Magoo’s Wrap: Lorenzo’s brain explosion, young guns on the rise, and Miller Time in Texas

TWO races into the MotoGP season and we’ve seen two very big mistakes from world title contender Jorge Lorenzo, writes Kevin Magee.

Lorenzo jumped the start badly in Austin.

SPEED’s two-wheel expert Kevin Magee wraps up the main talking points from the second round of the MotoGP World Championship at the Circuit of The Americas.

BETTER TO JUMP THAN HESITATE?
Two races in and we’ve seen two very big mistakes from Jorge Lorenzo. He’ll have been kicking himself for crashing out while leading on Lap 1 at Qatar, handing Marc Marquez a head start in the championship. Add to that the pace of the Hondas in Austin and how poor the rear tyres were working on the Yamaha and he had a lot on his mind when he rolled up to the lights.

I think that’s what caused his mistake. He was that wound up and, having a bit of that hot Spanish blood, had a brain explosion.

News_Rich_Media: Spanish world champion Marc Marquez has put on a master class at the Circuit of the Americas to win the second MotoGP event of the year.

The funny thing is, his start being what it was, he then lost three or four seconds by hesitating. If he had just kept going, take those seconds off his total race time and that would have moved him ahead of teammate Valentino Rossi in eighth, with two more points to his current total of 44. Lorenzo would have had points in his head all around that first lap, which eroded any advantage he had built up by jumping the start in the first place. Marquez was right on his tail by the time he pulled the Yamaha into the pits.

He’s got to concentrate now on knocking back his championship deficit, and to do that he needs to win.

To have any hope of beating the Hondas, he will need his Yamaha on top form. He looked pretty annoyed whenever he was in the pits during practice and qualifying in Texas, so he’ll be rattling their cage to get them to fire up development on the M1. But Yamaha has a big ask in front of them to peg back Honda. When you’re already at the cutting edge of technology, it’s a tough task to figure out how to go beyond it.

News_Image_File: Long faces in the No. 99 Yamaha garage during practice.

Argentina will be interesting because no-one has any data on it. Keep an eye on Lorenzo if he and Marquez are battling in Argentina. Cast your mind back to Valencia last year, when he was slowing down and mucking around to try and get at Marquez. He’ll get up to mischief. I reckon there’s a bit of spark in the championship yet if it comes down to dicing.

After making a mistake on the first lap and then on the start in the first two races, the good news for Jorge is that you

can’t really make a mistake earlier than that. Unless, of course, you crash on the warm-up lap ...

News_Rich_Media: Marc Marquez had blistering pace during the MotoGP race in Austin over the weekend and he showed no signs of slowing down, even in the warm-up where he produced a phenomenally quick bike change.

HI HO SILV ... WHOOPS ...
I replayed the video of Marc Marquez’s practice bike swap in the Sunday morning warm up a couple of times. Absolute classic! Very clever, and good thinking by the rider, the team, or whoever came up with it.

In the first mid-race bike change we saw at Phillip Island a few years ago, we saw riders just meandering their way on and off the bikes, rather than trying to make up as much time as they could in the pits.

WHEN A THIRD IS AS GOOD AS A WIN
It looks like Ducati is finally making some progress, with Andrea Dovizioso finishing third. It’s their first dry weather podium since Rossi at Misano in 2012, and the first time a Ducati has finished in front of both factory Yamahas in a long, long time. Given Rossi and Lorenzo’s woes Texas may have made the bike look better than it actually is, but it was still good to see a Ducati finish ahead of the satellite bikes. Warren Willing was brought in last year and worked on their troublesome Desmosedici a lot, but the Italians wanted to do things the Italian way. Former Aprilia tech boss Gigi Dall’Igna has come in now and the bike appears to have made some progress.

News_Image_File: Gigi briefly put down his clipboard and picked up a glass of bubbly.

I think Cal Crutchlow has realised that he jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire by arriving at Ducati. He was quicker than Dovizioso in the early laps, but that’s his approach: just wring the bike’s neck and what will happen will happen. That’s the British bulldog in him coming out. He clearly has speed but not consistency on the Ducati at the moment.

HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARQUEZ?
Fact: the Austin race was just Marc Marquez’s 20th MotoGP. Fact: Marc Marquez has won eighth out of those 20 races. That’s a 40 percent winning rate.

Think about that for a minute.

Consistency wise, no-one is near him this year. Two poles, two wins. The next closest is teammate Dani Pedrosa, who has a third and a second, then everyone else is all over the shop. Marquez is just steaming away and making it hard for all of them, but that’s the idea.

News_Rich_Media: Marc Marquez cruised to victory in the MotoGP at Austin, but gave his team quite a scare with a shaky approach to the very last corner of the race.

