The Thrill Of Victory: KTM's Big Day, Valencia 2018
The Thrill Of Victory: KTM, Valencia 2018
by Michael Gougis
It never has to go well in racing. The sport is defined by its struggles. The effort involved in simply participating at the amateur levels is incomprehensible to most people, and most racers never win. And it gets exponentially more difficult as you climb the ranks into professional racing. Money - real money - is on the line. With more technology and bigger teams and bigger stages and bigger investments comes more and more pressure. Boards of directors of multinational corporations monitor results, pen at the ready to slash the racing program from the budget.
There are a million ways to fail.
Most do.
At the Communitat Valenciana - Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, Spain, 2018, KTM did not fail.
At a nasty, cold, rain-lashed track, where the best in the world smashed themselves into the gravel traps and onto the pavement, the Austrian company, with deep roots in two-wheel competition, scored perhaps its finest single day of racing, leaving the circuit with an armful of trophies, scored in each of the Grand Prix classes, including its first - and so far only - podium in the premier MotoGP class.
KTM had gotten back into road racing in 2003, and had done relatively well in the smaller classes. In 2005, the company won the 125cc Grand Prix constructor's title, with Mika Kallio and former boxer Gabor Talmasci on the tiddlers in second and third in the rider's championship. In 2008, Kallio took third in the 250cc GP class for KTM. In Moto3 and in Moto2, the company was successful.
But this day in Valencia read like a movie script.
As Valencia is typically the final race of the Grand Prix season, with championship positions already settled, the Spanish circuit often throws up surprises. Riders who race elsewhere get a chance at Grand Prix glory. Katsuyuki Nakasuga took second at a soaked Valencia in 2012, filling in for an injured Ben Spies on the factory Yamaha YZR-M1. In 2006, Troy Bayliss took a demotion from MotoGP back to World Superbike and won the title for Ducati. As a season-ending reward, the factory gave him a ride in the MotoGP race at Valencia - which he promptly won. And in 2011, four-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes filled in on the Tech III Yamaha, was fastest in one of the practice sessions and brought the YZR-M1 home safely in the rain in seventh.
So it wasn't unusual when KTM put Can Oncu onto a RS250 GP for the Moto3 race on that fateful Valencia race day. Oncu was an experienced racer in the Red Bull Rookies Cup series (for which KTM provided the machines) but he was young - 15 - and it was his first Grand Prix, and as happens all too often at Valencia, the weather was miserable. Not a lot could be expected from the youngster, but no one told him. As rider after rider slid off and out of the race, Oncu kept his head and demonstrated his speed, crossing the finish line more than four seconds ahead of Jorge Martin - the 2018 Moto3 World Champion - to become the youngest-ever Grand Prix winner, the first to win in their debut in 27 years. To make it even better, John McPhee took another KTM RS250 to third.
“I was not taking much risk. I was riding normal," Oncu said. "In the Rookies I learned how to fight and to ride the KTM, as well as manage the races and not to crash."
It was just the start of an incredible day.
Red Bull KTM Ajo's Miguel Oliveira had secured second in the Moto2 category and had a MotoGP ride for next season signed and sealed. No one would have criticized him for not taking chances on a day like this. But he rode steadily, inherited the lead when Alex Marquez crashed out, and headed a KTM 1-2, with Iker Lecuona on a Moto2 podium for the first time in his career. The victory also handed Red Bull KTM Ajo the Moto2 Team Championship for 2018.
"It was definitely hard to keep focus. I was trying to control the pace and the advantage. I’m glad we finished the season on a high," Oliveira said.
No one would have blamed KTM for quitting while it was ahead and packing up for the day. But there was still a MotoGP race to run. Pol Espargaro was young, but very experienced in Grand Prix racing and in a variety of other disciplines. Like many of the other riders, Espargaro threw his bike into a gravel trap, but he picked up his RC16 and kept going. He fought his way back to eighth, and then the race was red-flagged. Espargaro saw that as a sign from the universe that today was going to be his day.
