Biaggi and this years results so far.

Max is putting in weird results in the testing so far. In Barcelona he
puts in the fastest times during practices (although not the fastest
consistently throughout the sessions) then at the last moment his
factory Honda won't start so he misses his last lap dash to get the
important time, Hmmmm.

Then this weekend at Jerez he finishes 15 in the 1st day standings
seemingly because of an engine management problem (that his team mate
didn't have). Seems to me at that level of competition with a factory
Honda team someone would have suggested changing the engine mapping unit
for another one or if they were trying a new engine mapping that clearly
wasn't giving the results they were after then at least going back to
basics and letting Max do a few fast laps.

Is this some kind of political game, are they trying to mess with Rossi
and his team so they don't know the real potential of Max's Honda or
have they really lost it?

I'm confused and a bit worried, I like Max and want him to do well but
things really aren't looking to bright at this stage.

By the current practice sessions I'd have to say it's going to be
another Rossi / Gib's year with Max hanging on for 3rd, but I hope I'm
wrong.

And can someone show Gib's how to wear his bloody cap, the peak goes to
the FRONT, he looks a right plonker with it on backwards!

Paul

 

Hayden rides the same bike, and somehow managed to find a more competitive
set-up. *That* is telling. Biaggi is brilliant when everything suits him,
merely good when it doesn't, and in one out of 6 races or so unable to hang
at the front. To this day he has the most 250cc oriented riding style, which
is beautiful when things work, but also happens to be the most demanding of
the chassis, and does not allow for enough margin of error.

I want someone to beat Rossi, but Biaggi has never amounted to much of a
challenger at 500. I don't think he's the one. In the current universe of
things, he seems cast in stone in number 3, and most vulnerable to be
displaced by a youngster's sudden break-through year. And I have a feeling
it could be Hayden stealing the spot in HRC - he progresses methodically
just as Biaggi chokes a bit. We'll see soon enough. The season hasn't even
started - anything can happen.

....pablo

 

From a motorcycle website (Motorcycle Daily, Willy Ivins) when looking at
the 2003 season: ".. Max Biaggi - 250 GP master, he won four World
Championships in his six seasons aboard a 250. His move to the 500cc class
has been marked by ups and downs, and plenty of near-misses in his quest for
the crown. Many point to his 250 GP style of riding the front end very hard,
which has not changed, as being the primary reason for his lack of a 500
GP/MotoGP championship. .."

Max is very surgical in his riding style, which requires razor-sharp
control, and razor-sharp set-up. He probably carries the fastest corner
speed among the MotoGP riders when the line is free. In one-on-one
dogfights, his typical move is to overtake on the outside by simply riding
faster. But a close group will cramp his style, as will a bike that is not
perfectly set up. When he falls off -which he does not do as often as other
riders that stuck to a 250 style, which is commendable- it is typically the
front end slowly giving away, a sure indication a bike has reached its utter
cornering limit - and he explores that cornering limit like few other
riders. If you look at the paddock extremes, I think on the one extreme of
riding with the rear you find Gary McCoy (shame he isn't there, one of my
favs), and on the opposite side of the axis you'll find Biaggi. There are
circuits that reward a 250 style, the fewer straights and the more high
speed turns the better, and the more hairpins followed by straights the
worse, and it seems to correlate nicely -if not every time- with Biaggi's
results and circuit preferences.

Don't get me wrong - I think Biaggi rides beautifully on a good day. It is
awesome to seen a bike ridden as fast yet as smoothly. Few wiggles and
slides, perfect lines. And I think he could win a MotoGP championship,
easily, if it was based on riding talent alone. He should have already won
one. He is among the best riders to not score a title in the top category
(the stats already list him among the most winning riders to not win a
title). And I think the reason for that is that, because he needs to be so
sharp, his stress level is higher than other riders, the pressure to be
perfect every time more overwhelming, and that's not something the human
psche can easily cope with for an entire season. Thus, I think he does the
"it's not me" excuse thing with clockwise regularity to relieve pressure and
expectations.

Doohan himself stated somewhere that Biaggi's weakness is the fact he needs
a level of perfection in the bike that simply can not be achieved by any
bike on a majority of circuits. Engineering is a compromie, and thus there
will always be circuits that will not suit a bike and require the rider to
try to ride around it, and according to Doohan that's Biaggi's Achilles'
heel. Which can be explained be a style that demands perfection from the
bike, and a mind that has learned to be gun-shy when it doesn't feel that
utter connection to the bike underneath.

Just my opinion.

....pablo

 

To me it looks like Rossi is able to change his strategy depending on what
is important. At some of last turns before a straight he sacrifice the mid
corner speed to a (for his bike) perfect line at the exit, gaining a lot
more early power/speed at the exit. Other places he carry more mid corner
speed, and finaly at some he has "to high" entry speed. All depending on
situation.
I guess thats why biaggi allways have trouble batteling Rossi.

/MBE