Friday at the German Grand Prix saw several surprises. One of them was Aleix Espargaro ending the day in sixth place. Given that it was dry but cold today, I expected the soft tire option teams to be faster than they were. Though Aleix was the fastest of the Factory Option team riders, he was almost half a second off the pace.

That pace was set by Marc Marquez, perhaps not a complete surprise but given how his season has gone so far, maybe a small one.

A very nice surprise was finding Bradley Smith to be second fastest when I returned to the media center.

I finally remembered to get a photo of Dovizioso’s hand brake. Surprise! Dovi’s right foot sometimes hangs off the foot peg while he’s turning, making it difficult or impossible to apply any rear brake. So he has this small lever he can activate with his thumb.

A surprise visitor this weekend is one of my heroes, Dillon Chapman, whom some of you may recognize from his Make a Wish videos (One and Two) on Youtube. Dillon is here with his father as guests of HRC, and given the small assistance I’ve been honored to provide Dillon in the past, he kindly asked if I was here this weekend. I went over to say hello and thus was there when Dani received the surprise of Dillon’s last minute appearance. It was a very nice moment, the kind where Dani’s real personality comes out. He smiled so warmly when he saw that Dillon was here, he showed the side of him I wish the public could see more of. Though he was expected at an interview across the paddock, he stayed and chatted with Dillon for several minutes before promising to see him again later. Top man, Dani Pedrosa.

Though the news broke before today, and though many people saw it coming, I expect some were surprised to see Michael Laverty on Marco Melandri’s (former) Aprilia RS-GP. I saw Michael only last weekend at Knockhill where he rode his Tyco BMW. Surprise, here he is again, and a welcome return it is to the MotoGP paddock.

On Page 2, no surprise at all: