MOTM 2011 "gp Rider of the year" edition

[Faster1]

~
,,thought that I would throw this up while the year is still fresh on the mind.

It’s probably going to difficult to be objective and not make this about “your favorite rider”. I also resist the urge to give it to Casey just because he is the champion, there are plenty of other places for those accolades and recognition everywhere on the WWW.
So, in the best efforts to be objective, The rider that best represents both performance and results better than expected in the most consistent way:

I’ll start with recognitions similar to “honorable mention” and work my way up.


HM 1 – Casey Stoner, not for winning, but for showing ridiculously dominating speed on many occasions in his rooky year on the Honda. He all but embarrassed all other seasoned Honda pilots (and the rest of the grid). If the 800s were to continue, you could pretty much guarantee that Stoner would be the world champion for at least the next 3 years.

HM2 – Colin Edwards – (maybe a little more of “personal opinion”, but here goes anyway) If you were going to sack a rider for purely performance/results reasons then Colin would still have a job next year. He’s still a faster, better gp rider than his teammate and about 6 other riders on the 2011 grid. But I guess that we live in a world of decisions made by political/monetary reasons,, so ,, thanks for the memories Colin.. You and Checa are still living proof that there IS a “fast old guy gene” that very few others have.

HM3 – Alvaro Bautista, The Ducatis problems notwithstanding, Alvaro and the Suzuki have more than closed the gap to “competitive”. Has the bike improved? , sure.,,, but Alvaro deserves a good chunk of the credit. Not IMO – Alvaro is fast. He routinely out performed better bikes and if he stayed on 2 wheels more often, it would be difficult not to give him the award.

My rider of the year goes to Jorge Lorenzo for both riding abilities and a new grown up attitude.
His first 2 years were far less than stellar, earning a “Crasher” title, as well as a “copy-cat celebrator” title. Opinions differ greater on very few subjects, more than “was Lorenzo a recipient of a gifted title”.,, not for me… IMO – he was the fastest Yamaha rider before Rossi’s accident and probably would have won the title anyway, but many will argue, and that’s fine. This year, he graciously relinquished the "number 1" plate.
You would have to really pay close attention to some of his interviews to recognize the tactful if not hidden innuendos and references about his hope and optimism that Yamaha would develop "in the grunt department". And he never pointed blame. Three years ago, I’m not sure that he could resist freaking out about his bike and pointing fingers. More than likely, other riders would have been more vocal. That’s part of the reason for my new found respect and recognition for JL. The other reason is that he frequently road over and above the limits of the M1 and kept the rubber side down. His efforts, and the credit for results were just a bit more rider than that were machine, when others would have or did give up trying, when the bike wasn't right,, Jorge just genuinely pushed harder.

the floor is yours






Thanks Phil

[CLX]

I agree with your words on Lorenzo, but I give it to Stoner because he pulled some huge rabbits from the bag when he most needed. Le Mans was a critical weekend after two frustrating races. What did he do? Stomp everyone. Then Laguna. Lorenzo was just about to take controle of things and Stoner rode a perfect tactical race. Sure, Lorenzo wasn't 100% on the day, but that was proof that he doesn't need to be at 100% to beat the field. So it took a huge race form Stoner. And then how he won at Phillip Island. He cold have settled for 2nd, 3rd, whatever and still taken the title, but on the greasy track he just pulled out another big win. And then he made the difference between very good bike and competitive riders to very good bike and nearly flawless season with double digit wins and emphatic title.

I'm a fan boy, I admit.

Lorenzo and him will probably fight for many many more wins and titles.

[cyclop]

2 quotes (paraphrasing)
- When the bike isn't perfect, I just rode it harder (CS)
- He does not need a perfect bike to go fast (Ago)

MTOM 2011 - CS

HM - JL for exactly what Faster1 said.

[tom]

I would have to say MOTY is Bautista with Abraham and Depuniet equal second. Stoner was obviously the best rider this year by a country mile but i really expected him to run away with it this season so no surprises there.

Its hard to say for sure as he has no team mate to compare to but Bautista I believe would replace Danny in the alien club given the right equipment. Being a crasher I dont see as a problem, he's got the raw pace and on numerous tracks this year traded paint with factory Honda's and Yamaha's. Stick him on a Honda or Yamaha and I really think he will instantly battle for podiums if not wins and crash very little in the process.

Abraham and Depuniet had no right getting the results they did on the bikes they are on. They regularly finished just behind the factory team riders, in both race times and fastest lap times, on bikes that have to be what, 3-4 generations behind the factory bikes? I think if either was on a Nicky speced bike they would have podiumed 2-3 times and easily outperformed both NH and VR.

The disappointment of the year to me has been Pedrosa. I know he had the terrible accident and corresponding injuries but he really didn't impress before that or towards the end of the year when the injuries were not as big a factor. He really didn't lift his game. He was outclassed by Stoner from day one even though he had all the advantages, a bike he was very familiar with and years of set-up data. I think next year assuming a injury free, season long, head to head battle with Stoner, he's going to find himself consistently half a second off Casey's pace. I think Pedrosa's alien status is going to be revoked next year.

[upnet1050]

Casey Stoner...especially because he IS the Champion. Isn't that the point of Racing in Moto GP? Also, I think he pretty much proved it by being the ONLY rider capable of riding the Ducati... to a Championship....or just plain riding it. Just like when JL won the Championship on the Yamaha. That year HE was the Man. These guys have to get results no matter whether they miss the set up...or not. Crash...not crash... Aliens, non Aliens, Aliens Lite..perimeter frames, stiff carcass tires...carbon fiber monocouque...V's....L's..no matter. Ya run what they brung ya. So in my mind....at the end of the season the Champion is the Rider of the Year. I don't have any fav's...I want to see the best racing possible. Stoner IS the Man....(this year).

[Domino]

MOTM tie:

Karel Abraham, for exceeding the expectations and proving he is more than just a rich kid.

Alvaro Bautista, for bringing the Suzuki towards the front and doing more than that team has done in many years.

[WayneG]

Some intersting stats on Stoner's season from GrandPrixAnalytics.com
http://grandprixanalytics.com/blog/?p=110

Perhaps the author's comment sums up his season - "These figures are beyond my ability to find superlatives with which to describe them."

[gearheadstu]

Cheers for the plug, Wayne

I came into the year fairly lukewarm on Stoner, and I leave the season completely gobsmacked with what he's done. He's a massive, massive talent, and definitely my MOTY.

HMs to:

• Dovi: for quiet consistency and understated defiance. I was very glad to see him bag 3rd in the championship. He deserves better than a satellite M1 next year.
• Bautista: for regularly pushing the GSVR farther up the grid than it really ought to be. I definitely hope to see the squad return -- if not expand -- next year.
  

[WayneG]

Cheers for the plug, Wayne

No problem, it is a great site you have put together.

[dmelb]

MVP (or should that be MVR - Most valuable Rider) is to Stoner hands down. A close second is Jorge. They're my two favourite riders, so I've had plenty to cheer for this year in terms of their success.
I feel, even if they rode each other's bikes - and all the other events happened as they did (e.g injuries & crashes) Stoner would still be world champion after Phillip Island.

[oldboyonrgv]

Stoner - no contest.......

[CLX]

Cheers for the plug, Wayne

I came into the year fairly lukewarm on Stoner, and I leave the season completely gobsmacked with what he's done. He's a massive, massive talent, and definitely my MOTY.

HMs to:

• Dovi: for quiet consistency and understated defiance. I was very glad to see him bag 3rd in the championship. He deserves better than a satellite M1 next year.
• Bautista: for regularly pushing the GSVR farther up the grid than it really ought to be. I definitely hope to see the squad return -- if not expand -- next year.
  

I was annoyed when Dovi got Hayden's seat, but he has impressed me. I keep wishing he finds that last bit of speed to become a regular challenger and winner. He's obviously very reliable and non afraid of slippery conditions and and on track battles. Hopefully the M1 and him will be a perfect match.

