Moody Blues: Istanbul.

In the latest of his exclusive columns for Crash.net, Eurosport MotoGP commentator Toby Moody reviews the action-packed Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul Park - round three of the 2006 world championship...

Writing this on the Tuesday after the race, I still cannot believe the last lap of the 250cc race (top picture) and the monumental accident that-actually-didn't-happen of de Angelis. The data showed that he was on the (wet) grass at 242kph (150mph), waited until the tarmac, then slung the brakes on like he had a Bonneville Speed Week parachute onboard. Never again will anyone save a biggie like that for many a year.

Many were blaming de Angelis, others blame Barbera as the latent loon after chief loon Lorenzo was nurfed out of the race at the first corner, but it is easy to apportion blame sitting trackside upon viewing the 8th slow-mo replay. When those guys were out there gunning it for their debut win, logic does not enter their minds. They are young, world class quick, and unbelievably brave. They were always going to put their moves in at the last corner. That's why (track designer) Tilke put it there.

At Donington last year, Paul Butler didn't penalise Lorenzo but just asked the guy to cool it for his own self preservation. Remember, none of those top six guys in the Istanbul 250 race have really hurt themselves. You rather fancy that Butler won't need to have too many words with the others after they've seen the terrifying replays over and over.

de Angelis was visibly winded and shocked upon his return to the garage. I know I was, and I was just commentating on it! Since I started commentating, there have been three times where I thought there was real trouble ahead:

At Shelsley Walsh in 1994, a car terrifyingly leapt the bank and disappeared awkwardly upside-down into the undergrowth. Another time was in '96 when Cardoso fell off his ex -works black Aprilia at Assen. He did the full rag-doll roll and tumble, coming to a halt well and truly unconscious. Or so we hoped. It was even worse because we became friends whilst nagging each other to get off the phone in the Dorna offices that we both used to blag in order to ring home.

Even worse was when Jeremy McWilliams went over the top of the bars at Catalunya in 98/99. I had been doing the press releases for QUB and so spent a great deal of time with Jeremy and got to know him well. To see your mate skidding down the road possibly wearing the skin off his arse, then sitting there like a duck in front of an approaching field of 250kph bikes was terrifying. It was the only time I swore against our Lord on air.

Perversely, I didn't feel the same about Nakano's Mugello shunt, another rider I know well, while the Kato incident was different as we (thankfully) never saw the accident... just the terrible handling of the poor guy by the marshals afterwards.

I like de Angelis. He has a very easy going, relaxed demeanour off the bike, and a get on and just do it attitude when on the bike. He is not a loon under massive pressure like the two Fortuna boys are, and I think it unfair to blame anyone in Istanbul. It was just a racing incident in the heat of the moment. I repeat that it is easy to point fingers after the event, but when rattling through there flat knacker - with a win just yards away, your head down on the tank, pulling the rubber grip off the throttle for another 0.1kph... C'mon. They are the boys...

All of this left KTM the winners. Austrian cool managerial tactics came out top against the might of manufacturers who have been in 250 for ever. The KTM was still a billet of unmilled aluminium this time last year and now look at it. Admittedly the race was 25 odd seconds slower than last year, but a win is a win.

The guy who didn't look at the KTM formbook in 125 was Ant West. He may well be paid his KTM wage this year, but Uncle Mateschitz from Red Bull will have sorted that out. He only took $3billion last year. Gabor Talmacsi is another one tugging around, this year on a 125 Honda that is all at sea. He too may well be getting his KTM 250 money in his bank account for the 250 ride he was promised, but Harald Bartol was not amused by his joke antics in Qatar last year when winning the 125 race ahead of his championship-losing-by-five-points team-mate, Mika Kallio. Some people just don't see the bigger picture.

Bartol had his revenge in Turkey. If Austrians get an idea in their head about world domination, they tend to get their head down.


Well - the de Angelis accident almost put the MotoGP race in the shade. But fortunately it didn't. Marco Melandri was almost more overjoyed than when he won his first race here last year. Third race of the year with the third different rider on a completely different bike/tyre combination. Rossi was way down, and was forced into mistakes by the lack of the Yamaha's ability.

"We must have the only bike ever that goes faster on worn tyres," he said to me after the race (listen to the interview on the radio). "Next race in China is not good for us (he means in the dry) so we still have a lot of work to do."

Can the Japanese swallow their pride of the '06 bike being not as good as the '05 bike, and wheel something out that is a throwback to the Gauloises bike? They won't like doing that, but at the moment they are going to have to do something. It can't be the Michelins.

The pressure of a Mugello weekend (June 4) in which Rossi is rumoured to have to make an F1/MotoGP decision by will not be helping his sleep patterns. Or maybe Michael Schumacher staying at Ferrari will make that decision for him. Besides which, whatever happened to all those other Ferrari tests Rossi was supposed to do?

