Season Review : 2009 World Supersport

The 2009 World Supersport Championship would answer plenty of questions. Would Kenan Sofuoglu win his second World Supersport title upon his return to the series after a dismall season in Superbikes ? Would Andrew Pitt be able to fence off his teammate and hold on to the crown ? Surely the strongest pairing on the grid and if one of two questions has a "yes" at the end of 2009, Ten Kate will have bagged its 8th consecutive World Supersport title ! But a number of riders and teams had planned to take the fight to invincible Dutch team. Yamaha entered two R6's for 2002 champion Fabien Foret and British rising talent Cal Crutchlow. Parkalgar Honda had relied on the services of Irishman Eugene Laverty and Kawasaki had two works bikes in the hands of Spaniard Joan Lascorz and experienced Japanese rider Fujiwara. Triumph wanted to build on their relatively good debut season and challenge for some podiums with a number of entries and factory support to the Be1 racing team with Gary McCoy and Gianluca Nannelli . And then there were of a large number of privateers to complete the 30 rider grid entered at Philip Island.

The first race ended with a 1-2 for Ten Kate and confirming once more their status as the number 1 team. Round 2 saw an exciting dash to the finish line between the Hondas of Laverty, Pitt and Sofuoglu with Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow trying to break their stronghold. It was Laverty who took his first victory of the season with Pitt coming home in second in front of Crutchlow. Kenan missed the podium by a mere 0,086 seconds and handed his teammate the championship lead with Laverty 2 points behind the Turk on 36 and Crutchlow a further 7 points adrift.

The first race on European soil had a relative strange outcome. Crutchlow took his maiden victory on the world scene after a fierce battle with Stiggy's Anthony West. Sofuoglu claimed the final podium slot but already over 8 seconds behind the winner. Laverty managed only 9th and Pitt even struggled to grab a few points in 13th. Suddenly Cal found himself on the top of the leaderbord on par with 2007 champion Sofuoglu.

A brilliant race in Assen provided Eugene's second victory of the season fencing off Crutchlow and Kawasaki's Lascorz. It was already clear that Ten Kate would have to deal with a number of other riders and teams if they were to keep their championship winning streak running. No Honda on the podium in Monza though. Crutchlow equalled Laverty's tally of wins with Lascorz and Foret rounding out the top 3. Eugene replied with a win over Cal in Kyalami but it was Sofuoglu who took the laurels in the USA beating the Englishman and the Irishman in a last lap battle with two daring and questionable moves. Half way through the season Crutchlow and Laverty were only separated by 9 points. Kenan was in third trailing the Irishman by 18 points and defending champion Pitt was in fourth but already 35 points adrift from his teammate. Man on the move was Joan Lascorz on the Kawasaki after some strong top 5 finishes and seemingly the only one able to interfere in the battle between the Yamaha rider and the Parkalgar Honda rider.

Crutchlow levelled the score to three wins apiece at Misano before taking another victory in front of his home crowd at Donington, a race where Triumph made it into 3d thanks to veteran McCoy. A miracle was needed by Ten Kate to retain their title but Pitt was out of contention and gradually sinking deeper in the standings with more than 100 points behind first place. His Turkish teammate wasn't able to keep up with the "islanders" either and needed to look over his shoulder instead since Lascorz had the momentum going and was consistently putting in strong performances and results.

Motorcycle racing is still a mechanical sport as championship leader Crutchlow would find out at brno dominating the race and leading by a comfortable margin, his race ended with technical issues and no points instead of 25. His teammate Foret stepped up to take the win and in a way denied laverty to take full advantage of the British's misfortune. With another podium finish, Lascorz closed the gap to 6 points on Sofuoglu and had his sights firmly set on third place in the championship. Cal replied with a crushing win in Germany over his rivals but Imola would be another setback. Leading into the final stages of the race, a false neutral caused him to crash out and allow Laverty to close the gap once more with two rounds to go. Sofuoglu came to his rescue by denying the Irishman the win but his advantage was down to 2 points. They were reliving their 2006 British Supersport battle on the world stage now.
Unfortunately, a fall by Laverty would take the excitement away at Magny Cours. Lascorz won his first race of the season in front of Crutchlow whereas Eugene only managed 13th and handed his friend a 19 point lead going into the final race. 10th was required to land the World Supersport title but with the events in Magny Cours 2006 still very much alive ( Kevin Curtain was leading by a similar margin over Sebastien Charpentier going into the final round but went down and gave the title to the Frenchman and Honda on a silver plate ), tension was very high. Eugene clinched his 4th win of the season but Cal did what he had to do and came home in 4th to finally bring the title to Yamaha.