[Dayle88]

I was going to give it to Lorenzo, but after Stoners pole lap on the weekend I can't give it to anyone else no matter how much I'd like too!

[phil]

GP rider of the year for going over and above expectations Eh??!!
Fantastic opening post BTW F1!
I'll be honest I would of liked for Cal Crutchlow to have earned this most coveted of end of season awards but his inconsistancy and mid season slump made that totally unviable.

Anyway, Cal's team mate - the right honurable Mr Edwards, as mentioned above to finish 'best of the rest' yet again only to be moved on to pastures green has to be a bit dissapointing for him as well as us. I hope he gets a chance to race something again as I'd hate for his whole career to be maared by his last race and incident. Thanks for the memories Colin, I salute you. (But no award here today..)

Then, In no particular order, there's the blue biked boy Alvaro Bautista. Whats a season he's had! Undoubtedly the Suzuki has improved but he's ridden the wheels off it to routinely raise a few eyebrows this season. As the teams only rider this suggests he can set a bike up and communicate the bikes actions and reactions to the team effectivly. Impressive. I really wanted to give this to Bautista but I'm not going to.

If this award were given on results alone then obviously Stoner would take it quicker than...Stoner on a Honda! What can you say... the incredible stats speak for themselves. He's the GOATEE, I dont think he has any room left in his cabnet for more silverware so no award here now. Regardless, thank you Casey for the display of blistering pace.

Our current #2 rider and former WC Jorge Lorenzo. I'm a Lorenzo fan. I like the dude. But to watch him mature over the last two seasons has been a pleasure to watch. As F1 said in his opening post, JL has diligently got on with the task in hand without complaint and was always gracious in defeat, yet he remained a strong fighter never quitting or surrendering one iota.

My next HM goes the main podium finishers of the year. The respect between them was a pleasure to see, even to the point of Stoner apologising to Spies for winning the last race. I know argy bargy between the riders makes for good journalism in some quarters but I just want to see them fight on track without the meladrama. I've never seen reality TV for the same reason. Well done lads, very professional.

Oh yeah I nearly forgot, HM to Dovi too for quietly plugging away while Casey was winning headlines doing his thing and Dani was getting headlines doing his thing (breaking bones mainly). Dovi knew he had no Repsol ride come seasons end but he still rode a determined campaign.

But my choice for the Motomatters GP Rider of the Year for performing above all expectation goes to...
Karel Abraham.
I admire self made men.
I hate rich kids.
I thought this kids got NO right to be there and his Brno owning father had opened his checkbook and paved his way to MotoGP and Cardion AB Motoracing with Czech koruna's.
I wanted him to fail.
Not through malice though. But from the desire to keep any other rich kid wanna be's out of our sport.
But no, I was wrong. The boy can ride, and therefore is deserving of his MotoGP ride.
Not only did he impress on track he also came across well in the media in interviews and what have you.
Not only did he change my opinion of his riding 180° but he also changed my opinion on him personally.
For those reasons he fully deserves to be awarded my GP Rider of the year.
Well done!

***EDIT***For Typo's.

[rumerz]

The MM commentista are sure jumping on the Karel Abraham bandwagon. This is the same guy who was a spoiled rich kid, who's only fast because he doesn't know how to ride a GP bike, at the beginning of the year.

If you think any rider outperformed Stoner this year, you're higher than me.

[Rossifumi]

The disappointment of the year to me has been Pedrosa. I know he had the terrible accident and corresponding injuries but he really didn't impress before that or towards the end of the year when the injuries were not as big a factor. He really didn't lift his game. He was outclassed by Stoner from day one even though he had all the advantages, a bike he was very familiar with and years of set-up data. I think next year assuming a injury free, season long, head to head battle with Stoner, he's going to find himself consistently half a second off Casey's pace. I think Pedrosa's alien status is going to be revoked next year.

