Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) is a man on a mission. After not even starting the season with a podium, the Frenchman regrouped and refocused for round two, taking a resounding victory in the Doha GP before in Portimão we saw more of the same. And the same was not simply the fastest man on Sunday, but also a tactical masterclass in when and where to attack, and whom, before deciding where to pull that final pin. His two wins rocket El Diablo to the top of the standings and very much make him the man to beat. The next track on the calendar is one at which he dominated twice last year too, and although it was in the heat of July, that makes good reading for him. So who’s going to stop Quartararo’s roll?
Eric Granado (One Energy Racing) arrives as the fastest rider in testing, the Brazilian leaving it late to pip Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP) to the top on the final day and set a new – although unofficial – lap record. It was just 0.041 between the two, however, and Aegerter dominated the race simulation… but Granado was one who dropped back and didn’t push. Last year, it was similarly split: Granado won the first race of the season at Jerez, and Aegerter the second as the Cup started the year with two rounds in Andalucia. This time, there’s one top step at the Spanish GP… so who’s going to be on it?
The HETC first outing was a stunning, action-packed encounter which saw drama from the start. Starting from pole, Alvaro Carpe (MT-Foundation 77) got a great start to the race, but it was Casey O’Gorman (Cuna de Campeones) who led into Turn 1. The Irishman’s lead only lasted until Turn 4, where he slid out of contention before remounting. The race continued and there was a battle between Roberto Garcia (Avatel – Cardoso Racing), Phillip Tonn (Liqui Moly Intact SIC Racing Team) and Alberto Ferrandez (MT-Foundation 77), before Tonn crashed at Turn 9, taking out Garcia and Ferrandez. This allowed the likes of Carpe and Australian Jacob Roulstone to come through to the front. Carpe was leading on the last lap but crashed at Turn 7, leaving Roulstone to charge home for a first victory, beating Adrian Cruces (Cuna de Campeones) and Joel Esteban Ruiz (IGAX Team).
Annandale-Leichhardt MCC to host sidecar training day
The Annandale-Leichhardt Motorcycle Club will be running a sidecar coaching day, giving riders an opportunity to come along and have a swing on a sidecar.
Sidecars racing at Wakefield Park ASBK – Image Neil Cameron
The coaching day will be held Sunday May 23, with the day kicking off from 8:30am with sign on at the Pheasant Wood Circuit, where the gates will open at 7:30am.
The coaching day costs $120 and all you need to bring if yourself, a helmet and adequate protective clothing, with some protective gear available.
The day runs from 9:00am to 5:00pm, with raffles and souvenirs run and available on the day. A canteen will also be run, with food and drink available at your own cost.
Get a feel for what it’s like to race a sidecar – Image by Neil Cameron
The weekend saw the FIM CEV Repsol kick off 2021 at Circuito do Estoril for Round 1, with five races across three classes seeing a multitude of winners, including Australian Jacob Roulstone in the ETC.
2021 FIM CEV Repsol – Round 1, Estoril
All five races were final lap fights, as Daniel Holgado (Aspar Junior Team) took a career-first win in the FIM Moto3 Junior World Championship. Australians Harrison Voight and Billy Van Eerde raced to P12 and P21 respectively.
In the Moto2 European Championship, the battle raged between Fermin Aldeguer (Boscoscuro Talent Team-Ciatti) and teammate Alonso Lopez, with Aldeguer taking both wins on the last lap.
Both Hawkers European Talent Cup (ETC) races went to first-time winners; Australian Jacob Roulstone (Leopard Impala Junior Team) winning Race 1, and David Garcia (Finetwork Hawkers Junior Team) taking out Race 2. In all, close racing setting the tone for the year ahead.
Moto3
The FIM Moto3 Junior World Championship battle was fierce with seven riders going into the final lap with a chance of victory. Having been leading for most of the race, Daniel Holgado gave GASGAS a first win in the class by resisting pressure from David Salvador (TM Factory Racing Team).
2021 FIM CEV Repsol – Round 1, Estoril – Scott Ogden
Both riders showcased strong pace throughout the race and demonstrated themselves worthy of Championship contention. One of the major stories of the day was that David Alonso (Aspar Junior Team) joined the podium from 12th on the grid on his Moto3 debut, one of the most impressive rides of Sunday.
Starting from pole, rookie Ivan Ortola (Team MTA) finished in eighth. The Championship standings read the same results as the race, with Holgado heading Salvador and Alonso. Harrison Voight finished 12th, collecting four-points, while Billy Van Eerde had a hard weekend racing to 21st.
