Please do not take it that we are referring to the apocalypse and what happens the after that. We are not so pessimistic about the world. This article is all about the post Valencia MotoGP three day test that began at Valencia. The significance is that every year this event offers riders and teams in MotoGP to sample the equipment that they will be using the next season. The curtain came down on the 2013 season of MotoGP on Sunday the 10th of November which saw the incredibly talented Marc Marquez break all records and become the youngest ever MotoGP champion and that too in his rookie year.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow are marked for testing of next years equipment. On Monday the Repsol Honda team stayed away from the track presumably because most personnel may have been hung over from the victory celebrations of Sunday night. However other teams managed to reach the track to start testing at noon. Unsurprisingly, in the absence of the factory Repsol Honda team, the Yamahas of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi set the leading times. However, it is not very clear as to which bike (the 2013 spec or the 2014 spec) was actually used to set the times on. Irrespective of that both Lorenzo and Rossi declared that they were pleased with the 2014 spec machine. Rossi especially claimed that he was most happy with the new bike’s front end feel which was missing in the old one.

Lorenzo on the 2014 Yamaha M1

But the more important stories were of the debutantes for next year. Pol Espargaro who rode the Monster Tech3 Yamaha seemed ecstatic about how easy the Yamaha was to ride despite the power advantage that it has over the Moto2 machine that he had been riding for the past couple of seasons.

Pol Espargaro on the Tech3 Yamaha

Honda’s production racer the RCV 1000 R made its debut on the track and Scot Redding riding for team Aspar rode around on the motorcycle rather gingerly since he has not yet recovered from the injuries that he sustained at Motegi. Nicky Hayden who was to ride the other production machine was absent on the first day as was Karel Abraham of Cardion AB team which will be running the RCV 1000 R.

Scot Redding on the Team Gresini Honda RCV 1000R production racer.

But most of the interest was centred around team Ducati because the gunslinger style rider Cal Crutchlow made his debut on the D 16 of this year. To his credit despite a very small run of about 40 laps he set a best time which was only a tenth slower than his former and now present teammate Andrea Dovizioso. It is to be noted that Dovizioso has been on the Ducati the whole of this year while Crutchlow only just got onto the Ducati for the first time.

Crutchlow on the Ducati D 16

The NGM Forward team was one of the first to take to the CRT category when an announcement regarding the same was made. It also took the credit for bringing a high profile rider like Colin Edwards into the sub category right in the first season and therefore was responsible for some credibility going to the CRT category. The team started their 2012 campaign with a Suter-BMW machine, one that had been originally developed by Marc VDS team and then abandoned. The chassis and engine combination proved to be a nightmare and no results were forthcoming. That saw them abandoning this machinery (which was then picked up Ioda Racing who ditched their own trellis frame that housed an Aprilia Superbike spec motor) and Forward went with the FTR-Kawasaki combination of frame and engine. This time around the results were slightly better.

Edwards on Forward’s Kawasaki engined FTR motorcycle.

However, with Honda and Yamaha coming to the rescue of the uncompetitive teams struggling with the CRT bikes, the picture changed. An open class came into being and Honda was willing to sell racers to teams at relatively inexpensive prices but without some of the cutting edge technology. Yamaha too jumped in with a different model where they agreed to lease engines to teams who then had to procure their own chassis. While three teams chose the Honda option (one in Gresini Honda for Scot Redding and two in Aspar for Nicky Hayden and Hiroshi Aoyama and a fourth motorcycle for Karel Abraham in the Cardion AB team) only Forward took up the offer made by Yamaha. It has been decided that Yamaha will not only give an engine but also a parts of a chassis such as swingarm and front steering head and clamps while the rest of the chassis will be developed for Forward by FTR.  Forward has now announced that Colin Edwards will continue to ride in 2014 but Claudio Corti will be replaced by the CRT Champion Aleix Espargaro who decided to defect from Aspar. Next year could be quite interesting.

