JAMES TOSELAND’S INSIDER INSIGHTS: 27TH AUGUST 2019

British Silverstone Circuit

Well, what a difference a year makes! 
I’m obviously talking about the weather at this year’s British Grand Prix!
From lakes of standing water and aquaplaning to sun cream, record-breaking bank holiday temperatures and the fans actually got to see some motorcycles going round the historical Silverstone circuit also. 

Happy campers all round! 

Moto 3

With John McPhee on the second row of the grid for the start of the Moto 3 race, it looked like the British fans were going to be on their feet straight from the off on Sunday morning. 
John didn’t disappoint either. Another very solid ride, crossing the finish line in 7th place. 

He’s now 6th in the championship and only 40 points away from Tony Arbolino who is currently 3rd. A possible top three championship finish?? My fingers are crossed. 

Knowing John, he won’t be that happy about being so close to the podium at his home race and not standing on it, but this year has been so much stronger as far as consistency goes.
John is now proving to be a real title contender with this level of consistency and not just a rider that goes well on a couple of the tracks on the Moto 3 calendar. This will hopefully mean that he’ll have a choice of competitive rides in the future and we can enjoy watching him race at the sharp end for years to come. 

Well done John and may your top form continue. 

Further down the field, Aron Canet did a fantastic job of keeping his title hopes alive after being taken out early in the race by clawing his way back up to 13th. That gutsy ride from Aron was so important at this stage of the season. 

Aron knew that his closest rival in the championship, Lorenzo Dalla Porta was in the leading pack as he went down which meant Lorenzo would be picking up some hefty points. As Aron re-joined the race, it was damage limitation from that moment on and he limited the points loss with a brilliant ride. 

It was Lorenzo Dalla Porta’s team mate, Marcos Ramirez that took his second victory of the year though with a stunning ride. That was the second time both Leopard Honda riders have been on the podium together this season also. 

I mentioned both Leopard Honda riders together on the podium because I feel it’s going to be a tough second half of the season for Aron Canet. He doesn’t have a team mate in the Sterilgarda Max Racing Team and it can be a huge advantage in the last few races if a team mate can protect you and take points away from your main rivals.
 
Aron seems to love a good old, elbows out scrap on the track though so the two Leopard riders better get their game plan well-rehearsed to outfox the young Valencian. 

With only 14 points separating Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Aron Canet at the top of the table, it’s all to play for as they go into the next race at Misano! 

Moto 2

It was another lap record-breaking race from Triumph’s amazing inaugural season in the Moto 2 championship! 

The Triumph 765cc engine has now taken 11 lap records from the 12 races we’ve had so far this season! 

The current lap records have been 8 years in the making so it’s incredible that Triumph are going to hold most of them after only one season! 

I have to say though Triumph did have a little help though at this particular race...

All lap records throughout all 3 classes were smashed at the weekend and this was mainly down to Silverstone doing a fantastic job of rectifying last year’s track issues. 

Last year was a disaster for everyone involved and I think Silverstone deserves a massive round of applause for putting the British Motorcycle Grand Prix back at the very top of motor sport race circuits and motorsport events. 

The track surface looked perfect and certainly aided in getting that 11th lap record of the season for Triumph!!! 

Unfortunately Silverstone hasn’t been very kind to the championship leader, Alex Marquez once again though! 

Even with all that lovely new grippy tarmac, Alex wanted more and asked for a little too much of his Dunlop front tyre and crashed out whilst leading the race. 

Even with Alex out of the race, there was still a fantastic battle at the front. The rejuvenated Jorge Navarro and the factory KTM rider, Brad Binder both rode brilliantly to put themselves on the podium but it was Augusto Fernandez who took an outstanding victory in the Moto 2 race. 

That was Augusto’s second victory of the season and it promoted him to second place in the championship. 

With Alex Marquez not scoring any points, his lead in the championship has come down to 35 points. 

I’m going to be really interested to see if Alex can keep his cool and not throw this championship away with unforced errors like we saw on Sunday. Alex has found the pace needed to step up this year and now he needs to control his emotions as the stakes get higher in the second half of the season. 

It is still very much Alex Marquez’s championship to lose though and I’m sure with how comfortable he looks on his new Triumph 765cc machine, he won’t have to push beyond limits to take this year’s championship.  Let’s see next time out at Misano! 

Oh, by the way... you can now buy your very own Moto 2 spec motorcycle!!! 
Triumph have produced a new Daytona Moto 2 765 Limited Edition and it’s on sale NOW! 
I have been lucky enough to ride one and I can tell you it’s a beast of a machine! 

MotoGP

The weather was amazing, the circuit was amazing and just as you thought the Silverstone MotoGP event couldn’t get any better... it climaxes with a photo finish! 

What a race it was between Marc Marquez and Alex Rins! 

Only 13 hundreds of a second separated these two incredible riders after racing at speeds of over 200mph for 40 minutes and 12 seconds! 

No wonder Marc looked devastated to lose by such a small margin after all that hard work and focus. 

But it was an incredibly brave move from the Spaniard, Alex Rins, that snatched it away from the grasp of his compatriot, Marc Marquez, right on the finish line.

Alex’s bravery in keeping his throttle fully open at over 160mph, whilst having more lean angle than Marc meant he was rewarded with his second victory of the season. 

It was one of the closest finishes in MotoGP history and the fans were absolutely hysterical! 
The only thing that could have extracted anymore noise from the 100,000 + crowd I suppose, was if Alex Rins was Cal Crutchlow but all in all, comparing it to last year’s MotoGP event, it was epic!

Cal Crutchlow rode a fantastic race on what looks like a very difficult bike to ride this year. 
Cal looks nowhere near as comfortable doing quick lap times this season as he did last season. The problem Cal and every other Honda rider has is of course Marc Marquez. If Marc wins races on the package that HRC develop for that current season then you can imagine HRC aren’t going to alter it too much to cater for others it may not suit. 

This basically means, if Marc loves the package he has and he’s winning, you better pray it works for your style of riding too because it ain’t going to change much during the year. 

Another great ride was from Franco Morbidelli who equalled his best finish in MotoGP in 5th place.

Valentino had a very strong weekend, qualifying 2nd and crossed the finish line in 4th. He said he’s finally had some positive additions to his Yamaha which I’m sure his home crowd are hoping will pay dividends next time out in Misano.

Valentino’s team mate, Maverick Vinales took the last step of the podium in 3rd and, together with Alex Rins and Marc Marquez completed a Spanish podium 1-2-3.  In fact there was a Spanish victory in Moto 3, a Spanish victory in Moto 2 and all 3 podium places taken up by Spaniards in MotoGP – what a fantastic day for Spain! 

Congratulations to each and every one of them. They provided some of the best racing we’ve seen all year.
Before I finish, I have to say that Andrea Dovizioso is streaks ahead in the ‘Rider who gets taken out most award’!  How unlucky is that guy?!? 

Such a shame for Andrea and for Fabio Quartararo, who got caught out by a cold rear tyre, exiting the first turn which high sided him and Andrea had nowhere to go. 

With Andrea scoring no points, Marc’s lead at the top of the table is 78 points with 7 races left. 

That gives Marc Marquez a 3-race cushion of scoring zero points from the final 7 races and still leading the championship. 

I think Marc has one hand on the trophy already but even so, the racing this season throughout all 3 classes has been phenomenal and I’m sure it will remain that way until the final lap at Valencia (even if our champions are decided a little earlier than we’d like).

Let’s do it all again next week in Misano!! 
All the best. 
JT.