It's over - now for Riders of the Year

 2006 has been run, and here are ten (plus) guys who made it special:

10) Tie: Neil Hodgson - He came to America to show us how they do it in
BSB and WSB and MotoGP, and after a year of learning the tracks in
America he did just that, taking 4ths and 5ths like clockwork, and even
getting on the box several times toward the end, once he had his
traction control. Unfortunately, now that he has the stain of
associating too closely with Americans on his hands, he seems to be
finding it difficult to land work out in the real world...

Jorge Lorenzo - I guess I have to include the 250 champion, even though
everyone expected he'd win the championship with his competition
graduated and it took him longer to clinch it that it probably should
have. Another guy with the red carpet being laid out for him into
MotoGP, even though he won't walk it this winter...

Carlos Checa -  Another Spaniard, GP's Mr. Mediocre makes every year
special, this one fighting to 15th in points on a Dunlop-shod Yamaha,
for once learning how the other half feels on stuff that doesn't quite
work. Not to worry, he'll be back on a Michelin-shod Honda next year...

Toni Elias - Yet another Spaniard, this one with a very notable
accomplishment, having fought back and beaten Rossi at Estoril on the
last lap, which in the end helped give Hayden the championship. He
started the year off well, ended up ninth in points and will be back, so
we'll see if this is the start of something... mediocre...

Sete Gibernau - What, another Spaniard?? Sete moved on to Ducati and in
the process stretched his winless streak to 36 races and his podiumless
streak to 24. Then he had the year end with the guy signed to replace
him taking him out at Estoril and ending his season early, and then
watching his replacement Bayliss, winless in three prior seasons in GP,
jump on his bike take the win at Valencia - could the frustration and
humiliation cut any deeper? (Well, perhaps so, if one had actually
picked him to win the championship) Unlike with the other Spaniards, it
may all humanely end now, for both him and us...

9) Marco Melandri - He had a pretty good year, winning three times, but
not exactly what was expected and he let third in the championship get
away from him today. His best moment was probably fighting back for 2nd
against Rossi at Donington on the last lap, still hurting from that
Catalunya spill, but of course he lost that fight in the end. Even with
the wins, brilliant moments were too few in number. So a bit of a
disappointment, I think, didn't quite measure up to what he promised at
the end of '05.

8) Casey Stoner - Added a lot of excitement to MotoGP and was amazingly
fast at times. In the end the results didn't quite match the flash, 8th
in points, no wins, only one podium, and seven DNFs, including the last
three rounds. Now he moves up to a coveted top factory seat, so you have
to say he's been big news.

7) Valentino Rossi - His championship started much the way it ended,
hitting the dirt and climbing back on to salvage a few points, and too
few in the end. In between were human-level problems for EuroGod, from
the chatter not really discovered in testing to the motor and tire
failures to the crash and injury at Assen and finally the bad start and
crash today when it all should have gone his way from pole. That after
his bike was fixed he only managed to win one of the last seven races
and crashed out today says it all about his year, as did his playing it
safe and ending up losing to Elias at Estoril. And it's not like all of
Europe and Japan weren't helping him (not to mention a small piece of
Texas). But he did come back from far down to make it very interesting,
so you have to at least give him that. Still, easily the worst year of
his career, and he has to take at least some of the blame for that. And
it won't get any easier next year.

6) Dani Pedrosa - Well, of course he was handed the best bike on the
grid, but he did win a couple races, he did finish in the top five in
points, and he was the biggest (figuratively) new face in MotoGP, a guy
who will seriously factor next year and probably for years to come (and
he actually managed to suppress his ego and play the team role today!).
Or perhaps not, if they start building bikes spec'ed for normal-sized
ex-SB racers and revise the rules to equalize rider weight. His gross
error in Portugal was partially erased today, when he rode shotgun for
Hayden to the title. But only partially, as that remains the biggest
fuckup in GP in a very long time, perhaps ever, although now it
certainly won't be recorded that way by those who write the histories...

5) Kenny Roberts, Jr. - The old champ showed he can still do the
business, given half-decent equipment, and ended up an outstanding 6th
in the championship with a pair of podiums and almost a win. The decent
half of the bike was a lease-spec Honda motor and downstream Michelins,
and the rest was a chassis developed by an underfunded team with only
one rider and a very limited testing budget. Really an amazing job when
you consider it fairly, a very big story.

4) Loris Capirossi - Really a great season overall, winning three times,
taking third in the championship, not crashing out or causing any
controversy all year. Well, other than his contact with Gibernau that
caused the biggest incident of the year, but that really just showed his
guttiness, riding through the pain at the following rounds. Given that
he only finished 23 points behind Hayden, that may have cost him dearly.
Now if Bridgestone can only close the gap on Michelin just a bit more,
he may yet get that premier class championship to add to his others.
He's already my darkhorse favorite.

3) Ben Spies - Not only did he beat Mladin for the AMA SB championship,
but he beat him soundly, winning 10 of the first 14 races before
injuring his hand and then cruising home, and that on the same bike and
without Mladin's veteran team. A huge step up for a guy who now looks
like the best young rider outside MotoGP. So how long will that remain
the case? At least two years, it appears.

2) Troy Bayliss - Won the WSB championship in dominant fashion, winning
eight races in a row early in the season. Then winning the Valencia
MotoGP race to top it off, showing, along with Hayden, that Superbike
guys CAN win in GP, they just need a level playing field with all the
favored 125/250 homies. Right now all those brilliant GP team managers
who have signed guys like Gibernau and Barros and Checa and Stoner can
say in unison, "Oops". The Old Man who Can...

1) Nicky Hayden - Of course he's the Rider of the Year, having taken the
championship from Rossi after struggling all year with that Brno
development mule, his teammate on a better bike and precious few parts
coming down the pipeline from HRC. But all of that didn't break him, the
FIM and Dorna refusing to penalize Rossi at PI didn't break him, and
Pedrosa knocking him off at Estoril and costing him the points lead
didn't break him. Sure, it took lots of problems on Rossi's side to make
it happen, but in the end it was Rossi who broke and not Hayden -
someone finally made Rossi look human after all. Doesn't matter that he
only won two races along the way, as HRC said early in the year, it
wasn't a bike capable of winning. And it certainly doesn't matter that
he didn't crash out all year or take out anyone - remember when that
actually was the mark of a champion? Making Rossi look human in front of
all these guys could completely restack the psychology deck in MotoGP.
And a year that started out all about 250 promos ended up today being
all about ex-SB guys - it's all good...

 

Word is he really wants to stay here..


Yeah, I was thinkin' he'd be in BSB next year..

We'll see..

Say good night Sete..


Corse better hire a few paint and body guys..


Quite possibly the beginning of the end..

Maybe in Euro, but I kinda doubt too many will ever forget here..

Yeah, but he's about done now..

Only if Duc has a decent 800 out of the box, if not, maybe not, Capi prolly
doesn't have that many seasons left..

Absolutely!

Great to see him do so well, what a swan song, huh?

Winners never quit and quitters never win, a win is great, but consistency
wins titles.
Just like ex-dirt trackers before him Nicky brings the title back to where
it belongs, I got over big-time @14/1 and you're right, it was all good,
very good indeed!