the bike is really good, we just need to set it up well.”

There have long been rumors that Viñales was looking for other changes as well, but the Spaniard downplayed rumors he was looking to find a new crew chief.

In response to a direct question, he deftly danced around the question without offering a clear answer, while still managing to hint at changes still to come.

“Actually, everyone is trying to find the best,” Viñales mused, before hinting at a change. “I think it’s going to be good for the group finally to have something new, trying to improve a little bit more, looking more to the future.”

Viñales then leaped to the defense of his current crew chief, while still managing to leave the door open to the possibility of change.

“I’m really happy with Ramon, Ramon is working always really hard, and technically it will be very difficult to have someone better. But anyway, we are looking forward to different things, and finally it’s like that.”

If Viñales does decide to swap crew chiefs, he won’t make a decision straight away, he told us. “Right now, my focus is on this season, so I’m not thinking about next year. First we need to do this season well, and then I will think. At the moment, nothing, I didn’t think about it.”

Keeping a Clean Sheet

One peculiarity from Friday was the fact that there were so very few crashes, and none at all at the Sachenring’s notorious Turn 11, now renamed the Ralf Waldmann Curve. That was in part because the weather was simply outstanding, bright sunshine and warm temperatures both morning and afternoon.

The track temperature in FP1 was nearly eight degrees warmer than it was during the hottest session last year, the race. And the temperature in FP2 was warmer than every session that Michelin has had at the track since their return, bar Q2 in 2016.

Given the rules introduced this year at the request of the teams, this could have been a disaster for Michelin. The tire allocation for every race had to be fixed before the beginning of the season, allowing very little flexibility.

This has made it much more difficult to get it right, as MotoGP has had some surprising weather conditions so far throughout the year, with temperatures both colder and much warmer than expected.

In its first two years in the class, Michelin were able to wait until the weekend preceding a race before deciding exactly which constructions and compounds to use, meaning that the compounds were far better suited to the temperatures they expected to find at a track according to the weather forecasts.

Now, they have to guess at what the weather will probably be in six or eight months time, and plan their tire compounds accordingly.

When Planning Gets Lucky

So far, Michelin have done remarkably well at the Sachsenring. Tires got very hot, but held up well, though performance tended to drop off after a number of laps. Riders were fairly happy with the tire allocation which Michelin had brought.

“Honestly speaking, it’s a good tire allocation,” Marc Márquez said. “It’s true that the rear is at the limit to finish all the race at a very strong pace, but for everyone it’s the same.”

“The tire allocation is a good one. Maybe the rear is too soft, in a soft way. But sometimes it’s difficult to understand in a good way, because you can put in a harder tire and it’s even worse. But they’re working quite good, the tires.”

Valentino Rossi agreed, and felt some sympathy for Michelin. “For me, the tire allocation is not too bad,” Rossi said. “But I agree that it’s very difficult also for Michelin to make all the tire allocation before the season.”

“Like seven-eight months ago. So maybe it’s more clever to try to reduce the time, when it’s possible, or make the first half and then after some months make the second half. Because also with more experience Michelin can understand better the allocation.”

Unknown Future

Scott Redding can’t even look seven or eight months into the future at the moment. The Englishman finds himself in something of a dilemma over next season, and managed to speak both frankly and very entertainingly about the choices he faces next year, and the options open to him.

Had he had any more thoughts about next year, veteran journo Mat Oxley asked Redding? “No, mate,” Redding replied, exasperated. “What’s there to think about? I don’t have a say in anything.”

That is not strictly accurate, of course, as Redding has a number of options, though none of them include a full-time seat in MotoGP for 2019. Aprilia have offered him a testing role, but the Englishman was in two minds about it.

“They’ve offered me to be a test rider, but it’s not my first choice at the moment,” Redding said. “I’m 25, I’ve got the fire to want to win, and I ain’t going to get that riding round a test track on my own. If that’s like the last option I’ve got, then OK, I need to take it and see if I can bring something after. But I want to race.”

As a test rider, Redding would still be able to participate in a maximum of six races each year as a wildcard, but the example of Michele Pirro had deterred Redding. “People say, ‘if you do it you’ve got a chance to come back’,” Redding said.

“But you’ve got no chance to come back. Look at Pirro, does an amazing job when he races, but he’s never going to come back. Or Kallio. Once you’re gone, you’re gone, I just need to accept that.”

If Redding was offered the chance of racing in WorldSBK, and combining it with a role as a test rider, then he might give it some thought, he told us.

“Maybe if I can race the Superbike and be a test rider, it could be quite interesting, and maybe the Superbike is not the best bike out there, but I’m racing, and that’s what I need to accept.”

That was not something which Aprilia had offered Redding, in part because the Noale manufacturer doesn’t have a factory team in the WorldSBK series.

“It’s not really a factory team for Aprilia, it’s run by other people, so I’ve only thought about maybe doing that possibility last week, but I want to have something competitive to fight for victories, that’s what my main target is.”

“It’s going to be difficult to find the right thing, but I need to see. And if it’s somewhere to take me two years, and then maybe the third year we have something to make another step forward, then I’ve got to take it on the chin, and take it. But I don’t want to be running around as a test rider.”

