Estoril low down

It was a mixed weekend over in Portugal for the MotoGP weekend. Weather effected all three classes practise on Friday with little to no running for some riders, with improvements in weather conditions qualifying kicked up some nasty crashes and gobsmacking saves.
The MotoGP bikes in quali seemed to have a mind of their own, the save of the season has to go to Ivan Silva who, while holding on in an attempt to stay on the bike, hit the throttle and done a spectacular wheelie, saving the bike and going on his merry way (although he later had a unpleasant crash in warm up) however a few minutes later a nasty crash occurred between Randy De Puniet and Colin Edwards - Edwards was off the racing line on a slow lap while RDP was on a hot lap, just as he was sweeping past, the bike went down and collected Edwards. The weekend was over for Colin sustaining a broken collarbone. Both being rather beat up Randy was able to take part in the race.

Moto3:
It was a battle between Sandro Cortese (who started on pole for the second time this season) and Maverick Vinales, hot on their exhausts was the familiar name of Louis Salom but up in the battle for a podium spot were also Efron Vazquez (JHK T-shirt Laglisse) and Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Airasia-Sic-Ajo)
The first half of the race was the usual mix in order however with every lap the race hot up, a tight battle between Brit Danny Kent and Italian Romano Fenati saw them both duel for position till confidence got the better of both the riders and ended up running wide together losing several places, soon after Romano Fenati crashed out the race on Lap 9 along with Louis Rossi who had a strong start to the race.
The latter stage of the race was intense racing, tactical Cortese stayed close behind Vinales, both lapping similar times. When the chequered flag was near with a few laps to go the battle was on, swapping and changing position countless times making your mind boggle with who was leading who. The last half a lap was nail biting (seriously, i have no nails left) they came up against lapped riders, getting mixed up with them and eager to get his first Moto3 win Sandro Cortese pulled out some agressive (but not over-agressive or dangerous in my opinion) moves on Maverick Vinales to take the first step of the podium!
Vinales wasn't too happy after the race, his fiery Spanish side and lack of experience in these 'situations' got the better of him, his team having to assure him that Cortese was within his rights, while Sandro himself was full of smiles, a season he needs to make an impression on and that he is certainly doing!
Louis Salom joined them on the podium after a great fight with Zulfahmi Khairuddin who put his stamp on the race and was close to being the first Malaysian rider to grace the podium, i'm sure we'll be seing more of him in future races.
Although it proved an exciting race, promising Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira retired due to a mechanical failure after such promising practise and Qualifying, bad luck Miguel.

Retirements: Jasper Iwema (8 laps), Romano Fenati (9 laps), Louis Rossi (9 laps), Issac Vinales (10 laps), Danny Webb (15 laps), Adrian Martin (17 laps), Miguel Oliveira (20 laps)

[Sandro Cortese-1st, Maverick Vinales-2nd, Louis Salom-3rd]

Moto2:
There seems to never be a dull race in Moto2 and Estoril was no different.
Marc Marquez led the first lap but by the second it was Thomas Luthi who was in front, Marquez, Pol Espargaro and Johann Zarco all staying within over taking distance of each other. Luthi led for the majority of the race with the fight for podium going on, not far behind the top 4 were Scott Redding and Andrea Iannone pushing hard though once again Redding dropped off rapidly to the middle of the pack finishing in 11th. Iannone was on a charge but a mistake on Lap 11 saw him temporarily run his own race off-track, re-joining and eventually finishing in 5th.
Lap 17 was when any hope of a victory started to get less likely for Luthi as he wasn't able to pull a gap from Marquez and Espargaro who both over took the Swiss and they themselves pulled out a gap.
For the second race running the victory would either be Pol Espargaro's or Marc Marquez's. With quite a few chop and changes (after all this is Moto2 - nothing can be decided with only a few changes in lead) a fierce spat between both Spaniards and it was Pol who was first to slip, not literally but he ran wide at the chicane on the last lap and it was all over, 2nd place was the place he'd finish, giving the win to Marquez.
A hand-shake on the cool down lap (Maverick Vinales take note) Espargaro was gracious in defeat both riders enjoyed the rivalry and happy to be on podium. Once again joining them was Thomas Luthi.