Additional facts & figures

• 2009 provided 5 different race winners : Crutchlow ( 5 ), Laverty ( 4 ), Sofuoglu ( 3 ), Lascorz ( 1 ) and Foret ( 1 ).
• 4 riders claimed pole postion during the 2009 season : Crutchlow ( 10 ), Laverty ( 1 ), Sofuoglu ( 1 ), Lascorz ( 1 ) and Pirro (1 ).
• 5 riders recorded fastest laps : Crutchlow ( 9 ), Laverty ( 1 ), Sofuoglu ( 1 ) and Lascorz ( 1 ) and Pitt ( 2 ).
• 9 riders found their way into the top three : Crutchlow ( 10 ), Laverty ( 8 ), Sofuoglu ( 6 ), Foret ( 3 ), Lascorz ( 6 ), Aitchinson ( 1 ), McCoy ( 2 ), Pitt ( 2 ) and Roccoli ( 1 ).
• Suzuki entered the season with Dutch team Hoegee and two GSXR 600's but had to pull out after round 7 at Miller Motorsport Park in the US due to financial troubles.

Performance of the year

To me, Crutchlow's performance as a whole stands out. At first, I was sceptical again ( as with Johnny Rea's move one year earlier ) since I couldn't quite understand why he didn't join Sykes, Haslam and Byrne in WSBK. After all, he had been racing superbikes in the UK for two years. On the other hand, Rea's performance and what it brought him was an indication of what might be Cal's fortune as well. However, this would imply victories, poles and at least a top three in the standings if not world champion. He delivered the goods in every domain. 10 poles out of 14, most wins ( and two more if it hadn't be for the mechanical woes he endured ) and the icing on the cake...World Champion Supersport 2009 ! His teammate, former champion Foret, couldn't keep up with him, neither did the competition ( except for his life long rival Eugene Laverty ). His domination was underlined at the Nurburgring. Coming back from a very dispappointing race and DNF in Brno ( when there was no one in a mile to be seen ), he responded as a true champion. He simply crushed the opposition and left everybody trailing at least 10 seconds. Considering that the supersport bikes are closely matched, it has to be raw speed and talent to make this happen. I guess he must have been carrying that rage from Brno under his helmet to demolish everyone like this. An exciting champion indeed...Dog!

Season Review : 2009 World Superbikes

 

The 2009 World Superbikes season announced itself to be the most exciting and strongest ever in the history of the championship. Triple WSBK Champion Bayliss retired after his title in 2008, Haga took his place at the factory Ducati team where youngster Michel Fabrizio retained his seat and had to prove Ducati's faith in him. Aprilia returned with a brand new bike and the lost son Max Biaggi and MotoGP refugee Shinya Nakano. BMW entered the competition as well with a spectacular bike and an experienced rider pairing consisting of the fast but furious Ruben Xaus and double champion Troy Corser. Yamaha fielded a new bike with two rookies, Britain's Tom Sykes but the signing of triple AMA Superbike champion Ben Spies was probably the biggest sensation, especially since they managed to lure him away of career long partner Suzuki. Forces to be reckoned with were the Ten Kate boys with former GP racer Carlos Checa flanked by 2008 World Supersport runner up Jonathan Rea and double BSB champion Ryuichi Kiyonari. After clinching two victories in 2008, Max Neukirchner was out to better his performance in 2009 and take a realistic shot at the title for Alstare Suzuki. Unlike in MotoGP, Kawasaki didn't pull out of the Superbikes and handed Paul Bird the opportunity to race their official bikes with Makoto Tamada and Broc Parkes.  Other notable entries were 2008 BSB champion Shayne Byrne on the Sterilgarda Ducati and Leon Haslam on the privateer Honda run by Johan Stigefelt.

  

With Bayliss out of the picture, it was Haga's best chance to finally become World Superbike Champion. However, even before the start of the first race, it was Ben Spies who sole the show. The rookie got pole at Philip Island and immediately echoed the preseason sentiments of him being a title contender. The Texan managed only 16th after being pushed off the track in turn 2 but made amends with a brilliant victory in race 2. Biaggi managed to put the all new Aprilia RSV4 on the front row and Troy Corser put in the fastest lap of the race with the BMW, clearly showing potential for the new kids on the block. In Qatar, Spies stormed to pole position once more followed by a double win making it 3 out of 4 with Haga finishing second after winning the opener in Australia. Already from this point, it was clear that Spies would be a serious threat to Haga and Ducati for the rest of the season. Haga took the double in Valencia with Spies crashing out of the first race and finishing second in race 2. Ben crashed again in race 1 at Assen but won race 2 in front of Haga who took the laurels a couple of hours earlier that day. 4 wins each but what about the rest ? 