No to Moto2

Stepping back to Moto2 did not offer a path back into MotoGP, Redding believed. “It’s a great class, but if I go there, there’s a possibility I can win the championship. A possibility,” Redding told us.

“But there’s all these young guys coming up, probably with the same talent, the same ego, the same fire to want to win, and they are with like 10-15kg less weight than me. So to fight for a title, that’s why it was hard for me in the past.”

“There were many races I had closed with Pol, but many times, he just got me to the line because he was lighter. So again, if I won the championship there, would I go back to MotoGP? No, no one would take you because of your past. So I’ve thought about it, but I don’t think it’s really the right way for me to go.”

There were plenty of examples of riders who had gone back to Moto2 after being in MotoGP, and had struggled, Redding said. “Look at all the guys who go back from MotoGP to Moto2. Excluding Elias, because it was a new class for everyone and completely different.”

“You know, they’re good quality riders, but taking a step back, maybe it’s much more difficult than we think it is to step back. No electronics, completely different tires, different brakes, different riding style. There’s so many things that you have to consider, that maybe it’s hard to go back to it.”

Of course, the major change in Moto2 might offer a rider such as Redding an opportunity. The Honda CBR600RR engines are to be replaced by Triumph 765cc triples.

Even better, the Honda Superstock electronics kit – a very simple engine management system, with next to no functionality – is to be switched out for a custom Magneti Marelli ECU, allowing a lot more control of engine braking, traction control, anti-wheelie, and more.

The bigger triple would even have more torque, which could help the tall Englishman, as it would mean his weight would not be as big a factor.

But Redding was entertainingly dismissive of such talk. “Yeah, but the torque on a 600 couldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding, so I don’t know what the **** you want electronics for…” he joked.

That may be true. But it leaves him in limbo, along with Bradley Smith, Xavier Simeon, Karel Abraham, Tom Lüthi. The influx of newcomers into MotoGP is taking its toll.

Photo: MotoGP

This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.

We have known for some time that Yamaha planned on making its leaning multi-wheel vehicle technology into a family of bike and car analogs.

The Japanese brand has invested heavily into the chassis technology to make these unique machines, and Yamaha is not content to just leave the marketplace with the Tricity scooter and NIKEN sport bike.

To that notion, Yamaha has already tipped a mid-sized leaning multi-wheeler to us, with Yamaha CEO/President Yoshihiro Hidaka showing a slide in February of this year that had a blurred out LMW sitting between the Tricity and NIKEN models.

Now, we get word from Europe that a 300cc version of the NIKEN is set to drop later this year.

Based off the Yamaha YZF-R3 platform, the mid-sized leaner will supposedly have a twin-cylinder engine with a 321cc displacement.

The front-end will be scaled off the three-cylinder NIKEN’s, and the platform will aim at being legal for the tiered licensing schemes abroad.

This plan should help create a stepping stone for riders who want to come off the Tricity scooter, into something more peppy for the city, thus creating a whole pathway for riders to start out on three-wheelers, and continue riding them as they mature as motorcyclists.

Such a move would be ambitious, because it remains to be seen what sort of market response the NIKEN will have with riders, and perhaps more importantly, with would-be riders, as it becomes available.

With an extra wheel at the front, the Yamaha LMWs promise more front-end stability on the road, and a mid-sized model would almost certainly get a weight reduction from the NIKEN’s 580 lbs heft.

Keep your eyes out at the INTERMOT and EICMA shows for Yamaha’s mid-sized leaning trike. That’s where we expect to see it first.

Source: GPOne

World Superbike rider Leon Camier has endured a difficult season thus far in the World Superbike Championship. Breaking ribs and suffering from a lung contusion during Race 1 at Aragon, Camier had to miss the next two rounds of the 2018 season.

Now suffering another crash, this time at the Suzuka 8-Hours test in Japan, Camier is once again on the mend, fracturing the C5 vertebra in his neck.

The injury will mean that Camier will miss the Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race, where he was supposed to ride on the factory Honda team entry.

Instead, the British rider will spend the two-month WorldSBK summer break healing his wounds. Hopefully, he will be healthy enough to take part in the World Superbike test at Portimao on August 23rd and 24th, and the Portuguese round September 14th thru 16th.

Honda is making a strong effort for this year’s Suzuka 8-Hours race, tired of seeing the Yamaha Factory Racing Team upstaging them at their own circuit for the past three-years in a row.

Finally fielding its own official factory team for the first time in a decade, Honda was counting on the racing services of World Superbike’s Leon Camier, All Japan Superbike’s Takumi Takahashi, and MotoGP’s Takaaki Nakagami.

It will be interesting to see who Honda finds to replace Camier on the factory Suzuka team. Stay tuned for information on that.

Source: WorldSBK; Photo: © 2018 Jensen Beeler / Asphalt & Rubber – All Rights Reserved

After weeks of speculation, Dani Pedrosa has announced that he will end his active racing career at the end of the 2018 season.