Retirements: Mike de Meglio (6 laps), Simone Corsi (7 laps), Axel Pons (17 laps), Yuki Takahashi (21 laps)

[Marc Marquez-1st, Pol Espargaro-2nd, Thomas Luthi-3rd]

MotoGP:
MotoGP seems to be back to it's own familiar pattern (which i know some fans are finding... less interesting) With both Qatar and Jerez behind him it was Casey Stoner that has well and truly returned to his previous seasons form - winning by a mile.
What i'd like to type: 'it was a a close battle between front runner Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo both pinching the lead of each other throughout the race...'
What really happened: Casey Stoner had a terrific start and led the race from start to finish, pulling out a big enough gap from Lorenzo in which all Lorenzo could do was sniff the exhaust fumes from the Honda rider.
That was the story from the front of the pack and all though a very deserving race for Stoner and his pure skill to pull away from the pack for the whole race it does get a bit mundane doesn't it (but then all though i try to be as un-biased as possible on my blog i am a Lorenzo fan so this is very frustrating)
Further down it was Valentino Rossi, that i think i can safely say every MotoGP fan was happy for him, finding a bit of pace he was able to stay consistant and cross the line in 7th - the highest he's finished all season, feeling more at one with the bike i hope Ducati are on the right road but teammate Nicky Hayden had an appalling race finishing in 11th, apparently the bike was all out of sync, not handling like it should. As i've said before it's either or in the Ducati team it seems, fingers crossed that they'll soon have both riders up there on form.
Talking of form it was another disappointing race for Yamaha's Ben Spies, although he took 8th from race rival Stefan Bradl, who may i say is having a great rookie year for LCR Honda, Spies had a positive start up at the front however he himself admitting his over-confidence with finally feeling like he was in control, led him to make several errors during the first half of the race. Feeling the pressure that comes with lack of performance but finally being at one with his bike maybe we'll see him up there in Le Mans.
Having a corker of a season is the Tech 3 Yamaha's of Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow, both having a race between themselves and finishing 4th and 5th respectively.

Fastest CRT: Aleix Espargaro

Retirements: Karel Abraham (5 laps), James Ellison (10 laps), Yonny Hernandez (12 laps), Mattia Pasini (17 laps), Ivan Silva (17 laps)

[Casey Stoner-1sr, Jorge Lorenzo-2nd, Dani Pedrosa-3rd]

Next up:
Formula 1 is back this weekend in Spain for the start of the European races followed the week after by MotoGP at Le Mans for the French Grand Prix.

Jerez low down

Jerez is a familiar circuit for the majority of the riders, especially the local Spaniards but with mixed conditions throughout the weekend it didn't run as smoothly, for others the rainy weather was a bonus.

Moto3
The mixed conditions hit Moto3 the hardest in so far as the amount of crashes with the rain getting the better of almost half the grid. It was the 16 year old Italian Romano Fenati that proved Qatar was not a fluke and that he really does have serious talent; Fenati led from the start, remaining calm and collected on the damp track. Turn 9 was the make or break for the riders with wet patches catching out a lot of them.

Once again there was an exciting battle for the last podium position between Luis Salom, who finished 2nd, Sandro Cortese, who finished 3rd and Alex Rins who missed out on a podium and finished 4th.
Title favourite Maverick Vinales only managed to finish 6th after a few major mistakes at the start which saw him drop down to 28th, his cousin Issac crashed out on lap 17, not the best day for the Vinales'. The race result means Fenati now leads the Moto3 championship, he has a 10 point advantage over spaniard Vinales.

Riders that crashed out of the race:
[Riders who didn't finish first lap]: Jack Miller, Danny Kent, Simone Grotzkyj - A suspected collarbone fracture for Miller and contusions for Kent.
Others: Adrian Martin (21 laps), Kenta Fujii (8 laps, wrist injury), Danny Webb (9 laps), Louis Rossi (14 laps), Issac Vinales (17 laps), Josep Rodriguez (19 laps), Miguel Oliveira (20 laps), Arthur Sissis (20 laps, contusions to chest and hands), Jakob Kornfeil (21 laps), Brad Binder (21 laps), Afren Vazquez (21 laps), Niklas Ajo (21 laps), Toni Finsterbusch (21 laps), Luigi Morciano (21 laps)

*Niklas Ajo will not be at Estoril after a dispute with a track official.