Dani's season was blighted by injuries and he missed a lot of races but despite that:
Dani beat Stoner at: Jerez, Estoril, Sachsenring, Misano and Motegi. Also was leading at Qatar until the collarbone issue kicked in and was leading a Brno when he fell....oh, and Dani was fastest in the test today too

[phil]

The MM commentista are sure jumping on the Karel Abraham bandwagon.

How do you work that out? I'm the only person to give him this 'award'!
Look through each races MoTM this past season and Abraham and Bautista's names come up oftten.

This is the same guy who was a spoiled rich kid, who's only fast because he doesn't know how to ride a GP bike, at the beginning of the year.

Can you provide links for that rather than making across the board accusations? I recall no such comments.
It also says by your name you only joined here Wed Aug 17, 2011 4:44 am so were you really around in the pre season?
If you were you would know MoTM is awarded for performing above and beyond expectation, we expected Stoner to win this years championship.

If you think any rider outperformed Stoner this year, you're higher than me.

Did you bother to read as far as the third sentance in the opening post?
(Wow it's contagious look, I'm being arguementative too! )

[tom]

The disappointment of the year to me has been Pedrosa. I know he had the terrible accident and corresponding injuries but he really didn't impress before that or towards the end of the year when the injuries were not as big a factor. He really didn't lift his game. He was outclassed by Stoner from day one even though he had all the advantages, a bike he was very familiar with and years of set-up data. I think next year assuming a injury free, season long, head to head battle with Stoner, he's going to find himself consistently half a second off Casey's pace. I think Pedrosa's alien status is going to be revoked next year.

Dani's season was blighted by injuries and he missed a lot of races but despite that:
Dani beat Stoner at: Jerez, Estoril, Sachsenring, Misano and Motegi. Also was leading at Qatar until the collarbone issue kicked in and was leading a Brno when he fell....oh, and Dani was fastest in the test today too

Again I dont disagree with you and I dont see our posts as incompatible. I just expected more from Danny prior to injury and towards the end of the year after the injury's effects dissipated, than you expected of him. I did expect Stoner to come off the better in on track battles and take the title, what I didn't expect was the fairly consistent difference in raw pace.

[Nachlauf]

Dani's season was blighted by injuries and he missed a lot of races but despite that:
Dani beat Stoner at: Jerez, Estoril, Sachsenring, Misano and Motegi. Also was leading at Qatar until the collarbone issue kicked in and was leading a Brno when he fell....oh, and Dani was fastest in the test today too

Dani didn't beat Stoner at Jerez. That leaves 4 races out of 14 where Dani got the better of Stoner. That includes Misano where Stoner admitted his fitness was below standard. And it includes Motegi where Stoner was sent off by brake issues resulting from a tank slapper. Stoner on the other hand owned Dani in the other 10 races. Maybe Dani had some fitness problems too here and there. But that's just an excuse in the long term. On raw pace Dani only beat Stoner in Germany and Estoril. All other races Stoner was the faster rider really.

[rumerz]

The MM commentista are sure jumping on the Karel Abraham bandwagon.

How do you work that out? I'm the only person to give him this 'award'!
Look through each races MoTM this past season and Abraham and Bautista's names come up oftten.

This is the same guy who was a spoiled rich kid, who's only fast because he doesn't know how to ride a GP bike, at the beginning of the year.

Can you provide links for that rather than making across the board accusations? I recall no such comments.
It also says by your name you only joined here Wed Aug 17, 2011 4:44 am so were you really around in the pre season?
If you were you would know MoTM is awarded for performing above and beyond expectation, we expected Stoner to win this years championship.

If you think any rider outperformed Stoner this year, you're higher than me.

Did you bother to read as far as the third sentance in the opening post?
(Wow it's contagious look, I'm being arguementative too! )

You are worse than my wife.

I take it all back. You're right, honey.

I don't know what I was thinking.

[Upon1]

Abraham and Depuniet had no right getting the results they did on the bikes they are on. They regularly finished just behind the factory team riders, in both race times and fastest lap times, on bikes that have to be what, 3-4 generations behind the factory bikes? I think if either was on a Nicky speced bike they would have podiumed 2-3 times and easily outperformed both NH and VR.