The Spaniard had been mulling his future for some time, after it had become clear that there was no place for him left in the Repsol Honda MotoGP team, and after discussions with other teams throughout the first part of the year, Pedrosa made his decision some time after Assen, and announced it at a special press conference held ahead of the German round of MotoGP at the Sachsenring.

“Next year, I will not compete in the championship, this means I will finish my career this season in MotoGP,” Pedrosa told a packed press conference room at the Sachsenring.

“This is a decision I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and it’s a very hard decision because this is the sport I love. But despite having good opportunities to keep racing, I feel like I don’t live racing with such an intensity as before and I now have different priorities in my life.”

“I would like to express how fortunate I feel to have had this opportunity,” he said. “It’s been an amazing life to be racing for such an important team and in front of all the fans. So I can say I achieved way more than I expected and I’m very proud of everything I’ve done in the sport.”

“I fulfilled my dream of becoming a racer and this is something I didn’t expect as a kid watching on TV.” It was an emotional press conference, the normally taciturn Pedrosa fighting to control his emotions.

The announcement had not come as a surprise. It had become clear in the week heading into the Sachsenring that Pedrosa had decided to retire.

He had come close to announcing his retirement at Barcelona, four weeks ago, but the approach from the Petronas Yamaha Team due to race next year had forced him to consider his choice carefully.

“In Barcelona I had the feeling and a more or less clear idea of what would be my decision, but an opportunity showed up, and you never have to close the door to opportunities in that way,” Pedrosa said.

“Finally, I considered the options, and with a bit more time, it’s always better to take these decisions with more time and with your people and with your family, and think about it a little bit longer. But finally, the feeling is the feeling.”

It was the intensity levels needed to be competitive which had been a major factor in his decision. “You have to live the races to the limit and I had to give everything that I had,” Pedrosa told the Spanish media.

“Looking at the project and being realistic this is the direction I have to take. I gave everything I had on the track as well as off it and it’s simply this; I’m a rider that gave my best.” That was a reason to turn down Petronas Yamaha.

“Like I said it was something already coming for a long time and the opportunity I had was a great chance and nothing to say about. It’s just my feeling, my way of approaching life and racing and being honest with myself… This was the decision.”

Road to MotoGP

Dani Pedrosa’s journey to MotoGP started as it finished, with Alberto Puig. The boy from Sabadell, just inland from Barcelona, tried out for a chance to race in the Movistar Activa Cup, a talent-spotting series organized by Honda and Movistar, and watched over by Alberto Puig.

He was accepted, though he could not touch his feet on the ground when sat aside the Honda 125cc two stroke, and finished that year, 1999, as eighth.

At the end of the year, Pedrosa was chosen to race in the Movistar Junior Team in the Spanish 125cc championship by Puig, alongside Raul Jara, who would go on to be his personal trainer and adviser, and Joan Olivé.

Pedrosa’s elevation was a choice made by Puig, who believed that he saw something special in the young Spaniard, though it was met with resentment from other riders in the class who finished ahead of him.

After finishing fourth in the Spanish championship, Pedrosa made his debut in Grand Prix racing in 2001 at the age of 15, riding a Honda 125 with the Telefonica Movistar Junior Team, with Joan Olivé and Toni Elias as teammates.

Pedrosa got off to a solid start, taking two podiums, at Valencia and Motegi, in his first season, and winning rookie of the year. That his podiums came at those two circuits would prove to be no coincidence, as he would go on to be extremely successful there throughout his career.

The Winning Starts

In 2002, Pedrosa won his first Grand Prix, taking victory at the Dutch TT in Assen. He won two more races, at Valencia and Motegi again, in what would turn out to be a remarkable run of seasons with a race win.

Since 2002, Pedrosa has won at least one Grand Prix in each of the sixteen seasons he has competed. Pedrosa remains winless so far in 2018, but even if he does not win a race this year, that is a record of success which will remain standing for a very long time.

Pedrosa won his first 125cc title in 2003, with a victory at Sepang with two races to go. The next week, at Phillip Island, Pedrosa crashed heavily and broke both ankles, and forced to miss to races.

Injuries would go on to become a recurring theme throughout his career, causing him to consider retirement on more than one occasion, and eventually becoming a factor in his decision to stop racing.

After a tough road to recovery, Pedrosa moved up to the 250cc class the following season, winning both his first race on the bigger bike, and winning the 250cc championship at the first go. The next year, 2005, he would repeat that feat, securing his third World Championship title at Phillip Island.

A Hiccup Along the Road

In 2006, he moved up to MotoGP as teammate to Nicky Hayden. Pedrosa’s role in the team rankled with American fans, who saw Pedrosa as receiving special treatment while Hayden was in the middle of a titanic championship battle with Valentino Rossi.

HRC were giving Hayden parts to test when he would have preferred to focus on the title chase. Things reached a head at the penultimate round in Estoril, when Pedrosa made a rookie mistake going into Turn 6 and lost the front, wiping Hayden out in the attempt.

Pedrosa promised to make amends at Valencia, and though he had little chance to help Hayden, the fact that the American went on to win the 2006 title went a long way to healing any rift there may have been between the two.

