Scott Jones

EXCLUSIVE: Lin Jarvis Interview - Part 3, Rossi vs Lorenzo Round 2, Nearly Signing Nicky Hayden, And Looking To The Future

By David Emmett |

On December 31st, 2024, Lin Jarvis stepped down as Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing, the organization that runs Yamaha's MotoGP project. In the 26 years that Jarvis has been in charge, Yamaha have known incredible success. Eight rider titles, with Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, and Fabio Quartararo, as well as six manufacturer and seven team titles. Under Jarvis, Yamaha won the triple crown five times, in 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2015.

You can read the first and second parts of my marathon interview with Jarvis here (part 1) and here (part 2). In the final part, he talks about Valentino Rossi's return to Yamaha after leaving for Ducati in 2011 and 2012. He explains the delicate balancing act that required, which the fallout of the 2015 season nearly upended. And he talks about the riders who came after, including Maverick Viñales and Fabio Quartararo, and the process of identifying talent.

Jarvis also talks about how Nicky Hayden got away from Yamaha, and the project he launched to turn Yamaha's failing fortunes around.

The Prodigal Son Returns

EXCLUSIVE: Lin Jarvis Interview - Part 2, Signing Valentino, And Rossi vs Lorenzo Round 1

By David Emmett |

On December 31st, 2024, Lin Jarvis stepped down as Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing, the organization that runs Yamaha's MotoGP project. In the 26 years that Jarvis has been in charge, Yamaha have known incredible success. Eight rider titles, with Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, and Fabio Quartararo, as well as six manufacturer and seven team titles. Under Jarvis, Yamaha won the triple crown five times, in 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2015.

You can read the first part of this marathon interview with Jarvis here. In the second part, we talked about how he signed Valentino Rossi, and how Rossi saved Yamaha's MotoGP project. Jarvis also talks about the gamble Yamaha took signing Jorge Lorenzo when it looked like Valentino Rossi might go off and race in F1, the difficulty of managing that situation, and the backlash he faced in Italy for doing so.

The Rossi years

Q: First came the switch from 500s to four-strokes. Was it still Max Biaggi who left and Valentino came?

Crunching The Numbers: Martin vs Bagnaia Goes Down To The Wire

By David Emmett |

Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia at Sepang 2024, Photo CormacGP

Before the introduction of sprint races, going into the final round of MotoGP the fans usually know exactly what a rider had to do to clinch the title. Sprint races have added an extra layer of complexity to those calculations, as there are points on offer on Saturday as well as Sunday. The mathematics involved is a good deal more complicated.

So Jorge Martin's lead of 24 points over Pecco Bagnaia is healthy, and gives him the chance to wrap the title up in Saturday's sprint race. That lead is healthy enough that even if he doesn't get the job done on Sunday, he is still in a very good position to clinch the title on Sunday.

But the various scenarios are quite complicated. Made even more so that in the case of a tie on points, Bagnaia becomes champion, as he has more Sunday GP wins than Martin (currently 10 to Martin's 3). So Bagnaia has to score enough points to draw level with Martin, while Martin has to outscore Bagnaia by at least 1 point to be champion.

Below is an attempt to set out the various options for both Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia to become 2024 MotoGP champion.

Will The 2027 MotoGP Regulations Repeat The Mistakes Of The 2007 800cc Era?

By David Emmett |


Credit: Dorna

Fans and media have been waiting for the 2027 MotoGP technical regulations with a mixture of hope and trepidation. Though the racing has been close the past couple of years, and even exciting, the unstoppable advance of aerodynamics paired with the sudden ubiquity of ride-height devices has changed the sport enormously.

On Monday, Dorna and the FIM announced the details of the new rules. It was, by and large, as expected: 850cc engines with a maximum of 75mm bore, with less fuel and fewer engines. To the delight of many - including many fans, MotoGP insiders, and no doubt also riders - ride-height devices and holeshot devices have been completely banned, and aerodynamics has been severely curtailed (for the moment, at least, but more of that later). For the full details, read the story posted earlier today, which lays out the exact changes so far.

Corrado Cecchinelli On The Future Of MotoGP: Part 1 - Can Top Speeds Be Reduced By Changing Engine Spec?

By David Emmett |

The past few years have seen a massive change in the way MotoGP machines perform, and more significantly, how they achieve that performance. Ducati's early experiments with aerodynamics in 2010 went from a curiosity to wings and other aero add-ons becoming ubiquitous, and an integral part of motorcycle design. The Bologna factory repeated the feat with the holeshot device, which morphed into ride-height devices, forcing the other manufacturers all to copy Ducati and try to catch up.

All of these changes have had an immense impact on the racing. Top speeds have gone through the roof. At Mugello in 2015, Andrea Iannone was the fastest through the speed trap with a top speed of 350.8 km/h. This year, in the sprint race, Brad Binder hit an astonishing 366.1 km/h in the sprint race. That's an increase of 15.3 km/h or 4.4%.

But it isn't just top speeds: the combination of aerodynamics and ride-height devices have made passing more and more difficult, with riders taking ever greater risks to try to make a move. The first corner has taken on an oversize importance, with pile-ups at the start an increasingly frequent occurrence.

Phillip Island MotoGP Thursday Round Up: Planning For A Weather Disaster, And Who Replaces Marquez?