 

Fabrizio was hanging in there together with Leon Haslam, Max Neukirchner and...Max Biaggi on the Aprilia all taking a couple of podiums behind the two untouchables. Up next, the high speed track of Monza and it would be an important weekend in many different aspects. Spies conquered his 5th consecutive pole but a huge crash at the start of race 1 would leave its marks. Neukirchner took the whole shot but was taken out by a loose bike and knocked him out for the remainder of the season. Tamada and Corser got harmed as well as reigning Superstock 1000 champion Brendan Roberts and Britain's Tommy Hill. After the restart, it turned out to be a three way fight between Spies and the factory Ducatis which ended with the American entering the final corner in the lead but running out of fuel, leaving Fabrizio to take his maiden WSBK win. The 3d DNF ( even though he rolled over the finish line in 15th, a huge points loss ) in as many weekends and surely a costly mistake by Yamaha which would leave Ben trailing Nori by 79 points. The Japanese's  fortune would take a blow in race 2 though. For once, Haga made a great start and took the lead but hit a bird at high speed, a coming together that resulted in a crash a few laps later since he lost the strength to hold his bike when braking. Spies made full use of this to regain 25 points on the Ducati star.One week later, Haga and Ducati answered with a double 1-2 in South Africa. Spies took third in race 1 before retiring in race 2 due to mechanical problems. He even lost second in the championship to Fabrizio and was 88 points behind Haga. The mission was pretty clear from now on : win as many races as possible and let's see where we end up.

He started his counter attack on home soil by taking a dominating double win, a race that saw Kawasaki running well in the hands of Anglo American Jamie Hacking. Misano saw Ben taking his third win in a row followed by a troublesome race 2, a race that would have Jonathan Rea take his first World Superbike win beating the Xerox Ducati guys on the finish line. Again the Texan responded with a double win in donington, where title rival Haga crashed out of race 2 after taking thrid spot in race 1. Over the course of 6 races, Yamaha's #19 cut #41's lead back to a mere 14 points and blew the championship wide open.

 Drama and suspense after the summer break in Brno. Spies was taken out by Fabrizio in what could be described as a very stupid move from the Italian. Nevertheless, Italy would triumph with Biaggi taken the win for Aprilia followed by an excellent second place in race 2 after a long battle with Ben Spies. From this point on, both Johnny Rea and Max Biaggi would race at the front every weekend together with Spies, Haga and Fabrizio.

The next round at the Nurburgring had Spies taking his 12th win of the season and Rea's second with Haga coming home in second place and crashing out of race 2. More importantly, the American would be at the sharpest end of the standings for the first time in 2009. Imola would hand back the advantage to Nori after a win and second place with Spies struggling all weekend long. Aprilia also engaged 250cc world champion Marco Simoncelli as a wild card to replace the injured Shinya Nakano ( who would decide shortly after to hang up his leathers for good ) and showed speed and determination by almost colliding with Biaggi when making a braking error but also finishing on the podium in race 2. A repeat peformance by Haga in Magny Cours but Ben managing only 4th after winning race 1 would lead to a title deciding weekend at Portimao splitting the two protagonists by 10 points with 50 more left to be handed out. Fabrizio was out of the title hunt even when winning race 2 at Imola and would now be trying to help his teammate as much as possible to keep the Yamaha #19 at bay. However, the 10 point deficit would soon turn into a 15 point lead for the 24 year old American when he beat Biaggi and Rea - in a fight of their own for fourth in the standings - for victory in race 1 as Haga crashed out before the halfway point trying to make up ground for his poor qualifying and getaway. Spies only needed a top six finish to stay on top of the leaderboard after the final race of the season and provide Yamaha with their first World Title in superbikes. As a true champion, he brought it home safely and grabbed the title by 6 points from Haga and his fourth title in a row after the three AMA Superbike titles from 2006 to 2008. In the end, 14 wins out of 28 starts, 11 poles out of 14 and coming back from 88 points behind after round 7 in Kyalami in his maiden year....simply Texas Terror!