Hayden repeatedly told the press in the years following his title that he had long forgiven Pedrosa for the crash, and thought nothing more of it. Though on occasion, he would add, “But I don’t know if I would have if I hadn’t won the title.”

The Spaniard took over as the number one rider from Hayden the following year, at the start of the 800cc era, and what would become a difficult period for Honda.

HRC lost its way, first underestimating how much power other manufacturers – especially Ducati – could squeeze from an 800cc four-cylinder four stroke, and building a bike that was neither fast nor stable.

It took until the 2010 season for Honda to build a competitive RC212V, Pedrosa finishing as runner up in the championship behind Jorge Lorenzo.

Pedrosa came closest to winning a title in 2012, when he finished second again behind Jorge Lorenzo.

But he was plagued by bad luck, the cruelest blow coming at Misano, where he had qualified on pole, but a problem with a tire warmer sticking to a brake disc forced him to start the race from the back of the grid, after which he was promptly taken out by Hector Barbera in the first corner.

Teammates and Injuries

Three major factors stood in the way of Pedrosa winning a MotoGP title, despite winning 31 MotoGP races, making him the eighth most successful rider of all time in the premier class.

Two of those factors were his teammates, Pedrosa being paired first with Casey Stoner, and then when the Australian retired, with Marc Márquez.

Stoner and Márquez are arguably the two most naturally talented riders to race in MotoGP, with Stoner taking one title with Honda, and Márquez winning four of the five championships he has competed in.

But injuries have been Pedrosa’s greatest enemy. The Spaniard did not fall particularly frequently, but when he did, he nearly always ended up injured, often quite seriously.

There are numerous graphics doing the rounds showing Pedrosa’s injuries, with this one, put together by British broadcaster BT Sport, summing them up. Pedrosa has had so many X-rays, gone under the surgeon’s knife so often, that it became a factor in his behavior.

The most devastating injury for Pedrosa came at Motegi in 2010, in yet another crash caused by a mechanical error, this time a sticking throttle causing him to be thrown into the gravel at Turn 9, badly breaking his left collarbone in the incident.

The surgery to plate that collarbone was not quite as successful as it should have been, the plate and screws putting pressure on his subclavian artery, which supplies blood to the arms.

In race conditions, riding a MotoGP bike, the plate was reducing blood flow to the arm leading to Pedrosa feeling he was losing strength in that arm, and unable to grip the handlebars successfully.

The Spaniard struggled with that feeling for nearly six months, his doctors unable to pinpoint exactly what the problem was. It left him both physically and mentally drained, Pedrosa giving serious consideration to retiring unless a solution could be found.

Once the issue with the plate was identified, he was able to have surgery to solve the problem, and get back to full fitness again.

But the crash had also left him wary of surgery. When he was taken out by Marco Simoncelli at Le Mans the following year, Pedrosa prevaricated a long time before agreeing to surgery to plate the collarbone.

It remained an issue for the Spaniard throughout his career, and in the end, pushed him towards retirement.

Size Matters

It is hard to say whether Pedrosa’s size and weight played a factor in the severity of the injuries he has accumulated over the years, but it was always a question for debate.

Weighing around the 50kg mark, 10-15kg less than his rivals, he was often accused of having an unfair advantage because he weighed so little. The laws of physics dictate that having less mass means you can accelerate more quickly, but those in the know always dismissed that as far too simplistic.

Yes, if Pedrosa had been racing rockets, his lower weight would have been a straightforward benefit. But motorcycles are not rockets, no matter how often they are compared to them.

Acceleration for a motorcycle comes first from traction, traction requires a certain amount of grip, and having both some weight and body size to move around makes that easier to manage.

When I interviewed Mike Leitner, Pedrosa’s crew chief at the time, back in 2011, this was exactly the point he made.

“I think in MotoGP we are looking mainly for traction. I think that one big issue for bikes with 250 horsepower is to put the power on the ground. So for me, I would wish Dani is 15 cm taller and I would wish he is 10 kilos heavier!”

Being shorter had also given Pedrosa an added sensitivity to how the bike behaves. Unable to manage the bike by moving his body around, he had to develop a greater feel for what the bike was doing, and how to get the best from it.

“Small riders are always very, very sensitive to every small change on the bike,” Leitner told me. “Looking at Dani’s bike balance, I worked with other riders, also in 250, they were much less sensitive, you know?”

“You change let’s say preload on the bike or you change positions on the bike, and others really didn’t feel it. For Dani, sometimes very small changes, just one click could have an unbelievable effect.”

The Tire Factor

That sensitivity also made itself apparent when it came to tires. Pedrosa thrived in the era of custom-made tires, as Michelin could tailor tires with a softer construction and rubber to generate heat in the tire.

Other riders benefited from that as well – the similarly-sized Toni Elias’ only win in MotoGP came at Estoril in 2006, when he was given a set of tires Michelin specially manufactured for Pedrosa, which the Repsol Honda rider had rejected.

When MotoGP switched to a spec tire, the rear Bridgestone lacked grip for everyone, meaning Pedrosa had very little disadvantage.

