Next years MGP prospects

That's probably the key. The racing bikes in the late 70s were evil,
nasty machines with way more peaky power than the frames, suspension and
tyres could cope with. You could ride at 90% and still be on the pace so
the guys who could ride at 95% looked like gods. The state of the art
now is that they're all scratching to find that last 0.5%. It's so easy
to dismiss the guys who've been finishing 5th to 10th in MotoGP this
year, but they really haven't been that far off the pace.

And then look at Lavilla. Just like the old transatlantic races he's
ridden at Mallory, Oulton, Brands short circuit for the first time, just
like they did and up against equivalent local talent. (And Oulton,
Snetterton, Cadwell, Knockhill). It's actually been great to watch a
rider finally get a break with a fully competitive machine and team rise
to the challenge and be both motivated and intelligent about his racing.

 

Wasn't Haga on a Yamaha two stroke as well? ISTR the last 2s race at PI
where a whole gaggle of riders were leading including Haga and Barros
and Vale rubbed wheels (with smoke) at 200mph.

Watching the last few races again, I think the fastest way round the
circuit on a MotoGP bike has converged on a mix of 250GP and SBK.
Braking, corner entry and mid corner is all like 250. Slipper clutches,
all the electronics and Rossi's habit of just pulling the clutch in have
meant much higher start to mid corner speeds. Mid to exit, they're all
standing the bike up and firing the bike out with as little wheel spin
and sideways as possible. Again aided by loads of electronics both in
traction control and throttle feel. The problem for the old SBK riders
is that if they had a style of parking it mid corner and squaring it
off, they get passed on the entry under brakes and they lose out on
drive on the next straight because they're going slower when they start
accelerating. There's lots of talk about how Hayden and Melandri have
different styles and maybe last year this was true. But they look pretty
similar now and I think this is partly how both of them have found the
difference between finishing 7th and 1st.

Now maybe both sides have had to learn new tricks. The 250 guys have had
to learn how to manage rear tyre life and how to slide it under power
just a bit. (Hence Biaggi buying a supermoto). The SBK guys have had to
learn how to carry more speed on corner entry and mid corner and still
get on the throttle on the exit. The end result is that both sources
have ended in the same place with machines designed for the fastest way
to ride them given current technology. So, I don't think it's a case of
the Yamaha being designed for Rossi's style and Edwards having to adapt
as much as the Yamaha being designed for the fastest lap time and
Edwards having to learn a new trick to exploit it.

 

Agree with this. Makes me thinking of this old story about riders who can be
fast with Dunlop and not with Michelin or vice-versa. I once red an
interview of B.Bostrom saying that it was pure bullshit and that a good
rider is able and have to adapt to any kind of rubber.

 

Julian Bond misquotes:

Except for Donington, Assen, Jerez, Estoril, and Suzuka
in person and others on piece of shit US television coverage.

Yes, the 125 guys can cut and thrust. My point was merely
that there are places to learn aggresion besides 125GP.

That doesn't mean because you can do it on a 600 single,
you can still do it on a MotoGP bike, as Nicky seems to be proving.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

 

Or, as I've tried to say, SBK style riding of stuffing it into the
corner on the brakes, squaring the turn and firing it out just isn't the
fastest way round a circuit any more.

You make too much of this. It take's all of Yamaha, the team led by
Burgess and Rossi to ride it, to achieve what Rossi has done. I never
said it didn't.

 

I am jst now reading the latest Motociclismo issue, and the most interesting
statement in there is from casey Stoner, who seems to be having a blast, and
said he was surprised that the MotoGP bike was not intimidating at all. More
powerful, but not as much brute force as he expected, and easy to ride
inasmuch as the Aprilia he was used to being far more nervous and finicky.

Just thought that sounded very promising. I am kind of hyped about Stoner in
MotoG, somehow I developed the feelig he may be the hottest addition to the
series, and I am glad it came off. Sue me if he bombs.

....pablo