MotoGP: farewell to the 800cc class

With Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons due in Australia next autumn it seems a good time to remind ourselves of one of their big hits – but the ‘baby’ we are saying ‘bye-bye’ to at Phillip Island this weekend is the 800cc MotoGP racing motorcycle.

For 2012 the two-wheeled elite category will switch to a 1000cc four-stroke formula, although 800cc units will be allowed to race alongside them to encourage more bikes on to the MotoGP grids. The 800cc category kicked off back in 2007 and while the MotoGP landscape has changed a fair bit in the intervening five years, one thing has remained the same. That’s Casey Stoner…

It was also in 2007 that Stoner made his career-changing move to Ducati. In that first season together they won 10 grands prix as Stoner claimed his first world championship. Now, heading to the Island, Stoner is back on a Honda – but once again he has dominated, winning eight races so far with three to come, one of them right here where he has been unbeatable since… 2007.

In fact Stoner has been the single most successful rider of the 800cc era. It has given us 86 races so far, of which the Australian has won 31 (23 for Ducati, eight for Honda) for a strike rate of 36.05 per cent. Second is the man who’s struggling on a Ducati this year, the great Valentino Rossi: the Italian has won 21 times in the 800 class, all of them on Yamaha machines, for a strike rate of 24.42 -- but a big fat zero on his current mount.

Only two other riders have significant records in this five-year stretch. They are Jorge Lorenzo with 18.60 thanks to 16 wins, all for Yamaha; and Honda stalwart Dani Pedrosa, with a strike rate of 16.28 from his 14 wins. Four men have won once apiece in the 800 era, all of them, curiously, on different bikes: Australian Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki), Loris Capirossi (Ducati), Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) and Ben Spies (Yamaha).

The combined achievements of Rossi and Lorenzo, title-winners in the last three seasons, mean Yamaha dominates the manufacturers’ 800cc list with a 44.19 per cent strike rate through 38 victories. Stoner, with that outstanding 2007 season, gave Ducati the early edge but they are second overall on 27.91, just ahead of a resurgent Honda on 26.74 – thanks again to Stoner and his bid to end the 800 era as he began it, as world champion once more.

Rossi is undoubtedly glad to see the era ending – he called it “the biggest mistake the World Championship has made in 15 years” – while Stoner has already waxed lyrical about the 1000cc Honda he and Pedrosa have both tested.

"The engine for me is fantastic,” he said after his first outing on it at Brno in August. “To ride the 1000 with more grunt and more power, it's a lot of fun. It has incredible acceleration, most of the time too much! We tested a couple of the new tyres and had some issues, the traction didn't feel that great and they seemed to create a lot more chatter.”

Lorenzo was even more enthusiastic about his new Yamaha: “I realized the 1000cc bike was incredible when I saw the power on the straight. I like this bike a lot and I wanted to have more laps, but I have to still think about this season.

“I have been just one hour with our future bike. I can say that the next MotoGP season will be amazing, much more power, you go out of the corners sliding; I can't wait."

As a historical footnote to this weekend’s action, we should add that it’s 50 years, almost to the day, since Tom Phillis on a Honda became Australia’s first World Champion in Grand Prix history. Now we are also saying ‘bye-bye’ to the 125cc class itself, which will be replaced by the new Moto3 in 2012, a class that will use 250cc engines exclusively.

As a nice aside, note the presence in this final Phillip Island field of a young Aussie wild card rider by the name of… Alex Phillis, a distant but definite relative of the great rider who won four races in that 1961 season en route to the 125 title – and found time to win two 250cc grands prix and finish runner-up in that class in the same year.