Pedrosa had been instrumental in bringing about the move to a spec tire, though that was very far from his intention. At the end of the 2007 season, Valentino Rossi had switched from Michelin to Bridgestone, in the belief that he needed the Japanese tires to take on Casey Stoner, who had beaten him to the 2007 title.

In the second half of the 2008 season, Pedrosa demanded to switch from Michelin to Bridgestone, a remarkable change which was pushed through after the Misano round in 2008.

That precipitated an avalanche of other teams wanting to make the switch, leaving just a handful of teams wanting to stick with Michelin, and forcing Michelin to decide to pull out of MotoGP.

A few races later, the Grand Prix Commission decided to make MotoGP a spec tire series, and concluded a contract with Bridgestone as the official tire supplier.

Going Back

The switch back to Michelins in 2016, after Bridgestone decided to withdraw as single tire supplier, worked out well for Pedrosa at first. The rear tire of the Michelin warmed up much more quickly, giving him the grip which he needed.

But the switch to a harder rear tire in response to two incidents with MotoGP’s largest riders – Loris Baz at Sepang, and Scott Redding in Argentina – robbed Pedrosa of feel from the rear, a problem even worse in the wet.

Though he continued to win races and score poles, he never seemed to threaten at the same level. When you added in more races missed due to injury – another broken collarbone sustained in a crash at Motegi – it was easy to believe he had lost his edge.

That impression could be deceptive, however: Pedrosa’s wins at Jerez and Valencia in 2017 were impressive, and the way he took on Valentino Rossi at Aragon, and held off Johann Zarco at Valencia, suggested he still had plenty of fight left in him.

In the end, injuries also played a role in his decision to retire, tipping the scales toward stopping rather than carrying on. With limited options, and the prospect of a couple of seasons on a bike outside a factory team (though potentially with factory support), Pedrosa chose to stop rather than continue.

“For sure it accelerates the process of arriving to a moment like this,” Pedrosa said in the press conference. “I think sport now is ‘claiming’ much more life than in the past and people are stopping far earlier; which is a good thing. But it’s true that the injuries accelerated things for me and stopped me giving 100%.”

Hard Choices

His hand had been forced by the man with whom he had started his career. When Alberto Puig was made Repsol Honda team manager, one of his first decisions was to get rid of Pedrosa to make room for someone else.

As it turned out, that will be Jorge Lorenzo, that Lorenzo was not in the frame when Puig made his decision at the start of this year. With Suzuki bosses choosing the young Joan Mir over Pedrosa, and the Petronas Yamaha ride his only competitive option, Pedrosa’s choice was made easier.

His post-career plans will also have been a factor: having spent his entire career with Honda, the Spaniard will have some kind of role as brand ambassador for Honda, which will no doubt leave him well rewarded.

If he had left Honda to race a Yamaha, then returning to Honda as a brand ambassador would have been more complicated, and less lucrative.

How will Dani Pedrosa be remembered? Arguably, as the greatest rider to never win a MotoGP title, and this shortcoming is the one thing which fans latch onto as a sign that he was not the great rider others believe him to be.

That does Pedrosa woefully short, however: he has ridden against some of the greatest riders of all time, all of whom are destined to have entire chapters dedicated to them in history books.

Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Marc Márquez, Jorge Lorenzo, between them they have won every MotoGP title since 2007, as well as five more before that as well as dominating the top step in the premier class.

Yet Pedrosa lined up every week on the grid as the only other rider capable of beating them regularly, and forcing them to work hard for their championships.

Pedrosa was very highly rated by both his peers and by senior figures throughout the paddock. The Spaniard started every season being named as a potential title candidate by his rivals.

Cal Crutchlow even went so far as to claim that if Pedrosa had been on a Yamaha, a bike which is much less physically demanding to ride, he would have won at least one championship. In the end, though, Pedrosa chose to remain loyal to Honda throughout his career, and retires without a MotoGP crown.

Pedrosa regretted not winning a MotoGP title, but put that down to circumstances, some of which were out of his control.

“I was able to be champion in other categories,” Pedrosa said. “MotoGP was about certain circumstances…but I’ll take the fact that I gave the best I could in difficult situations. To feel pleasure in this for me personally is the most important.”

“I would have loved to have had a more ‘robust’ physique to resist some impacts! I’ll keep the moments when I’ve been on the podium or when I could give 100% and do things on the bike that I know I could do. It doesn’t always go as you want but sometimes it does but everything has its natural place.”

Legend

Pedrosa’s place will be as a MotoGP Legend, Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta announcing Pedrosa will be formally inducted as MotoGP Legend at the final race of the 2018 season in Valencia. Ezpeleta expressed his appreciation for all that Pedrosa had achieved throughout his career.

“I remember when he was so small to be riding a bike and he was at Jarama for the selection to try to race,” Ezpeleta said. “Then he has made incredible years with us, his results and especially his behavior has been an example for everyone.”

Making Pedrosa a MotoGP Legend was a token of just how highly regarded he is by the organization, Ezpeleta said.

“I think it’s a small contribution from the championship, for what he has been doing throughout his career It has been a big pleasure, as Dorna CEO and a friend of Dani, to share with him all these years and I hope he will continue with us, doing other things.”