Additional facts & figures

• 5 riders won during the 2009 campaign : Spies ( 14 ), Haga ( 8 ), Fabrizio ( 3 ), Rea ( 2 ) and Biaggi ( 1 ) .
• 4 riders grabbed pole position : Spies ( 11 ), Haga ( 1 ), Fabrizio ( 1 ) and Smrz ( 1 ).
• 8 different riders recorded fastest laps : Spies ( 6 ), Haga ( 10 ), Fabrizio ( 6 ), Rea ( 2 ), Biaggi ( 1 ), Corser ( 1 ), Haslam ( 1 ) and Smrz ( 1 ).
• 13 riders made their way to the podium : Spies ( 17 ), Haga ( 19 ), Fabrizio ( 15 ), Rea ( 8 ), Biaggi ( 9 ), Byrne ( 1 ), Checa ( 4 ), Haslam ( 4 ), Kagayama ( 1 ), Kiyonari ( 2 ), Neukirchner ( 2 ), Simoncelli (1 ) and Smrz ( 1).
• Kawasaki was the only manufacturer not to get a pole position, podium or fastest lap during the entire season.
• BMW, in the hands of Troy Corser, managed to record the fastest race lap during the very first race of the season.
• Several riders sustained sever injuries during the season and were out for a longer period : Laconi, Neukirchner and Roberts wouldn't return after their crashes. 
• MotoGP star John Hopkins was thrown a lifeline by Stiggy motorsport after the withdrawal from Kawasaki in MotoGP. Once more, Assen proved to be unfortunate for him after he crashed heavily during practice and was sidelined for a longer period. One round after his return to racing, at the Nurburgring he got entangled in a pile up and would sit out the rest of the season.  

Performance of the year

Well, it was en exciting season with several strong performances by both riders and teams. Stiggy Motorsport succesfully entered World Superbikes with a couple of podiums by Leon Haslam ( especially at the beginning of the season ) and place 6 in the standings as top privateer. Of course, rookie Ben Spies winning 50% of the races, nearly 75% pole position success rate but most importantly taking the title on his first attempt is something extraordiary. The successful return of Aprilia stands out, as well as Rea establishing him as Honda rider #1. But, I take Troy Corser's showing in Philip Island as the strongest performance. BMW's very first race, finishing 8th at a little over 11 seconds from the winner and posting the fastest lap of the race is pretty amazing. Ok, BMW has a strong racing history and is a racing company by nature but their success has always been on 4 wheels, not 2. Ok, many years ago they entered the Dakar rally on two wheels and managed to win ( in the hands of my compatriot, the late Gaston Rahier ) but apart from the Boxer cup, the Bavarians haven't entered a motorcycle racing world championship. Building a new bike, racing with a completely new team, facing very strong competition from manufacturers whose core business is racing in probably the strongest entry field of the World Superbike Championship ever, is a very very tough challenge. Hats off to BMW and Corser to pull this feat out of the hat.

Season Review : 2009 MotoGP

 

2009 announced itself to be a four way fight for the title with Valentino Rossi favourite to take another premier class crown. But his biggest rival might become his teammate at Yamaha, double 250cc world champion Jorge Lorenzo. Stoner wants to regain the championship that he lost to Rossi in 2008 and Pedrosa is Honda's leading rider to challenge the other three and reclaim the title for Honda since Nicky Hayden in 2006. Bridgestone would become single tyre supplier for MotoGP and to reduce costs, Friday morning practice was dropped and at a later stage, a limited number of engines would be availble to any rider. Before the kick off, the financial crisis took out Kawasaki and suddenly Marco Melandri and John Hopkins were without a ride. 2009 saw the return of Sete Gibernau to MotoGP on a privateer run Ducati and with the top 250cc riders not making the move up, Mika Kallio was the top rookie.

 

Pedrosa wasn't completely fit before the start of the season, nor was Tech3's James Toseland aftre two heavy crashes during testing. The opening round had to be run on Monday since it was pouring in the Qatarese desert one day earlier. Stoner took his third victory in a row at this track and surely looked to be ready to take on the Yamahas. There was one Kawasaki present though, run by the Hayate team, in the hands of .... Marco Melandri ( who was actually establishing himself as a very talented car racer in the wake of getting back into the top flight for 2010 ). No support and no development was foreseen and Melandri delivered the goods durings the first few races with a spectacular 2nd place at Le Mans as the highlight of the season. After his horror season 2008 on the factory Ducati, the exit of Kawasaki, things definitely didn't look bright for the Italian. But he grabbed his chance, took it, proved once again that he is one of the best riders out there and returns home to Fausto Gresini's team for 2010 on a privateer Honda but with a good shot at some very strong results. In the meantime, the four big guns were in full contention for the championship ( although Pedrosa would suffer from his injuries ) with Rossi wining in Spain and Catalunya, Stoner handing Ducatis first "home" win at Mugello and breaking Rossi's 7 year reign at the Tuscan circuit and Lorenzo crossing the line in first in Japan and France As a result, all three riders were at 106 points when heading for the Dutch TT.

 

Already Stoner had been experiencing quite some trouble to keep up with the other three riders and looked completely exhausted after the finish. The mystery surrounding his physical and/or mental state was leading to all sorts of speculations and after a disastrous British GP, the Aussie decided not to compete in the next three races to sort out his disease and come back healthy. With Pedrosa still not being able to close the gap to the Yamaha boys ( although winning at Laguna Seca) , the title would turn out to be a fight between teammates. After crashing out of the lead twice in as many races, it looked as if Lorenzo was presenting Rossi's ninth on a plate but a rare and stupid mistake by the Italian at indy and 2nd place at Misano brought the Mallorcan back within 30 points of his teammate and everything to play for with 100 points up for grabs. A dominating performance at Estoril, ahead of the returning Casey Stoner and Vale only in 4th, saw Jorge close the gap to 18 points with three races remaining. 

