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Nicky Hayden Inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame

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American racing legend Nicky Hayden has been inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, as part of its 2021 class of inductees. A nod to his racing number of 69, Hayden is the 269th inductee to the Motorsports Hall of Fame.

In 2018, Hayden was posthumously inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame, one of the motorcycling world’s top recognitions, but today’s announcement honors Hayden’s feats from a more mainstream perspective, as the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America recognizes those from the automotive, motorcycling, powerboats, and aviation sports.

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MotoGP

Saturday MotoGP Summary at the Americas GP: Predicting the Last Rider Standing

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It has been four years since anyone lapped the Circuit of The Americas quite so rapidly. In 2018 and 2019, nobody, not even Marc Marquez, managed to get under the 2’03s.

So it is a testament to how much faster the MotoGP riders are going that two riders managed it on Saturday in Austin. And this, despite the fact that the track has become so much more bumpy in the past couple of years.

So bumpy, in fact, that it appears as if the circuit has been issued an ultimatum: resurfaces the section from the exit of Turn 1 all the way through Turn 10, or MotoGP is not coming back.

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MotoGP

Friday MotoGP Summary at the Americas GP: The Dangers of a Bumpy Track

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Pol Espargaro summed up the complex emotions of almost the entire grid (possibly bar Jack Miller, but more of that later) at the end of an eventful first day of practice at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.

“First of all we need to say that it’s super nice to come here to America, to be able to race here,” the Repsol Honda rider said. “Already this is something super good after so long in Europe.”

“And to see the American fans is super nice, they are super excited and it’s nice. Saying that, I think we are in a professional MotoGP championship that, we need a minimum of quality in the tracks, about safety, run off area.”

Then came the ‘but’. “We must say that the track is not at the level of a MotoGP championship, sure. First of all, there are parts where the asphalt is super bad.”

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MotoGP

MotoGP Preview of the Americas GP: Mastering the Bumps in Texas

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For the first time in two years, MotoGP is headed for a flyaway race which isn’t in Qatar.

After a long period of uncertainty, and facing a certain amount of opposition from inside the Grand Prix paddock, the series is heading to the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.

After having 12 of the first 14 races all inside the same timezone (give or take an hour), a flyaway race feels like something of a novelty.

The novelty will not be quite as great as hoped for all those traveling to Austin.

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MotoGP

Maverick Viñales Will Not Race in Austin After the Death of His Cousin

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Maverick Viñales has elected not to race at the US round of MotoGP at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

The Spaniard has decided to take the time to come to terms with the death of his cousin, Dean Berta Viñales, as a result of a crash in the WorldSSP300 race at Jerez on Saturday.

Dean Berta Viñales rode in the team run by Maverick’s father, Angel, and which carries Maverick’s logo.

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MotoGP

Piero Taramasso Explains Michelin’s MotoGP Tire Inconsistencies

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There has been a lot of talk of tires in 2021. Tires are always a key part of the performance package in motorcycle racing, but they seem to have played an even more important role in 2021.

At Silverstone, Pecco Bagnaia complained of a bad rear tire, while Joan Mir said his front tire was off.

Two weeks later, it was the turn of Fabio Quartararo to complain of his rear tire, and there have been a litany of complaints from riders throughout this season. 

Are these complaints justified? From outside, it is hard to tell.

With grids commonly separated by a second, and grid rows separated by a tenth or less, the differences between being perfect and being just slightly off in terms of setup, tire pressure, bike balance have grown massively in importance.

This is not made any easier by the fact that the Michelins have a relatively narrow operating window in terms of temperature.

Go just outside that temperature range, and performance drops off dramatically. The devil is increasingly in the detail, and tires are the biggest detail of all.

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MotoGP

Misano MotoGP Test Summary: A Tale of Six Factories

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The weather cooperated for the second and final day of the Misano MotoGP test.

It stayed dry and warm all day, which meant everyone got the track time they were looking for. In the case of Maverick Viñales, that was a lot of track time: the Aprilia rider racked up 109 laps, a grand total of 460.6 kilometers.

Equivalent to Misano to Turin, London to Paris, Dallas, Texas to San Antonio, Texas.

The problem with all that track time, of course, is that a lot of rubber gets laid down. That adds oodles of grip, making conditions ideal for MotoGP machines.

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Saturday MotoGP Summary at the San Marino GP: How the Dry Saved Fabio’s Bacon

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It was supposed to rain, so of course it didn’t, proving that the weather on Italy’s Adriatic coast is just as fickle as any other place in the world at the moment.

Instead, it was hot and humid, with the threat of rain looming in the distance, providing a brief shower during qualifying for the Moto2 class, but leaving the rest of the sessions untouched. The recent rains did leave their mark, however.

The standing water left by the heavy showers of recent weeks had allowed midges, mosquitoes, and other insect life to breed copiously, and clouds of midges swarmed sections of the track. To the misfortune of Jack Miller, who had to come into the pits after getting one of the little mites in his eye.

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