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I've had a few emails and tweets recently asking why I no longer blog, the simple answer is, I do - just not here. You may remember that I wasn't the only contributor of IntheGravel we also had @MattDunn46 - who I am still working with today, just over at the new motorcycle news website, PaddockChatter.com

At PaddockChatter we write both news and opinion blogs for the best of both worlds, therefore I decided that this blog had no purpose any more, as my work can be shared on PaddockChatter.com. I won't delete this blog though, it has a lot of fond memories and I'm very proud of some of the things I've written here.

Make sure to join us on PaddockChatter.com, you won't regret it!

Silverstone WSBK: Is rider safety paramount in WSB?

The Silverstone round of the World Superbike Championship brought us two things, rain & controversy. When "In the Gravel" arrived on Thursday afternoon the weather was actually quite nice, however this didn't last long - we had been in the paddock around 30 minutes before the rain came down, then it was glorious sunshine... then more rain... then sunshine and it was this pattern that continued throughout the weekend.

Despite the weather, both World Superbike qualifying sessions had parts which were dry and perhaps the most interesting thing to come out of them was the speed of the Crescent Suzukis, which have failed to impress thus far in their World Superbike campaign. Camier and Hopkins were both up there in the Qualifying Practice sessions and in Free Practice 2, Camier posted the fastest time of the entire weekend. Leon backed this up with a cracking second place on the grid in the wet Superpole session, which saw Tom Sykes fall, who until Silverstone, had qualified no lower than third on the grid. Camier had pole stolen from him at the last second by Jakub Smrz, with Guintoli also on the front row for what fans saw as a bitter fight between Guintoli on his new PATA Ducati and Smrz on the 1098 of the team who recently sacked Guintoli citing poor results for their reason...

It seems to be becoming quite common in 2012 for the weather to dictate races and this was definitely the case at Silverstone. The first race was red flagged within a lap due to rain and restarted as a wet race.. despite the circuit being largely dry. Every rider bar Guintoli, Smrz & Chaz Davies went out on slick tyres and this proved the right choice... We were left with a "normal" World Superbike race, it was a little dull as Checa disappeared off into the distance as he did last year at Silverstone however something at around half distance slowed him into returning to the fighting back and subsequently finding himself sucked into it as hungry Brit Leon Haslam (who it would seem is fighting for a ride for next year) took the lead from Leon Camier, keen to get his best result of the year & remind everybody of the talent he is.

Brands BSB: Where on earth did that come from?

I'd previously said on Twitter that this year I had become a little lost and bored with British Superbikes which if you've been reading "In the Gravel" for a while you'll know is quite shocking as BSB is my first love... It's the series that I write about most, it's the series that I know most about and it's the series that I spend a lot of time and money on to be there.

Josh Brookes has confirmed his place in the showdown
alongside Tommy Hill and Shane Byrne.

Photo: Kev Hattle

My last BSB blog was entitled "The status quo has resumed" and documented how now the weather has began to improve it's the usual four riders at the top of the BSB standings after every race, Brands Hatch was no exception to this - in fact it perhaps highlights it more so as Tommy Hill, Shane Byrne and Josh Brookes have concreted their places in the showdown (with two rounds to go before the showdown even begins!!) with Michael Laverty not far behind them. Perhaps this was why I had become slightly disenchanted by BSB? I think not, those of you who follow me on Twitter will know that I went to Brands on Sunday and had a fantastic day - perhaps my falling out of love with BSB was due to not attending an event since Brands round 1 in April, which in all honesty was a largely miserable affair due to the weather. Sitting in the sun at Brands on Sunday really got me back in the spirit of things and reminded me exactly why I love British Superbikes.

In terms of racing, Brands wasn't all that different to what I've just mentioned - the same old riders at the front however, I feel that Brands was very different to what we've been seeing over the past few races. After Hill's triple win at Oulton In the Gravel's co-writer, Matt wrote about how the Swan Yamaha seemed all-so-dominant and that Tommy Hill looks the clear favourite for the championship as contenders such as Laverty and Haga have consistency issues and others such as Brookes and especially Byrne don't seem to have the machinery to keep up with the magnificent Yamaha R1s... I shared these views with Matt but wow, how did Brands Hatch show us we were wrong or what? Read on to find out why and what we think the BSB championship could turn into now...

MotoGP Mugello: Stoner's worst race since joining Honda & Silly Season goes berserk

Toby Moody attempted to describe the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello as a "Monaco of motorcycling", co-commentator Julian Ryder quickly hit back at this claim stating something along the lines of Monaco being cocktail dresses & casinos - the argument was settled with in fact, the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello is actually like the Italian Grand Prix (for cars that is, those weird things) at Monza - apparently, the only similarity they share isn't the fact they are both held in Italy but the sheer insanity of the Italian fans (and I say this with no offence intended, those teletubbies seemed pretty scary...). So basically, Mugello is described as a Grand Prix like no other and you can see this by watching the track invasion following the MotoGP race... all I'm gonna say is Silverstone threaten us with prosecution should we invade the track...

Barbera has come under fire from other riders recently
for hanging about on track for a tow, however no tow was
needed to put his Pramac Ducati on the front row
at Mugello                                                                            Photo: Craig Frier

Last time, we spoke about the insane qualifying session at the Sachsenring in which near enough half of the MotoGP field made it onto pole or near-to-pole in the last minute of qualifying. The sixty-minute session at Mugello was similarly thrilling with again, a large number of riders running similar pace therefore making quite an intense battle for pole at the end. Jorge Lorenzo had been running electrifying pace throughout the weekend and finally got into his stride on his last lap, red in all three sectors, under by about 0.3 of a second... the camera turns to Jorge Lorenzo as he pulls onto the pit straight to complete his lap... and he enters the pits... "technical difficulties" apparently. So, Pedrosa managed to get pole knowing all too well that Lorenzo had the pace to annihilate him on race day. Shout out to Hector Barbera though, put a satellite Ducati on the front row for the first time ever and he didn't even get a tow!!

BSB, Oulton: Hill, Hill, Hill.

Round 6 of the British Superbike Championship from Oulton Park saw a very different turn of events than previously shown in the 2012 season. There were 3 different manufacturers on the podium in all 3 races, which in my opinion is a credit to the new all EVO rules. You didn't get that in the most recent rounds of MotoGP and WSB!