The title chase took a decisive turn at Philip Island. Trying to make up for a poor start, Lorenzo runs into Hayden's Ducati on the run down to the first corner and knocks himself out of the race and the championship. With Stoner back to full fitness and a strong win over Rossi in Australia, Jorge would need some divine intervention to get his hands on the 2009 crown. Rain in Malaysia, a dominating win by Stoner and Lorenzo finishing behind his teammate sealed his 2009 fate and Rossi's 9th world title. Pedrosa went on to win the final round at Valencia and leapfrogged Stoner for third in the standings when the latter crashed on cold tyres during the warm up lap.

Additional facts & figures

• The average difference between first and runner up was 5,111 seconds.
• The gap was less than 1,000 seconds on three occasions.
• The biggest gap was 17,710 at Le Mans.
• The smallest gap was 0,095 seconds at Catalunya.
• 18 riders started the season.
• The field consisted of 4 Yamahas, 5 Ducatis, 6 Hondas, 2 Suzukis and 1 Kawasaki.
• Takahashi was replaced by Talmacsi at Scot Honda, Gibernau had to pull out together with his team due to financial woes and Espargaro replaced Kallio ( and later on Canepa ) at Pramac when the Finn was taking Stoner's seat at the factory squad during his absence.
• World Superbike Champion Ben Spies would ride another Yamaha M1 during the final round of the season.

Moment of the year

It has to be Rossi's dive on the inside at the final turn in Catalunya. With the two Yamahas crushing the opposition, Lorenzo and Rossi were entangled in a awesome tussle and just when it looked as if lorenzo would finally beat his illustrious teammate, Rossi pulled a move that no one expected in a turn where it was to be considered impossible to pass. He stuffed it on the inside of Jorge, managed to keep the bike upright and than accelerate hard onto the straight towards victory. Even when you think he's down and out he still manages to pull something out of the bag....just BRILLIANT!

Performance of the year

Well, Rossi won his 100th race at Assen, Edwards finishing 5th in the standings, Rossi's move ( as described above ), Lorenzo's win in Portugal....or even De Angelis' brave move down the inside at his home race ( what was he thinking ???? ) could be rated as an astonishing performance but I have to go with Melandri's rebound into competition . After finally landing a true factory ride, it turns into his biggest nightmare. He brakes his contract ( with mutual consent ) and signs a deal with the factory Kawasaki team. Not long before the start of the season, Team Green decides to pull the plug on their MotoGP project and so Marco's again without a ride and all seast taken and nowhere to go. He goes car racing instead to keep himself busy, is quite succesfull at it and then the opportunity arises to enter the 2009 MotoGP World Championship after all albeit on a privateer Kawasaki and without any support or development from the factory. A carefull start brings him 14th at the opening round in Qatar but 6th in Motegi, followed by 5th in Jerez leads to an astonishing second place in Le Mans. In Mugello he manages to lead the race for a brief instance but it only took him 5 races to show the motorcycling world again what he is capable of. For 2010, he rejoins Gresini on a Honda and let's hope he can pull in some great performances one many occasions like he did on an inferior bike in 2009.

Season Review : 2009 250cc

 

The final season of 250's promised to feature the usual suspects : 2008 world champion Marco Simoncelli stayed to defend his title, Alvaro Bautista was looking to bring the crown back to Spain and follow up on his 2006 125cc world title. Hector Barbera needed to put in a more consitent performance and be less crazy if he wanted to have an outright shot at the final 250cc World Championship.the influx from 125's was rather small appart from the 2008 world champion Mike DiMeglio who partnered Bautista at Mapfre Aspar's team. Mattia Pasini, Thomas Luthi, Alex Debon were still there as well as Hiroshi Aoyama who joined the Scot Honda team after KTM decided to pull out of 250cc racing. 

Qatar was won by Barbera flanked by Frenchman Jules Cluzel who took a stunning 2nd place and rookie DiMeglio in 3d. Simoncelli's defence would start at round two after sitting out the opener due to injury. However, a flat front tyre prevented him from getting a points score and so he started the season exactly the same as one year earlier : 0 points after two races. At Jerez, an exciting race ended with a tussle between homie Bautista and Aoyama on the Honda. The Japanese rider managed to stay in front and clinched a surprise victory whereas Simoncelli scored his first points of the season coming home in 3d. 