"It was wild out there. The red flag was like a ‘message’ because the bike was still working after that big crash and I said to myself, ‘Man, this is your opportunity, take it,'" Espargaro said.
He did. When the race restarted, Espargaro was hounding nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi when the Yamaha rider went down, putting Espargaro into the podium positions. It wasn't a cruise to the finish. The weather was deteriorating further, and Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa had fought his way onto Espargaro's rear wheel. But the KTM rider held his nerve, edging his fellow Spaniard across the line for KTM's first MotoGP podium in 38 starts - and Espargaro's first in five years in the class.
No, it wasn't the only time KTM has tasted success. But five podium positions out of nine was a mark no other manufacturer could touch on this day. KTM's machines and riders had fought to the top in the three most prestigious racing classes in the world. It was sweet in a way that defied words, although KTM's Motorsport Director Pit Beirer did his best.
“I said all year that we are better than we could prove on paper because we had injured riders and we were not so lucky," Beirer said. "There was a critical moment two months ago when we looked at the new bike and elements like the chassis and, together with strong people at the factory, we decided to stick to the plan because we were sure we were on the right way. It was important not to lose the direction.
"I think every single department in KTM was somehow integrated to make this project work and the whole race team and everybody else put in so many hours. Third place is perhaps more than we expected today but this is the best way to give something back to racing people: a result. It means so much and it is difficult to find the right words how I feel.”
Captions, from top:
- Gabor Talmasci, 125cc GP, Valencia 2005. Photo courtesy KTM.
- Mika Kallio, 250cc GP, Valencia 2008. Photo courtesy KTM.
- Can Oncu, Moto3 GP, Valencia 2018. Photo by Gold and Goose.
- Miguel Oliveira, Moto2 GP, Valencia 2018. Photo by Gold and Goose.
- Pol Espargaro, MotoGP race, Valencia 2018. Photo by Sebas Romero.
by Michael Gougis
It never has to go well in racing. The sport is defined by its struggles. The effort involved in simply participating at the amateur levels is incomprehensible to most people, and most racers never win. And it gets exponentially more difficult as you climb the ranks into professional racing. Money - real money - is on the line. With more technology and bigger teams and bigger stages and bigger investments comes more and more pressure. Boards of directors of multinational corporations monitor results, pen at the ready to slash the racing program from the budget.
There are a million ways to fail.
Most do.
At the Communitat Valenciana - Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, Spain, 2018, KTM did not fail.
At a nasty, cold, rain-lashed track, where the best in the world smashed themselves into the gravel traps and onto the pavement, the Austrian company, with deep roots in two-wheel competition, scored perhaps its finest single day of racing, leaving the circuit with an armful of trophies, scored in each of the Grand Prix classes, including its first - and so far only - podium in the premier MotoGP class.
KTM had gotten back into road racing in 2003, and had done relatively well in the smaller classes. In 2005, the company won the 125cc Grand Prix constructor's title, with Mika Kallio and former boxer Gabor Talmasci on the tiddlers in second and third in the rider's championship. In 2008, Kallio took third in the 250cc GP class for KTM. In Moto3 and in Moto2, the company was successful.
But this day in Valencia read like a movie script.
As Valencia is typically the final race of the Grand Prix season, with championship positions already settled, the Spanish circuit often throws up surprises. Riders who race elsewhere get a chance at Grand Prix glory. Katsuyuki Nakasuga took second at a soaked Valencia in 2012, filling in for an injured Ben Spies on the factory Yamaha YZR-M1. In 2006, Troy Bayliss took a demotion from MotoGP back to World Superbike and won the title for Ducati. As a season-ending reward, the factory gave him a ride in the MotoGP race at Valencia - which he promptly won. And in 2011, four-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes filled in on the Tech III Yamaha, was fastest in one of the practice sessions and brought the YZR-M1 home safely in the rain in seventh.
