Saturday in Valencia, the final MotoGP weekend of the season, sees the Red Bull Riders Cup contested for the second time.
The top ten riders from the Red Bull AMA U.S. Rookies Cup cross the Atlantic to do battle with their opposite numbers from the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup.
The Riders Cup was contested for the first time on the other side of the ocean as part of the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix. In the most tricky conditions imaginable, the MotoGP team benefited from some misfortune that saw key members of the opposition fall. It was, for the AMA riders, unfamiliar, wet and slippery conditions.
Valencia in October will probably be kinder and the race closer. No one is expecting a repeat of the 114 to 26 score line.
For the American trip the MotoGP Rookies travelled together and pulled together as a team. Back on home soil and with the first victory under their belt there is an undeniable element of individual desire in the way that the key members of the team are looking at the rematch.
"I'm looking forward to it and for sure I want another good result", says Sturla Fagerhaug, winner in Indianapolis and a close third in the 2008 MotoGP Rookies Cup. The 16 year old Norwegian has had plenty of time to think about things since the American trip. "The weekend I got back from Indy I did a race in Spain but since then I've just been at home training and that sort of thing. I have not been on a bike for a month but I don't think it will be too much of a problem. I'd been off the bike for a few weeks before Indy as well."
"I don't think it's going to be easy for us to win in Valencia. We went to Indy and they had the home advantage but we still won. This time we have the home advantage but they could also turn that round on us. We should win, we know the track very well but anything can happen, a few crashes, we can't assume anything."
"For myself I do want another good result but there are a lot of other guys with the same idea, from our side, Luis (Salom) will be at home and sure to be fast, then Matt Hoyle is going well and so is Mathew Scholtz. From their side I expect it will be the same guys as at Indianapolis, Hayden Gillim, Jake Gagne, Leandro Mercado and Benny Solis."
While Fagerhaug may have been at home thinking about racing his team mate Matthew Hoyle has been busy, testing the new Maxtra Grand Prix 125 and winning the British 125 Championship. Very happy though he is with the National Championship, Hoyle will not be satisfied to complete his two season's as a Red Bull Rookie without a victory. Second places are just not enough.
"I am going there to win", says 17 year old Hoyle simply. "It's my last Rookies race and I want to go out with a win. I know I've got the pace, I've just got to put the full race together. I won 6 races in the 125 British Championship this year so I know how to do it, I've just not yet done it in the Rookies."
"I know it is a team race but I can't get away from the fact that I want to win this one. As for the team side of things; I think it will be harder for the AMA guys to come to Valencia and do what we did at Indianapolis. I think that Valencia is a harder track to learn than Indy and we all know it well. There's nothing certain in racing but it will be hard for them to learn it in the time available."
"I think the other fast guys are going to be Luis Salom, because he has been fast all year and it's his home race, plus Sturla, he's quick and he's on form", concluded Hoyle.
Whoever wins in Valencia will keep the Riders Cup over the winter. The odds may favour the MotoGP Cup Team but if the AMA U.S. Cup squad can pull together as a team they might just spring a surprise and carry the trophy home.
© CAPSIS International
Source:
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