Highside

Cubic centimeter (cc)
A cc, or cubic centimeter, is the unit of measurement for the Engine Displacement. An accurate way to measure the effective power of an engine, cc’s allow for variations in different engine variables, like the bore and stroke, while still measuring the same effective power.

125cc
The 125cc class uses the smallest engines of all the current MotoGP classes, and consequently has the smallest bikes of the three. 125cc engines in MotoGP are regulated to have two cylinders. The 125s are seen as more of a novice class, where young riders can gain experience on the world stage before progressing to the larger bikes. The 125cc class is currently the only class in MotoGP that has a maximum age limit (25 years old). Riders must be at least 16 years old in order to compete in the race. 125cc motorcycles have been raced in MotoGP since it’s inaugural season in 1949.

250cc
The 250cc class was the intermediary class between the 125s and the premier MotoGP class before it was replaced with the Moto2 class in 2010. Two cylinder 250cc bikes served as a training catalyst for riders hoping to move into the premier class, but the increased age and skill of the riders, along with the higher speeds and more advanced technology that went into designing the bikes, meant that many people considered it less of a stepping stone and more of a full-fledged, independent class. However, the trend of 250cc World Champions “graduating” to MotoGP hindered this reputation.

Moto2
Moto2 is the spiritual successor to the intermediary 250cc class, in which teams develop their own bike around a spec four cylinder 600cc engine. The Moto2 class began in 2010, in a change brought about by both a desire to cut costs for teams, and increase the number of riders on the track. The series has seen great success thus far, providing two drama-filled races in which over 40 riders have competed. The decision to use a spec engine was an attempt to even the playing field for smaller teams with less funding, while the ability to design a custom chassis has rekindled an old spark in the MotoGP world: privateer teams running “garage” bikes designed by one or two people, and not a factory. Initial reaction to the change has been mixed, with some people complaining about the loss of the traditional 250cc class, and others expressing concern over the use of a spec engine. However, the changes have been greeted positively by riders and team managers, as evidenced by the increased focus on the intermediary class.

MotoGP
The MotoGP Premier class uses four cylinder 800cc prototype bikes currently designed by one of four factories: Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda, or Ducati. The premier class is the main attraction to the world of MotoGP, containing the fastest bikes, best riders, largest salaries, biggest sponsors, and the most glamour. Multi-MotoGP World Championship winners often go on to join the pantheon of racing legends, with the likes of Giacomo Agostini, Kenny Roberts, Michael Doohan, and Valentino Rossi.

Currently the only Japanese rider in MotoGP, Hiroshi Aoyama went down in history as the last 250cc World Champion after his consistent and superb run in the 2009 season. One of the most quiet riders on the grid, Aoyama’s shy nature also makes him one of the more unnoticed MotoGP riders, though his superb level of consistent riding has earned him great respect.

Aoyama, like most of the current crop of MotoGP riders, started racing at a very young age. He competed in MiniMoto at the age of 4, racing against the man who would eventually become his chief rival, Yuki Takahashi. Aoyama experienced his first success while riding in the Japanese Road Racing Championship, where he took the 250cc title in 2003. The following year, he would make his debut on the international stage.

Hiroshi Aoyama impressed viewers immediately upon his entry in the 250cc class, taking two podiums and finishing in 6th place in 2004. The next year would see him finish in 4th place following a season in which he took his first victory at his home race, Motegi. Aoyama would continue to race in the 250cc class for the next four years, bringing KTM their first victory in the class, before switching back to Honda in 2009. It was on board the Team Scot Honda that Aoyama would win the 250cc crown, on a bike that was three years behind in development.

Aoyama’s performance in 2009 was highly admirable, if not dominant. He would stand on the podium seven times that season, four of which were from race wins. Most impressive, though, was that he finished every race of the season in the points–Aoyama never crashed out of a race, nor did he ever finish below 15th. Aoyama’s title win at the age of 28 made him the oldest 250cc World Champion in nearly two decades, and the first Japanese rider to win a title since Daijiro Kato won the 250cc crown in 2001.