Fellow Australian Joel Kelso had qualified in sixth for the main race, however crashed out on lap eight while competing in the top ten.
Daniel Holgado – P1
“I am very happy with this victory; it is a joy to end with victory a weekend in which we have worked so hard with the team. It has been impressive from start to finish. We have done a great job with the set-up of the bike and I can only thank my technical team, because without them it would not have been possible, and my family, for all the support.”
2021 FIM CEV Repsol – Round 1, Estoril – Daniel Holgado
David Alonso – P3
“I didn’t expect to get on the podium in my first Moto3 race. We knew that it was not going to be easy and in qualifying it did not go well for us, but we were able to solve the problems in the warm-up session. Lap by lap, with good rhythm, I was able to reduce the distance with the leading group until I caught up with them and placed myself second. I suffered a lot, on the last lap I was very tired and with worn tyres, but I am very satisfied.”
Harrison Voight – P12
“Wow what a great way to wrap up the weekend. Literally couldn’t of asked for a better weekend. I thought I was doing not too bad in the race. Trying to maintain 45s the whole time while in 10th position alone, by six laps to go I really struggled with the tyres. Having zero grip in the front and rear to eventually getting passed by two riders on the last lap who caught up to me… Slightly disappointed knowing there could of been the chance of top10. Thanks to everyone who makes this possible and also SIC58 Squadra Corse for a great first round.”
Billy Van Eerde – P21
“Today was a difficult day. I knew it would be hard after yesterday’s QP. Start of the race was not so bad but I made a crucial mistake and lost the group for the points. I want to thank the whole team for all the work and support throughout the weekend. Reset and be ready for Valencia!”
2021 FIM CEV Repsol – Round 1, Estoril – Billy Van Eerde
2021 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Round 16 Salt Lake City 1 | Rice-Eccles Stadium
Report by Trevor Hedge – Images by Jeff Kardas
450
The 16th and penultimate round of the 2021 Monster Energy Supercross Championship was staged inside Salt Lake City’s Rice-Eccles Stadium overnight. Cooper Webb started the event with a 16-point buffer over Ken Roczen. Eli Tomac was a further 24-points behind Roczen and largely out of the championship chase. Thus it was coming down a two-man battle between Webb and Roczen, the German had held the upper hand over the first half of the season before Webb struck back with wins at round 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 and last week at round 15 to move into a commanding position as we head towards next weekend’s finale.
Tomac had topped qualifying ahead of Webb while Roczen had set only the seventh quickest time. Webb won his heat race while Tomac won Heat Two with Roczen third.
450 Main
Ken Roczen chose the inside line heading into turn one when the gates dropped and scored the hole-shot while Justin Barcia started the Main on the deck after the GasGas man went down early on. Musquin was second and Savatgy third for the majority of the opening lap before Savatgy went down which let Anderson through to third and championship leader Cooper Webb up to fourth just ahead of Malcolm Stewart, Chase Sexton, Eil Tomac and Dylan Ferrandis.
Roczen looked set for the win after pulling two-seconds out of the field over the first couple of minutes of the Main which grew to as much as four minutes before the ten-minute mark. As the second half of the 20-minute Main started though the gap was back down to under two-seconds as Cooper Webb took third place from Jason Anderson and was six-seconds behind Roczen.
Musquin continues to close on Roczen and with eight-minutes remaining the German succumbed to the pressure and folded the front. Roczen got back on his bike quickly but not before he had watched Cooper Webb, Malcolm Stewart and Chase Sexton fly by him. Another hugely costly mistake by the 26-year-old and one that sees his championship chances go out the window…
Marvin Musquin then went on to pull away to a three-second lead over Webb but Webb put his head down and with four-minutes remaining he was all over the back of his team-mate.
Webb chased down Musquin
It looked almost certain that Webb would blow past Musquin to victory but the Frenchman knuckled down and managed to keep Webb at bay to take his first victory of the season.
But the Frenchman held on to take victory
That was also only the fourth podium on Musquin’s score-card this year in what has been a season where the Frenchman has really failed to fire quite as hard as most had expected. It was also more than two year’s since his last victory as the 31-year-old battled ongoing knee problems.
He might have come second tonight but 25-year-old Cooper Webb looks almost certain to capture his second 450 Supercross crown as supercross returns to Rice-Eccles Stadium again next weekend, May 1, for the grand finale. The KTM rider has a 22-point buffer over Ken Roczen and with more wins under his belt, Webb only needs to score four-points from a 19th place finish in order to lift the crown next weekend, even if Roczen takes the win.