It has been very difficult to keep up with the number of records that Marc Marquez broke this season in MotoGP. Therefore we shall not talk about all of them. What is very relevant now is that he has broken Freddie Spencer’s record of becoming the youngest ever World Champion in the premier class (500 cc two strokes in Spencer’s case and MotoGP four stroke 1000 cc in Marquez’s case) at the age of 20 yrs. In doing so Marquez has achieved many milestones (forget the records) that are sure to bother and prick the egos of other riders who are still racing in MotoGP and others who have quit MotoGP. Here the allusion is to Casey Stoner, an exceptional talent on a motorcycle, but a whiner and crier who had problems relating to people in the world. Stoner left MotoGP last year after a series of complaints which involved everything in the world; how MotoGP is no longer a challenge, Rossi fans are bad, the press is horrible, the paddock has no respect for the departed (Marco Simoncelli), Ducati was diabolical, Rossi was a good for nothing, poverty prevailing in Ethiopia, too many Indians in Australia, USA electing Obama a second time…okay the last three were not his complaints but they could very well have been.

In quitting racing at a young age of 26 years (reminiscent of Bjorn Borg doing the same at the same age in tennis) Stoner was taking a calculated risk; something that was born out of his arrogance. He believed that he was teaching Dorna and its CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta a lesson and leaving a gaping hole in MotoGP which would not and could not be filled. Stoner’s exit was a God sent gift for Marquez. Suddenly there was an empty seat at Repsol Honda, the main factory team, an option that not everyone gets (it involved changing the rookie rules to put Marquez directly in the factory team) and Marquez with the help of Dorna found himself in that team. Marquez that way has been incredibly lucky; just see Pol Espargaro who despite the scrapping of the rookie rule finds himself with a ride only with the satellite Yamaha team, Tech 3 Yamaha. Stoner’s gambit failed as Marc Marquez brought with him a freshness to the MotoGP paddock both on and off the bike and accomplished all the things that Stoner could not. Its a pity Marquez did not thank Stoner after he won the World Championship at Valencia.

The knees and elbows style of Marc Marquez which made him look like he was hanging of the Honda and about to fall.

Stoner’s reputation was not the only one that was rendered obsolete. Valentino Rossi’s reputation as a rider and as a key figure in MotoGP who drew huge crowds also took a fair beating thanks to the genial and every smiling persona of Marquez. Is he really that? We don’t know, but he did warm the cockles of the heart of many a MotoGP fan. The dance that Marquez did on the podium post presentations was indicative that you did not have to be a Rossi to know how to celebrate. Marquez also destroyed Dani Pedrosa’s reputation and probably his confidence as well. Pedrosa has been with the Repsol Honda factory team for aeons now and has not yet won a world title. It can be argued that Pedrosa had his share of bad luck; fair enough. But when you are in MotoGP on the factory Honda right from the beginning and yet do not become a World Champion the picture of Pedrosa that comes through cannot be ignored. It has often been said that while Pedrosa is not lacking in talent, he certainly is in his will power. That is what differentiates Pedrosa not only from Marquez who was on equal equipment but also from Jorge Lorenzo who is supposedly on inferior equipment from Yamaha.

Another of the reputations that took a slight beating was that of Lorenzo. For a while now, commentators and journalists have sung praises about the smoothness and precision that Lorenzo brought to MotoGP and how that is perhaps the de facto style of riding that one should have to adopt in order to win races and world championships. However, Marquez has brought back the glorious tradition of past masters who set up their bike loose and preferred it wagging its tail and also use the rear while for turning the bike around corners. Marquez’s still does not have finesse perhaps, but it is far more entertaining to watch than any other rider’s style and most importantly it is effective.

The three protagonists of the World Championship battle for 2013

Marc Marquez won the MotoGP World Championship despite a botched up pit stop strategy (by Emilio Alzamora and Santi Hernandez) which saw him being black flagged in the Australian GP at Philip Island that saw him go home without a single point. In all the races that Marquez had completed this year he has ended up on the podium. So consistency has been one of his outstanding achievements this year and he was able to do this riding most unlike Lorenzo. There is no denying that good fortune had its role in his winning the World Championship. Both Lorenzo and Pedrosa fell and broke their collarbones and had to ride at less than 100% in a few races. Marquez’s crashes this season exceeded everyone else’s in the MotoGP field but he came out unscathed. Even when he dislocated his shoulder, it somehow popped back into its socket with just a little help from the doctors.

