Mugello (spoiler)

1 V. Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 42:42.994
2 M. Biaggi (ITA) Honda 0.359
3 L. Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 3.574
4 M. Melandri (ITA) Honda 3.979
5 C. Checa (ESP) Ducati 7.890
6 N. Hayden (USA) Honda 8.204
7 A. Barros (BRA) Honda 11.572
8 M. Tamada (JPN) Honda 25.394
9 C. Edwards (USA) Yamaha 25.465
10 S. Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki 36.549
11 J. Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 41.637
12 A. Hofmann (GER) Kawasaki 43.659
13 T. Bayliss (AUS) Honda 43.916
14 R. Xaus (ESP) Yamaha 51.575
15 K. Roberts (USA) Suzuki 1:10.275


Exiting race but with a predictable outcome. I found a few of melandri's
entries into turn one to some of the gutsiest moves I've ever seen.

 

I am beginning to think that superbike guys are just never going
to do well in GP. Edwards, Bayliss, Xaus, Hodgson, Corser,
Gobert, Hayden....None of them have ever done that well. I would
think Hayden has done better than most, but not good enough
to remain on a top team. If I were Honda, I would be taking chances
on riders. It is obvious that nobody on the top teams (Edwards,
Capirossi, Gib, Hayden, Barros, Checa) is ever going to regularly
beat Rossi. I think Gib and Biaggi have the ability, but Rossi has them
beat mentally before the race weekend ever starts. If I were Honda
I would consider taking a chance with someone like Hopkins.

 

It's over for Sete. And probably for Honda. The pattern just seems to stick.

As some of us feared before the season started, the fact Rossi has the
Yamaha sorted out to suit him means he can now once again rule with an iron
fist in a sufficient amount of venues. I would not say his wins come easy,
but when he works hard they seem to become the safe prediciton. And you can
probably blindfold him and he'd still score a top 5 placement. And that may
very well be all he has to do going forward to secure the title, because the
Honda circus continues to battle it out with rather inconsistent results
(Melandri excepted, oh wonder of wonders).

Gibernau and Biaggi can't beat Rossi for the championship, period. I agree
with another poster that stated Honda may have to take a gamble with someone
like Hopkins. I'd like to see him on a top Honda and a dedicated team. Seems
the only intriguing bet Honda could make. Hayden to me is doing well enough
to stay on in the number 2 spot at HRC, the question is whether he'd be
better off in a leading role within a Honda satellite team.

One could make the point that Melandri is positioning himself as heir for
the HRC number 1 spot with Biaggi looking more and more like Barros (a rider
to accustomed to being number 2/3/4 to truly become number 1 this late in
the game). Not sure if he'd really do much better, though.

....pablo

 

Time to go back to the "mediocre" GP250 riders???
Pedrosa is the future for Honda.

 

I'm happy for his results so far, but I'm always frightened his
dream comes to an end...

I wonder whether team policy could eventually favour him over
Sete if one's positive and the other one's negative trend
continue.

--
SNAFU

NOTA: per scrivermi in privato, sostituisci "pvtsnaphoo" con "pvtsnafu"
NOTE: if you want to send me e-mail, just replace "pvtsnaphoo" with
"pvtsnafu"

 

He did the same thing in 125 and 250. When he stays on, he's extremely
fast. Occasionally it all gets a bit ragged. In 125, it lost him the
championship. In 250, he was so dominant when he stayed on that he got
away with it.

 

Rainey... Schwantz... etc.

 

I don't see a lot of *men* these days -- just a bunch of
guys with skinny waists.

- Anthony Quinn

But it as well might have been Kenny Roberts.

It's true that 125 and 250 GP bikes are more like formula bikes,
and the competition is good, and it highlights who is the better
rider. It's also true that everyone in the NBA was a superstar
in high school or college.

I don't find the observation to be useful, or even true -- we
may or may not see an SBK guy step up to MGP. I think Hopkins
has real potential. Put him on a Honda RC211V.

 

Rossi is a one-in-a-million -- paddock brat, born and bred to motorcycling,
plus very intelligent when it comes to mechanics, suspension,etc. and
has had good luck most of the way. The ability to help set up the bike
amplifies his prowess as a rider.

Unless he's smarter than he sounds (no offense, Kentuckians), Nicky
will never beat Vale.

He'll get bored, or stop having fun, and that'll be the time to quit.

 

The level of competition is just so high up there. Anywhere else
Hayden would look like a superstar - it's only in the company of Rossi
that he looks average.

 

So who's going to win Suzuka then?

And as usual there's reasons all down the line.

- MotoGP. Rossi.
- 250. Pedrosa and Dovizioso are doing pretty well but the Aprilias are
only just off the pace.
- 125. Luthi's now leading the championship.
- WSB. Vermeulen is edging closer. A switch of suspension supplier
certainly hasn't helped.
- AMA. Among other things a switch of front suspension hasn't helped
there either. And that along with a switch to kit bikes. Perhaps the
relatively poor performance suggests a lack of testing as well.

 

Julian Bond wrote:

[Honda]

A non-emulsion, pressurized fork should be superior in every respect --
but of course it will require a completely new setup, and the riders
(well, rider) need experience with it.

If I had USD 8k, I'd put them on my Ducati today.

 

Fair enough. But the same riders are turning slower times than last year
(I think). Which suggests lack of testing with the new kit. And/or the
built up kit bikes are seriously down on last year's HRC bikes.

 

They need someone who has a deep understanding of the equipment who
is also able to ride the bike. A hint I would provide is: use a
more compliant setting than with an emulsion fork, and ride 100 laps
with it.

I think you're absolutely right -- sounds as if they introduced new
gear just before a race practice and reverted to the tried and true
because they couldn't get it to work in a few minutes' time.

 

There's nothing about superbike racing that precludes a rider from
advancing to, and doing well in, MotoGp, they either have what it
takes or they don't. It seems now to be more dependent on where the
powers that be are looking for talent, and their ability to correctly
evaluate it.

KRSR always said that his mile dirt oval experience helped him change
the way that GP bikes were ridden, but that kind of breakthrough is
unlikely these days, rider experience now is more, shall we say,
cosmopolitan.

Bill Smith

 

I read (on Soup I think) that Mid-America Motorplex

http://www.midamericamotorplex.com

in Iowa is talking with the AMA about the possibility of a date, as was
another track, Miller Motorsports Park I think.

http://www.millermotorsportspark.com/

Possible tracks in my mind, in no particular order, would include:

1 - Daytona
2 - VIR - The long course
- Why don't they use the long course, anyway?
3 - Sears Point
4 - Elkhart Lake
5 - Mid-Ohio
6 - Laguna Seca
7 - Mid-America Motorplex
- It's close to me
8 - Heartland Park
- It's even closer to me. Why'd they stop going there, anyway?
- It'd surely need a repaving before being used again. The SCCA
- is holding the runoffs there starting in 2006
9 - Miller Motorsports Park
10 - Sebring
- Safety would probably be an issue, but I bet they could make it work
11 - Road Atlanta
12 - Barber
13 - Watkins Glen - The long course
- Pending safety improvements. The esses would surely have to have the
- armco moved back a long ways, as would probably the last turn. It'd
- be great if they could skip the inner loop, but I highly doubt it
- could happen safely.
14 - Portland