British MotoGP

It's that time of the year again, yep umbrella's, wellies and winter coats aka the glorious British Summertime!

Silverstone was the next stop off on the MotoGP calendar. It kicked up some blustery conditions on Friday practise's with it ulternating between rain and sun throughout the first half of the weekend, by the time race day came around it was dry conditions. 

Moto3:

Moto3 was the last race of the day at Silverstone, and it did not disappoint. Throughout the race there was an intense top 10 battle, swapping and changing the order so much that any of the riders could have finished on the podium.
Jack Miller and Alex Rins were early crashes, both sustaining hefty injuries and a few broken bones.
Towards the closing laps of the race it was Maverick Vinales who pulled out a lead from the rest of the pack however Louis Salom and Sandro Cortese weren't too far behind. In a nerve wracking last lap Cortese took 2nd from Salom though the Spanish rider put in a fierce lap, Salom pipped Cortese to the finish line and took 2nd position.Vinales crossed the line as the Moto3 winner at Silverstone, his third of the season and an important one at that, he's now taken back the lead from Sandro Cortese in the championship.
It was bitter sweet for the Brits in Moto3, Danny Webb, who was sporting a late great Barry Sheene replica helmet, had to retire in front of his home crowd. Though Brit Danny Kent had a good race battling closer to the front and finished the race in 6th place.

[Sorry for the quality, or lack of. 1st-Maverick Vinales, 2nd-Louis Salom, 3rd-Sandro Cortese]

Moto2:

With controversy off track still going on between Pol Espargaro's team and Marc Marquez's about the previous race in Spain (Pol's team is appealing against the decision to drop Marquez's time penalty) that was going to stop them both racing hard against each other yet again.
They say being at your home Grand Prix, in front of you home crowd, spurs you on to do well for the fans that have come out to support you and for yourself at a track you call you home track. Well, we saw a lot of it this weekend and Scott Redding (along with every other brit rider) put in a great effort. He battled with Marquez for the majority of the race for the battle for 2nd position and at some stages looking like he could go all the way to the win. Bradley Smith also got involved, however later on in the race started to drop off the pace.
There was no stopping Espargaro's fine form this season and he crossed the line on the top spot of the podium. Joining him was Redding who held off Marquez who finished in 3rd.

 [1st-Pol Espargaro, 2nd-Scott Redding, 3rd-Marc Marquez]

MotoGP:

With rain hampering the end of Saturday's qualifying session, MotoGP was  a bit like this year's Formula 1 championship - different pole sitters. Well, it was a first for Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista who bagged himself his first pole at the circuit, a little ray of sunshine to a team that deserves it after such a hard 7 and a half months, at a circuit that was also paying tribute to Marco Simoncelli (former Honda Gresini rider) *See end of post.

Cal Crutchlow was the talking point throughout the weekend, one of a hanfdul British riders but one with the most hope of a podium in the MotoGP class. Last year he was unable to participate in the race after breaking his collarbone previously. His one aim this year was to start the race at Silverstone in front of his home crowd... what does he go and do, crash in practise the day before and dislocate/ break his ankle. Spending the day in hospital unable to qualify, a race start was in doubt. After initially failing the medical tests at the circuit on Sunday morning as well as telling porky pies to the officials Crutchlow was determined to race and so he did, and can i say he did every Brit proud! True sportsmanship for his country. 

The race:
Ben Spies was the early leader in the MotoGP race, closely followed by the likes of casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, pole sitter Alvaro Bautista and Nicky Hayden.
It didn't last long before Casey Stoner was leading the race. After dropping back to 5th Jorge Lorenzo knew he couldn't let the Australian run away with it and soon found his rhythm. Nick Hayden soon started to lose the pace as well as lose places and leaving the door open to many a rider, Lorenzo took fully advantage, he soon passed Alvaro Bautista and was the front setting fast laps to reel Stoner back in.
Meanwhile Cal Crutchlow, who started from the back of the grid had a stormer of a race. It wasn't long before he'd overtaken all of the CRT riders and was battling in the top 10. The honey badger never gave up and ended up finishing the race in 6th!! Well done Cal, you made us all very proud!
After cutting down the gap, Lorenzo found his self in a tassle with Stoner, who he then overtook to take a clear lead. He went on to win the race, both Honda riders Stoner and Pedrosa joined him on the podium. Bautista narrowly missed out on the podium in the closing stages as he Pedrosa started to build a gap.
The top CRT was a familiar face of Aleix Espargaro, it's been a good year for the brothers!

Once again, i can't say it enough of what a great race Crutchlow put in with his injury, and the crowd were right behind him cheering him on, i can imagine a lot of people were cheering at their tv's too, i know i was.

Rider of the race for sure.

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

*This weekend was the release of the official Marco Simoncelli foundation song by UK band The Rainband. Profits of the single go to the foundation set up by Simoncelli's family.
The single is called 'Rise Again' featuring retired MotoGP and Superbike rider James Toseland.
If you're from the UK head to this link http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/rise-again-feat.-james-toseland/id532532309 to download the single from Itunes, it's 79p and for a good cause!!

Next UP:
MotoGP will be back in a few weeks time in Assen, remember race day will be on Saturday.
F1 is back this weekend in Valencia.... let's how it's a lot more exciting than last year.