In contrast to Qatar where he raced with the pack, in Texas Marquez just put his head down and cleared off. He was fast from the first lap. From the standing start he did a 2m03, then was under his lap record on the next lap by six tenths of a second. And he was under it again the next lap. And then again the next lap.

He likes the track. Riders usually have tracks they usually can’t wait to get to, and the Circuit of The Americas is clearly one Marquez has circled on the calendar.

News_Image_File: Marquez, trying to show that life is tough at the top.

YOUNG GUNS ON THE RISE
As I wrote prior to Qatar, I really rate Stefan Bradl, and Bradley Smith is riding out of his skin at the moment.

His fifth place in Texas is his best finish in MotoGP, and continues the good form he showed in Qatar to run with the leaders before crashing out.

I think he found that next level at Qatar and knew he could get back to it and, facilitating that, the Tech3 Yamaha is a really good package.

News_Image_File: Smith has found a new level of riding in 2014.

JACK IS LOOKING THE GOODS ...
I was talking to one of the Bridgestone guys at Phillip Island last year, and he was already tipping Jack Miller to be a big threat for the 2014 title. At this stage, he looks like he’s on the money. Two wins from two starts, and the first pole position of his career.

He showed from the start that he was taking no prisoners from Turn 1 of the race. Despite Efren Vasquez having a look down the inside, Jack was having none of it. With the threat of rain, I think Jack realised he had to lead over the line every lap just in case the heavens opened and the race was stopped. I think that was behind his determination to keep the lead; well, as well as to win the race!

News_Rich_Media: 19 year old Jack Miller has made history by becoming the first Australian ever to win back-to-back Moto3 races after completing the double at the Circuit of the Americas.

He’s clearly had a good off-season and had good people around him to train him mentally and physically for the season ahead. Added to that is his built up frustration from last season. He was riding the wheels off his old Honda and was just getting smoked by the faster KTMs. I can remember being in situations where my bike didn’t have speed, so you try to make it up. Then when I finally got on a bike that was quick, it was just felt so easy. Now he’s on the gun bike he has total confidence.

He rode a very clever race. He didn’t look like he wanted to burn out his tyres. He knew he was likely to be in fight at the end, so I think his tyre management was spot on, and he could have gone faster during the race if he had needed to.

News_Image_File: A sight we’re all becoming familiar with.

... BUT HIS COUNTRYMEN ARE DOING IT TOUGH
Broc Parkes retired from the Texas MotoGP with technical issues after scoring points on debut at Qatar.

We know he can ride a bike and he’s a hard charger but, when you’re on what you can only say is the worst bike in the paddock, all he can do is work with the tools he’s got and try to beat his teammate.

News_Image_File: Parkes didn’t make it to the finish in Austin.

Ant West continued his sterling start to the Moto2 season in Austin with seventh, but was very lucky not to get collected in the opening lap crashes. Like in Qatar he charged up through the field early, making up something like 10 places in the first couple of laps.

It illustrates how crucial it is to make your moves early if you’re down the grid. It’s simple: get there, get established, and then run with the front group. If you’re trying to claw your way up to them lap after lap, that’s when you stuff your tyres. If you can make some bold moves in that first couple of laps and move up the field, all the better.

News_Image_File: West put in another strong race in Texas.

Westy’s putting it together, and has been rewarded with seventh place in the championship after two rounds.

In that class, you just have to keep your head together. You can see the madness that goes on; half the field seems to think two MotoGP championships are on the line in just one race!

News_Image_File: Sissis wheels his bike away after Turn 1 clash.

Poor Arthur Sissis was taken out at the first corner of the Moto3 race. He was taken out by Andrea Locatelli, well and truly; Arthur was 100 percent innocent in that.

He’s not had a good run of things so far on the Mahindra. From missing Qatar with tonsillitis, now the crash at Austin; he’s just surrounded by circumstance. Things totally out of his control have stopped him from scoring any points.

All you can do in that situation is look forward to running with the leaders as soon as possible. Hopefully he’ll get up there and get on it like we know he can.

News_Image_File: Alex Marquez.

WHITE LINE FEVER
When are these guys going to learn: don’t brake on the white lines. Alex Marquez threw away his chances of a podium finish in the closing corners of the Moto3 race by doing just that. We’ve seen Lorenzo do it in recent years and crash; we saw Lorenzo Baldassarri do the same thing in the Moto2 race that followed it and end up sliding down the road on his backside.

They’re colder compared to the track, because they’re white, and they aren’t as abrasive as the tarmac they are painted on. Regardless of the new paint technology that has been developed, you still have less grip, especially when you’re braking hard and trying to turn and lean the bike into a corner.

Very silly. He was five points behind Miller in the championship leaving Qatar, and now he’s 30 down.