However, this weekend saw no new winners, sadly. This was due to the dominance display from Tommy Hill who bagged all 3 (yes, 3) race wins. Throughout the weekend the Yamaha rider was up the sharp end and rode 3 very clever and mature rides. Race 1 on the Saturday started with Hill on pole, who lead from start to finish, this was also the case in Race 2 (Sunday's first race). Both races saw the reigning champion chip away, putting consistent lap times in with no mistakes to take both wins by a comfortable margin. Only in the third race saw Hill's dominance threatened, with a pass from Josh Brookes into Lodge corner on lap 2. Hill responded half a lap later and from then on kept well clear from the dicing between Laverty, Haga, Brookes and Byrne. His lead was not challenged again until several laps toward the end; with the trio of Byrne, Brookes and Haga rapidly approaching his rear. Although it was too little too late, the race was won by just over a second (a country mile by BSB standards).

After round 6, the reigning champ has a 28 point lead over Josh Brookes and 29 over Shane 'Shakey' Byrne. Hill is still way off having a hand, or even finger nail on the title at the moment, as we all know that ANYTHING can happen in the next 6 rounds. However, if this current form continues, then perhaps the championship will quickly develop into becoming his title to lose, rather than to win. So, who can realistically put the fight to Hill as we approach the end of the 'pre-showdown' part of the season?

Brookes in my opinion is the biggest threat. He seems to have changed a bit this year, he seems more determined than in the past to win the title, (maybe due to the promise of a TT ride next year on the condition that he wins)... throughout the year he's been genuinely gutted not to win and never fully satisfied, can only be a good thing! But equally as important, he seems to consistently have the machinery to actually take on the Yamaha, unlike other contenders. He was the only rider this weekend who was really snapping at Hill's heels with 2 second places and a 3rd. He looked as though he could have won race 3, had he not almost thrown it at the scenery; which by the way, left him with a broken screen and rather sore fingers for most of the race. Brookes has only achieved one win so far this year, but the second does not look far away at all. Hopefully this could be next round at Brands, provided that he doesn't drop the bike down at Paddock Hill Bend again. As a Brookes fan, I do hope that he continues this form and genuinely believe he can win the championship in his 4th year of competing. 

The 3rd place man, Byrne, evidently wasn't happy after this meeting. Like Brookes, second simply will not do for the 2 time British Champion, he scored 2x 3rd's and one 2nd this weekend. There is nothing wrong with Shakey himself it seems, his problem? His ZX-10r "Kawasarrrrrki" (as James Haydon would say). The Kwacker has been a major improvement on previous years in both British and World Superbikes, yet in neither has it proved to be a regular race winner - Tom Sykes suffering tyre problems in WSB, and Shakey's bike just not being able to match the pace of the Yamaha's. As Shakey said in the post race interview (roughly) - the Yamaha's seemed to be in a different league and he just couldn't keep up. Byrne has had 2 wins and has finished mostly on the podium when he's finished a race this season, so is well in contention for his 3rd BSB title - but he is somewhat on the back foot at the moment. Just speculating, perhaps the Rapid Solicitors team isn't getting sufficient support from Kawasaki UK? I don't know. Going off on a tangent, I reckon it's possible that we could see Byrne make a return to MotoGP on the PBM CRT bike next year (whatever bike that may be), Paul Bird has already muttered about having an "older Brit and a younger Brit" in the team. Just a thought...

Briefly onto Laverty who had a bit of a bogie weekend after the highs of the previous 2 rounds. He said it himself, that Oulton is by far not his favourite circuit. He proved that by sliding off at Brittens in race 1, and missing out on a podium with a 4th and 5th in races 2&3. Lav already has 2 wins in 2012... but mechanical problems and crashes in the early part of the season has lead to the 88 point gap between him at 1st place in the c'ship.

Now, the Samurai of Slide - Noriyuki Haga, hasn't exactly been the revelation of John Hopkins standard, that we had all hoped he'd be in BSB, up til now. However, this weekend showed that Haga seems to be getting used to the quirky nature of many British tracks and has bagged valuable points to move into 6th place in the Championship and into that all important Showdown top-6 zone. As long as Haga stays in there, he could well be a huge threat come the final 3 rounds at Assen, Silverstone and Brands - all current/ex-WSBK tracks that he will know and suit his style more (in theory). I simply cannot wait to see what he can do, do we think he could do a Hopkins? I don't know, but I hope so!

It is also worth pointing out another set of strong finishes for Peter Hickman on the Buildbase BMW, he seems a lot more at ease with the S1000rr than his previous ride - Kawasaki ZX-10r. He scored an 8th, 13th and 12th place this weekend in only his second outing on the bike. It has also been rumoured that Buildbase BMW are keeping him for the rest of the season, only a rumour - but based on the results he's had? Watch this space...

Overall, this season has been a weird one so far, it started off impeccably with I think 6 different winners in 8 races, in 6 different teams or manufacturers or similar, an unrivalled pedigree which is astounding and like I've previously mentioned, a credit to the new EVO rules in my humble opinion (nice work MSVR!). But a few of these winners and podium finishers haven't been as consistent in top end results as I had thought they would be. For example, Kirkham, Seeley and Lowry have had brilliant results in the early part of the season, but since have not regularly been challenging the leaders in the races. Once more, with team WFR - they had a cracking year last year, with Graeme Gowland and Alex Lowes threatening podium positions with EVO bikes racing against full blown SBK's. Yet, this year... apart from Alex this weekend, we've seen neither up the top end. I was sure that they'd be challenging 'the veterans' of BSB, but for one reason or another this has not been the case. That said, although said riders may not have been up there in the races, they are well in reach of top championship positions overall. I believe the top 4 positions of the showdown top-6 are pretty secure for Hill, Brookes, Byrne and Laverty, it's the last 2 that are seriously under threat. I can think of 7 riders at least who are well within reach of those positions which will no doubt make Brands, Cadwell and Donnington fascinating to watch. Perhaps I'm just speaking too soon RE: Kirkham/Seeley/Lowry et al, and we will in fact see them dicing it up the sharp end. We will have to see in 2 weeks time...