  

The 2008 champ won in France and got beaten to the line by Pasini in their home race at Mugello but he crashed in Catalunya were Bautista managed to clinch his first victory of the season. Assen was a turning point in the season. An exciting battle between Bautista and again Aoyama ended right before the start of the final lap when the Spaniard misjudged an error by Hiro and ran into the back of the Japanese. The latter managed to stay in the saddle but Alvaro's race was over. Even with some damage to his bike, Aoyama brought it home safely and recorded his second victory of 2009. A consistent run of finishes and some very strong outings helped the Japanese to lead the world championship at this stage with Bautista trailing him by 13 points. A string of 6 consecutive top 4 finishes kept him firmly in the running for the title but Marco started to close in during mid season. 4 wins, 1 fourth place and one DNF brought him within striking distance of Aoyama. Aspar's leading rider managed to stay in touch as well with 5 podium finishes and 1 DNF. 

 

A very consistent Barbera secured his second win of the season in Misano and kept his title hopes alive. Bautista's crash in Portugal would start a string of lacklustre showings and with it an end of his title aspirations. It was clear that SuperSic and Hiro would battle to the end for title glory. Hector's chances of running away with the title would depend more on the errors made by these two than on his own strong performances. In general, he was there but only during a few races he was able to keep up and fight for victory with the Italian and Japanse. Winning in Australia, Marco closed in a further 16 points and was trailing only by 12 with two races to go. Aoyama was untouchable in Sepang and regained 9 more points on the Italian to lead by 21 before the final race.

 

11th place would suffice for an historic end of an historic era but the drama unfolded even before mid race. Simoncelli was doing what he needed to do : leading and trying to grab that victory. Aoyama was comfortably riding in the leading pack when he ran wide into the gravel trap and lost a lot of time getting out of the sand not wanting to drop the bike. He regained in 11th place but there didn't seem to be much damage since his lap times were fast enough to close in on the riders in front of him and provide himself with some breathing space. A couple of laps from the end, the title was decided when Simoncelli crashed out of the lead. Barbera went on to win his 3d race of the season and even jumped Simoncelli to take second place in the standings.  

Additional facts & figures

• The average margin between first and second was 3,961 seconds.
• 6 races out of 16 ended with less than 1,000 seconds covering winner and runner up.
• The biggest difference was at Le Mans : 18,128 seconds.
• The smallest gap was at Misano : 0,040 seconds.
• The season started with 28 regular riders.
• The field was made of 19 Aprilias, 7 Hondas and 2 Gileras.

Moment of the year

Assen 2009 : Bautista runs into the back of Aoyama when the latter makes an error braking into the Geert Timmer chicane on the penultimate lap. The image summarizes the season of both riders for me. The title favourite crashing again in a desperate attempt to get the better of the rider who rode an inferior bike but got the most out of  it and managed to keep both wheels on the tarmac when his fiercest rivals made costly mistakes. Aoyama clinches 4 victories on his way to the title and Bautista only 2 to end up 4th in the final standings. Considering the fact that Hiro managed only 7 podiums compared to 10 for Simoncelli and 10 for Bautista, these statistics are examplory for the 2009 250cc World Championship with a true outsider beating the two big favourites.  The Last Man Standing!

 

Exceptional performance

Jules Cluzel's 2nd place in Qatar. He just came from out of nowhere to battle it out with Barbera and finish on the podium. Before this season, he ran in the midfield and suddenly he's found the pace to run at the front. He ended up 12th but should have been higher up in the ranking if it weren't for some mistakes and crashes when he was running inside the top ten on a number of occasions. Since we are moving on to the Moto2 World championship for 2010, he will join Forward racing in a bid to better the 2009 season and who knows where he might end up in November 2010...

 

Season Review : 2009 125cc

 

The 2009 125cc World Championship announced itself once more to be a close fight with many different riders on the forefront. It's a championship where one rider dominating is rather seldom due to the slim differences in material, considering that 95% runs Aprilia bikes. Team, rider and tactics are crucial to deliver a consistent performance during the season which results in a challenge for the title. 

The preseason favourites are the Aspar boys : Julian Simon, Bradley Smith and Sergio Gadea. The strongest outfit for many years in the 125cc class is chasing another title after losing out to Mike DiMeglio and Derbi racing in 2008. Both Simone Corsi and Nicolas Terol for team Jack & Jones as well as Stefan Bradl are expected to be fighting for the 2009 crown. 

The first two races had a surprise winner : Andrea Iannone. But the following races, the "normal" order was reinstated with Simon winning in Le Mans and Smith victorious in Jerez and Mugello. A very exciting and strange race in Catalunya gave Iannone his 3d victory in 6 races and put him firmly in contention for the title.