By David Emmett |

With everyone safely ensconced in the Phillip Island paddock, the MotoGP riders have been pouring out expressions of love for the circuit. "When you arrive to a place where you are good, where you enjoy, then when you land on the plane there is a smile on your face," Alex Rins explained. "It happens to me when I arrive in Melbourne." Knowing that he will be riding the Phillip Island circuit brings its own kind of excitement, he said. "It is a special place and really amazing."

He wasn't the only one to sing the praises of Phillip Island. What makes the track so special? "It's all these fast corners that are very interesting, when you feel good in these corners the adrenaline is so high," Johann Zarco said. The fast corners are also what makes the racing so close, the Pramac Ducati rider explained. "That's why we are also always in a group, because if you want to catch the guy in front of you, you can quickly do a difference of 10 km/h into the corner and catch the guy in front of you."

Andrea Iannone's Second Chance: The Maniac Goes Racing In WorldSBK With Ducati

By Steve English |

Motorcycle racing is a career of sliding door moments. Everyone has a 'what would have happened if...' moment in their career. For Andrea Iannone, there’s been probably more of those moments than for most racers.

The biggest of those moments was Argentina 2016. When he clattered his Ducati teammate, Andrea Dovizioso, out of the way it left his future with Ducati untenable. Given that Dovi went on to spearhead the Ducati revival in the premier class it’s very easy to forget that Iannone had been the chosen son for that role. Moving up through the ranks from Pramac to the factory seat his ascension to the top table in Bologna was smooth and a podium on his debut with the red bike in 2015 was proof his potential.

His career never quite hit the highs that were expected of him and moving to Suzuki and then Aprilia he slid down the grid. His doping ban at the end of 2019 hammered the final nail into his MotoGP coffin. His unravelling was all his own doing, and the ban, for the use of an anabolic steroid, was plainly warranted.

Back to Bologna

Concessions For Honda And Yamaha: Can They Happen? And Will They Help?

By David Emmett |

It is no secret that Honda and Yamaha are struggling in MotoGP at the moment. The first rider in the championship on a Japanese motorcycle is Monster Energy Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo in ninth place with 64 points, less than a third of the total of championship leader, Ducati Lenovo's Pecco Bagnaia. Honda and Yamaha are in fourth and fifth place in the manufacturer standings, the Monster Energy Yamaha team are in sixth in the team standings and the Repsol Honda team are dead last, behind the CryptoDATA RNF Aprilia team and the GasGas Factory Racing Tech3 team, both of who have been missing their best riders for most of the season. Things are not going well.

This is bad for MotoGP in a number of ways. To start with, it makes the sport look very lopsided. Ducati have been very successful so far this year, but the lack of competitive Hondas and Yamahas only exaggerates the extent to which the Italian factory has dominated. Ducatis have won all but one of the grand prix, and all but two of the sprint races. They have taken 34 of 48 possible podium places, or 71%, and nearly 52% of all places in the top ten.

The Human Engine - Luigi Dall'Igna

By Tammy Gorali |

The CEO of Ducati Corse, the racing division of the manufacturer that won the jackpot in the 2022 racing season, sat in the snow during the launch of Ducati's 2023 season, with a glass of prosecco in hand, for a personal conversation and ... engineered

Luigi, or Gigi as everyone calls him, Dall'Igna always dreamed of working in racing. He graduated in mechanical engineering at the University of Padua with a thesis on carbon monocoque chassis. Almost straight out of university he moved to the Aprilia factory in Noale, Italy. Over more than two decades, he led Aprilia to championship titles in World Superbikes and the 125 and 250 cc categories in MotoGP, with riders such as Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Alvaro Bautista, Marco Melandri, Manuel Poggiali, and Max Biaggi of course.

Then Dall'Igna surprised the world of motorsport when he accepted an offer from rival manufacturer Ducati. Since graduating, he has only worked for Aprilia, except for a very short time in 2005 when he worked for Derbi. For the 2014 season, Dall'Igna was on his way to try to make the difference, as he did in Aprilia, only this time for the factory in Bologna.

Gigi is considered a legend, a magician, a brain, and Ducati was very excited by the arrival of someone who later made radical changes in the racing department. Ducati were in a crisis, after a long decline which had started shortly after winning their first title with Casey Stoner in 2007. The culmination of the crisis was the failure with one of the greatest riders ever, Valentino Rossi. Ducati knew that in order to come back and win, replacing riders would not be enough this time.

Land Of The Setting Sun - Is The Japanese Era In MotoGP Coming To An End?

By David Emmett |

It would have been at Estoril, in 2011. Casey Stoner had left Ducati at the end of the previous year and joined Honda, and was immediately fast. During a press debrief, technical journalist Neil Spalding asked Stoner a simple question.

"Long and low, or short and high?"

Stoner did not hesitate.

"Short and high."

I was reminded of this brief exchange at the Sepang MotoGP test. In the context of 2011, Stoner's answer made perfect sense. After spending four seasons wrestling with the long and low Ducati, the bike getting less competitive every year, it was a revelation for Stoner to get on the RC212V, the 800cc Honda. He could now brake, load the front as much as he wanted, pitch the bike into the turn and then fire it out again. No more battling with the front end of the Ducati.

Why was short and high better? Because it allowed for better weight transfer under braking, allowing riders to load the front tire before entering the corner. As the riders braked, the forks would bury the front wheel into the tarmac, the rear wheel lifting, putting the entire weight of the bike onto the front tire.

Especially beneficial in the Bridgestone era, with a solid front tire that would give unlimited grip as long as you loaded it sufficiently.

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