The internet has been abuzz since the weekend following the discovery of a huge quantity of drugs and a handgun and ammunition in the transporter of the official Kawasaki WSBK team on its return from Europe. 4 mechanics with the team have been arrested on drugs-related charges and an on-going police investigation is looking for further evidence that the team’s transporters have been used to courier trafficable quantities of drugs. After a few days of silence from the team principal, Paul Bird, a statement has been issued disavowing any knowledge of the the drugs and claiming that none of the team members have been involved in anything illegal. The claim is that the drugs were planted in the transporter and that the team will be looking at beefing up their security.
I have several questions about this. Firstly, why was Paul Bird unavailable for comment for two whole days before issuing a press statement? If the drugs WERE planted, why were 4 of the team members arrested and charged? Surely the police can pretty easily spot the difference? And matters like these are usually the result of surveillance and careful planning, rather than just a random “spot check”. I guess all of this will be clarified when the matter goes to court, but the old saying that mud sticks surely applies here. I am sure that, unless Paul Bird can categorically satisfy the court AND Kawasaki management that his team has been the victim of a crime rather than being involved in committing one, the Big K will be looking for another partner come the negotiation of WSBK contracts for the 2012 season.
Overnight a MotoGp test day took place at Estoril. Alvaro Bautista (still recovering from Qatar and riding on Sunday), Randy de Puniet (soreness in his leg) and Hector Barbera (suffering a chipped bone in his vertebra after his crash on Sunday) did not contest the test day. Dani Pedrosa chose to only ride a few laps, resting up his newly-repaired shoulder after his excellent win on Sunday. Here are the times.
1 | Marco Simoncelli | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda RC212V | 1:36.211 |
2 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha M1 | 1:36.316 |
3 | Casey Stoner | Repsol Honda | Honda RC212V | 1:36.602 |
4 | Cal Crutchlow | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha M1 | 1:36.850 |
5 | Valentino Rossi | Ducati Marlboro | Ducati GP11 | 1:37.382 |
6 | Colin Edwards | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha M1 | 1:37.410 |
7 | Ben Spies | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha M1 | 1:37.421 |
8 | Andrea Dovizioso | Repsol Honda | Honda RC212V | 1:37.460 |
9 | Nicky Hayden | Ducati Marlboro | Ducati GP11 | 1:37.463 |
10 | Dani Pedrosa | Repsol Honda | Honda RC212V | 1:37.679 |
11 | Hiroshi Aoyama | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda RC212V | 1:38.032 |
12 | Karel Abraham | Cardion AB MotoRacing | Ducati GP11 | 1:38.087 |
13 | Toni Elias | LCR Honda | Honda RC212V | 1:38.412 |
14 | Loris Capirossi | Pramac Racing | Ducati GP11 | 1:38.633 |
15 | Nobu Aoki | Rizla Suzuki | Suzuki GSV-R | 1:38.850 |
Some interesting things to note here, mainly that the lap times were about a second faster than those achieved on Sunday. This is usually due to the teams trying different, untested parts, more radical settings and mainly from running very light fuel loads. All the same, the fact that Rossi was more than a second behind Simmo certainly bears out the fact that all is still not right with the GP11. As Casey Stoner remarked at the press conference, the bike, in substantially the same form, won most of the closing races of the 2010 season, so, perhaps Rossi should be looking at changing his riding style to suit the bike rather than trying to tune the bike to the way he rides. Certainly, Rossi still appears to be most uncomfortable on the bike and his 5th placing on Sunday really flatters the team somewhat due to the retirement of Simoncelli. He probably should have been 6th and, anyway, he was 16 seconds behind Pedrosa at the show of the checkered flag, an ETERNITY in racing terms. Here’s a pic from Sunday showing how awkward Rossi is looking at the moment.
Scott Jones, in the right place at the right time.
And here’s a curious one. Did you know that, all you need to start a Ducati Diavell is the last 4 digits of the bike’s VIN number? Apparently the bike has one of those fancy electronic keys that has a PIN that you need to enter to programme it. But, instead of being able to choose a PIN that nobody else knows, the PIN is the same as the last 4 numbers of the VIN which is prominently displayed on the ID tag on the bike’s frame… d’oh!