It was somewhat of a breakthrough round for Malcolm Stewart as he scored his first 450 podium ahead of Dylan Ferrandis and Chase Sexton while Ken Roczen was left ruing what might have been after finishing sixth.
450 Video Highlights
450 Quotes
Marvin Musquin – P1
“I can’t believe it right now – I’m standing on the top of the podium. I have had some struggles this season but my goal is to come back and keep getting better. There are so many good riders, so the start is super important and I was just trying to be consistent, those whoops were really tough. I’m so proud, I gave it my all tonight.”
Cooper Webb – P2
“I didn’t get a great start tonight, which hindered me a little bit. Those whoops were super tricky, I finally found a good line and made a charge there at the end. I thought I was in a good position and Marvin picked it up a lot there at the end. Getting points is key but you want to win when you’re that close. We’ll come around next Saturday and see what we can do!”
Malcolm Stewart – P3
“It was a great day! I felt good and rode well all day and just let the race come to me. I didn’t have the best start in the Main Event, but we made it work the first couple of laps. Then Coop (Cooper Webb), (Jason) Anderson, and I had a pretty gnarly battle. I was really strong in the whoops tonight, and even the corner after the mechanics’ area, and kept gaining ground. I’m just so stoked to finally get on the box. It’s been hanging over my head for a long time, and we finally got it. We finally did it! It’s a dream come true. It’s one of those moments I’ll never forget. Everybody says that after your first one, it comes easy, so this is one of many. I’m looking to have some more fun next weekend and go out here for a repeat.”
450 Podium
Dylan Ferrandis – P4
“It was a tough day. We made some changes this week to improve the bike, and it didn’t really work in the first practice, so we had to keep working on more changes, which made it hard to get comfortable. In the heat, we went the wrong way, but we made another big change and the bike was really awesome in the main. I had a good start, then Anderson pushed me off the track, and I lost a couple of positions. It took me a few laps to learn the bike and to feel comfortable on it because it was a new setting that I had never tried before. Then when I felt comfortable, I pushed and gave everything that I had. I made some good passes on some strong riders and I came back to fourth. It’s a good result overall, and we look to come back next weekend and do better at the finale.”
Chase Sexton – P5
“Round one here in Salt Lake City started off rough. I had a big crash in qualifying, which could’ve ended my night; it was pretty gnarly. After the crash I was really sore and my heel, left shoulder and right hip were pretty banged up. We did some work and we got myself to where I was able to race. I had a pretty good heat race, coming from from a ways back. I didn’t get a good start in the main event, but like the heat race, I just tried to fight my way up. I feel like I was riding pretty good, but kind of lost it with about five minutes to go and got passed by [Dylan] Ferrandis. It was a good top-five after what could’ve been no race at all. It’s something to build off of and we have another race to go, so we’ll just try and get better.”
Ken Roczen – P6
“What a bummer, once again. I got the holeshot in the main and gapped the field, but just found myself on the ground after tucking the front before the whoops. I dropped back to sixth, and that’s where we finished as well. There’s not much that I can say about it, to be honest; it’s unfortunate. I’m finding myself on the ground lately in general, which normally is not my style. I’m just trying to put my team and myself on the top step and it just hasn’t been working out, so I’m looking forward to next weekend.”
Aaron Plessinger – P8
“The day started out a little slow, I wasn’t really gelling with the bike in practice. That was kind of how it went all day long; I was just struggling with the bike setup and trying to get going. I had a good heat race going but about ripped my shroud off and then couldn’t really turn right that well and finished fourth. In the main, I didn’t get a good start and was battling mid-pack. I made my way up to the back of Dylan, but I just couldn’t get around him. Then I made a few bonehead mistakes and finished eighth. The track was tough tonight. There was a bunch of crashes. Eli (Tomac) passed me and then jumped right into some hay bales right. A bunch of people went down tonight, so I’m glad to stay up, stay healthy and be back for next Saturday. We’re going to go back to California this week and try to get the bike a little bit better and finish out the season strong.”
Aaron Plessinger
Eli Tomac – P10
“Man, I was feeling so good on the bike all day long and I’ve been looking forward to coming back to Salt Lake City. I always enjoy riding here and felt confident heading into the main, especially after qualifying fastest and winning my heat race. Unfortunately, I made a few mistakes and ran out of time. I’m looking forward to coming back next weekend to finish out the season strong.”