Come Assen and it was all about Julian Simon and Bradly Smith for the remainder of the season. Gadea managed to win in Holland but 4 top 2 finishes ( including two wins ) for Simon vaulted him to the top of the standings. Iannone was no longer in contention by then, in fact he only managed to gather 54 points in the last 10 races compared to his 71,5 in the beginning of the season. Corsi nor Bradl could continue their 2008 form and ended 11th and 10th in the standings. Terol managed 5 podiums ( one win in Brno ) to clinch third spot at the end of the year. Gadea recorded a strong mid season ( with one win in Assen ) but was far from consistent to threaten his teammates. The strongest challenge came from little Pol Espargaro whose second half of 2009 provided 6 top 5 finishes ( including two wins ) to end up 4th and a label of 2010 title favourite. 

  

A world class performance by Julian Simon in Philip Island saw him clinch the title with two rounds remaining. Winning the final two races as well, was the icing on the cake so he ended his 2009 campaign in great style and underlining his status of world champion. 

Additional Facts & Figures

• The average margin between first and second during the 2009 season was 3,638 seconds. 
• 10 races out of 16 ended with less than 1,000 seconds covering winner and second place.
• The biggest difference was at Le Mans : 27,084 seconds.
• The smallest gap was at Indianapolis : 0,120 seconds.
• 35 regular riders started the season.
• The field consisted of 23 Aprilias, 5 Derbis, 2 KTM, 2 Maxtra/Hajoue, 2 Loncin and 1 Honda.
• After the first round in Qatar, Hajoue decided to pull the plug on its 125cc project. 

Moment of the year

It was a difficult choice ( the other moment being Simon's misjudgement in Catalunya when he thought he'd won when in fact there was one more lap to go. In the end, he didn't even make the podium. ) but I chose the last corner clash between Pol Espargaro and Andrea Iannone at Misano. Not that this is a rare phenomenon but the argument and action it was followed by was not your everyday sight. Yes, in NHL and on a football pitch it is quite common an your average Saturday Night pub brawl as well but on a race track ?

 

Espargaro runs over to the Italian to get some feedback on his action and what he was thinking ? My guess he must have said to him : "Actions speak louder than words, hombre!" and he reinforced this with a headbutt.

Afterwards he apologised to the Spaniard and received a 5000 USD fine.

Exceptional performance

The final race of the season in Valncia saw a wild card entry by Toni Mang's team for Marcel Schrotter. The boy, both German and European 125cc champion, managed to finish 5th on a underdevelopped Honda.

My hero : Guy Martin

I started looking at road racing a few years ago. I was familiar with the Isle of Man TT but besides that, I didn't really know much about it, neither did I pay much attention to it. That all changed when I bought a copy of Motorcycle Racer magazine and I saw a picture of Guy Martin. Apart from the fact that I didn't know him, those sideburns very much caught my eye. Who is this guy ? ( no pun intended ). It turned out that he was relatively new on the scene, participating in his first senior TT in 2004 and finishing 7th on his maiden visit to the Isle. On top of that, he smashed the lap record set by a rookie with an average speed of 122,10 mph, i.e. 196,46 kmh . Even though he is English, he has been riding with an Irish license for some time. He lost his English one over a dispute with some officials where he allegedly had closed a laptop applying some minor force to it while an official still had his fingers on the keyboard...

Unfortunately, until today Guy hasn't been able to win a senior TT at the Isle of Man yet. After one year on the R1 in 2006, he switched to Hydrex Honda for 2007. He got 2nd place in the Senior TT that year and since he was staying with the same team for 2008, he became one of the favourites to win it. He has come close though in 2008 when mechanical problems forced him to retire when battling at the front. In 2009, he was running 3d when again mechancial trouble hit and ended his podium challenge.

Although unlucky at the Isle of Man TT, Martin's career has been far from fruitless. In 2009, he clinched his 7th straight victory in Scarborough ( pictured above ). His stats include 5 wins at the Ulster Grand Prix, 2 podiums in the NW200 Superbike race and 8 podiums at the Isle of Man. Like many other road racers, Guy participates in a number of events during the same race weekend. apart from the Superbike races, he also rides in the Superstock class and Supersport.

 

What makes him so special for me ? First of all, all road racers are heroes. Guy Martin has this flair over him that I haven't seen with any of his current competitors. His Wolverine-look, his bold statements, his wit and his talent as well as the invisible swith that is being turned off ( or on if you like ) when taking to the track is truly remarkable. Being dressed by the same leather couturier as Valentino Rossi and waring the same helmet brand, he has made friends with one of the greatest rider of all times, a rider that has massive respect for Guy and his colleagues. It takes more than just riding on public roads. It takes determination, skill and no fear to race bikes and in a way not thinking of what might happen without the "safety" of closed race tracks. He will turn 29 this year, and still has plenty of opportunities to break the seal on the Isle of Man. It is just a matter of time.For sure, I will be keeping a close eye on him uring the 2010 road racing season.

