MotoGP riders in action

Here are some key number to note for the Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya this weekend.

The number 60 – The day of qualifying at the Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya will be the 60th anniversary of the very first race that counted towards the World Championship classification, this was the 350cc race at the Isle of Man TT event in 1949. This race was won by British rider Freddie Frith riding a Velocette. Frith then continued on to win all five Grand Prix races in the 350cc class in 1949 to take the world title and then retired from racing.

The number 20 – After his 4th place result at the Mugello circuit, Andrea Dovizioso has now scored points in 20 consecutive races.

The number 17 – Race day at the Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya will represent 17 years to the day of the German Grand Prix in 1992 when the first three riders home in the 250cc race were Pier Francesco Chili, Max Biaggi and Loris Reggiani, note that all three riders were on Aprilia machinery. This was the first all Aprilia podium in Grand Prix racing.

The number 16 – There has been 16 MotoGP races gone by since the last win by a Honda rider, Spain very own Dani Pedrosa at the Catalan GP last year. This streak is the longest of it's kind for a sequence of races in the premier class without a Honda win since they rejoined Grand Prix racing in 1982.

The number 7 – Note that Aprilia riders have won the last seven 125cc Grand Prix races. This amazing streak now equals the longest ever sequence of successive 125cc GP victories by Aprilia, a result they achieved in 2007.

 

The number 5 – In the first five races of the year in the 250cc class, a different rider has collected the spoils each time(Barbera, Bautista, Aoyama, Simoncelli and Pasini) the last time this happened was in 1988 (Mang, Filice, Pons, Garriga and Dominique Sarron).

3.274 seconds – this is the time covering the first five riders across the line at the end of the MotoGP race in Mugello, this result made it the 8th closest top five of all-time in a full length premier-class Grand Prix.

So what do all these numbers mean? Well it means that this weekends race is shaping up as a must watch event for all motorcycling enthusiasts.