This year’s MotoGP race at Motegi will be longed remembered in the minds of racing fans.
The race was postponed due to the horrific earthquake and tsunami that hit the Japanese country and population in March.
The riders and paddock personnel didn’t want to go (a big part of Italian media stayed at home as did their Spanish colleagues) fearing radiation leaks from the Fukushima reactor, with top riders making statements that riled up fans on both side of the fences, only to change their minds as the race date grew nearer and decisions had to be taken.
In the end all of the teams showed up and took their own personal precautions, geiger counters, showering with bottled mineral water and eating only imported can goods and wearing their scruffiest clothes to leave at the airport before heading home (wonder what they’ll do with their expensive leathers and lids).
In the end the race turned out to be the most chaotic we’ve seen of the season, surpassing even a wet race or a flag-to-flag and truthfully we can’t remember a race where three ride-through penalties were handed out.
It wasn’t the most entertaining race, but it certainly was very different from what we’ve been accustomed to.
Rest of the rider quotes after the jump.
Marco Simoncelli – 4th“I made a stupid mistake on the start line.
The red light was slow to go out and out of the corner of my eye I saw Dovizioso move and let the clutch out just a tiny bit but enough to be given a ride-through penalty.
You can’t afford to make this kind of error.
I am angry with myself and kicking myself especially after the race I put together following the penalty.
Today could have been a great day for us, the podium was there for the taking and maybe even more than that.
I had great fun on the last few laps with Dovizioso though – yet another battle between us – and I am happy to have beaten him.
It was great!“Colin Edwards – 8th “What a race that was and I’m struggling to remember everything that happened because it seemed like each time I went round a corner somebody else was in the gravel! There was so much chaos it was just about surviving.
Right away I knew Cal had jumped the start and then Valentino and Ben were in the gravel.
Casey was then off track, so I just got my head down and once the hard rear tyre got heated up and working good, I put in some decent times around the halfway stage.
It took me too long to get by Aoyama though and it is tough to sit behind somebody for such a long time without being able to pass.
His style is basically to stop in the middle of the corner and fire it out using the power of the Honda, so he’d get a jump of a few metres with the advantage he had in acceleration.
Honestly speaking, my pace wasn’t there all weekend, so to get eighth is a positive result and we can move on and try be much faster at Phillip Island, which is a great track.
”Hiroshi Aoyama – 9th“It was a difficult race.
Unfortunately I didn’t have the grip to push as I wanted.
Yesterday was much better and I am struggling to explain why it didn’t happen today.
It is very strange but the change in track temperature definitely didn’t help because I am struggling for confidence in the front as it is.
We will make up for it in the next race.
” Randy de Puniet – 10th“I’m not very happy, today we had the potential to enter the top eight.
I was behind Aoyama, Elias and other riders, but when I saw the ride through sign I thought I would be there too.
I looked at the sign at every lap when it was exposed and once I tried to see well all the numbers to look for mine, so I’ve slowed down a bit in the straight but I used the brakes too late and made a mistake in the upcoming turn loosing contact with the group.
I tried to recover but the bike did not react as I wanted.
A pity because if the bike at Aragon was very good, but in the first turn I was forced to go off track to avoid a rider who had fallen, here I just did not have the right feeling.
We hope to find it back in Australia to gain a better position.
” Cal Crutchlow – 11th “Where do you start after a race like that? I knew I’d jumped the start because directly in front of me was Simoncelli and I just let the clutch out when I saw him move.
After that I just wanted to push to pick up as many places as I could before I needed to come in for the pitlane ride through.
I was pushing to pass Elias but he braked really sharply at Turn 3 and I nearly ran into the back of him.
That put me in the gravel, so if you take off the time I lost in that incident and the time I lost with the penalty, I’m sure I could have been in the top seven.
After all the drama I just wanted to finish and get as many points as I could for Yamaha and for Tech 3 in such an important race.
This is the fourth race in succession now that I’ve finished and I’m gaining a lot of experience.
I haven’t felt my best physically this weekend and I didn’t know the track either, so to bag a few more points is a positive outcome and now I’m really excited about the last three races.
I know Phillip Island, Sepang and Valencia, so hopefully I can have a really strong finish to the season.
” Kousuke Akiyoshi – 12th“I am very happy about my performance today.
Maybe I could have started a bit better but my pace was consistent till the end.
I hope that Japanese fans enjoyed this racing weekend and want to thank the Team for their good job”.
Shinichi Ito – 13th“First of all, I’d like to say big a very big thank you to Honda.
They gave me this possibility to race a MotoGP machine again and through this I hope I brought courage to the victims of the East Japan disaster.
My target for this race was to simply take the checkered flag and I achieved this.
Considering that today was no ordinary race, I’m very happy with the result! I had a physical problem after Friday’s crash, so the first part of the race was difficult for me.
I reminded myself the main reason for participating and I knew I could not give up.
After that, in the last part I managed faster laps and I’m happy with this.
The experience of today will contribute towards my training for the 1000 machine test.
At this moment I don’t have any plans to participate in another Motorcycle race, but if I take part in another race category, such as GT300 Japanese Car Championship, I would like to do so with a Honda Machine”.
Álvaro Bautista – DNF“This was for sure not the result we expected today! I chose the softer rear tyre for the race because the conditions today were colder than yesterday and because for the first laps I needed to be as fast as possible.
I didn’t get a good start because some riders jump-started and I was a bit confused by them and when the red light went off I was little bit late.
There was a crash on the second corner and I then found myself in a good position.
A few laps later some riders entered the pits because they did a jump start and I was then in third, but I knew it was not my real position! When Casey went past me and I saw what the distance was between me and Andrea – who was the next rider – and how many laps were left, I tried to follow Casey and keep the gap to Andrea.
Near the last corner I lost the front and crashed and that was the end of the race for me.
We worked very hard this weekend and improved in all the sessions, and in the race we were in a good position.
Today the luck was just not with us!”I am sorry for the whole team because this result would have meant so much to them, and I’m sorry for Suzuki at its home Grand Prix because we wanted to make a good race and a positive result.
I have to keep the good things from this weekend in my mind and in the next race we have to keep doing the same things we have done here and keep our heads up!”Toni Elias – DNF “Well… first I am very disappointed because we could fight for the 7th position taking the best result so far.
The adjustments we made this morning after the warm up session made the bike more stable and even today I took a very good start from the back of the pack.
I was faster than qualifying and front tyre feeling was a lot better: with this pace I could have obtained a brilliant result for me and the guys but in turn five, which is a very hard braking point, I hit a bump and I lost the front crashing down.
Anyway I would like to thanks the guys for their efforts and I am looking forward to racing in Phillip Island”.
Damian Cudlin- DNF“I made a good start, I felt good and thought I could overtake in the first lap both Colin and Randy, but I didn’t want to create accidents that would not be something very smart as a rookie.
As time went on I got more and more feeling with the bike and managed to achieve and maintain the pace with Akiyoshi.
I was planning to stay with him until the end, then try to overtake him in the last few laps, but in a tight left corner I braked too late and lost the front finding my self off track.
I am very sorry for how it ended this weekend, before today I had fallen only once in the other categories that I have raced this year, and to conclude this experience like this leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I hope to have similar opportunities in the near future to be able to improve.
However, I thank the Pramac Racing Team that has allowed me to live this wonderful experience.
