Photo by Mark Wernham

The 2012 MotoGP season began on Tuesday with the first post-Valencia test sessions. Honda, Yamaha and Ducati were there with 1000cc prototypes, and Randy de Puniet and Stefan Bradl rode Suzuki and Honda 800s. Several of the new “CRT” bikes—prototype chassis powered by production-based 1000cc engines—also took part (CRT stands for “Claiming Rule Team,” a clumsy name we hope will soon be changed).

Next year won’t really be racing as we know it, because these 25-percent-bigger, 1000cc prototypes will be limited to the same 21 liters of fuel that compelled 800s to run lean in order to finish races. As has been the case the past two years, six prototype engines will be all that a rider gets for the 18-race series (this requires roughly a 1200-mile engine-life guarantee). CRTs are, by contrast, allowed 24 liters of fuel and 12 engines per rider.

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Photo by Mark Wernham

Josh Hayes finished a spectacular seventh in his MotoGP debut at the season-ending Spanish Grand Prix. The 36-year-old American completed the 30-lap race just half a minute behind winner Casey Stoner and second-place Ben Spies. Stoner’s Repsol Honda teammate, Andrea Dovizioso, rounded out the podium.

A replacement for Tech 3 Yamaha regular Colin Edwards, injured two weeks ago at the Malaysian GP, Hayes showed steady progress throughout the weekend. He even topped the timing sheets in Sunday morning warm-up.

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Photo by Mark Wernham

Newly crowned 2011 MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner stormed to his 12th pole position of the 18-race season today at the Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo Circuit near Valencia, Spain, equaling the premier-class record set by five-time 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan in 1997. At the other end of the grid, 4.181 seconds back in 16th position, two-time AMA Pro American SuperBike Champion Josh Hayes got his first taste of an 800cc Grand Prix prototype fitted with Brembo carbon-carbon front brakes and Bridgestone slicks.

“I’m not happy about P16,” admitted Hayes. “The team has reassured me that I’m doing better than they expected. They expected me to be 3 seconds slower than Katsuyuki Nakasuga [Yamaha test rider and stand-in for injured Jorge Lorenzo this weekend], not within a tenth of a second of him. That’s great, but I don’t like being last.”

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Photo by Mark Wernham

Two-time AMA Pro American SuperBike Champion Josh Hayes made his MotoGP debut in practice today at the Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo Circuit near Valencia, Spain. The 36-year-old Mississippi native posted the 15th- and 10th-quickest lap times—2.5 seconds slower than the top riders—in the two timed sessions, both of which were run in wet conditions, the second more so than the first. Newly crowned MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner recorded the quickest time of the day, a 1:45.513. His Repsol Honda teammate, Dani Pedrosa, was second. Ducati’s Valentino Rossi rounded out the top three.

When I spoke with Hayes, he was watching a tennis tournament on television in the Tech 3 Yamaha hospitality. Hayes is an avid tennis player and a fan of the sport. “I wish I could play,” he said. “That might take my mind off things. I’ve been a wreck all day. I’ve never been more nervous in my entire life.”

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Two-time AMA Pro American SuperBike Champion Josh Hayes had mixed emotions after learning that he’d been selected to replace injured Colin Edwards on the Tech 3 Yamaha YZR-M1 for the final MotoGP race of the season this weekend in Valencia, Spain.

For weeks, Hayes had known that he would test Edwards’ Yamaha on Tuesday, November 8, two days after the season-ending Spanish round. He was looking forward to it. According to Yamaha, the ride was a reward for Hayes’ back-to-back AMA titles. Moreover, it would be a real test, not just a few hot laps, with multiple sets of series-spec Bridgestone slicks at Hayes’ disposal. In addition, his wife, Melissa, who races a Yamaha YZF-R6 in the Daytona SportBike class, was told she would also be given an opportunity to swing a leather-clad leg over Edwards’ bike.

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Allan Girdler (86d) about to put Dennis Kanegae (51E) a lap down. When asked about this devastating blow to his racing career, Kanegae stated, tongue firmly in cheek, “I don’t know where Allan found this new speed. He has this unshakable persistence to be consistent on any track surface. My hat’s off to him.” Photo by Janice Blunt

Never in my life have I found it more difficult to fake modesty.

When my friendly rival, Jeff Evans Sr., stood up to accept his second-place trophy, he pointed to me in the stands at Perris Raceway and said, “Allan took off so fast I thought he’d been shot.”

