Bike Racing Forum Awards 2010

[patnicholls]

A bit late, but let's take your nominations for the categories:

-Top five riders of the year
-Top three rookies of the year
-Top team of the year
-Top manufacturer of the year
-Best race of the year
-Best championship of the year
-Special mention award
-Coolest moment of the year
-Craig Jones Memorial Award for most spectacular riding style

Since I'm here, I'll go first.

Top five riders of the year

1. Toni Elias - ultimately dominant in the most competitive championship, what a comeback. He'll be up against it back in MotoGP but he deserves this accolade.
2. Jorge Lorenzo - the apprentice becomes the master, and a model professional to boot.
3. Kenan Sofuoglu - I wanted Eugene to beat him all year, and he's proved why he's a class act and will be an immediate title contender in Moto2 next year. So different from nearly everyone else in the paddock, and that's a good thing.
4. Leon Haslam - he and the team were way ahead of where the level of factory support entitled them to be and they nearly took it to the final round against a very potent Biaggi/Aprilia combo.
5. Ayrton Badovini - unbeaten in European Superstock 1000 until the final round of the season, earning himself a WSB spot alongside James Toseland on good machinery next year.

(Marc Marquez was very unlucky to miss out on a spot in my top five)

Top three rookies of the year
1. Cal Crutchlow
2. Andrea Iannone
3. Scott Redding

Top team of the year
Speed Up for the bike they put under Andrea Iannone; Technomag-CIP for strength in adversity

Top manufacturer of the year
Suter

Best race of the year
Qatar Moto2, Silverstone Moto2, Estoril Moto2, Valencia Moto2...etc

Best championship of the year
The events of Misano excepted, easily Moto2.

Special mention award
The one and only Shoya Tomizawa.

Coolest moment of the year
Really chuffed for Karel Abraham's win actually (see a pattern in my awards?)

Craig Jones Memorial Award for most spectacular riding style
Yonny Hernandez

[jonny hurlock]

Top five riders of the year:

1. Jorge Lorenzo
2. Max Biaggi
3. Toni Elias
4. Marc Marquez
5. Ben Spies

Top three rookies of the year:

1. Ben Spies
2. Cal Crutchlow
3. Marco Simoncelli

Top team of the year:

Aprilia Alitalia Racing

Top manufacturer of the year:

Yamaha

Best race of the year:

Silverstone Moto2 race, Jules Cluzel winning the race

Best championship of the year:

Moto2.

Special mention award:

Shoya Tomizawa.

Coolest moment of the year:

Jorge Lorenzo in the lake at Jerez

Craig Jones Memorial Award for most spectacular riding style:

Marc Marques

[Wim_Impreza]

Top five riders of the year
1. Massimiliano Biaggi - finished every race
2. Jorge Lorenzo - finished every race
3. Leon Haslam - unfortunately he doesn't had the support for a candidate World Champion
4. Ayrton Badovini - what an impressive year
5. Karl Muggeridge - won the IDM SBK title and this championship was never so strong as this year

Top three rookies of the year
1. Cal Crutchlow
2. Ben Spies
3. Gino Rea

Top team of the year
Fiat Yamaha

Top manufacturer of the year
Honda (won the WSS, BSB, IDM SBK...)

Best race of the year
WSBK in Phillip Island

Best championship of the year
WSBK

Special mention award
Shoya Tomizawa.

Coolest moment of the year
Tom Sykes' pole and leading in Imola on an old Kawasaki.

Craig Jones Memorial Award for most spectacular riding style
Jakub Smrž

Why are you both so happy about Moto2? They ride all on Honda's and if I am right there were a lot of accidents with injuries and even one rider who lost his life.

[jonny hurlock]

Why are you both so happy about Moto2? They ride all on Honda's and if I am right there were a lot of accidents with injuries and even one rider who lost his life.

its matter of opinion wim, its a great success compare last year 250cc was a complete joke, with everyone got the honda engines its focus more about talent, we had loads of great exiting races through out the year,despite the loss of Shoya Tomizawa (he will be remembered) a great season imo.

[Mach24]

its focus more about talent, we had loads of great exiting races through out the year

Now if they could do something in MotoGP to achieve what you described above!

[Corny]

Now if they could do something in MotoGP to achieve what you described above!

You're not really trying to say that motogp is not so much about talent huh?

Rider of the year: Lorenzo. Been the best on track, IMO his championship has absolutely nothing to do with the absence of Valentino during few races. Lorenzo has been most consistent, and fastest whole year. With an amazing ride in Jerez (pff long time ago)
Most irritating rider of the year: Also Lorenzo. The shows he's trying to make? What's the thought behind it? Next to that, he's lost a lot for me when complaining about the Motegi fight

[patnicholls]

Why are you both so happy about Moto2? They ride all on Honda's and if I am right there were a lot of accidents with injuries and even one rider who lost his life.

Simply, the races were the most exciting by a mile of any of the championships. Sad to say, but my former favourites the 125s were pretty strung out and show why Moto3 needs to come in, and similarly the other classes in international racing - MotoGP obviously but also WSB and WSS - need bringing in line with changing economic times. British Superbikes was the next best championship to watch in 2010, for me. But pretty much all the really memorable races on the international scene were Moto2 contests (three of them are still sitting on the Sky+ box for keeping). Let's not forget how many chassis builders were involved, and there needed to be a spec engine simply to save the middle class altogether.

Shoya's loss was utterly tragic and won't be forgotten, but could've happened in any class. The risk of accidents happening is a consequence of close racing particularly with a large number of riders on the grid.

[NinjaMaster]

NinjaMaster's 2010 Awards:

Top five riders of the year
1. Jorge Lorenzo - comprehensively beat the competition in the worlds top championship.
2. Max Biaggi - a long time between drinks, Max pretty much dominated to take his 5th world title.
3. Marc Marquez - another dominant title winner, only crashes and misfortune kept things close.
4. Kenan Sofuoglu - an unfancied winner, ready to springboard into a Moto2 title contender in 2011.
5. Bryan Staring - a last minute callup into a hastily cobbled together team, he took the ASBK title that's given him the opportunity of an international career.

Top three rookies of the year
1. Ben Spies - podiums and top 6 of his rookie MotoGP season on a privateer bike is very impressive.
2. Ryan Dungey - AMA Open Supercross and Motorcross champion at his first attempt - WOW!
3. Andrea Iannone - was a title contender and possibly the fastest outright rider in Moto2.

Top team of the year
Ten Kate Honda - Winner WSS, 2nd WSTK1000, 4th WSB

Top manufacturer of the year
Honda

Best race of the year
Moto2 Qatar

Best championship of the year
WSB - close racing and multiple winners on different marques of machinery.

Special mention award
The Technomag Racing Team for the way they dealt with the tragic death of Shoya Tomizawa.

Coolest moment of the year
All riders who took their first wins or podiums.

Craig Jones Memorial Award for most spectacular riding style
Casey Stoner - makes an over-electronically controlled bike buck, weave and powerslide whilst in (usually) 100% control.

[The Phantom]

I like everyone's selections so far so I'm taking the easy route here

I particularly like Ninja's No.5 Rider Of The Year - Brian Staring has impeccable credentials with his results over the last few years (national titles in 125, 600 and 1000cc) and is truly one to watch.

Badovini had a ripper of a year and it's such a shame he wasn't able to win every race - he and the bike certainly had the potential to do so!

Casey would be in my top 5 riders, simply because despite a tough year he could regularly remind them that as long as he is racing, no-one on the grid is guaranteed to get an easy run to first.