Well I had a lot of fun in Jerez checking out the Moto2 and 125 guys as they completed their pre-season testing. After my first close-up look at the Moto2 bikes I’m happy to report that the hype the class has been getting is justified.

Everybody who has ridden the Moto2 bikes comes off with a big smile on their face, as these are a real race bike with no traction control and reward the rider with good feel when pushed hard.

If you look at the results over the three days of testing in Jerez, it wasn’t like MotoGP with the same riders and teams always locking out the top of the charts. On the Friday we had five different teams on five different chassis posting the five fastest times, and the following day it was different again - that’s what racing is all about - any one of ten riders can win this class on their day. People are expecting guys like Toni Elias, Alex de Angelis and Julian Simon to be right up there and rightly so but I guarantee there will be some surprises on the top step of the podium before the season is over.

One thing I noticed was that although a lot of these guys are running at around the same pace there are a few different riding styles out there and they are making up time at different parts of the circuit.

Someone like Yuki Takahashi has what you could call a 125 or 250 style, he is clean, smooth and is all about holding a good corner speed. I then watched someone like Yonny Hernandez who was riding his bike like a supermotard – backing the bike on the way in to the corner and then standing it up and getting back on the power on the way out. A different riding style but just as effective.

So we have different styles of riding on these bikes that have no traction control, steel brakes and the same clutch and engines, in my eyes this is definitely a great combination for exciting racing. Some of the riders I talked to said that to pass in this class you need to be 100% committed and not back down, so expect some fairly tight overtaking and don’t be surprised to see the bikes rubbing fairings and swapping paint!

One thing I would have really liked to have seen in this new class was for Dorna to have their own team which they dedicated to giving some new talent around the world a chance in this new class. A couple of bikes on the grid could have been reserved so at each round they can pick out the best of the local talent to run as wild cards, this will help keep fresh talent coming into the series.

So say when the series goes to Australia they get a couple of riders who are running in the local Supersport series, put them on the Moto2 bike, throw them in the deep end with the rest of the field and see how they go. With the performance of these bikes being so closely matched, any new riders coming won’t be too handicapped and might even surprise some of the regular riders if they gel with the bike straightaway.

I also asked a lot of questions about the Honda Moto2 engines when I was in Jerez, and as expected the engines are quite locked down and there is little scope for tuning, apart from the engine mapping and the exhaust system. This saves costs and puts the focus back on chassis development which is how it should be in a class like this. Another good thing is that due to the looser tolerances in the Moto2 powerplants there shouldn’t be much difference in power output between a new engine and one that is due for replacement.

Once the season starts, Geo Technology - who have been by chosen by Honda to look after the engines - will be able to download the data from each engines ECU so they can see how the riders are treating their engines. If an engine fails on a bike and the data shows the rider over-revved or otherwise mistreated it, Geo will provide a new one at a cost of 20000 Euros, so don’t expect to see any post-race celebration burnouts in Moto2! This expense will also keep in check any complaints from teams who feel their engines aren’t up to the same spec as their competitors, as if they get a replacement engine and Geo find that the motor they replaced had no defects they will go ahead and charge the team 20000 Euros for the replacement.

The 125cc testing went much as expected with the Spanish riders Marquez, Espargaro and Terol all going very fast at Jerez. Speed is one thing, but the rider who wins the championship will also need to be consistent. This is where riders like Bradley Smith will have an advantage as it is important to maintain your focus and momentum during the championship and keep collecting points when the race wins aren’t coming your way.

Once again, some of the Red Bull rookies will be coming up to the 125cc class and it’s always interesting to see how they mix it up with the more established riders.

Later in the season I would like to talk more about the proposed rule changes for 2012 in MotoGP – in particular the 1000cc capacity and what this could mean for the series going forward.

At this stage we know that Dorna have laid out rules setting a maximum bore of 81mm, a 21 liter fuel capacity and a maximum of 4 cylinders. These parameters aren’t too far removed from what we see in road bikes at the moment and could help make joining the MotoGP party a more attractive prospect for other teams and manufacturers.

Whatever happens, it will be interesting to see which teams stick with the 800cc format and what new bikes are developed to take advantage of the rules Dorna puts in place.

But for now it’s all about the start of the season this weekend in Qatar and I am really expecting some great racing throughout the field. I’m sure the camera crews are going to have their work cut out trying to capture all the action.

Randy