Ezpeleta praised the professionalism with which Pedrosa carried himself.

“The decision he has made, and he didn’t say nothing, it’s a very honest and loyal decision. He had – in the last discussions – everything to continue. But being honest with himself, he has decided to retire. Not all people would do the same. I want to tell him again, thank-you and thank-you for the example you have given to us.”

Photo:

This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.

The Sachsenring is a unique circuit, and a unique place. We say that about almost every racetrack we go to, but it is much more true of the Sachsenring than of anywhere else.

No track is as tight, yet deeply challenging as the tightly-coiled circuit in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, and the atmosphere among the fans is electric.

Normally here, I would give a brief description or history of the circuit at which MotoGP is due to race. But Mat Oxley has already done that much better than I would have, so I suggest you read his article on the Motor Sport Magazine website.

There is a very good chance that this is the last race here at the Sachsenring, as Oxley lays out in the article. But all hope is not yet lost: regional politics may yet solve the problem, though it will be done with taxpayers’ money.

Given the huge attendance at the circuit – Sunday numbers often well over 90,000, and over 100,000 on occasion – the race generates a huge amount of revenue for the surrounding area.

Hotels are full, restaurants are heaving, supermarkets stock extra food and drink (especially drink). All that generates more revenue for local government through taxes. But will that be enough to justify spending on keeping the race here?

King of the ‘Ring

It might almost be worth moving the race just to see a different winner of the German round of MotoGP. Marc Márquez owns the circuit, having won every race he has competed in here since 2010, making it eight wins in a row.

First, he won in 125s, in 2010. Then he won the two Moto2 races he competed in at the Sachsenring, in 2011 and 2012. And since moving up to MotoGP in 2013, he has won every premier class race at the Sachsenring, usually by a comfortable margin.

So who could challenge him? The short answer is, realistically, nobody. Márquez’s dominance at the Sachsenring is absolute. His prowess at turning left is peerless, and the nature of the track, where the bikes spend so much time on the left-hand side of the tire, suits him down to the ground.

The circuit suits the Honda as well: a couple of hard braking sections at Turn 1 and Turn 12, and only really the final corner where acceleration is hard enough to make it difficult to control.

That corner is so difficult to master – starting steeply uphill following a tricky uphill braking section – that it is almost impossible to get right for any bike.

Finding the right mixture of electronics and body control to keep the front wheel down means that even the bikes with good mechanical grip have a hard time.

Free at Last?

The other Hondas are likely to do well here too. The most interesting question for many is just how competitive Dani Pedrosa can be. With his future now settled – see this article for the full story of his retirement, and his background – a great weight has fallen from his shoulders.

“I was obviously pretty nervous before coming here and with all my family here that supported me,” Pedrosa said in the special press conference at which he announced his retirement on Thursday.

“On the other side: what impact will it have for the rest of the season? I hope a good one. Clearly I want to enjoy the races I have left, but in the end you have to enjoy competition in one way – giving the maximum – so I will take the races as I am now, giving 100%.”

Pedrosa has a stellar record at the Sachsenring, winning twice in 250s, and four times in MotoGP. His win rate at the track only fell when Marc Márquez entered the class, but a liberated Pedrosa could be enough to match him.

Pedrosa finished second behind Márquez in 2014 and 2015, and third behind his teammate and Jonas Folger last year. If ever there were a dark horse to beat Márquez, it is Dani Pedrosa this year.

Cal Crutchlow has not done too badly at the Sachsenring either. The LCR Honda rider finished second in 2013, riding the Tech3 Yamaha, and second again in 2016, this time on the Honda RC213V.

Crutchlow has mixed feelings about the track. “I have a strange feeling about it because when you ride it, it’s horrible!” he said on Thursday. “It is a go-kart track for us but normally you see a good race and you quite enjoy it.”

“We have a lot of fans that come here, which is important and we always look forward to coming here but it is so tight. That first, second, third corner…the third corner? I guarantee I could probably go around it as fast on my bicycle than I can on a MotoGP bike. I start to get motion sickness around there.”

The track gets better and from Turn 5 on, he said, and because of this, the layout grows on you as the weekend goes on.

“In Turn 11 you are going quick but the ones before not especially. You are hanging off the side of the bike for a long time. You don’t put your ass in the center of the bike for almost the whole lap here, so it makes it difficult to ride. Not particularly physical.”

“In the first session here you usually think ‘oh my god, this place is strange’ and then it starts to come. I do like the track though. It is just really small for a MotoGP bike.”

All About the Long Corners

Normally, you would expect a track which turns so much to favor a bike like the Yamaha, which is so strong in sweeping corners.

But the Yamaha couldn’t match the pace of the Repsol Hondas last year, or at least, the factory Yamahas of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales couldn’t. The Monster Tech3 Yamaha of Jonas Folger did just fine, the German pushing Márquez all the way to the line.

The factory bikes suffered with understeer in 2017, Valentino Rossi explained. “Usually Marc is very strong everywhere so you have the first part that is very tight and after it becomes medium-fast and after he becomes more fast.”