What is for certain come the showdown, is that it'll be very close but I do genuinely believe that Brookes and Hill are the 2 main contenders for the title, but that's just based on their current form. This is BSB, who knows what will happen come the final at Brands in October?

Thanks for reading...



    

World Superbikes, Aragón - New contenders, headlight stickers and questionable conduct.

Round 8 of the World Superbike Championship once again contained familiar story lines to previous rounds, such as Sykes being in control of Superpole, the 'Roman Emperor' Biaggi taking another win and the seemingly never ending bad luck for the Crescent Suzuki boys. It also produced some rather mad stories as well - "sticker headlights" (I know, nutty) and equally as bonkers - 180mph headbutting from our favourite Turk - Kenan Superglue.

Where to begin? Well I think Race 1, turn one and 'ReaGate' would be a good start. There were conflicting views from pundits of all kinds, "he got a naff start, so overcooked it and torpedoed other riders in first turn" was the general opinion. Eventually though, they all saw that this was indeed wrong, and Rea was infact rear-ended by a 'speedway style' Effernbert Ducati. Cruel luck for Rea who was at that time, 2nd in the championship, he went on to finish out of the points. Due to last years injuries, Rea didn't race in Aragón, so was in effect using both of this years races as a 'test'. No doubt being shunted so rudely wouldn't have made things easy. Impressively though, in Race 2, the Ten Kate rider climbed up to 5th place finishing just under a second ahead of BMW rider, Leon Haslam. Damage limitation was the aim of the game this weekend for #65 Rea, and seeing as he lies just 65.5 points behind championship leader Max Biaggi - it was a good weekend for him too.

As the weekend progressed, it became ever more clear that Aragón is a circuit not suited for the 'sluggish' Ducati's, and is more for the Aprilias and BMW's, Chaz Davies' RSV4 Aprilia reaching cerca 209mph down the blisteringly fast straight whereas Checa's Ducati could barely skim 200!




As previously mentioned, Sykes' weekend started like most this year, he got pole by over 0.2 of a second. However, again like most rounds this year, his outstanding qualifying was not converted into any wins. He was cruelly wiped out by an "ambition outweighing talent" move from Badovini in one of the remaining laps in race 1, and race 2 he only managed 8th.

With 3 laps to go, it seemed that Melandri and his BMW had the win in the bag, he had been chasing Biaggi rather well all race long and the 2 were neck and neck throughout the last quarter of the race. But from the onboard footage of both Max's Aprilia and the BMW, you could see Meladri's tyres had expired. Going into the hairpin for the final time, it was clear Max had the win done and dusted. Race 1 finished with 3 Aprilia's in the top5 with a Ducati and BMW in the mix too. Badovini's blunder gifted Checa with 3rd, Davies with 4th and Eugene Laverty with 5th

Race 2 then, and for the majority of the race, Laverty found himself dicing with Biaggi & Melandri, it was classic World Superbikes, tough moves being thrown by all, especially Melandri! The main difference here though was that Biaggi seemed somewhat less settled on the bike than in race 1; he didn't seem to have the edge through the chicanes over Mel or ELav. That said, Max being Max he still clung on to the back, making attempts for 1st place here and there. All the while the front trio were battling, quietly approaching their rear ends was Chaz Davies on his ParkinGo Aprilia. It was a 4 way battle for the win, right up to the flag, with Chaz finishing a highly respectable 3rd. Davies has always had the potential to be fighting for the podium, but a long string of bad luck rather dampened this potential for a while. After his 4th at the Miller, his confidence and bike haven't been letting him down, think it's safe to say we shall be seeing a lot more of this in the future!

Laverty was equally as impressive this weekend, after an unfortunate weekend in Misano, where he was 7th in race 1 and DNF'd in race 2. In contrast, this weekend was highly successful for Eugene, just missing out on the win in race 2 by 0.042 of a second. He seemed far more confident than his team mate in race 2 and like Davies, he wasn't phased whatsoever by the ambitious (and often unsuccessful) attacks from Melandri into the hairpin. Provided that ELav doesn't leave this confidence at home, next round in Brno, this could well be a regular occurrence. (Would definitely help my MCN fantasy league too...)

Given that Melandri took BMW's 3rd ever win in WSBK, think we can deduce that all of the electronic woes suffered by BMW in the past several years have finally been overcome, finally. Melandri had a stonking weekend and could have done the double. The beemer was turning brilliantly and wasn't a 3 legged dog in a straight line either! After the win, he's now 2nd in the championship, 48.5 points behind his compatriot - Biaggi. It looks like Melandri is securely a title contender; who would have thought that at the beginning of the year? I certainly didn't. Perhaps now we are seeing another one of those great rivalries & we already know they aren't the best of friends and for this weekend at least, they've been pretty equal in terms of form - the rest of the season is looking to be simply fascinating.

As the championship stands, the top 5 are covered by over 70 points, but somehow I really don't think anyone will run away with it by any means. Biaggi may be a force to be reckoned with, but Melandri, Rea and even Checa are well within reach to give him a hard time. Watch this space.

Onto World Supersport briefly, and it was yet another corker of a race, as per usual. Sam Lowes rode a very level headed and clever race and to get the win was very well deserved. Sam is second in the championship, 16 points behind Kenan Sofuoglu, as long as Lowes stays on the bike... we might get yet another British, World Supersport champion.

Undeniably the key moment of the weekend was the attempted Zinedine Zidane style headbutt from Kenan 'Superglue' in the direction of Fabien Foret at over 170mph. Now, okay, takes some balls to do that but what ON EARTH was he thinking?! I don't have incredible observation skills, but I didn't see any move pulled by Foret on Sofuoglu that would warrant such irrational behaviour. The pair were battling for podium positions at the time, and because of it, Race Direction awarded Sofuoglu with a "3 place penalty" which in itself was rather ludicrous. Correct me if I'm wrong, but how can you operationalise punishing an attempted assault with a 3 place penalty? Surely, disqualification or a ride through would really teach Kenan a lesson. Perhaps there's a future blog topic in there... *hint*. However, since the 'incident' he has kept his mouth shut about the reasons for his actions, whereas Foret in the post race conference suggested amusingly that perhaps "there was some wind" that forced the eccentric head movement. We await comment with great eagerness!

