MotoGP:Indianapolis - Full Marc's For Trying!

Ho-lee freakin' smokes!

I was not expecting to have another action packed race as this one to watch, what with the BSB outing at Oulton Park being a firecracker and action-packed to the max!

Was it really too much to be surprised that this one, the first after MotoGP's mid-season break, would be the same...?


Nope, it sure as heck wasn't!

For this one took place with Marc Marquez currently leading the standings and all the questions seemed to be whether he would be able to take all three U.S. races (the other two being, of course Austin, Texas and the infamous Laguna Seca, complete with amazing corkscrew bend!).

Instead, what the talk actually became about was the final destinations for both Cal Crutchlow & Pol Espargaro, brother to the enigmatic and at times sensational Aleix.

For with all the contract talk being about who would partner Bradley Smith at Tech III Yamaha for next season, especially as teams were rumoured to be clamouring over themselves to sign Pol, it raised a massive question over first Cal's involvement in the future of the Yamaha team and ultimately, MotoGP involvement as well.

Lucky for him then that the decision to sign him ahead of Nicky Hayden (thus reforming, for next year, the partnership between Cal & Hayden's current partner Andrea Dovizioso, who were team-mates at Tech III) meant that he could settle down and crack on with working on his current machine before making the switch next year.

He seemed very relieved when pre-race footage was shown and on the grid footage as well (though the BBC cameras were utter cr@p with the constant chopping/freezing pictures even though this was supposedly live on TV, for goodness sakes'!) implied that he was utterly relieved to at least know that he was not going anywhere from the MotoGP grid for the next two years at least.

It was revealed that Hayden himself is currently considering his options, so let's hope that something can be sorted for next season as he's a real character to watch and a down-to-earth guy to listen to!

Onto the race...

THE RACE

For this one, all eyes were going to be on the front three guys in the Championship; Marquez because he was leading the way and was looking to make it 3 out of 3 for Spaniards in the USA this year, Dani Pedrosa because he was confirmed as being much closer to fitness than last time out after his collarbone break, and of course reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo because, well, this is Jorge we're talking about and you should never ever rule him out!

As expected then, the three of them had qualified Marquez, Lorenzo & Pedrosa on the front row of the grid, with the top Brit, Cal Crutchlow heading up row two along with Alvaro Bautista & Nicky Hayden (an impressive show from him!).

Colin Edwards it was who was the leading CRT rider in qualifying, even though he was down in 12th place and he was certainly upbeat about being said leading CRT rider. It bodes well for him, it does...

The last two years has seen Marquez take the checquered flag so, as I've mentioned, this is why all eyes were so focused on the sharp end of the grid to see if he could make the transition of 'win in Moto2 @ Indy' to 'win in MotoGP @ Indy'.

What do you think happened, bro's?!

The start, however, was going to prove that this was anyone's race to win... well, anyone on the front row that is as an electric start from Lorenzo saw him dive into the first corner in first place, with Pedrosa taking 2nd. I think this was more a case of they just got better traction than Marquez making a particularly poor start in this instance.

With a 27 lap counter on the board, this was going to be a slog for those not used to the heat and yet crashes were few and far between this time and by lap 3, the top three had pulled away significantly as though they were saying 'you want a podium, come and get it, bro's!'.

So with the three of them squabbling amongst themselves over who was going to come away with incentive and initiative come Brno next week, focus turned to the battle between Valentino Rossi & Brad Smith. The Doctor it was who seemed to be fading at this point though for what reason I do not know, he still was taking it to Smith at this point.

A couple of laps later saw the first retirement with an unfortunate Randy De Puniet pulling into the pits and unfortunately not returning to the track! :(

Crutchlow had been heading the 2nd row in qualifying and he was still heading said row, leading what was now Bautista, his nearest rival (and next year's team-mate... again!) and by lap 8 Bautista came out on top in that battle, so he was going to prove a nightmare for Cal to deal with.

The first change in the front row came near the end of the lap (before the circuit joins with the Indy straight used in NASCAR) and it was Marquez who got the better in terms of traction over Pedrosa. By this time, Lorenzo himself had been pulling away from them as though it was he who was saying 'you want me, come get me!' this time.

He couldn't make the move stick, could Marquez, and it would take him another four laps (lap 12) before he got the job done and made his own statement of intent to the only pretender to the throne never to be crowned MotoGP World Champion (a stat that disappoints to this day because Pedrosa consistently proves he's got the skills, he just doesn't seem to get the luck, bro's!).