Aoyama would move into MotoGP in 2010 on board a Honda furnished by the Interwetten team. He finished his debut race in Qatar in 10th place, ahead of every other 2010 rookie save for the American Ben Spies. Hiroshi has again shown great consistency onboard his MotoGP bike, and is undoubtedly looking forward to making more progress in the 2010 season.

Hiroshi Aoyama during pre-season testing at the Sepang circuit.

The one thing on every MotoGP insider’s mind these days is finding ways to save money. The global financial crisis was incredibly effective at highlighting the extreme costs that go into running a competitive prototype bike, and the effects it had in the 2009 season sent teams, managers, and organizers scrambling for ways to bring the price of running a team in MotoGP back within the realm of feasibility.

The first casualty of the high costs came from Kawasaki’s withdrawal in the 2009 pre-season. Once the season began, concerns began to grow about the financial stability of some of the satellite teams–concerns which manifested after Team Scot Honda had to release Yuki Takahashi after seven races. Just one round later, panic began to take hold as the Grupo Francisco Hernando team withdrew, leaving the MotoGP grid at less than 18 riders for the first time in many years. Financial difficulties weren’t limited to teams and riders alone, as the Hungarian Grand Prix was cancelled, with the Balatonring’s construction halted from lack of funds.

The 2010 season has unified teams and organizers together in an effort to try and cut the costs and prevent any more withdrawals, and the most influential decision made thus far has been the limit on the number of engines a team can use in a season. Before 2010, there had been no limit to the number of times an engine could be rebuilt, which led to one of the most prohibitively expensive costs of the series: flying the engines back to the factories after every race to be stripped apart, cleaned, and re-assembled. The need for this came from yet another prohibitively expensive practice: in an effort to squeeze every last fraction of a second out of the engines, constructors were building their engines out of incredibly lightweight, fragile materials that were constantly breaking down after each race weekend. All of these factors combined to create a need for engine limitations, and it’s brought us to where we are today.

The new regulations require each rider to use only six engines for the entire season. Engines are monitored by the series organizers to ensure that no engine is being stripped down and rebuilt, which has completely cut out the need to fly the engines halfway around the world every other week. The regulations have caused each factory to redesign their engines, building for performance and durability together now, and this has created the unfortunate Catch-22 of the season: in an attempt to cut costs, the regulations have forced each team to spend more money on designing new engines. These costs are not permanent, however–improvements made in increasing durability this year will carry over into future years, and if all goes according to the plan, costs will begin to fall in 2011.

The penalties for breaking the new regulation are still in flux, with the most recent revision being finalized this past weekend at the Jerez race. As it currently stands, any rider who starts a race using a new engine beyond his originally allotted six will start the race from the exit of pit lane, ten seconds after the race begins. This penalty is a bit strange, however–pit lane exits vary from track to track, and the severity of the penalty varies widely for each location. Nowhere is this more concerning than at the Valencia circuit, where, as Nicky Hayden pointed out in an interview on the subject, any rider starting from the exit to pit late “would lead into turn one.” Having an advantage like this at Valencia, the final circuit of the season, could cast a dark shadow over the whole race.

Cutting costs is hardly a perfect science–for many teams, it’s diametrically opposed to the culture MotoGP has bred into them for the past decade. Yet, everyone in the paddock realizes that, for the sport to survive, cuts need to be made. We can only hope that all the loose ends will be tied up before they come into play.

To continue with our goal of helping newer fans get involved and engaged with the sport, we here at Highside are starting a new, ongoing series explaining the rules of the race. We’ll start with the most fundamental rules and move into the more obscure as time progresses. To start, we’ll look at some fundamental rules on how the race is run.

Starting a race: MotoGP races are run from a standing start. What this means is that riders line up on the racetrack in a grid, in the order that they qualified. Riders will stand on their bikes and wait until a bright red light (or oftentimes, a series of lights) turns off. At this point, the race has begun and the riders take off as fast as they can. All of the riders are carefully monitored by MotoGP officials to ensure that none of them start moving before the light turns off. If a rider does so, they are called for a jumped start and must take a penalty. This kind of start is different from those used in Indy Car and NASCAR races, where they use what is called a ‘rolling’ start.

