Top 10 Reasons Why MotoGP is Awesome: #1 — Battles

This is it. The end of the road. The number one reason in a list of ten. The Top 10 Reasons Why MotoGP is Awesome.

So here it is. The number one reason is the battles the occur during a race.


It makes the most sense. They are the excitement of the race. Battles make you jump up with joy or crash back down on the ground. The battles between the riders certainly make watching MotoGP the most interesting. It is a test of the rider fighting it out with another rider.

Following are some pretty good battles from the past few years.

Here is one between Stoner and Rossi at Laguna Seca in 2008. Rossi put some moves on Stoner that made it some hard racing. That was the turning point really in the 2008 season that saw Rossi win back his title from Stoner.

The other is example can be found here. (The best one is the very last one, so scroll down.) This was was called the Race of the Decade by Motorcycle News Sport. It was between Rossi and Lorenzo at Catalunya in 2009. Well, it really speaks for itself.

That is the end. The number one reason why MotoGP is awesome is because of the battles that exist between the riders on the track. Hope you have enjoyed reading and have become enlightened to the sport.

Just remember the first race is under the floodlights in Qatar of March 2oth.

Top 10 Reasons Why MotoGP is Awesome: #2 — Poetry in Motion

As I said in an earlier post, MotoGP is the best of the best. Therefore the riders can certainly ride a motorcycle and it is a spectacle to watch when they find their groove.

The second reason why MotoGP is awesome is poetry in motion.

One things that I say is poetry in motion is when a rider can get out at the front of the race and just pound out lap after lap of fast laps. It does not make for an interesting or exciting race, but it is incredible to see the rider in harmony with the motorcycle. That is why MotoGP riders are the best.

Another example of poetry in motion is when riders are grouped together during the race and they seem to form a single line while riding around the track. This usually happens when they are all fighting for a certain place in the race.

One good example though is during the first lap of the Laguna Seca race on the famous "Corkscrew" turn. It is a quick left-right that plunges down a steep hill. All the bikes flow like a wave down through the corner.

It can be seen here, although there is a lot of empty track at the beginning of the video, so fast-forwarding is advised.

That is why the bikes being poetry in motion is the second reason why MotoGP is awesome.

Top 10 Reasons Why MotoGP is Awesome: #3 — Passing Maneuvers

During a MotoGP race there are several instances where the riders will pass each other. After all, the race is not settled until the checkered flag drops.

So the passing maneuvers during a race, that is the one-off pass, is the third reason why MotoGP is awesome.

Most of the time during a race, riders get stuck behind those who have a slower pace than they do. Therefore, they would like to get pass. This can happen in many ways, such as in a corner around the outside or up the inside, but one of the most popular ways is to pass on the start/ finish straight. However, that kind of pass is not the most exciting.

One example of an exciting pass was during the race in Aragon in 2010. Nicky Hayden was stocking Jorge Lorenzo for the whole race. Towards the end of the race, Hayden seemed to have a higher pace and wanted to get past Lorenzo. Lorenzo had not been off the podium for that whole year up to that point and wanted to continue that trend. Hayden had not been on the podium at that point and wanted to change that.



Hayden tried some passing maneuvers earlier, but was unsuccessful in his attempts. On the last lap, "The Kentucky Kid" (Hayden) performed what he called a backyard pass on Lorenzo to get by him and take third position in the race.

It can be briefly seen in the following video here.

It changed the race and was just a single move.

Things like this make MotoGP more interesting and passing manuevers are the third reason why MotoGP is awesome.

Top 10 Reasons Why MotoGP is Awesome: #4 — Power Slides and Leg Drags

While riding a MotoGP around a track at very high speeds, things probably will not go as smoothly as you would like them. But a lot of those times, bad events do not turn into a crash for instance, but rather a very remarkable power slide.

An excellent example of this is shown below by Casey Stoner.


It certainly shows that the rider is in control and although is probably not the fastest way to go around a corner, but certainly looks pretty cool. A track where this kind of thing happens quite a bit is at Phillip Island in Australia. The track is fast and flowing, so the riders are always carrying a lot of speed around the corners.

Pictures are amazing to see this stuff, but to really do it justice, a video needs to be shown. So, here a couple of examples. One is of Stoner and Rossi sliding around during the race at Phillip Island in 2009 and can be viewed here. The other example is of Stoner during a practice session in 2010 and can be found here, with tire streaks and all.

Another interesting thing that some of the riders seem to do is to dangle their leg off the bike into the corner. When asked about it, none of the riders seem to have a reason as to why they do it. Some say that it helps with braking and allows them to do it later, as the weight distribution is shifted. Others think that it is used to block riders behind them from coming on the inside and passing in the corner.

Rossi seemed to have invented this technique with others following suit. So here is a picture of The Doctor dangling his leg.

Top 10 Reasons Why MotoGP is Awesome: #5 — Camera Angles

Capturing the speed of MotoGP riders is very difficult to do. It is also quite the feat to show all the action that takes place during practice sessions and the race, such as crashes and overtaking maneuvers. However, the people behind the cinematography at MotoGP seemed to have figured it all out.

Therefore, the camera angles are the fifth reason why MotoGP is so awesome.

It is mainly because of the on board cameras. Each bike has several. They all have one at the front facing outwards, one facing the rider from the front, one facing the rider from behind and finally, one facing backwards off the bike. There are then at least one other one in a unique place, such as underneath the bike. Other placements include looking at the clutch or brake lever or even the left foot, which has the shifter. Some bikes have cameras looking at the rear wheel.