I have to say I disagree with that. It was generally thought that the older bikes were actually better off without having 11ty billion parts thrown at them during the season. I don't believe for a second that either of those names would have podiumed at all unless they were on factory yamaha's or Honda's and something happened to the 3 (for this season) Aliens.

Also, Rossifumi, it's a little bit much to say that Dani beat Stoner at Jerez isn't? Dani was in like 8th or 9th while Stoner was still in 3rd place when he was taken out. The only other point I disagree with you on is Qatar. Stoner said he was fairly comfortably hanging in behind Dani till the fuel burned down a bit, I think neither of us are in a position to say who would have won that race if Dani had not been injured. And if you want to extrapolate that result like that, you could easily do that with Mugello (tyre pressure issue), Misano (fitness problem due to MASSIVE highside at Assen), Motegi (crazy wobbles at 290km/h). But I don't think that's fair, coz I feel that setup is a big part of the championship. So, in the other races, yes Dani beat Stoner fair and square with outright pace and a better setup. But, that's still only 4 races out of 17. And at 16 of those 17, Stoner was at worst 3rd.

I don't think Karel Abraham did such a stellar job. He impressed now and then, to change me from a, "I wonder if he deserves a ride" to, "I'm glad he's sticking around." But I think Alvaro did an amazing job on the Suzuki. Him and Dovi both.

*EDIT* Beaten to it!

[MPA]

For me the Rider of the Year has to be Stoner simply on the stats:

10 wins (58.8%) including 6 in the last 8 races
16 Podiums - 10-1-5 (94.1%) including 15 in a row to end the year
12 Poles (67%)
7 fastest laps of the race of 16 completed (43.75%)
An average finish position of 1.69 for the races he completed (Lorenzo 2.57, Pedro 2.83, Dovi 4.06, Spies 4.31)
Only 4 riders managed to finish in front of him during the 16 races he finished (Lorenzo 5 times, Pedrosa 4 times, Spies and Dovi 1 time each)

[Oscar]

Dani beat Stoner at: Jerez, Estoril, Sachsenring, Misano and Motegi. Also was leading at Qatar until the collarbone issue kicked in and was leading a Brno when he fell....oh, and Dani was fastest in the test today too

Claiming a 'win' for Pedrosa over Stoner at Jerez, and success because he was leading a race until he fell, rather shoots the objectivity in the foot. Pedrosa is an excellent rider (albeit a very unlucky one), if sometimes a bit inconsistent. He doesn't need artificial flavouring and colouring.

[Rossifumi]

what I didn't expect was the fairly consistent difference in raw pace.

there wasn't a 'consistent' difference in raw pace - when fit Dani was (and is if you include yesterday) frequently as fast or faster. Stoner won the title fair and square but Dani is not as far off the pace as you imply.

That includes Misano where Stoner admitted his fitness was below standard.

Dani had many more fitness issues than Stoner during this season

...success because he was leading a race until he fell, rather shoots the objectivity in the foot. Pedrosa is an excellent rider (albeit a very unlucky one), if sometimes a bit inconsistent. He doesn't need artificial flavouring and colouring.

Tom stated that Stoner is half a second a lap faster than Pedrosa - Dani's pace at Brno doesn't support that.

[Oscar]

Tom stated that Stoner is half a second a lap faster than Pedrosa - Dani's pace at Brno doesn't support that.

No, in fact what he stated was:

I think next year assuming a injury free, season long, head to head battle with Stoner, he's going to find himself consistently half a second off Casey's pace.

Tom posited a situation - he did not state a fact. When Pedrosa has things align for him, he can without any doubt give Stoner (and the entire field) plenty of hurry-up and sometimes better than that. Unfortunately - and for various reasons - that seems to happen typically about three times each season. However, to use the example of a race in which he crashed out as 'proof' fundamentally weakens the strength of the argument, when it is used against an opponent on identical machinery who did not crash out. If two people are in a race across Niagara Falls on tightropes, it doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense to say 'X was the better, because he was way ahead when he fell off' - if the other guy gets to the other side...