Grand Prix experience

Seeing as I have only recently stared up this blog and we are now on the summer break I thought I’d share and reflect on my fairly recent F1 experience  – The British Grand Prix.

After going to my first Grand Prix at Silverstone last year, I thought that nothing would beat my first GP experience. The first time I heard a Formula 1 car, the first time I saw them fly past me, seeing the drivers in person or more like thinking ‘Ahh they really do exist!’

 I was very wrong, this year’s blew last year well and truly out of the water, no, not quite literally.

Not only did i hear the sweet sound of Formula 1 car's roaring round the track and the new pit straight and paddock complex but experiencing the atmosphere over the weekend was incredible, despite the rain the weekend was ‘buzzing’ and everyone you met had a beam from ear to ear and displayed a kiddy-like excitement, slightly different from last year when most of us were melting over the weekend.

For the first time this season -in my opinion- the race had a very unpredictable sense of who would achieve, who wouldn't, what was the weather going to be like in 5 minutes let alone in a few hours, what effect will the new rule changes have on the teams, how will Daniel Ricciardo fair in his first Formula 1 Grand Prix after replacing Narain Karthikeyan at Hispania. From a fan perspective this all very thrilling!

All three day’s were packed out so everyone scrambled for the seat they longed for on Friday and Saturday. One of my favourite was Club corner, being able to see the drivers fighting their car’s around the last corner in FP1 was a good laugh with several off track adventures, one not-so-nice crash from Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi.

The racing was (and i believe always is if you are watching it live) fantastic to watch however this year i had an added extra to my Silverstone adventure: Marussia Virgin Racing weekend. A campsite set up and organised by the MVR team, and i may have already thanked them many times but i honestly couldn't thank them enough for helping make such a fun and entertainment filled weekend.

The MVR weekend included; lots of up and coming bands who were a lot better than my expectations, Jamie Oliver’s fabulous feasts, meet and greet the drivers and reserve drivers as well as all the team, DJ set's going on long into the night -expect little sleep over a GP weekend- in particular Marussia Virgin's own reserve driver DJ Sakon Yamamoto, games and competitions, re-runs of the day's action on the big screen, movie's- Cars 2 and Senna, all mixed with meeting lot's of friendly fans.

I have to admit Friday evening was one of the highlight’s… possibly of my life.

All four drivers (Main drivers: Timo Glock, Jerome D’Ambrosio. Reserve drivers: Sakon Yamamoto and Robert Wickens) took part in a Q&A session on stage, a few gags and fan questions later they came off stage to meet and greet, all four were polite and lovely! Followed by bands and drinks later Saturday had rolled around and it was time for FP3 and Qualifying.

Saturday saw Mark Webber take pole for the second year in a row with Sebastian Vettel 2^nd and Fernando Alonso in 3^rd. For the Brits it was swings and roundabouts or tyres and down force so to speak, Jenson Button pulled up to the grid in a satisfactory 5^th, while Paul di Resta impressed in 6^th however Lewis Hamilton started in a disappointing 10^th.

The support on Sunday was still positive will every McLaren fan looking forward to what both Button and Hamilton could do to make us all cheer with happiness.

Lucky for me I was on the new international pit straight for the race so after celeb spotting on the grid (including Prince Harry) it was time to get down to business.

Lining back up on the grid after the installation lap I could feel the tension growing and I was starting to feel nervous but very excited

I’d recall the race for you but you already know what happened. The atmosphere went from silent nerves to roaring encouragement every time Hamilton and Button (till his retirement) went past, with the occasional Ferrari and Red Bull fans leaping up of their seat every so often.

The last lap was magical, watching the moment when Felipe and Lewis battled it out till the very last second; I’ve never felt so many emotions and nerves. Although McLaren weren’t on the podium 4^th was still better then 5^th and made Button’s retirement that bit easier.

Champagne sprayed with Alonso getting his championship underway, winning his first race of the 2011 season followed by Vettel in 2^nd and Webber in 3^rd for RBR.

One of the highlights for me was seeing the swarm of fans running on to the track just as the podium was wrapping up. My reaction was “Look, look! That is something special, let’s join them!” this lasted all of about 2 minutes when they guy minding our grandstand said no more people were allowed to climb under the scaffolding. I waited eagerly and he turned round to me about 5 minutes later and said walk round to the gate that’s open. Nothing like making me think I’d not get on the track!! Needless to say I literally ran to the gate, my one goal/wish was to get on the track and I was able to.

I felt like a 5 year old at Christmas I was that excited, an hour’s walk later, both my camera’s dying on me and with a handful of marbles I went to check out the after party. I wasn’t in the midst of it it but I had a good view of the stage and got to see a fair few drivers as well as iconic faces such as Jackie Stewart.

After the day’s activities, back at MVR weekend they showed ‘SENNA’ on the big screen. I’d go on about how amazing it was but to be honest it was far, far more than that, it was emotional to say the very least, and no words justify how brilliant it is, he was a great man off the track and he was one, if not the best driver’s. He’ll always live on.

To sum up this post, Silverstone was the best weekend and I advise if you haven’t already that you get yourself to a Grand Prix, you’ll love every second of it, promise!

All again next year?!

In Pictures:

To check out more of my photo's from the weekend...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64623434@N07/