[1st-Romano Fenati, 2nd Louis Salom, 3rd Sandro Cortese]

Moto2
The weather caused ever more havoc during the Moto2 race; with a strong start by the front runners, the battle was on between Marc Marquez, Thomas Luthi, Scott Redding and Pol Espargaro, each taking the lead off of each countless times. Mika Kallio was also in the hunt early on but with the weather changing he made a diversion (he would have rather avoided) through the gravel dropping him back, he finished in 7th just ahead of Claudio Corti.

Scott Redding was one to watch from the start, he found himself racing for a podium spot after he qualified 12th on the grid. The Brit's chances of a win only lasted 4 laps but a podium was definitely in sight with a battle for 3rd, Swiss rider Thomas Luthi pipped him to it.
A cool track but heated riders, Pol Espargaro fought tooth and nail to hold off Marquez as the rain started falling, both knew the race could be red flagged.

With rain pouring down in Jerez the race was inevitably stopped, however not without confusion as on the lap the flagged was raised, Marquez was in the lead for half the lap, as well as crossing the line under the flag but ruled are rules and it went back to the previous fully completed lap where the last times and places had been recorded which meant Pol Espargaro won his first Moto2 race - even though he didn't know it at the time! Congrats Pol!
All but four of the Moto2 riders stayed on two wheels, Elena Rosell was the first to go out crashing on Lap 4, Marco Colandrea (6 laps), Mike di Meglio (8 laps) and Max Neukirchner (12 laps) were the other three.

[1st-Pol Espargaro, 2nd-Marc Marquez, 3rd-Thomas Luthi]

MotoGP
By the time the MotoGP race rolled around (i know i'm going on about the weather but it was an important factor) the rain had passed and the track was rapidly drying, with tyre wear being the main issue during the race.

Ducati once again were the talking point but on a more positive note this time, Nicky Hayden had a corker of a start to his race, after qualifying on the front row that is where he stayed for the first quarter of the race fending off the Tech 3 Yamaha's of Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso.
While Hayden was holding his place, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo where off in a fight of their own, a familiar sight of them breaking away from the pack. Dani Pedrosa wasn't too far away either.
Stefan Bradl held his own amongst the 'big dawg's' of Valentino Rossi and Alvaro Bautista, the rookie finished in 7th in a Gresini, Ducati sandwich however not Vale but Nicky. Hayden soon wore his tyre's out, with a fair few laps still to run he dropped back down the field to 8th, in front of his teammate. Worrying for the team (i promise i'll hop off the Ducati Bandwagon soon) that while Hayden was immersing himself at the front Rossi was still fighting down in 10th against a rider who is also have a bad start to his season, Ben Spies.
The same thing happened over at Yamaha, Lorenzo fighting for the win and Spies fighting for a point (which he didn't get and finished 11th) Hopefully we'll see them all back up the top sometime soon.

Cal Crutchlow put in another very impressive rider over the weekend, if he had a few more laps and his tyre's weren't dropping off i'm sure he would have taken 3rd off Pedrosa, fingers crossed for the weekend Cal (me bias? of course he's a Brit!)
Lorenzo just missed out on the win with his tyre's degrading rapidly on the last few laps handing the win to Stoner. It was first's for riders in all three classes as Stoner had never won at Jerez before so well done to him. He did suffer from slight arm pump again which is never a good thing, will he get it in Estoril at the weekend...

It was a good weekend for the Espargaro brother's as Pol's big bro Aleix was the fastest CRT (Aleix finished the race in 12th behind Spies) so another well done to him! I bet celebrations went on in their household!
One big disappointment for Randy de Puniet as the frenchman retired on the last lap after what looked like a bike with no fuel left, not a way you want to end so close to the finish line. Other retirements were James Ellison on Lap 24 (gearbox) Michele Pirro, 18 laps and Yonny Hernandez who stalled on the grid, started from the pit lane then came back in to the pit lane on the first lap.

