Posted this elsewhere, but worth repeating my tuppence worth 'cos its a great class.
Loved 250 as a class but we were lucky if we had 4 bikes in the leading group, normally just 2 or 3 by the end. Moto2 - WOW! First 9 covered by 3 seconds on sunday. Round 1 was a good race but Round2 was epic. Over 40 bikes on the grid, half of the riders have won at 125, 250 or Moto GP level. And yet the clean sheet of paper has allowed such as Tomizawa to lead the championship after winning R1 and coming second on Sunday after one season of 250's. Or even better Kenny Noyes, 31 years of age, never ridden a 2 stroke with a background of American dirt-track and Spanish supersports, gets a chance to have a GP career at this late stage and rewards his team by basically leading half of Sundays race and puling of suicidal overtakes, that had me jumping out of the seat, egging him on.
But the class of the field for me is Tony Elias - absolutely battered after a big pre-season crash when Dorna bizzarely let the Moto2s test with the 125s and Toni caught a 2 stroke at the wrong place, he shrugged off his injuries to take pole at R1, fading to 5th (I think) because his body was just too battered. However having learned the lesson of not letting the leader get away as happened with Tomizawa at R1 he was the centre of everything on Sunday. First of all he was caught up in the 9 man pile up at the first attempt to run the race, being hit by two bikes and then falling flat on his face (and injuries) when he ran to get his bike. He then was at the centre of everything in the restarted race, showed his absolute class at the end in a real dog fight against a pack of desperados, timed it to perfection after spending the mid part of the race encouraging people to follow him to not let the leader escape like in R1. The genuine joy everyone had for his win was palpable - his team-mate who finished well down (some Russian I believe) almost fell of his bike on the slowdown lap celebrating when Toni told him he'd won. The massive crowd going justifiably nuts, pitlane stood to salute him - even his podium mates were pleased because they knew they had been up against the very best they can measure themselves in the class. Good for Toni for being brave enough to risk his career in the class - he doesnt need to be fighting 125 graduates and assorted axe murderers, he could have gone to WSB for an easier life, but he's putting it on the line in this class and showing the other the standard needed to get to Moto GP.
The other great thing is the chassis variety - 15 different manufacturers, all with the same engine and tyres. Elias on a Moriwaki for instance, Tomizawa on a Suter, Noyes on a Harris (yes them!).
What an amazing class, hats off to Dorna for such an inspired idea, what a season we are in for, especially if De Angelis actually completes a racing lap.... If you missed Sundays race get searching on the web, it was fabulous. And a great, if slightly biased commentry from the Eurosport guys -I hope the Beeb had it on red button with the World feed team of Nick and Gavin for those with Freesat (dont think it was on Freeview - boo!). As long as they dont let that pratt Charlie Cox near it - he sucks as a commentator.
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Moto2...yes ! by 'Chads' (02 May 2010 @ 14:02)