During the race: Riders jockey for position, taking turn after turn and trying to overtake the rider in front of them, all the while trying to keep their own position secure. There are a few maneuvers that are illegal: Riders cannot intentionally take shortcuts through other parts of the track, nor can they intentionally bump or hit another rider with their bikes or bodies. Riders who break these rules are either given time penalties, ride-through penalties, or are disqualified from the race altogether. Riders who accidentally crash are not penalized for coming into contact with another rider, though teams will often argue with each other and officials over whether or not a collision was intentional.

Finishing the race: Like in most races, the first rider to cross the line wins the race. Riders who are more than a lap behind the leader when the Chequered flag is waved finish in their current positions at the end of that lap, and do not race for an additional lap. An electronic timing system is used to determine which rider crosses the line first, with the option for review by the officials reserved for instances where riders finish so close to each other that there may be fault with the electronic timing.

Points: Riders accumulate points based off of their position at the end of a race. These points are tallied up at the end of the season to determine who is the World Champion. A rider must still be riding on the track at the end of the race to earn points. Points earned by position are as follows: 1st: 25 points 2nd: 20 points 3rd: 16 points 4th: 13 points 5th: 11 points. Riders finishing 6th through 15th earn one less point than the rider in front of them. Riders who finished 16th or lower do not earn points.

A new video surfaced yesterday of World Superbike sensation Ben Spies and the “Ben Spies method” of winning races. The video is much in the same vein of the “Day at the Office” skit Yamaha did with Rossi, Lorenzo, Edwards and Toseland shortly after Rossi’s 100th victory.

The new video from Yamaha improves even more off of the earlier one, losing the corny music and god-awful faux-acting from the Yamaha office employees in favor for Spies simply being Spies—something that makes the lanky, shy Texan adorable and lovable.  But more importantly, the video shows that Yamaha is still years ahead of the competition in PR, just as they are with their MotoGP bike.

(Video and more after the break) Read the rest of this entry »

Overtake: A rider overtakes another rider when he passes the opponent in front of him.  An overtake is different from a simple pass, however, because a rider can pass another rider who is not in front of him, position-wise (known as lapping).

Lapping: When Rider A passes Rider B, and Rider B is already one or more laps behind Rider A, this is called lapping.  While neither rider changes in position, the faster rider has still passed the slower rider, and in short races like in MotoGP, this is considered to show a severe lack of skill, or equipment, for the slower racer.  However, in longer races, such as in NASCAR or Indy Car racing, lapping is much more common, and is a direct result of the riders varying speeds, usage of pit lanes, and the extended length of the race.

Ride-Through Penalty: When a rider breaks a rule during the race, he could be given a ride-through penalty as a result.  If a rider is called for this, they must drive through the pit lanes on their next lap, obeying the maximum speed that a rider can travel at while in the pits.  This speed is dramatically slower than the speeds at which the racers normally travel, and since the pit lanes often line up with some of the largest stretches of open track, it can dramatically hurt a rider’s position in the race.

Former World Champion.  AMA Superstar.  Number 69.  Nicky Hayden may be all these things, but to his fans, he’s just The Kentucky Kid.

Nicky Hayden’s origins come from the dirt-tracks of the Grand National championship and the Central Motorcycle Racing Association, where he started racing when he was a little kid.  Hayden won his first AMA Supersport championship when he was only 18 years old, all the way back in 1999.  The Kentucky Kid began racing fulltime in the AMA Superbike league the next year, and finished just 40 points behind Madd Mladin, who won the title.  Two years later, he would become the youngest AMA Superbike Champion in history, unseating Mladin from his throne at the top of the AMA.  He also made his World Superbike debut in 2002 as a wildcard rider, finishing in a remarkable 4th place at Laguna Seca in his first international race.

