MotoGP 2009 musings

I was thinking about the prospects for MotoGP next year and was
surprised at just how good it *might* be. There's a lot of "if's"
that need to happen but imagine this...

What if Casey comes back healthy?
What if Lorenzo finds some consistency to complement his speed?
What if Pedrosa lives up to his promise?
What if Dovi can avoid being submarined by Puig?
What if Nicky gels with the Ducati?
And of course, what if Rossi continues to be Rossi?

All of these seem like reasonable outcomes. If only a few of these
come to be it could be the most competitive season we've seen in a
long time.

The bad news is it will all be heralded as yet another triumph of the
almighty control tire!

 

Without Eurosport coverage, will we care as much?

 

I really hope Bridgestone stays true to their word and develops
consistently good tires without catering to particular riders. Like
you said, though, I'm not confident that Dorna won't stick their nose
into that.

Interesting that the Eurosport team was surmising that the smallest of
riders (aka Pedrosa) might suffer from the control tire. Their theory
was that the tires will be developed to more of an "average" to suit
everyone reasonably well and therefore Dani's lack of wieght might not
allow him to make full use of them. I suppose that could be more
likely if Bridgestone wind up focusing their efforts on Rossi.


Oh, and I forgot to add the longshot "what if?"...

What if Sete comes back on form and makes in impact?


Then there's the really long longshots...

What if Kawasaki mistakenly does something right and makes a big leap
forward with two quality riders onboard?

 

Good point. I only started watching them this year but now I can't
stand the hero-worshiping crew that does the Speed broadcast in the
states (Nick Harris I think?).

One thing I really liked about the Eurosport team was the respect they
had for every rider on the grid. They repeatedly noted that everyone
out there knows how to ride. The implication being that sometimes
guys run at the back because that's all their bike/team will let them
do. The Eurosport team would call out the riders who were actually
doing a good job relative to expectations, even if they were only
running around in 12th or so. Except for Marco. They did finally
start giving Marco a hard time (while acknowledging that he really
isn't a bad rider, it was just a bad mis-match).

 

And with fewer excuses.

If he can stop half killing himself, he's in with a chance of doing
"something".

Now don't start getting silly.

I just said "now don't start being silly"

Which I really hope he does. If he does, then there's an outside chance of
him getting a podium or two. I don't see him getting much more though.

He'll kick the other rider's arses as usual.

As it would if Kev Schwantz, Wayne Rainey, Barry Sheene and a few others
were to be in a position to come back into racing.

All that'll do is remove the advantages/disadvantages of individual
manufacturers. The new control tyre is currently resulting in faster lap
times than the race tyres used this year. For everyone apparently.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

Lap times are already dropping with the control tyre. Tyre life up, speeds
are up,. Makes one wonder what the manufaturers have been doing these last
"X" years making tyres that don't grip AND don't last. Hayden managed around
40 laps at race speed with little degredation of the tyres. Not bad for a
"first time out".

I suspect the question should be "With what"? The ground, another rider, a
fence, his chin?

--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19