My hero : Jonathan Rea

Pull the Pin, Just Ruthless ! I got acquainted with his name and awesome riding style when watching the 2005 BSB season review on DVD. I gained a big interest again in the series when GSE returned and the way Lavilla went on to take the title. This young lad from Northern Ireland was brilliant. Riding the Red Bull Honda Fireblade he managed to get pole position in Mondello Park at the age of 18. It was a tremendous performance considering the strong field in BSB as well as the level of factory bikes present. Ok, he ran a factory spec bike but did it anyway. He didn't get to savour his exploit though since he went off after just a couple of hundred metres. But it was already clear that he really had talent. He spent the 2006 season aboard the same bike with the same outfit and managed 4th overall with a couple of podium finishes.

For 2007, he got promoted to the HRC HM Plant factory Honda team to partner 2006 champion Kiyonari. An excellent season produced 16 podiums and 6 wins out of 26 races to land the runner up spot behind his teammate Kiyonari, who succesfully defended his title. Apart from this, he also won the Suzuka 300km race that year. By now, he had the superbike community courting him.Several options were presented to him ( e.g. a full factory ride at Xerox Ducati, one more season on the HM Plant Honda ) but surprisingly he signed a deal with Ten Kate to contest the World Supersport Championship. The deal stated that he would be moving up to World Superbikes for 2009 and 2010, whatever the outcome of the 2008 WSS championship. I thought it to be taking a step down instead of one up. After all, he already had been riding the 1000cc Honda for 3 years with a considerate amount of success. He did prove that he made the right choice. Challenging for the title until he got punted off by Harms at the penultimate round and by collecting 3 wins, JR returned the investment Ten Kate and Honda had put in him. during the final round in portugal, he swapped places with Kenan Sofuoglu within the Ten Kate garage. The 2007 WSS champion didn't seem to get to grips with the Fireblade and had been underperforming all season in World Superbikes. Johnny jumped on his bike, qualified on the front row and was running at the front battling for a podium finish until a crash ruined his chances. It was merely a sign for things to come.

2009 didn't start that good though. The new bike arrived very late which limited testing time before the season opener in Australia. For some reason, the handling wasn't good and like his teammates, Johnny couldn't bring home solid results and wasn't really on the pace. Unlike his teammates, Rea managed to break the downward spiral and came home in 3d place to claim a podium at Kyalami. Misano turned out to be the place where Johnny would open a winner's account. After a fierce battle with Fabrizio and Haga, Johnny won the second race and his first World Superbike race ever. At this moment, Johnny was the only Ten kate rider who was able to run at the front and it would stay that way for the rest of the season. In fact, during the second half of 2009, he was consistently on the pace, both in practice and races. At the Nurburgring, he added another victory. Going into the last round at Portimao, 4th place in the standings was still very much in sight. Even though a very strong finish to the season with a double podium result, he would come 4 points short for 4th place overall. 8 podiums, 2 wins, one 2nd and 5 thirds.What looked to become a difficult season at first, turned out to be a great rookie season on world level. Normally, this would suffice to run away with the title of "Rookie of the Year" but in 2009 there was one other rookie who did even better. This one simply took the crown and is off to MotoGP now.... 2010 looks very promising for Johnny. The competition is stiff but he definitely has a shot at the title. I'm already looking forward to Assen at the end of April.

What makes him so special for me ? I got the pleasure of seeing him ride during the opening round of the 2006 BSB season at Brands Hatch. He is so spectacular to see, it is amazing. Coming from moto-x, he has incorporated it somehow in his riding. I have hardly seen anyone else braking so many times with the back sliding and doing it on purpose. One other thing, just look at the picture at the top of the page. One of his favourite tracks, possibly the most, is Cadwell Park and the Mountain is always crowded with people because the bikes lift off. In 2007, JR had his picture taken with one hand in the air and the other on the handle bar...fantastic ! On top of all this, he is a genuine nice guy. When you see him, he is enjoying himself all the time, on and off the bike. A good sense of humour added to it and you have a very popular rider indeed. He is very quick, sometimes he seems to overdo it, but that's his young spirit. I also think it takes quite a strong character to say no to race a factory Ducati bike in WSBK at such a young age. The setting would have been perfect alongside Bayliss. He could learn so much from the master and no one would expect him to match him - although I think he might have at some occasions - and yet he decides to move to WSS. Very bold I'd say but very wise it turned out to be. I am relishing the thought that the motorcycle racing world can enjoy his antics for many years to come. Simply, I just love him.
Johnny Rea, Just Ruthless !