Tuesday, April 3, 2012

It has Begun!!!


Start of the Moto GP Season!
With only 2 days left until the start of Qatar, the buzz around Moto Gp is starting to become very prominant.  Riders have started tweeting pictures of the new paint they are going to be representing for the season and talking about how they are getting ready for the upcoming season.

Personal favorite Ben Spies has been tweeting and on Facebook quite regularly, I like being able to follow him and his thoughts as the season fast approaches.  He like many other people, listens to music right before the race and he has made it a point to share those songs before he heads out to the track.

Below is an interesting view to the upcoming season, quickly highlighting its main changes.  These changes have to do with  riders new, or same teams and motorcycle differences that have been set in place for the 2012 season.


After months of anticipation MotoGP™ riders, teams, fans and spectators around the world will finally have their appetites for action satisfied, when the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar gets the 2012 MotoGP™ World Championship off to a start on Thursday. The first practice sessions of the opening round of the new campaign will bring to an end a lengthy 152-day wait since the final race of the 2011 season in Valencia last November, after an intriguing pre-season which has added to the impatience for the racing to begin.
Two major developments in the premier class which have added to the excitement at the dawn of a new era in MotoGP™ are the introduction of a new 1000cc engine capacity limit, up from the previous 800cc cap, and the debut of the new Claiming Rule Teams, for whom nine of the 21 riders will compete.
Adding to the spectacle of the curtain raiser in Qatar will be the floodlit nature of the first race, and the standout rider in recent years at the Losail circuit has been Casey Stoner. The 2011 World Champion, who was fastest in the final Test at Jerez less than two weeks ago, has won the night-time GP for four of the past five seasons, including last year. His Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa has also been in impressive form in pre-season, and between the pair they took the final four race victories of last season. A win for either, or any Honda rider for that matter, in Qatar would give the manufacturer its longest winning streak since 2003.
A large part of the buzz created in pre-season was due to the performance of the M1, and Yamaha Factory Racing duo Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies were both highly impressed with the progress of their prototype. 2010 Champion Lorenzo came second in last year's race in Qatar whilst Spies will be seeking his first podium at the track, as they look to turn a promising testing display into hard results.
The third factory set-up on the grid this season will be the Ducati Team, another which has worked tirelessly in the intervening five months to improve its package. Riders Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden will both be hopeful of vastly improved results in their respective 2012 campaigns, as they remain focused on the Italian manufacturer's project and challenging the other two factories.
With the six factory riders remaining with the teams they rode for last season, there have been changes elsewhere. Into the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team comes Andrea Dovizioso, as the Italian begins a new chapter in his career, joining Brit Cal Crutchlow who embarks on his second season in the satellite structure. Crutchlow's pre-season showings in particular have laid the foundations for what promises to be a strong sophomore season.


I will try and update any standings as the season progresses.

Johnny 5

2 comments:

  1. The pic has made the paragraph hard to read. Other than that your post was quite informative. I live in Salinas which is close to the Laguna Race track so its good to know something exiting is stirring up in the area. Usually all I have is the Rodeo to find exiting in town.

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  2. Nice! I go every year and it's always amazing, you should definetly go and check it out. This years race is scheduled for July 29th. They practice two days before so if you just want to see some cool stuff go then, but if you want to see a huge massive amount of people gathered around the corkscrew waiting for riders to dive down the seven story mountain give it a go!!

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