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Photo by Mark Wernham

Reactions were varied to the cancellation of Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix. The riders knew immediately that Marco Simoncelli’s condition was grave; some even changed out of their leathers and into street clothes shortly after returning to the garages. Most of the record 67,112 spectators ringing the 3.447-mile Sepang International Circuit, however, were apparently unaware of the critical nature of the second-lap accident.

According to eyewitnesses, some fans were actually angry. They’d paid a premium for their tickets and felt shortchanged. They threw bottles of water and trash onto the racetrack, and in the accompany photo, track marshals can clearly be seen running for cover. By the time Simoncelli had been pronounced dead, most of the crowd had gone home.

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Photo by Andrew Wheeler

Sometimes, I actually think of something and am cheered up by the novelty of it. Back when Valentino Rossi was first on Bridgestones, there was a big hoopla about how, because of their big, heavy, stiff casings, these tires were extra-stable and needed to be heavily loaded by weight transfer to get the best out of them. And there was Colin Edwards, saying how amazed he was at how the tires just kept gripping the more load he’d put on them.

None of this makes sense because, in the past, the way things have worked is that a company makes its tire carcass softer so it then spreads out a bigger footprint, which engineers can then exploit by using softer tread rubber and so on. For example, each time Dunlop made its car-racing tire carcass softer—the first time was when it reduced the number of plies in the tire by switching from cotton to nylon—it got a bigger contact patch because the softer carcass could more easily spread out to make a big footprint.

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Photo by Tim White

After the MotoGP post-race press conference at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, third-place-finisher Ben Spies stuck around to answer a few more questions. Actually, Spies posed the first question.

“Am I mad about the start?”

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Photos by Chris Cantle

“I am very sad. We hope that this weekend [would] confirm the performance of the last two races in Laguna and Brno—because this morning was much better with the bike.

“But, unfortunately, this afternoon, I had a crash at the beginning where I damaged the good bike and, especially, two new tires. So, I have to go with other bike, which was a little bit different. Also, I have to use the harder tire, and I don’t feel confident. I lose the feeling with the bike, and at the end, we are very much behind.

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Photo by Tim White

Casey Stoner didn’t let changing track conditions or a layout for which he isn’t fond stop him from smashing the lap record in qualifying, winning Sunday’s Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix and extending his points lead on current world champion Jorge Lorenzo.

Some members of the local media nevertheless criticized the 25-year-old Australian for derogatory comments he made about the 2.621-mile roadcourse, most of which exists within the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s famous 2.5-mile oval.

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Photo by Tim White

Arguably the most important subject discussed during Thursday’s pre-Red Bull Indianapolis GP press conference at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was the costly recent resurfacing of a significant portion—Turns 5 through 16—of the 2.621-mile infield roadcourse.

Last year, current MotoGP points-leader Casey Stoner, among others, was openly critical of the bump-riddled track. This year, he is cautiously optimistic. “It’s going to be interesting to see what [this new surface is] like, how much grip we have and how the weather works out this weekend.

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In March, three nuclear power stations melted down at Fukushima after their cooling systems were knocked out by a tsunami. Radioactive material was released from the plants into the air, groundwater and nearby ocean. Twin Ring Motegi, owned by Honda and site of this year’s delayed but now-upcoming Grand Prix of Japan, is less than 100 air miles from Fukushima.

Some MotoGP riders, notably series points-leader Casey Stoner and reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo, have said they will not compete at Motegi because they distrust official statements that radiation levels have returned to normal at the circuit.

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Fred Nix was one of the best mile racers ever. In 1968, he won every mile. Photo by Walt Mahony

Former racer Dave Ijams phoned me the other day and told me a story of what he says is the best motorcycle racing quote ever.

“Novices quaked at the thought that one day, if they became good enough, they’d have to race the mile,” he began. “The mile was big stuff, almost of religious significance. Everybody knew it took four years before you got good enough—if you were ever going to—to win on the mile.

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Photo by Tim White

Last July, heading into Round 7 of the 2010 AMA Pro Road Racing series at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Graves Yamaha factory rider Josh Hayes already had four race wins under his belt and would claim three more en route to winning his first American SuperBike title. This time around, Hayes has two victories to his credit and trails Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Blake Young by 11 points.

What’s changed? I asked. “The Yamaha YZF-R1 is in its third year of a four-year [cycle] and development isn’t happening as fast,” he replied. “After Daytona, when the bikes were at ‘home,’ the guys worked really hard and improved our machines. But for the last several weeks, the bikes have been on the road. At the same time, Suzuki has stayed one step ahead of us.”

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