“I don’t know if we have a particular part where we lose or if it is a little bit everywhere. Speaking about me, last year we suffered very much but the bike of last year for me was very difficult because we had a lot of understeer. In a tight track like this we suffered. We hope with the bike of this year I expect, I hope, to be stronger.”

The Ducatis have been on an upward curve at the Sachsenring, getting better as Gigi Dall’Igna and his engineering team have managed to make the Desmosedici turn better. The GP18 should be better than last year’s bike, which was itself not a million miles off.

Andrea Dovizioso explained where the weaknesses of the GP18 lie. “We are very strong in acceleration and this track doesn’t have a lot of acceleration. You have to stay with the angle for most of the lap so this on paper is not the best but I want to wait for the weekend as we can be more competitive than last year, I hope.”

Jorge Lorenzo agreed with his teammate. “I think our bike is a bit more competitive this year and works a bit better in a long sector of turning. Probably we will lose less compared to last year and can reduce the distance.” At least the Sachsenring was not as physically demanding as other tracks.

“There are tracks that are much more physical than others. Austin for example has hard braking and you have to stay stiff with the arms and change direction at high speed but Assen is also very physical in places.”

“This ergonomic change has been huge for me, a step forward, but on some physical tracks you just have to use that energy. Here is it very narrow and short and you do a lot of laps and it could be better in that area than Assen. It was good for me to get away from Assen; it was hard for me in that area. I think Sachsenring will be OK.”

Coming off his best result in Assen, a second place, Alex Rins faced the Sachsenring with confidence.

The Suzuki GSX-RR is arguably the best bike at changing direction and holding a tight line through the corners, and the 2018 engine is a vast improvement in helping the bike turn, a factor which held it back last year.

In theory, the Suzuki should be the bike to beat the Honda, able to turn better than the RC213V, and at a track where the engine won’t make the difference, and where there are few spots where riders can make up ground on the brakes.

The main overtaking point on the circuit at Turn 12 is dictated more by the speed at which you dare take Turn 11, or the Waterfall, the turn which has now been renamed the Ralf Waldmann Curve, than by how hard you brake for that turn.

The Suzuki, and the unrivaled courage of both Alex Rins and Andrea Iannone, could well put the cat among the Honda pigeons.

If Not Dani, Who?

Obviously all eyes were on Dani Pedrosa and his announcement at the Sachsenring, but the ride Pedrosa won’t be taking is also receiving some attention.

Franco Morbidelli – passed fit to ride after breaking a metacarpal in his left hand in Assen – spoke about his chance of joining the Petronas SIC Yamaha team, due to take the place of the Angel Nieto Team in 2019.

“We are working and there is this clear opportunity to go with another team and with Yamaha,” Morbidelli said. “We are trying to understand the situation with my team right now. We are trying to understand how it would be if I go to this other team. At the moment, from my part, nothing is 100 percent sure. We are just working to understand some things.”

Morbidelli is managed by the VR46 Racing Academy, but is under contract to the Marc VDS team for 2019.

However, the Marc VDS team are set to pull out from MotoGP, unless Emilio Alzamora can get some money from Estrella Galicia to fund the team, in the absence of funding from Marc van der Straten, the Belgian beer magnate who owns the team.

It is a formality that Morbidelli will be released from his contract, but formalities can take time, especially when they have to be carefully unraveled by lawyers.

As for who the other rider might be, there are strong and credible rumors that Speed Up Moto2 rider Fabio Quartararo has signed for the team. My own sources indicated earlier this week that no such deal has been done, with Quartararo wanting to stay on in Moto2 to try to win a title.

But things are changing fast in MotoGP, and this could be just such a case. Alvaro Bautista is the most likely candidate to take the ride if Quartararo does not move up to the premier class.

While we do know that there will be a Petronas SIC Yamaha team next year, the devil of all such deals is in the detail.

It is unlikely that we will get official confirmation of who will ride for the team next year this weekend, and it may not even be finalized once racing returns after the summer break, at the next race in Brno. But the uncertainty won’t last a great deal longer.

This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.

It is not a matter of if, but when Ducati makes a streetfighter version of the new Panigale V4 – this much my sources in Bologna have assured me.

This news makes sense for the Italian brand, as the sport-naked segment is heating up, and there are plenty of offerings from other brands that make the Ducati Monster 1200 R look like a toy in comparison.

In fact, just about every major brand has a bike in this space, except for Ducati.

We are not hopeful that a Streetfighter V4 will debut at the INTERMOT & EICMA trade shows later this year, but we do see such a model as being a reality for around the 2020 model year.

Helping us visualize such a machine, this render from Kardesign does an excellent job of taking the lines from the original Ducati Streetfighter 1098 (a bike near and dear to this author’s heart), and applying them to the V4 rolling chassis.

Will Ducati recycle the Streetfighter design like Kardesign has shown? Not very likely, but the Panigale V4 chassis does lend itself to the role in a more appealing way than the outgoing 1299 Panigale does.

We also know from talking to Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali that Ducati plans to use the V4 engine in a number of performance-focused bikes. A streetfighter would seem to be the logical choice for that.

Will we see a Multistrada V4, however? That seems less likely, at least as a direct replacement for the v-twin powered tourer.