[1st-Casey Stoner, 2nd-Jorge Lorenzo, 3rd- Dani Pedrosa]

Next Race: Estoril 4, 5, 6th May.

Also this week will be the Mugello Formula 1 test.

Here we are again

After what was a very long winter for MotoGP, it's back! First stop on the calendar: Qatar. The circus have arrived for the only night race (can you really call it a night race? More on the evening side) in the season.
MotoGP are very much entering a new era, in more ways than one.

Firstly, the historic 125cc class has followed the change of Moto2 (previously 250cc) and is now Moto3. A little easier to remember. The main change in the lower class championship is they have now moved up to 250cc four-stroke, single cylinder motorcycles from previous 125cc two-stroke bikes.
Moto3 is the 'starting' or lowest (i don't like saying that because they are all so talented and Moto3 isn't a bad place to race) of the three championships, this means that from season to season the rider line up can chop and change quite dramatically compared to MotoGP, with 32 rider competing, all at a young age it's always set to be a corker.
While Moto2 stays near enough the same big changes have happened in MotoGP.
2012 see's the switch in engines; since 2007 teams have been restricted to 800cc engine capacities, now they are riding 1000cc engines, as Dani Pedrosa has said with the new engine you 'brake later and are faster through corners'
As well as the engine change, MotoGP has also introduced CRT (Claiming Rule Team) on the grid. This allows independant teams to be competitive at a lower cost and increase the number of bikes on the grid, something MotoGP was seriously lacking in before the 2012 season. These bikes are effectively bikes you could go and ride on the road compared to the factory bikes which you can't buy.
While it all get's a bit complex for a simple blog the 'Claiming Rule' is an attempt to lower costs further, teams can 'claim' their rivals engines, if they wish, however the actual 'claiming' is done by the MSMA Manufactures. If you want to read the endless pages of rules on CRT then you can always Goggle it, there's plenty of information on 2012 rules released by FIM.

QATAR QUALIFYING
A short low down of Qatar quali - otherwise tomorrow's race blog will be bordering on an essay.

Moto3:
A very close battle at the front has taken place in Moto3 all weekend, qualifying being no different.
125cc veteran (sorry Sandro) Sandro Cortese just grabbed pole in the last few seconds of the session.
Cortese has been around in 125/Moto3 for some time now, with a fresh move to KTM this season, he seems to be settling in well. The KTM so far seems consitent, the bike's been in development for some time and now is the time to see the hard work pay off, starting with a pole. Though Cortese has the race to come, with front runners and young guns, Maverick Vinales, Louis Rossi and Luis Salom all hot on the KTM's exhaust, it is going to be a close battle not only for the top riders but also for the whole field.

Moto2:
Suter rider Thomas Luthi has been quick all weekend, once again he pulled it out when it mattered in quali and took the first Moto2 pole of the season.
Marc Marquez is back and ready to fight for the 2012 championship after being denied the chance to fight for the title last year after his bad crash in Sepang which left him unable to race in Valencia.
Andrea Iannone, Pol Espagaro and Mike Di Meglio are all in contention for a podium.

MotoGP:
The spartan, Jorge Lorenzo triumped to pole position in a last minute hot lap taking pole of reining champion Casey Stoner.
Like the Moto2/3, the grid in MotoGP is set to be a competitive one. Lorenzo and Stoner are most likely to battle it out for the win however the podium is wide open with the likes of Cal Crutchlow, Ben Spies, Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa all eager to get up there. Not the list you thought it would be? Cal Crutchlow has been on it all weekend and is certianly the rider who is switching up the familiar 2011 order, as well as Nicky Hayden who put if a great effort to qualify 5th seeing as Ducati are still struggling to get close to the top with Valentino Rossi only qualifying 12th.

With all the bikes looking beautiful under the lights of the Losail circuit, the long winter break now behind us, it's time for lights out.
On a side not, while we all go in to this season remembering the life of Marco Simoncelli, who i know i'll always remeber and will always be apart of MotoGP, the sport still continues, in memory of  not only Marco Simoncelli but all the fallen riders.
All three race's from Qatar tomorrow evening are set to be thrilling openeers!