Justin Barcia – P14
“I felt really good in practice and in the heat but unfortunately, I ended up going down and tearing my radiator. Thankfully the team got it repaired quickly and got me ready for the LCQ. The Main Event was difficult to say the least. I got pushed out off the start, somehow cross-jumped into the bails and ended up going down and the bike hit me in the back. I charged up to 11th and was still moving forward and then I ended up endo’ing and bending my bike up pretty good. It’s definitely super disappointing on my end but I’m going to regroup and do the best I can do next week to finish the season out strong.”
Shimoda keeps hopes alive at SLC 1 with maiden 250SX victory.
Image: Octopi Media.
Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin has found his way to the top step of the 450SX podium, taking the win in the first of two races in Salt Lake City, while Jo Shimoda kept his title hopes alive in 250SX East.
After an up-and-down comeback season, Musquin found himself in the position to win tonight in the 16th round of the 2021 Monster Energy Supercross Championship and was able to hold off his teammate Cooper Webb to make it happen.
Ken Roczen (Team Honda HRC) grabbed the holeshot and took off to a lead early, with Musquin settling into second place. With 15 minutes to go, Roczen had stretched out a three-second lead over Musquin, with Jason Anderson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) three seconds back from the Duo in third.
As Webb maintained fourth place, Malcolm Stewart (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) began to charge, asking questions of Webb as the duo caught Anderson who was circulating in third. Webb made the move on Anderson and about that time, Roczen hit the ground out front, dropping him to sixth place.
A mistake by Anderson dropped him outside the top five allowing Stewart to slot into third. Out front, Webb caught Musquin and applied pressure but was unable to make a move, giving Musquin the win.
Stewart took third, notching the first 450SX podium of his career. Fourth place went to 450SX rookie Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) with fellow rookie Chase Sexton (Team Honda HRC) rounding out the top five after a big crash in practice.
Roczen ended the night in sixth, dropping 22-points back from Webb in the championship. Anderson recovered from his mistake to finish seventh place with Aaron Plessinger (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) ending up in eighth.
Dean Wilson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) continued his run of top 10 finishes in ninth as Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Kawasaki) took the final spot in the top 10. Justin Barcia ended up 14th after multiple crashes in the main event.
Webb will look to grab his second Monster Energy Supercross championship in the premier class next Saturday, 1 May, as the final round commences at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.
Image: Octopi Media.
Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Shimoda kept his title hopes alive with a maiden 250SX East victory in Salt Lake City.
It was a must-win situation for the Japanese talent in the penultimate round of Monster Energy Supercross and that’s exactly what he did tonight.
Shimoda grabbed the holeshot from Thomas Do (KTM), Michael Mosiman (TLD Red Bull GasGas), Joshua Varize (KTM) and Jett Lawrence (Team Honda HRC), while points-leader Colt Nichols (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) slotted into 10th.
Lawrence got by Varize on lap two as Nichols made his way to sixth place. Mosiman then made a quick pass on Do and set out after Shimoda, who was just over one second ahead. Lawrence and Nichols soon jumped past Do, Lawrence making a mistake and allowing Nichols to close up quickly.
Meanwhile, out front Mosiman caught Shimoda and the duo began to battle for the lead. Mosiman made a pass around the outside on Shimoda, but Shimoda quickly grabbed the inside and put himself back into the lead. Mosiman again attempted a pass but was forced to miss the triple and again dropped back nearly a second.
All the while, Lawrence worked his way toward the leaders with Nichols just two seconds back while setting the fastest lap, over a half-second quicker than those in front of him. Mosiman again closed the gap to Shimoda, now with Lawrence just behind.
Lawrence grabbed second from Mosiman and set out after Shimoda. Nichols then closed up on Mosiman, taking third place with Mosiman making a mistake over the triple. With one minute to go, Shimoda had a two-second lead over Lawrence, with Nichols a second further back from that.
Shimoda, in lapped traffic, allowed Lawrence to close with two laps to go. In the end Shimoda captured the first win of his career ahead of Lawrence and Nichols on in the final podium positions.
Mosiman took fourth ahead of Do, as sixth went to Varize, with Logan Karnow (Kawasaki), Australian Geran Stapleton (Honda), Hunter Schlosser (Yamaha) and John Short (BarX Chaparral Ecstar Suzuki) taking the final spots in the top 10.
Nichols now carries a 23-point advantage over Shimoda when Rice-Eccles Stadium will host the 2021 Monster Energy Supercross finals next Saturday, 1 May, for the second-straight weekend in Utah.