Marlboro is keen to get him on the Ducati for next year. They may deny it, but there is still nothing like the last great big tobacco pay cheque to tempt people. All Ducati have to do is to get their 800 right from the word go. They are running it at Mugello for the first time this week, with a power output that is similar to the 2003 bike.

The thing that didn't help Ducati and Suzuki in Turkey was the way the Bridgestone's dropped off for Gibernau and the brilliantly battling Hopkins. Both used untried tyres for the race, after the wet Saturday - they took a punt, but it didn't work. Tyre score so far this year is Michelin, 1 pole, 2 wins. Bridgestone, 2 poles, 1 win. When the season gets into swing in Europe, Michelin will get their overnight tyre making trump card into top gear. Vermeulen got less glory, but more points for his choice.

Whilst over at Dunlop, it is not fair to foot too much blame at the door of the Birmingham boys. James Ellison bumped into Rossi on Saturday night and got chatting. All of a sudden they both learnt that all four of the Yamaha riders have independently been complaining about the same lack of pitch and yaw of the bike. There is a united voice now.


Talk of just how the grid is going to be filled next year continues. The word of how some teams are going to fare against the might of 'Rossi-dumped-on-us' HRC could be cause for concern. Big Red have the resources to already split themselves over developing an 800 bike underneath Hayden, whilst keeping an up to date 990 for Pedrosa. They still haven't got over Rossi leaving them, and they must be bursting to shaft all and sundry next year. They want another 1997.

So what happens if the others cannot keep up? What happens if Yamaha are so busy trying to get just two 800cc bikes right, they cannot be sure four will even work? Ditto Ducati? "I don't know why we even bother wasting our time supplying last year's bikes to D'Antin," someone told me long ago. "We are busy enough trying to make our own bikes go fast."

The frustrating thing is why we really needed to go to 800 in the first place. Safety my arse. A 100bhp over-sized chainsaw engine nearly put de Angelis into the wall at 240kph plus. Motorcycle racing is dangerous so if you don't like it go and design 4 stroke, 13 bhp snow blowers to sell in Austria. Surely dropping litres out of the tank would have been an easy option?

Dorna must be hoping that BMW are not far off a MotoGP bike, whilst the Mario Illien/Eskil Suter Swiss set up (he sold Ilmor to Mercedes-Benz) is ticking over according to sources.

What I still cannot fathom is why Dorna let KTM slip through the paddock. Whoever was right or wrong in the Roberts/KTM bust up was never high up on my agenda, but after a 250 win on Sunday and Red Bull yet to open up some markets in the world, I am speechless as to how an orange van was allowed to so publicly removed - literally - a manufacturer from the paddock last August.

As I said after Qatar, manufacturers just cannot be allowed to run a sport, coming and going as they please. It will be the death of us - just as so nearly has happened in WRC and IRL (Indy 500 car racing) in the USA. Once rules have been laid down by a proper governing body (FIA) and a sport's rights holder (FOA) just look at how many team applications there were for the most expensive motorsports championship on the planet the other day for 2008. 22 teams put their names forward!

As one high up Dorna person said to me at the weekend, "The federation seems to be here just to hand out the trophies." How right he may be.


Tech 3 needs a pat on the back. Herve Poncheral has stuck to his agreement of supplying two bikes even if things are tight this year. Just how is he going to raise 2007 sponsorship with his results of this year?

There is word that Fortuna may leave come the end of the year, which seems difficult to comprehend after Sunday, but logical when looking at it with the World Health Organisation's anti-tobacco ad law really kicking in. Well, except in Spain, Italy, and incredibly I understand, Germany.

The guy who is an unsung hero in the paddock at the moment, paying through his nose to keep his bike running, is Lucio Cecchinello. There is a massive white space on the side of that Stoner V5 at present, even after a 6th, a pole and a 2nd. Lucio is as un-bandit like as they come. I would dread to think what his mobile bill is. He is always chasing sponsors on his flip top Nokia...

Hopefully someone of the 8 million people watching MediaSet's Italian coverage will chip in. Or hopefully someone from Australia? What is reassuring to current 125 guys in the UK is that he came through that system, proving that with some widening of horizons, things can be done successfully on the world stage. Let's keep our British fingers crossed for Chaz Davies, Bradley Smith and Dan Linfoot.

What about GSE bringing Leon Haslam in next year? Dorna would then have their UK marketable guy. Let us not forget that they do own the BSB Championship, so could ease GSE over as long as it is a runner


Fair play to Hayden for being quickest on Friday, and cruelly having a multi-million dollar budget, and a three week preparation all thrown to the dogs because a tyre blanket touched the boiling hot brake disc on the grid. He did well to compose himself for the race, battling through a difficult lever feeling to pick up a podium after Pedrosa's wide line and subsequent crash on the last lap.

Suzuki's laptops had a pounding over the weekend. The teams' press release was full of the joys of taking pole position with Vermeulen, but one needed a magnifying glass to read it, so small was the type face in order to get all the words on!

Toby Moody