Michael Scott | October 27, 2017
Team Manager Passes Away
The paddock was rocked on race morning by shock news that Stefan Kiefer, the well-liked part-owner and team manager of the Kiefer Moto2 team, had died in Malaysia during the night.
A statement from the team said: “The circumstances which led to this tragic incident remain unclear for the moment. With respect to the whole family and all other relatives, Kiefer Racing will not take part in the Malaysian Grand Prix.”
Kiefer Racing runs Dominique Aegerter and Tarran Mackenzie in the Moto2 class.
The German, himself a former rider, founded the team with his brother in 1996, to run in the national and European championships. Kiefer Racing moved to the World Championships in 2003.
Its greatest success came in 2011, when his rider Stefan Bradl won the World Championship. This year the team celebrated victory at Misano with Aegerter, only to have it taken away with disqualification on a technical infringement.
Aegerter posted a tribute on social media, saying: “It’s a huge shock. My thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was definitely one of the best bosses I ever had, a fantastic person and a great friend.”
IRTA president Herve Poncharal spoke for the paddock, saying: “It is a sad and dark day. We have lost a true friend, and a very competitive team manager. He was full of passion and energy, and his death is a huge loss.”
WSBK’s Van der Mark’s MotoGP Debut
Michael van der Mark made his deferred MotoGP debut at Sepang, the first Dutch rider in the class since Jurgen van den Goorbergh in 2005. And the rider for the Yamaha World Superbike team made a solid impression at his first attempt.
Van der Mark was 19th (out of 22) in both wet and dry; within three seconds of the fastest time in the morning, and barely more than that in the damp afternoon.
He finished ahead of Rabat, Lowes and Rins in the morning; more impressively he was less than four tenths slower than Pedrosa’s factory Honda in the afternoon, and just one place down … and this after the Spaniard had been the only rider to switch to the extra-soft tyre, shaving more than half-a-second off his own lap time.
He had expected to get his first outing at the Aragon GP in September, in place of Rossi on the factory Yamaha after the Italian had suffered a double leg fracture, but was left on one side when the multi-champion made an early recovery.
“An amazing day,” he said later. After waiting for the track to dry in the morning, “I immediately felt quite good and I was comfortable, so I stayed out and enjoyed the opening session. The thing I need to work on most is braking, for me the biggest difference between MotoGP and WorldSBK. They are really powerful and it’s more difficult to find the limit of the braking point.”
Van der Mark is likely to get a second outing on the Monster Yamaha at the final round in Valencia in a fortnight, with no definite news on Jonas Folger, the rider he is replacing.
Team owner Herve Poncharal told Dorna interviewers that although some results of medical tests had come in, there were more to come. “He has some small problems, but nothing too serious. We hope finally there will be a name on what he has got, and what to do about it.
“Valencia is very unlikely, but not impossible.”
It is thought that the German class rookie might be suffering a recurrence of the Epstein-Barr virus, but official confirmation is pending.
Subs in Malaysia
There were two more substitute riders at Sepang, in for injury victims of last weekend’s Australian GP.
With MotoGP-bound Moto2 rider Xavier Simeon probably out for the rest of the season after surgery for a complex right-hand finger fracture, his place on the Tasca Kalex was taken by veteran Alex de Angelis. De Angelis also replaced the Belgian at Silverstone, where he finished 24th.
Jorge Navarro also suffered hand injuries in a Phillip Island race crash, and underwent surgery to repair left-hand ligament damage in Melbourne the following day. His seat on the Federal Oil Gresini Kalex went to Indonesian rider Dimas Ekky Pratama.
There was no replacement for the third hand injury victim, Aprilia MotoGP rider Aleix Espargaro, who is expected to be back for the final round in Valencia. Espargaro fell in the race, and suffered finger and metacarpal fractures to his left hand. He returned to Spain for surgical repair with plates and screws.
MotoGP Championship Picture
Too little, too late? – Part One: After soothing his disappointment with a few days at the Malaysian holiday island of Lankawi, Dovizioso was ready to fight a battle that looked hopeless after he gave away 22 points to Australian GP winner Marquez.
A drastic loss of back wheel grip meant he dropped to 13th on the last lap, losing two places in the run to the line – to fellow Ducati rider Scott Redding and Honda’s Dani Pedrosa.
Redding had earlier obeyed instructions to get behind Dovi, but by the end the factory rider’s pace was too painfully slow. (And anyway, Redding is switching to Aprilia next year, so …)
Looking tanned and relaxed, Dovi said on race eve: “We know it’s difficult but it is still open, so we have to try. There are often strange conditions here, and we have to be ready.”
If Dovi wins as last year and Marquez finishes lower than second, the title fight will remain unresolved until the last round. Should Dovi win and Marquez fail to finish, there would be just eight points in it.
Yamaha Makes Progress in the Wet
Too little, too late? – Part Two: Maverick Vinales’s return to the podium for the first time in five races was the perfect celebration for a breakthrough in wet settings discovered during race-morning warm-up.
After starting the season as title favourite, handling difficulties with Yamaha’s 2017 M1 spoiled his momentum, and caused difficulties especially in the wet – although both of his race crashes (at Cota and Assen) came losing the front in the dry.
A switch to the 2018 chassis before Silverstone helped somewhat, but the big difference came at Phillip Island.
“We recovered the special feeling with the front,” he said. “Too late.
“We’ve been trying all year, then in 20 minutes we found the way to go fast in the wet.”
Is Rubbin’ Racin’ even in MotoGP?
More than several of an estimated more than 25 overtakes in last weekend’s epic Australian GP involved contact, sometimes violent. Rubbing is racing, goes the saying. But how much rubbing is too much?
The participants in that battle were questioned on race eve at Sepang. And all gave it the nod.
For winner Marquez, after rerunning the race and examining the video evidence: “For me, it’s okay. In Australia, what I saw, we in the limit.”
Dovizioso was not part of it, but is a respected counsellor. “At this moment, everything is under control,” he said. “It is the character of Phillip Island and circuits like that: braking from high speed it is easy to make a small mistake.”
Rossi concurred. “It is Phillip Island, we saw it often in the past. The level opf aggressivity is high, but it is inside the rules.”
Zarco has felt the wrath of several riders this season, including Rossi but especially Lorenzo. This time he was not condemned.
“I like to see a race with many overtakes,” he said. “You don’t want the contact, because both riders could crash, but many riders were at the same level. Perhaps it is the tyres, that you can’t push them too hard.”
Asked which of Rossi or Marquez was the most difficult to pass, Zarco laughed. “Valentino. Sometimes I think he has eyes in the back of his helmet. He always knows what is going on around him in a race, and if you try and pass he fights. Marc lets you go, because he is thinking ‘I will overtake you again after’.”
Soaking up knowledge from Valentino
At the same press conference, Moto2 title hopeful Franco Morbidelli was asked what he had learned from Rossi’s VR46 Academy. A man of few words, he responded: “It’s a long list. Basically, everything I know.”
