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I haven’t been thinking of motorcycles much lately. The wife and I just had our first child. Kari was born on July 21st and measures in at 8 lbs and 21 inches. Both mother and daughter are happy and healthy.

But now my initial shock and amazement has subsided, so my thoughts have again drifted back to the fun we all have with two wheels. In particular, I have some thoughts regarding the very wet MotoGP race that took place at Donington Park.

1. Of the 21 riders that started the race, only 11 riders finished and received points. Well, the points system in MotoGP awards points to the top 15 finishers. (25, 20, 16, 13, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) I was surprised to see the back marker teams, like BLATA WCM, and TEAM ROBERTS, not finish. Under the very poor race conditions, their strategy should have been to finish the race at all cost in order to get points. If fact, had Shane Byrne of TEAM ROBERTS just finished the race in 12th place and received 4 points, the team would have jumped past BLATA in Team Points.
2. I read somewhere (speedtv.com maybe) that John Hopkins had trouble with his visor fogging up at some point during the race. To me, this is completely inexcusable. At this level of racing, a rider’s equipment should never fail. (Hopkins lead laps 5 and 6, and then quickly faded to 11th place.)
3. Again Valentino Rossi’s riding ability impressed me. Throughout the race he was constantly exploring the limits of his tires. Near the end when it appeared that there was less standing water on the track he just took off!
4. Bridgestone must have a superior wet race tire. Both the Suzuki riders lead at some point during the race with Kenny Roberts finishing 2nd, and the Ducati riders finished 5th and 6th.
5. Congrats to Colin Edwards who finished 4th in the race, and is now 3rd in the Championship Standings with 106 points. He is only one point behind Marco Melandri’s 107 points. (Rossi is untouchable with 211 points.) It’s all coming together for Yamaha this year. They have two great riders, an excellent crew, and a machine that can get the job done.
6. In the end, I enjoyed the race. Although a dry race produces quicker lap times, there’s nothing like a wet race to bring forth the amazing skill of MotoGP riders.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Additional thoughts?