By now, we had reached halfway and with 14 laps to go Bautista had already overtaken Crutchlow and was proving to be the fly in the ointment, the monkey in the wrench, the spanner in the works ("alright, stop now!" - ED) for him catching the front three.

It would be this battle that ultimately ended his chances of getting anywhere near them and would instead have to contend with Bautista alone, now that Rossi had seemingly faded for good this race...

With 13 to go, Lukáš Pešek was the next to go suffering a mechanical failure that would end his race also.

Crutchlow had seemingly been scalded by some unseen force at this point and in his tussle with Bautista, changed positions with him AGAIN!

They were now six seconds back, so it was doubtful that any closer ground could have been made on the podium racers because of their sheer speed and lack of mistakes at this point.

To prove their worth, Dani Pedrosa's 2012 lap record of 1:39.088 was soon broken and then broken again by Marc Marquez, who first clocked in with a scalding time of 1:39.051... a full .037 beyond it with 10 laps to go.

Once again, a mistake from Crutchlow allowed Bautista back up the inside and this was reminiscent of the closing stages of last year's BSB championship where the title was effectively decided on the last lap of the last race!

Marquez went even faster at this point, clocking in at .044, another .06 of a second faster than the pace he'd set a lap or so ago.

With 8 laps to go, Yonny Hernandez was looking disappointed with himself as his bike finally gave up the ghost and was one of the only riders to exit the race prematurely without pitting to do so.

So, with the chequered flag looming, this would now turn out to be a fight for the ages as yet again Crutchlow and Bautista were doing battle, one with another, for 4th position now that the podium was well out of their reach.

Who would reign supreme?

The answer to that one would prove difficult to guess when Valentino showed up for the party in the final stages with Smith also proving his own interests as higher than that which might have been set as a pre-season target.

He'd now been overtaken, temporarily holding sixth place with six laps to go (one for the numerologists?), had Smith and Rossi had him in his sights for long enough that, in one camera shot, it became a moment that his family would be able to savour as it was reminiscent of those you see in the photobooks, of a superstar and a rookie in the same shot!

With six to go, Cal manages to pull off an overtake that saw him get the upper hand now for 4th position, but could you bet Bautista would try again? Of course you could!

So, an electric pace from Marquez proving too hot even for Lorenzo to handle, he was able to acquire the lead before going on to extend that to a 2 second gap... talk about a statement of intent from the rookie!

I'll tell you what, it's obvious now who's guaranteed to win my 'Rookie of the Year' title and there's still just under half the season to go, that's for true!

Yet again had Bautista swapped places with Crutchlow and you couldn't even have bet on who'd win this one now with under four laps remaining.

In front of them was Lorenzo tussling with Pedrosa who got the better of him on lap 25, meaning that the seemingly obvious race winner, was now going to have to settle for the last step on the podium... who could have predicted that?!

In the dying moments, the closing lap in fact, saw Valentino Rossi catch right back up to the scrappers for 4th and as they swung into the final bend, he was able to undercut them as they came that close to taking each other out with Crutchlow riding in the middle and Alvaro aiming high. This luck of not colliding, proved to be their undoing as it allowed Rossi to slip by almost unnoticed and nab 4th from right under their noses... what a shizzer... (another word from my dictionary, lol!)!

After those guys had crossed the line it was Stefan Bradl, last time's 2nd placed star, before Brad Smith mugged the scrapping Hayden & Dovizioso, the former shunting against the latter to prove who was the better and more stable rider on the day for Ducati. That had to be seen to be believed because Hayden looked a shoe-in for 8th, only for Smith to get amazing traction from out that final corner onto the Indy straight and overtake the both of them before the finish line, RIGHT BEFORE IT!!!

I can barely describe it in words, the sheer drama of that moment as it saw positions that looked guaranteed, swap around and those that were supposed to swap around ended up being guaranteed!

This is why, and I'll state this now to avoid any doubts as to the genuinity of such a review as this, along with the last meeting of the BSB at Oulton Park, I will not (and I state that categorically) be deleting them from my PVR any time soon, bro's!

Phew!

I've almost run out of breath writing this one because it was that action packed and had to be witnessed to be fully enjoyed for it was action-packed all the way and how any race should be run; with high drama & high excitement!

No R.o.t.D. today, as there were too many to choose from and I'd risk the ire of the professionals if I tried, as I'd be picking from a field of about six or so riders!

Next time out, as I've said, is Brno in the Czech Republic, so we'll see if Marquez can continue his rich vein of form at the moment!

Peace out!


The Lanky Penguin