Gibernau and Max

Hello,

I'm glad I found this news group. I see that Max is heading Honda
this year. Max gave Rossi a challenge last year, but Sete really
gave him more of a run for his money. I don't think its wrong to
give Max the Honda top bike, but I was wondering if anyone knew why
Sete didn't get it? Did he over extend himself in contract
negotiations or maybe Honda thinks Max has more of a steady hand,
ect ... Rossi got 304 point, Gibernau got 257 points and Max got
217. That kinda means Rossi is as far ahead of Gibernau as Gibernau
is ahead of Max. If I were Honda, I'd probably do the math [they
are very mathematical at Honda] and pick Sete ....

 

Gibernau wanted to stay with his long term team/sponsor, thus could not
contemplate changing team colors. However, it seems that at first he had
Honda's word that he'd get "virtual HRC" treatment, but then Honda went back
on it after they secured Max.

I think the last seasons have firmly shown that Max needs a very significant
bike advantage to come close to Rossi, and I also suspect he needs a bike
advantage (though not as significant) to get to Gibernau. Out of the 3,
Biaggi is by far still the most 250cc oriented guy riding style wise, which
is a disadvantage on MotoGP bikes.

Moreover, and especially since he seems to need a critical bike advantage,
there's a question mark over Biaggi's ability to direct bike development. It
could be argued that the Yamaha went astray under his riding leadership:
from a promising early start to a year long inability to score any
significant results.

Honda tried the same resipce last year with Barros: someone with a lot of
experience and occasional brilliant results when the starts aligned right.
Alas, it was established that Barros was a great follower, but not a leader.
Which some suspected beforehand. And I suspect Biaggi fits that pattern as
well.

But then again, the best thing in sports is when we have to eat our
predictions, and the totally unpredictable nature of things comes through
and creates excitement. Please someone really go beat Rossi, it's getting a
bit too predictable...

....pablo

 

I tend to agree with your assessment. Rossi is a superior rider in part
because of his ability to communicate requisite changes with the
engineers. If you include that ability, then it's still 80% rider
and 20% bike. Also do not underestimate the effect of keeping the
band together when he changed record labels from Honda to "Yamaka"

Max's perceived weakness is still his lack of mental resilience. A little
meditation instruction and an Italian copy of _Inner Tennis_ should help.

- kudzu

 

The first year of MotoGP Max finished second to Rossi in the
Championship and if I remember correctly won 3 races that year, the
Honda was superior that first season and I thought Max did very well, he
however didn't think Yamaha were going to develop the bike to his liking
and decided to chance it with Honda. Despite all the criticism Max
receives he's always 2nd or 3rd in the championships and is a true talent.

I'd be surprised if Max doesn't pull it off this year. He will get the
top Honda bike with all the trick bits, the last couple of seasons we
really don't know how much politics affected the bikes. I'm guessing
with the Factory Repsol colours on his shoulders this could be the
motivation Max needs.

I'm also curious as to why Max gets so much stick, he's clearly either
the 2nd or 3rd fastest rider in MotoGP by his consistent championship
results yet people seem to have this constant desire to berate him, even
more so than riders who have finished consistently lower in the
championships.

Paul

 

No one argues with that. The question is if he can be number 1 after so many
seasons of proving he's a top follower. He has a roadblock in front of him,
Rossi, that he's never overcome with any consistency in Rossi, and as of the
last 2 seasons Gibernau also has shown more speed and consistency. It's only
his ability to be better than those 2 that has been questioned - that does
not even come close to "berating" someone.

....pablo

 

I don't think he would understand a copy written in italian. They should
provide him one written in roman slang, the only language in which Max is
really fluent.