Onto the final point, another defining moment of the weekend - headlight stickers. Yes, headlight STICKERS are being made mandatory from next year onwards, and the Kawasaki Racing Team are the pioneers of this new rule. Actually, they didn't look too bad, but it's just the principal that irritates me... There has already been talk this season about longer races and pitstops being introduced to WSB and now there are headlight stickers?! This is World Superbikes, not an World Endurance Championship tribute! The idea is to make the bikes look more like their road going counter parts, but for what benefit? Next there will be mirrors and indicators added and a compulsory & "mirror, signal" before any manoeuvre! In all seriousness though, I highly doubt headlight stickers would influence sales... and it can only be a nuisance in terms of taking up space for sponsors and riders numbers. Some ideas floating around on Twitter suggest that it may be another way to increase the ever closing gap between WSB and MotoGP... but who knows? Personally I see the rule as like a chocolate teapot, looks somewhat 'cool' but in reality it's rather useless and imbecilic.

Thanks again for reading.

MotoGP Assen: A sign of what's to come...

I'll get straight to the point here, the MotoGP race in Assen was like watching a washing machine spin - fun for a little bit but eventually it gets boring, gives you a headache and then sends you to sleep. Don't get me wrong, there was some incredible riding which I'll touch on too, but the racing was generally very boring - for one reason - Alvaro Bautista took out championship leader and favourite to win the race Jorge Lorenzo in what could have been an interesting tyre battle as Lorenzo started on the harder rear Bridgestone where title rivals Stoner and Pedrosa shod their RC213V with the softer option tyre, alas this was not meant to be - Bautista's move was incredibly ambitious, entering the first turn a lot faster than the others, losing the front end and banging right into Lorenzo, lucky not to take anyone else out however it did hold up Cal Crutchlow, who claims he ended up last after the first corner.

There we have it, our first incredible ride - for the second race in a row Cal Crutchlow rode from the dead back to a very good position, 5th. Again, he had the pace to run on the podium however because of being held up by the Bautista-Lorenzo incident and then struggled to get past the three Ducatis through limited overtaking opportunities at Assen. The second incredible ride of the day, in fact of the weekend was that of Casey Stoner - he put a lap in for pole that was quite simply, incredible after having naff all settings and lots of problems with the RC213V over the weekend, in fact Stoner looked like he may have to settle for 9th position on the grid, his lowest in a very long time as it started raining only to dry up with 5 minutes of qualifying remaining. Obviously Stoner's life was made a bit easier by his Honda cousin Bautista taking out the race favourite however it was actually Pedrosa who led for most of the way, Stoner rode a clever race - knowing he had the softer tyre on and he made a move and gapped Pedrosa at precisely the right time, enough time to form a gap large enough to protect him should those pesky Yamahas on the harder tyres catch up as the softer tyre started to wear, however Dovi and Spies were too busy tripping each other up in the fight for third, or should I say the factory Yamaha 2013 seat. The big story of 2012, Valentino Rossi's Ducati car crash continued at Assen as Rossi pitted after having a tyre disaster, numerous other riders either retired or crashed during the race meaning that top CRT was an incredible 8th position, really important points for the fight in the CRT championship. As I said, the race itself was very boring but it tells us an awful lot about 2013.

Knockhill BSB: The status quo has fully resumed

Hill bagged pole for both races and bagged two podiums 

Photo: Craig Frier

With 6 different winners in the first 8 races of the British Superbike championship series promoters MotorsportVisionRacing have rightly so bigged BSB up to be a fantastically competitive championship this year, which I'm sure will continue however for Round 5, at Knockhill the status quo was well and truly resumed. It's quite clear that there are 4 riders in the run for this years championship and whilst it may be likely to see different winners such as Jon Kirkham & Chris Walker in the rain, you'd be foolish to expect anyone other than Tommy Hill, Josh Brookes, Shane Byrne and Michael Laverty at the sharp end, with perhaps the exception of Stuart Easton when he returns from his hip infection.

But wait? I thought the new rules were going to close everything up!! Clearly not... I think it quite foolish to have predicted to be having anyone but the top riders in BSB at the front this season, after all, they are the best riders and the best riders are going to be at the front. Why isn't the gap to the front closer? I can't tell you exactly, but I'd say that no matter how much meddling MSVR do with the rules in attempt to make the championship more competitive - the teams with the most money and support from factories are always going to be at the front.

Silverstone GP: Be afraid, be very afraid?

Jorge Lorenzo took victory at the British Grand Prix this weekend in a dry race (yes, dry) after many thought (some, hoped) the Great British weather would lead to a very soggy Silverstone. There were quite a few things I think we can take from the race today and as usual I'll come to these later after a short run down of what happened for those of you who weren't fortunate enough to see it (although I'd recommend watching it).

It was quite an interesting start as far as Grand Prix races go, Dani Pedrosa seemed to have got the hole shot but then kind of got shuffled backwards in the first corner as Ben Spies took his famous wide sweeping line around the bend to take the lead on the first lap from Stoner and debut pole sitter San Carlo Gresini Honda's Alvaro Bautista. Spies led for the first few laps, continuing to take his fantastic wide lines into each corner giving Stoner a glimpse of a gap, only for Spies to hit the apex and then manage to gap Stoner even further... Stoner said in his post race interview he was worried about Spies' pace, he said it was too good. Was Stoner scared that Spies would stay ahead, or that he knew the Yamaha had fantastic grip where he was already struggling in the first few laps? It didn't take Stoner long to realise that what he wanted to do was pass Spies and try to build a gap, in typical Stoner style, perhaps he waited just that little bit too long to get past Ben as within one lap Jorge made up the positions from 5th to 3rd, then he took his team mate for 2nd and began chasing Stoner down. It didn't take him long either and whilst Stoner did put up a fight in one of the best (albeit short) battles we've seen all season Lorenzo was just too fast and managed to build a comfortable buffer on Stoner, who fell back towards team mate Dani Pedrosa who would be hungry to beat his super fast team mate to justify his worthiness of a factory ride next year as rumours of Marc Marquez signing for Repsol Honda amongst further rumours of the rookie rule that was stopping it being dropped have to be in the back of Pedrosa's mind. Bautista was never too far behind Pedrosa either, clearly aiming for his first ever MotoGP podium. Stoner just about held off Pedrosa despite a last lap lunge into Vale to maintain Repsol Honda's run of a a rider on the podium at every round this year.