Anyway, here is a video from 2008 of clips compiled form on board shots to give you an idea of the camera angles.

Of course now the cameras are being replaced with high definition ones, which make the action that much clearer.

They have also added a new type of camera called a gyroscopic camera. Instead of being at angle when the rider leans over, the shot the camera shows stays level with the ground. You can really see then just how far riders lean over.

This is not MotoGP action, but just some other random test on a street legal bike. It can be viewed here. (The lap starts a 1:20, so you may want to fast-forward...) The gyroscopic cam is the one facing the rider at his back-side.

These camera angles add a bit of flair to the race and make things more interesting as you get to see all aspects up-close and personal. For this reason then, the camera angles in MotoGP are the fifth reason the sport is awesome.

Top 10 Reasons Why MotoGP is Awesome: #6 — Outfits

Who thought that style would be one of the reasons that MotoGP is awesome? Well it turns out that the outfits and helmets of the riders are the sixth reason.

Every rider wears a set of leathers with a pair of gloves and boots. Their head is covered with a helmet. Of course sponsor's names adorn nearly every inch of the showing surfaces. However, the riders can add their personal touches of logos, colors, names and numbers. The helmet is probably the personalized part of the outfit and the first thing to become a special or unique design for a given race weekend.

Recently, the riders are making their outfits more personal, which is nice because then you are able to tell them apart as they are circling around the track. For instance, last year it was difficult to tell the Ducati Team riders apart as they were on all red bikes, in red leathers and had similar colored helmets.

Happily however, this year is different as Valentino Rossi is riding for Ducati now and his favorite color is florescent yellow. He is also a fan of the sun and the moon.


As you can see, Rossi's nickname is placed nicely on his butt. This is the norm, which is good as you can tell who they are when they show the on board shot facing the rider's back-side.


Rossi's team-mate Nicky Hayden has gone with a much more subtle and tasteful approach.


Australian Casey Stoner has incorporated the Australian flag into his helmet. Plus, his boots have silhouettes of kangaroos on them.


Unhappily however, there are three Repsol Honda riders this year that all pretty much have the same outfit, similar to what Stoner is wearing above. Although Dani Pedrosa has black boots and gloves, while Andrea Dovizioso has red ones. Of course they do have different helmets, but sometimes those just become a blur.

At the Yamaha Factory team, their outfits are pretty similar as well. Only the highlighting colors are different.

Ben Spies for instance has robin egg blue gloves and boots.


The World Champion Jorge Lorenzo has red on one side and white on the other. It goes with his angel/ devil theme.


As an example of a not everyday helmet, here is Lorenzo's helmet from the race from Valencia, Spain at the end of 2010. It is painted with real gold paint and covered in 1,800 Swarovoski crystals. Lorenzo's celebratory helmet took 96 hours to complete and was sold for 12,000 euros ($13,250) after the race.


So the stylish or outrageous outfits that the MotoGP riders wear to keep them safe when they crash are sixth reason why the sport is awesome. Besides, who would not want to ride a motorcycle with their name placed ever so strategically on their butt?

Top 10 Reasons Why MotoGP is Awesome: #7 — Rivalries

Reason number seven as to why MotoGP is awesome is because of the rivalries that exist within it. After all, what is a sport without rivalries?

So here is a video really promoting a race in Brno back in 2008, but it highlights classic rivalries in the sport and makes my point.

The rivalries are MotoGP classics. Sheene vs. Roberts. Rainey vs. Schwantz. Rossi vs. Biaggi. Rossi vs. Gibernau. They all want to beat the other guy with everything that they have. It certainly makes for some dramatic racing.

Rossi just seems to have a rival with everybody that he races against. His rivalry with Max Biaggi was fairly vicious. They seemed to dislike each other even before they raced against one another. Things got so bad that they got into a fight after one race before heading on to the podium.

The Rossi and Gibernau rivalry got fairly intense as well. After accusing Rossi of cheating, Gibernau went on to win a race that Rossi crashed out of. During the press conference afterward, Rossi said that Gibernau would never win another race. At the race in Jerez 2005, Rossi dove up the inside of Gibernau in the last corner, knocking him into the gravel, making sure that he did not win. To this day, Gibernau has not stood on the top step of the rostrum again.

A more modern rivalry is that of Stoner and Rossi during the 2008 season, as shown in the video above. (Missed it? See second paragraph...) Stoner was the reigning World Champ and Valentino wanted his title back. The two fought it out all through the year, including some close-call maneuvers at Laguna Seca, with Rossi eventually becoming the World Champ again.

The most famous rivalry now is Rossi vs. Jorge Lorenzo. The two used-to-be team-mates despise each other. There was a wall dividing their Fiat Yamaha garage and in 2010 no data was shared between the two riders. Sharing data is rather common in MotoGP garages.

Rossi and Lorenzo battled it out all the way through the 2009 season and continued in 2010 once Rossi's leg healed and he started racing again. An example of this is below with this picture. This is from Motegi, Japan in 2010 where Rossi is trying to get past Lorenzo and roughen-up the 2010 champion-elect Lorenzo. Yamaha management were certainly worried that they were going to take each other out.


Rivalries make sports more interesting and dramatic. Rivalries in MotoGP certainly are no exception and the seventh reason why the sport is so awesome.