The youngest World Champion of MotoGP. The T shirt makes sure that there is no misunderstanding.

There was only one crash that Marquez had in a race and that is the only time he did not finish on the podium apart from the time when he was black flagged. He was fortunate, no doubt, but then there must be some meaning in the adage “Fortune favours the brave”. Bravery is one quality that young Marquez seems to possess. He has never been fazed by the accidents in the practice sessions. And after winning the World Championship Marc Marquez showed another side of his personality; one which is perhaps more scary if you are his opponent. He said that he did not expect or really want to win the world championship so soon and then went on to say that this victory will make the future more difficult since he may not always be able to better what he has done. That shows that his feet are firmly on the ground and that there is no confusion in his head. Dangerous combination. It will be interesting to see how he goes in 2014.

Honda has finally unveiled the Open Class (the class that is replacing the terribly named CRT class) contender which it is calling the RCV 1000 R. Shuhei Nakamoto of HRC has claimed that this motorcycle was just 0.3 seconds of the pace of the RC 213 V in the hands of Casey Stoner who has assumed the mantle of being a test rider of sorts for Honda. Nakamoto even said that the extra soft tyres which the Open Class ( as against the prototype class) is eligible for, the time differential is 0.17. Impressive? Yes, but then is this a sales pitch and hype for the production racer to attract more customers, since Honda needs to sell more bikes to be profitable?

The truth maybe something else since the production racer does not feature pneumatic valves and will have conventional spring valves and a regular gearbox with slipper clutch and not the seamless gearbox which figures on the factory Repsol Honda motorcycles. The production racer in the open class is eligible for 24 litres of fuel per race and a total of 12 engines per season as opposed to the 20 litres of fuel per race and a total of 5 engines per season for the prototypes. The real potential of this motorcycle will come to the forefront next year when it takes to the tracks.

In what came as a shock not just to us but also to the respected crew chief of Valentino Rossi, Jeremy Burgess, Rossi has announced his decision to terminate his relationship with his long time mentor with immediate effect. The MotoGP paddock is now in Valencia for the final race of the 2013 calender and till this shocker of an announcement came from Rossi all attention was on the two protagonists of the World Championship title in MotoGP, Marc Marquez (now being called the Joker as in the villainous character first portrayed by the great Jack Nicholson, who smile seems to exactly like that of Marquez’s. We are not talking about Heath Ledger who also portrayed the character of the Joker but did not look anything like Marquez or Nicholson when he smiled) and the bull dog of MotoGP (thus named by none other than the great Kenny Roberts Sr,) Jorge Lorenzo. Another subject of discussion has been about who will be the Moto3 champion from among three Spaniards Luis Salom, Alex Rins and Maverick Vinales (whats with the Spaniard domination? Pol Espargaro already became the Moto2 World champion and is a Spaniard). Now with Rossi’s sensational announcement the focus has slightly shifted from these issues to Rossi’s issues with Burgess.

Rossi and Burgess in happier times.

Rossi has confessed that he only told Burgess of his decision to split with him just a little before the press conference where he made his announcement. When asked about how Jerry Burgess reacted, Rossi said “He was quiet, very quiet”. Apparently Burgess wanted to continue being the crew chief but Valentino Rossi needed a scapegoat on which he could push the blame for his poor showing on the Yamaha (in comparison with Jorge Lorenzo who has finished most races anywhere between 30-50 seconds in front of Rossi on a similar bike) and said he needed fresh motivation which could come only from a new crew chief. He did not announce who that person would be though he indicated that he had a couple in mind. One has to feel for Jerry Burgess here, not only was he sacked unceremoniously, he was not even consulted for his opinion. This is the second big mistake of Rossi’s career, the first being his shift to Ducati. We feel that this will probably be a bigger mistake. When will Rossi learn to think that the blame for the way things are going could be on him as well?