MotoGP: Silly Season has started!

In the biggest MotoGP news story since Valentino Rossi entered a relationship with Ducati, Casey Stoner announced his retirement at the Le Mans pre-race press conference on Thursday. Whilst this was a shock, given that Casey had not long ago vehemently denied that he was retiring following rumours instigated by the Spanish press at Jerez it was also understandable given that Casey had indicated that he wouldn't be around much longer, although we thought it would be at least another couple of seasons. Losing Casey Stoner is going to hurt MotoGP as it simply cannot be denied he is one of the best riders that have graced the grid for a good few years. The race at Le Mans showed us what we'll be missing as Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner had an impressive duel for second place. Casey has matured into an incredible racer and it'll really be a shame to see him go, however I'm not going to rant on about it.

Some are claiming that Casey's announcement has brought silly season among us "early". Those some, are wrong. What people don't seem to realise is that this is quite a common time for discussions regarding future contracts to begin, firstly with the top riders. I guess the reason for this is because the teams need long enough to search for back up plans if their original ones don't work... like in the case we have this year. The contract discussions would have been happening already this year you just wouldn't have heard much about it if Stoner wasn't going to retire. This announcement brought the contract negotiations into the limelight and now everybody is wondering who will go where. I'll give you a bit of advice though, calm down a bit as we won't be hearing anything for a while.

May Catchup: More lack of support for young riders, Monza & the weather & that last corner incident...

Bit of a long title, I agree - although in the three weeks I've taken out for my exams so much has happened in the racing world. Usually I'd just miss out the races I hadn't had chance to cover but there's so much I want to say about May's events that I couldn't resist writing this in the break between my afternoon and evening sessions in the pub.

Rather than waffling, I'll get straight on and I'll start with the most dull first, it was only my luck that the only race weekend of the year with all three main championships racing, GP, WSB and BSB would fall in the middle of my exams. It even turned out that obviously world superbikes wasn't worth watching as it didn't really happen (more on that later) and it also turned out that the GP wasn't worth watching, as whilst it did happen.. it really didn't. It was one of those races that we grew to fear in Stoner's domination of 2011, nothing would change. Stoner led from lights to flag, Lorenzo was behind him but not close enough to pass and Pedrosa brought up the rear of the podium. I suppose the most interesting thing of the weekend was Dovizioso's beating of Cal Crutchlow for the first time this year, albeit after putting his hand in his pocket for a factory-Yamaha upgrade that Cal hasn't got (then again at least we aren't ranting about team favouritism). Rossi found a bit of pace and came 7th, I wouldn't hold your breath though I wouldn't be too shocked if he pulls up last prototype at Le Mans again. Ben Spies continued his awful season feeding even more rumours about Crutchlow or Dovizioso to take his bike next year, or maybe it'll be Rossi? I'm just making stuff up now - the GP was boring, if it's like it at Le Mans I may consider not watching for the rest of the season, good ride by Stoner as per usual though - I just wish he'd slow down a bit to make it more fun...

World Championship Motorcycling in Crisis - can it be fixed?

In a perfect world, all motorcycle racing championships would have grids full of factory bikes from all the main manufacturers. The grids would also look like rainbows, with the bikes covered in various Trans-National Corporations' logos; and most importantly, no rider would have to pay for their ride. In fact... within this Utopia, all riders would be paid incredible wages.

Generally speaking, MotoGP is in financial crisis, it has been hit badly by economic meltdown in the EU and further abroad.

On the contrary, BSB has not been affected too badly by the shrinking economy, so it seems. BSB could be said to be a very different ball game in this respect. This is why BSB will not be looked at in this blog. Perhaps at a later date... maybe.

Is it therefore possible to 'fix' the financial problems of MotoGP and World Superbikes? This blog aims to propose a few ideas (not every idea though), which in turn are not definite resolutions, but perhaps some firm bases to construct practical solutions upon...

It's common knowledge that motorcycle racing (especially with grand prix machines) is not a poor man's sport. So, how do teams get their money to race, if they don't run a successful chicken farming business (such as PBM)? The answer is sponsors. What is there currently a lack of in times of economic crisis? Sponsors. A link has appeared...

Therefore, the current situation for riders in GP, Moto2 and Moto3 (apart from the very, very good ones) is - "want a ride? Okay, bring a sponsor worth £250k+ and yes you can!" This is so very wrong, but dare I say it... unavoidable at this time.

MotoGP Jerez: The Anti Climax

Following the superb start to the season in Qatar, a three week wait for Jerez was far too long! However there was a dark cloud hanging over the first European round of the season. No, I'm not being metaphorical, there was literally a dark cloud hanging over the entire weekend, with bursts of sun which could turn to rain within minutes. The weather was the epitome of unpredictable, a bit like we've experienced in the UK this past week - it'll be glorious sunshine, then it'll be torrential rain, the sun will come out again and everything dries pretty quickly (of course, race tracks dry even quicker). As we'll all remember from Jerez 2011, the rain likes to spoil things in South West of Spain and it seemed like the weather was determined to spoil proceedings this weekend, Friday was essentially a washout. The rain actually made qualifying quite exciting, as it seemed at the midway point (with Cal Crutchlow on top and all of the top riders in their garages) that there was going to be a downpour, it certainly tried however passed over quick enough not to cause any issue, fortunate for the "big dogs", less fortunate for the Brit.

Qualifying was interesting, Jorge Lorenzo took pole position from compatriot Dani Pedrosa pretty much as expected. However, the unexpected was one Nicky Hayden in third place on the Ducati. Yes that's right, the Ducati. Yes, that's right, the bike that the Greatest of All Time can't get to go fast. Hayden out qualified the Doctor in Qatar and didn't just out qualify him in Jerez but put the "un-ridable" Ducati in a competitive position, re-igniting the gossip mill of what seems to be the key story of 2012, not helped by Casey Stoner trying to add fuel to the fire by making a dig at Rossi through the media. More on this later. Following Hayden was another sterling qualification from Cal Crutchlow, showing that his qualifying pace in Qatar wasn't a one off. The World Champion, Casey Stoner and Ben Spies joined Cal on the third row. Valentino, was the last prototype once again and was even beaten by the CRT of Randy De Puniet, showing that in outright pace CRTs could compete on the tighter circuits with shorter straights (like Jerez).