So it wasn't unusual when KTM put Can Oncu onto a RS250 GP for the Moto3 race on that fateful Valencia race day. Oncu was an experienced racer in the Red Bull Rookies Cup series (for which KTM provided the machines) but he was young - 15 - and it was his first Grand Prix, and as happens all too often at Valencia, the weather was miserable. Not a lot could be expected from the youngster, but no one told him. As rider after rider slid off and out of the race, Oncu kept his head and demonstrated his speed, crossing the finish line more than four seconds ahead of Jorge Martin - the 2018 Moto3 World Champion - to become the youngest-ever Grand Prix winner, the first to win in their debut in 27 years. To make it even better, John McPhee took another KTM RS250 to third.
“I was not taking much risk. I was riding normal," Oncu said. "In the Rookies I learned how to fight and to ride the KTM, as well as manage the races and not to crash."
It was just the start of an incredible day.
Red Bull KTM Ajo's Miguel Oliveira had secured second in the Moto2 category and had a MotoGP ride for next season signed and sealed. No one would have criticized him for not taking chances on a day like this. But he rode steadily, inherited the lead when Alex Marquez crashed out, and headed a KTM 1-2, with Iker Lecuona on a Moto2 podium for the first time in his career. The victory also handed Red Bull KTM Ajo the Moto2 Team Championship for 2018.
"It was definitely hard to keep focus. I was trying to control the pace and the advantage. I’m glad we finished the season on a high," Oliveira said.
No one would have blamed KTM for quitting while it was ahead and packing up for the day. But there was still a MotoGP race to run. Pol Espargaro was young, but very experienced in Grand Prix racing and in a variety of other disciplines. Like many of the other riders, Espargaro threw his bike into a gravel trap, but he picked up his RC16 and kept going. He fought his way back to eighth, and then the race was red-flagged. Espargaro saw that as a sign from the universe that today was going to be his day.
"It was wild out there. The red flag was like a ‘message’ because the bike was still working after that big crash and I said to myself, ‘Man, this is your opportunity, take it,'" Espargaro said.
He did. When the race restarted, Espargaro was hounding nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi when the Yamaha rider went down, putting Espargaro into the podium positions. It wasn't a cruise to the finish. The weather was deteriorating further, and Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa had fought his way onto Espargaro's rear wheel. But the KTM rider held his nerve, edging his fellow Spaniard across the line for KTM's first MotoGP podium in 38 starts - and Espargaro's first in five years in the class.
No, it wasn't the only time KTM has tasted success. But five podium positions out of nine was a mark no other manufacturer could touch on this day. KTM's machines and riders had fought to the top in the three most prestigious racing classes in the world. It was sweet in a way that defied words, although KTM's Motorsport Director Pit Beirer did his best.
“I said all year that we are better than we could prove on paper because we had injured riders and we were not so lucky," Beirer said. "There was a critical moment two months ago when we looked at the new bike and elements like the chassis and, together with strong people at the factory, we decided to stick to the plan because we were sure we were on the right way. It was important not to lose the direction.
"I think every single department in KTM was somehow integrated to make this project work and the whole race team and everybody else put in so many hours. Third place is perhaps more than we expected today but this is the best way to give something back to racing people: a result. It means so much and it is difficult to find the right words how I feel.”
Captions, from top:
- Gabor Talmasci, 125cc GP, Valencia 2005. Photo courtesy KTM.
- Mika Kallio, 250cc GP, Valencia 2008. Photo courtesy KTM.
- Can Oncu, Moto3 GP, Valencia 2018. Photo by Gold and Goose.
- Miguel Oliveira, Moto2 GP, Valencia 2018. Photo by Gold and Goose.
- Pol Espargaro, MotoGP race, Valencia 2018. Photo by Sebas Romero.
Comments
Post a Comment