It was immediately after Hayden won the 2002 AMA Championship that he was offered a ride on the prestigious Repsol Honda MotoGP team, alongside reigning world champion Valentino Rossi.  The Kentucky Kid jumped at the opportunity, and rode a brilliant first season, finishing in 5th overall and securing the Rookie-of-the-Year award. Two years later, he would finish in third.

In a mirror repeat from his time in AMA Superbike, Hayden would rise from a third place finish to usurp the reigning champion.  Hayden’s 2006 World Championship victory would come in the final round, when Valentino Rossi fell in the 5th lap.  Now-teammate Dani Pedrosa would wave Hayden past him early on in that race, and the Kentucky Kid would finish in 3rd to claim the championship, 252 points to Rossi’s 247.

Hayden’s championship is remarkable in two ways.  Firstly, he defeated Rossi, who hadn’t lost a championship since 2000.  But less brilliantly, it was his performance next year which also earned him a place in the history books; as reigning World Champion, Hayden finished in 8th overall, the worst defense of a title in MotoGP history.

Hayden would finish 2008 in 6th place in a year that was filled with bitter resentment between the reigning world champion and his team, who quickly began to favor teammmate Dani Pedrosa, whose performances were more consistant, and much better.  He announced that he would be riding for the Marlboro Ducati team in 2009 alongside Casey Stoner.

Hayden’s performance this year has been less than everyone hoped, but he’s been showing solid improvements on the Ducati, which has earned a demonic reputation for being impossible to ride.  Hayden has also done a large deal of promotional work at Ducati, including a lot of PR  for the special edition Nicky Hayden 848 Superbike, which has sold well since its release on July 4th, 2009.

Hayden’s future in MotoGP is uncertain, but one thing is clear: The Kentucky Kid is adamant about staying at Ducati and continuing to ride in MotoGP.  Where he ends up is a discussion for Silly Season, but a strong close to the 2009 season would help Hayden with any offers that may be made.

The Kentucky Kid in the Ducati Garage at Brno

Hey there Highside readers!

As you all know, one of the main goals of this blog is to help those who are less familiar, less versed, or less interested in the world of MotoGP find something to get them engaged and involved in the sport.  We have a number of ongoing series dedicated to this, but I wanted to take today to open this up to you, the reader!  What questions do you want answered?  Already a know-it-all?  Ask your spouse, your children, your parents, your best friend, and your dog.  What do they need answered in order to start becoming a rabid fan like you are?

Ask any questions you might have through a comment on this post, or through a tweet at the official Highside twitter accout.  We’ll try to answer any and all questions as best as we can, as quickly as we can.

Thanks for your support!

This tiny racer from the Repsol Honda team has quickly risen to the level of skill and stardom that puts him amongst Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner, but this Spaniard stands out from his two #1 factory rivals in one key regard: he’s never won a championship.  Daniel, or Dani, Pedrosa has two championships in the 250s and one in the 125s, and from his first race in the 800s showed that despite his small stature, he could contend with the top racers.

Pedrosa’s career in the big league started with a 2nd place showing, and he went on to win his first race just three races later.  For the first half of his rookie season, Pedrosa looked like he could take first in the championship and upset both dominant veteran Valentino Rossi and then-#1 Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden.  However, the second half of his season started a long string of injuries that would continue to plague him throughout the rest of his MotoGP career.

Quite possibly the most notable of his falls came in 2008 during the German Grand Prix in the Saschenring.  Leading the race by a large margin, Pedrosa suffered a massive highside out in the wet and had to be taken away from the track on a stretcher.  The injury effectively ended his championship chances that year, leading the way for Valentino to take the title.

The effects of the Saschenring crash carried with Pedrosa through the rest of the 2008 season and persisted even into the start of 2009.  It wasn’t until the Laguna Seca race this year that he returned to the top of the podium, ending a year long drought for both Pedrosa and Honda.  While his return to peak performance may have come too late to win the 2009 Rider’s Cup, he’s shown that his skill and perseverance cannot be quashed by any injury he may suffer.  Keep an eye on Dani in 2010, where he’ll surely make the Championship standings even more interesting than ever before.

Dani Pedrosa