WSB Assen - The Frenchman, the Irishman and the Grinner.

Where to start? I suppose, the weather would be appropriate! This was the most discussed issue throughout the weekend (bar the actual racing), seeing as prior to the weekend, the forecast was dismal. As the Eurosport program for race day started, viewers were greeted (cheerfully) as per usual by a well wrapped up Tony Carter, who proceeded to sound like Michael Fish more and more, as the day went on.

For the 3rd round in succession British WSB fans were filled with promise and hope, as once again the Grinner - Tom Sykes planted his ZX-10 on pole position. Every round this season, Sykes has been fastest and has been looking dead certain to bag that pickle of a second world championship victory! However, the same problem has been recurring every time, it seems - tyre wear!

Race one (which began dry) for Sykes started off similarly to the previous rounds - he sped off into the distance, and after a few laps, it looked as though it was the same old story - the tyres started to go off. Hence, the lasso effect came into play and Sykes was reeled in by the pursuing "14-wheeled motorcycle". Once Sykes had joined his fellow racers, the following 7 riders became 10 as John Hopkins tagged along also. Things then took a turn for the worse for poor old Grinner. Down the home straight it looked like the engine blew, turns out a 'faulty hose clip' caused water to spew out from the radiator, so Grinner was forced to retire. Here's hoping he'll get some better luck soon!

BSB season openers show potential for an unpredictable 2012

Two weeks ago I was freezing my socks off in a tent at Brands Hatch and nearly one week ago my co-writer Matt was freezing his socks off at Thruxton, albeit a bit drier than me. This can mean only two things, either Matt and I are insane and like to be out in the cold and rain or the British Superbikes season has begun. Yes, as you know - it's the latter and could we have been treated to anything better? I predicted in my BSB preview (which you can read here) that this season would be phenomenal, and if the first two rounds are anything to go by - I was definitely right and as far as I can see, it's only going to get better.

A lot of the riders I spoke to before Brands were unhappy in regards to their lack of testing prior to Brands Round 1 whether it be due to getting the bikes late, getting certain parts late or simply lack of money so a lot of guys have said these first two rounds are quite simply tests for them, this is the exact reason I think that there's more to come from BSB this season and we'll explore this later.

Kirkham stole victory from Seeley at at very wet Brands Hatch

Photo: Craig Frier

Brands Hatch was a fantastic weekend to go to, the extra practice day made it all the more worthwhile as it meant we got two dry days on track and the analysis of lap times was quite interesting - especially as for the majority of the time the gap between the top 20 was less than a second. Different riders up to the top, riders you wouldn't expect at the bottom, of course - this is partly attributed to the aforementioned lack of testing for certain guys. When it came down to qualifying being wet, it turned into who had the best wet set up/biggest balls. Some were unlucky, including large names such as Laverty and Hill and some were quite fortunate and some, were where we expected. Race day at Brands was wet, it was very wet and it was dangerous. Arguably, it should have been called off from the start (see our views here) but eventually it was called off just before race 2. Therefore there was only one superbike race at Brands, a very wet race which Alastair Seeley and Jon Kirkham rode their arses off in leading to quite the battle (as good as battles go when you're wrestling a 200bhp superbike on an extremely wet water), Kirkham just clinching it from Seeley in the end with a slide. I guess the focal point of this race were the horrendous crashes, although they are mentioned in the blog re: weather. I suppose you could say Brands started on bit of an anomaly, but it'll be interesting to see what happens in the next wet race - whether it's the same riders up there or not.

MotoGP Qatar: An almost unexpected victory

With preparing for Brands Hatch and revision I had almost forgotten the start of the Grand Prix season was upon us and I rushed my season preview blog the day before we left (read it here). However, at the end of track action on Friday at Brands Hatch I was very keen to get into the pub to watch free practice!

In my season preview blog, I was discussing whether or not this season would be exciting and whilst we can't take too much from the first weekend of the year - it's the only predictor we have at the moment. Qualifying was exciting. Stoner did his usual blast of a fast lap early in the session to show who's boss and see what the competition can put up against him. Of course, the attack came from the expected - Jorge Lorenzo, the Spaniard showing spectacular pace - however it wasn't Stoner's team mate who was challenging too - but the Yamaha of Cal Crutchlow. In fact, Yamaha dominated qualifying really putting their bikes 1st (Lorenzo), 3rd (Crutchlow), 4th (Spies, and it would have been higher had he not crashed) and 6th (Dovizioso). The next Honda in a measly 7th place, Dani Pedrosa, one of the so-called favourites for the title. In 5th place, was Nicky Hayden causing much drama and many rumours as Valentino was 12th and last prototype (I'm not gonna write it, you've heard it all...).

So if qualifying was anything to go by, the race could be exciting. We all knew that Casey Stoner is in a world of his own at Qatar, it is perhaps his second best track behind only Phillip Island, so the fact Lorenzo was showing pace was generating a lot of hype for the race. Of course, there was also the British hype for the fact that Cal Crutchlow was starting from the front row for the first time in his career and the first time a Brit would start on the front row since 4 years ago at the very same circuit, when Toseland put his M1 2nd on the grid next to Lorenzo. If the stats were anything to go by, it could be a very exciting race.

Brands BSB disaster prompts rule change call from Palmer

Haga didn't get chance to impress in his BSB debut as
he struggled to get used to the weather.

Photo: Craig Frier

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that race day at Brands Hatch for Round 1 of the British Superbikes was nothing less than disastrous. The weather was absolutely awful, it started raining about 2am and quite simply did not stop after that for about 24 hours. The circuit was royally drenched and a lot of riders and teams were claiming it would be unsafe to race after warm up, but what is Stuart Higgs meant to do when there's 10,000 people huddled around the circuit expecting a days racing action and sponsors who have paid up to have their product advertised in a full days televised racing?