What would seem more likely is a V4 adventure-sport model, which would go more head-to-head with the BMW S1000XR and KTM 1290 Super Duke GT, thus leaving the Multistrada 1260 to take on the bigger street-leaning ADV models.

A power cruiser with the V4 engine could also make sense from Ducati, taking a page from the Yamaha VMAX. Though, Ducati seems to have other plans for the Diavel lineup for 2019, which would push such an idea will into 2021 or beyond.

This is all just speculation at this point, of course, but it will be interesting to see where Ducati takes its new power plant for spin. We will keep you posted as we learn more.

Source: Kardesign via MaxxMoto

“Next year I will not be competing in the Championship” was how Dani Pedrosa started his retirement announcement today at the start of the German GP in Sachsenring.

Confirming the retirement suspicions that swirled ahead of the press launch, Pedrosa thanked Honda, his sponsors, and Dorna for the 18 years of support that they have shown him in grand prix racing.

Set to be named a MotoGP Legend at the season finale at Valencia, Pedrosa has been a force to be reckoned with in Grand Prix racing. Though he never won a MotoGP title, he was one of the original “aliens” when that phrase was coined, and has always been a contender when on the starting grid.

As such, Pedrosa holds the third-most podiums in grand prix racing (153), along with 54 race wins, and three World Championship titles (one in 125GP and two in 250GP).

“Next year I will not compete in the Championship, I’ll finish my career in MotoGP this season,” said Pedrosa in special press conference at Sachsenring.

“It’s a decision I’ve thought about for a long time, and it’s a hard decision because this is the sport I love, but despite having good opportunities to keep racing, I feel like I don’t live racing with the same intensity as before and I now have different priorities in my life.”

Before today, Pedrosa’s announcement has wavered both in timing and message, as at first it seemed that the Spaniard would move from the factory Honda team to a satellite Yamaha squad, backed by the Sepang International Circuit and Petronas.

Moving his announcement from Catalunya, to Holland, and now to Germany, what was predicted to be a team announcement turned into the expectation of Pedrosa ending his career, after being forced out of the Repsol Honda team by his former manager, Alberto Puig.

Three-times a runner-up in the MotoGP category, Pedrosa has been the constant bridesmaid in the premier class, but he has always been one of the class’s fiercest competitors.

Before the switch to Michelin tires, which has played havoc on Pedrosa’s riding ability, the Honda rider could never be counted out from podium contention or even a race win.

He gained the ire of American fans in 2006, when he collided with his teammate Nicky Hayden at Estoril, which put the American rider’s chances of winning the MotoGP title in jeopardy.

Hayden would go on to win the title in the final race of the season, and the two riders quickly moved past the incident professionally, but American fans held onto the crash for many, many years, with “Pedrosa Sucks” t-shirts unfortunately being part of the American racing landscape.

It seems only recently, and perhaps Hayden’s untimely passing is part of it, that American MotoGP fans have begun to move beyond Pedrosa’s mistake from 12 years ago.

At the Americas GP this year, Pedrosa was cheered warmly by the American fans because of the brave race he performed, while clearly riding still injured from his crash at Argentina.

For those in the MotoGP paddock who know Dani better, and see past the nationalism and politics that come with MotoGP, Dani Pedrosa has always been a quiet, thoughtful, and intelligent rider.

Fierce on the race track, his nickname of “Little Samurai” is easily earned, and while he may never have won the MotoGP Championship title, he is easily one of the best riders to be in the premier class in the past two decades.

We will miss seeing him race motorcycles, and hope he doesn’t stray too far from the sport in his retirement.

“I would like to express how fortunate I feel to have had this experience and these opportunities in my life, it’s been an amazing life to have been racing for such an important team and in front of all the fans.”

“I achieved way more than I expected and I’m very, very proud of what I’ve done in the sport. I’ve fulfilled my dream of becoming a racer and that’s something that I didn’t expect when I was a kid watching TV, watching riders in the World Championship.”

“I would like to take this time to say thanks to Dorna and to Honda for giving me this opportunity way back in 1999, and to all my sponsors who’ve been with me throughout my career.”

“I would like also to say thanks to my family, and to all the fans who supported me throughout my career and through the thick and thin, who helped me sending so many messages to overcome difficult things in the past.”

Photo: MotoGP

The Indian Motorcycle Company is recalling a bunch of 2017-2018 Indian Scout motorcycles right now, which includes the Scout Sixty and and Scout Bobber variants.

All told, 4,185 motorcycles are affected by a recall that concerns the anti-locking brakes system (ABS), which may have air left in the system after the assembly process.

Since air in the brake lines can impact a motorcycle’s braking ability, Indian has decided to recall the affected machines, in order to ensure rider safety.

To remedy the issue, Indian will notify affected owners, and Indian dealers will bleed the front and rear anti-lock brake system, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin this month, July 2018.

Concerned Indian Scout owners may contact Indian customer service at 1-877-204-3697. Indian’s number for this recall is I-18-07. As always, the NHTSA is also available at 1-888-327-4236 and safercar.gov.

Source: NHTSA