You can appreciate the difficult position to be in and as the day went on, I can imagine this position became even more and more difficult to the point where Higgs seemed almost pissed off when he had to cancel racing prior to the second BSB race. Through this blog we'll discuss a few questions, 1) Should MSVR have called off the days racing earlier? 2) Was the Supersport drama actually the fault of Pauli Pekkanen and the fact he remounted his machine? 3) Is a rule change necessary to prevent bikes from crashing, remounting without realising their machine is leaking and will contaminate the circuit.

MotoGP 2012: To be, or not to be?

Let's face it, on the track last years GP season was absolutely dire, there were some exciting political moves off the track but the season was poor for a number of reasons. Several people have said to me, "not much has changed in MotoGP for this year, so won't it be a repeat of last year?" - I'm inclined to think not.

I've taken some risky moves this season in my previews, I've claimed that Sykes will win numerous WSBK races. I've claimed Nori Haga won't succeed in BSB and now I'm going to make another controversial claim - MotoGP is going to be exciting in 2012 and I don't think Stoner will have it so easy unlike popular-opinion suggests.

Testing times, would suggest I'm wrong, Stoner's been ahead through and through but Yamaha are more competitive than they were at this point last year - and not just Lorenzo but Spies too seems raring to go. This blog will go through all the potential winners in GP, podium potentials and then we'll go through CRT a little bit. With the season starting next weekend in Qatar we certainly don't have long to wait..

WSBK Imola: This could be exciting...

So the "real" racing season kicked off at the weekend with World Superbikes from Imola after the little teaser that was Philip Island over a month ago and as I predicted in my race review from the Island - World Superbikes could be very exciting this year and if anything, Imola added to this excitement.

To be brutally honest, the races themselves weren't that exciting - World Supersport again perhaps outshone World Superbike with a stunning victory from veteran Fabien Foret followed by Sam Lowes with a well-deserved second place - however, things that happened within the Superbike race really show some people's potential early on and let's not forget - it's a very long season and there's a long way to go - and I think this years championship battle is only going to get better as the season goes on, despite Checa having won 3 out of the 4 races so far. Click read more for a quick review of both Race 1 and 2 and then an analysis of what Imola means for the rest of the season.

BSB 2012: Will the new rules make any difference?

I've been promising this blog for a while now, I said I'd wait until all the teams were announced and last week this became the case. I had a sneaky feeling that Quay Garage wouldn't be in BSB this year after I heard rumours that if they wanted a chance of riding in BSB they had to confirm their place before they could confirm whether or not they could afford to race. Unfortunately for Quay Garage (and Tommy Bridewell) the teams plans never came to fruition. This was however, lucky for MSVR who had bent the rules by allowing a seventeenth team into the championship despite ruling only sixteen teams would be racing, but who wants to miss out on the PR opportunity of having a woman (yes, a woman!!) in BSB... with Quay Garage pulling out this opened the spot for Jenny Tinmouth's "Two Wheel Racing" team. However, I'd imagine there are teams that have frantically rushed to form partnerships with other teams to ensure they have 2 riders that are a little pissed off that one team has been able to break the rule of 2 riders per team, however I guess it could be argued it balances the field out due to WFR Honda fielding three young talents.

Anyway, with massive technical regulation changes for 2012 BSB has the potential to be quite interesting... or does it? No traction control, a spec ECU and limited engine tuning means bikes are essentially trick Superstockers... will the big boys be able to handle it after being used to traction control for years? Already guys such as Hill and Shakey have had massive highsides in testing... although surely it's only a matter of time before they get used to it? Will the 2012 technical regulations have any difference at all? Will it be the same guys up there again in 2012? Will the influx of foreign riders spice things up at all? Click Read More to find out our thoughts!

Phillip Island WSB - More of the same for 2012?

The greatly anticipated first round of the World Superbike Championship kicked off at Phillip Island at the weekend and I, like many other fans stayed up all night to watch the first racing event of 2012 unfold. Whilst it produced somewhat predictable results, with both Biaggi and Checa taking a race win a piece it's actually raised some really interesting questions. However, it does worry me that World Supersport once again embarrassed World Superbikes as their five-man challenge for the win was in many ways, epic although it certainly won't be race of the year due to the common tyre problem Phillip Island brings.

I believe tyres had a major effect in Superbikes too, the likes of Johnny Rea, Tom Sykes and generally anyone else who wasn't on a Ducati or Aprilia...

The Aprilia has always been a phenomenal piece of kit, Max Biaggi beat Troy Corser's lap record (and let's face it, it's been a few years since Corser's been fast...) with a time that would have put him in 7th place on the MotoGP grid (this is a good thing, bare in mind that Aprilia's CRT machine is based on the RSV4, so judging by this it shows at least the Aprilia CRT could be competitive). For those of you who don't know (if you don't, WHY?) Max won the first race and after being nudged off track a little bit by Tom Sykes in the second race, he made a miraculous recovery from last to second. Max certainly came back from his year of tantrums, tears and generally being a twat (yeah I know he's always been a twat, but last year more so) with a bang. Superb riding from Biaggi, although there have been a lot of cries of unfairness, as the Aprilia is 10kph faster than every other bike bar the BMW in a straight line...

Leading this criticism is Althea Ducati's manager, as the 1198 has been hit with 6kg weight penalty this year due to claims that Ducati did "too well" last year (I only remember Checa doing better than most though...). To be fair, although Checa won the second race and was miles ahead of other competitors, had Biaggi not been grass tracking he would have won the race. Checa fell quite spectacularly in Race 1 (another highside at the Island..) and opened the podium up to others, although with Biaggi being on MotoGP pace... Checa was never going to win. Click read more to see whether I think SBK will be 2011 all over again, or a fight between Checa & Biaggi or whether I feel the others still have a chance...

How importing World Class riders to Britain is a good thing for BSB

I nearly titled this blog quite inappropriately, oh well. Today it's been revealed on Twitter that BSB are interested in importing Anthony West to ride in what we'll often refer to as the best domestic racing championship in the world. I should point out, that this is not confirmation, BSB were quite clear in their tweet here that it's just an idea. West might not even be interested (more fool him if that's so). Whether this feat will be possible is unclear, Anthony West declared only yesterday he intends to retire from motorsport after failing to secure his GP CRT ride with the Speedmaster team due to lack of sponsorship.

Anthony West isn't the only big name BSB bosses have been after this off season, with the rate that the Noriyuki Haga rumours have circulated the only surprise there would be if Nori Haga isn't on the grid at Brands Hatch come Easter weekend. Of course, the catalyst for this international interest in British Superbikes is that John Hopkins, whose career had essentially flopped came to Britain and very nearly left with a Grand Prix ride... There's a lot of debate circulating to whether this is the right thing for BSB. Inevitably, securing such large names comes at a cost, definitely one the majority of teams could not field themselves. I think it's quite obvious that MSVR have no issues with financing teams should it be in situations like this - the debate rising from this however, is whether this is fair?

I suppose there are arguments to suggest that it's not fair, with most riders in BSB having to contribute cash towards their rides as we said our recent blog on the lack of prize money some riders are just simply not able to find a decent ride, or even run in BSB. Examples of this are Glen Richards who won the BSB EVO title, now heading back to Supersport, also Steve Brogan, the inaugural EVO champion, heading back to Superstock. I agree with you, it's wrong to see this happening. Another argument I've seen against securing such names to ride in Britain is the argument that has made me the friend of some and foe of others, the prize money debate. I've heard murmurings of "If MSVR can pay to bring such riders to Britain, why can't they pay prize money?". Whilst I may be inclined to agree with this, I can't ignore what I believe to be the many positives of bringing such riders to Britain, it's clear that MSVR can't/won't give riders prize money - whether this is something we can change in the future, who knows?

All I know is that there are many reasons I'm siding with MSVR on this one (a rarity, I know). Click Read More to find out why!

At least 11 potential winners for WSBK 2012?

There's been a lot of talk on Twitter recently about how there seems to be a large number of potential winners running in the World Superbike championship for 2012. I was seeing numbers ranging from 10-12, I've taken a look and decided that I believe there are 11 potential winners for next year, with a couple more possibilities too - so it could be shaping up to be one of the best SBK seasons yet.

Of course, by potential winner we mean someone that wouldn't totally surprise us should they take the top step - someone we would almost expect to be on the rostrum. This blog will at first, go through the eleven potentials we believe can win races in WSBK and then take a quick preview at the other riders and see where their potential stands.

It cannot be forgotten that WSBK is the series of elite superbike riders, whether these elite have dropped down from MotoGP or come up through domestic championships or the support championships of WSBK itself. Because of this, for quite a few years WSBK has had quite a promising line up - therefore we shouldn't assume anything. You only have to mention that 2009 was allegedly going to be the "year of the Brits" with a 6 strong British attack on WSBK to realise that real life can be very different to the on paper predictions made.

Saying that, I'm not going to make any pessimistic assumptions as it's simply bad morale for the race fan to do so during the off season when the only thing we have to keep us from dying of boredom is talking to other race fans via mediums such as Twitter about things exactly like I'm blogging about. So yes, click "Read more" to hear who I believe will be the ecstatic eleven in WSBK 2012.

They give it their all and get nothing out of it...

Something that's been quite a hot topic amongst the BSB community on twitter recently is the fact that there is no prize money in the British Superbike Championship. Prize Money being essentially a lump sum as a prize to the person (and/or perhaps team, as Shaun Muir suggested on Twitter) who wins the championship although perhaps a fairer thing to do would be to pay prize money based upon race by race result. Another suggestion has been for start money to be paid, this would mean any riders completing 1 or more laps get paid a sum of money for starting the race.

There's no prize money in the MotoGP paddock, the elite class of motorcycle racing so I suppose one could argue that if there's no prize money in GP why should there be in a domestic series such as British Superbikes? Well, for a start the majority of, if not all MotoGP riders are being paid by the teams/sponsors to ride - they have wage and a bloody good one for most of them. Very few riders in British Superbikes ride for a wage - it'll just be the guys at the top. So for the majority of riders in BSB they face a task of convincing a team with a healthy budget to take them on which these days is very unlikely to happen and the more pressing challenge is finding the money to essentially buy yourself a ride and it's this reason that guys like Peter Hickman are still without a ride for 2012 despite some spectacular performances in 2011 - if there had been performance based prize money in 2011 it'd have been a help to the guys who need the funding.

James Westmoreland in his interview with In the Gravel (see it here) told us that his family have spent an absolute fortune just so he could race for the past 10 years. I'd dread to think the amount of money they've put in along with the many other riders in similar positions, do they ever get anything out of the series? No. They may be paid occasionally by sponsors (but more often than not this money goes to the team) or team bonuses but they give their all making British Superbikes the most competitive domestic racing series in the world and get barely anything from the business that wouldn't exist without them.

What's going wrong with the youth of BSB? Interviews with Dan Linfoot & James Westmoreland

It's quite a while ago now that our "What's going wrong with the youth of BSB" was published causing quite a stir amongst the Superbike community. It could be said the blog was the making of In the Gravel Again and it only seemed right to revisit the blog topic following a rather unusual silly season reminds us that the problems for younger riders are still present in British Superbikes.

This blog will assess how the situation for younger riders has changed since we last spoke about the topic and for the first time ever, In the Gravel has acquired comments from two of those we frequently write about, two of BSB's very own young riders - Dan Linfoot and James Westmoreland. The original blog was incited by these two riders being let go from their teams mid-season, with Linfoot leaving SMT Honda on a "mutual" agreement and Rob Mac Racing waving good bye to Westmoreland on the day the blog was written. At the time we wrote about how fans felt it unfair some of their favourite riders were let go from teams mid season, now we look into 2012 hoping that this simply won't happen - but we can't really get our hopes up.

2012 "Transfer season" (if you will) has been quite peculiar, with some riders who put in fantastic performances in 2011 simply not being able to find funding to secure a ride. Of course, the top riders were all snapped up fairly early (yes, including Tommy Hill even though it wasn't publicly announced until recently) but if I was to mention names such as Peter Hickman, Michael Rutter and Glen Richards you'd think these two top 10 guys and the EVO champion would have been able to secure a ride for 2012. Ok, Michael & Glen aren't the youngest and yes, this blog is about the chances for young riders but can you seriously say it's fair that these guys don't have rides? Click Read More to see why we think that these guys don't have a ride, why the current system is problematic for young riders and of course - see what Dan Linfoot and James Westmoreland have to say.