Hayden's clutch

 Hey AUS,

The reason none of the other Honda riders complained of clutch problems is
that NONE of them had the same clutch setup as Nicky.
He rode the development bike all year, the rest of them were on the
"evolution" model.When the 2006 MotoGp issue of Pitwalk comes out you'll be
able to see how different they were. They were all called RC211V, but a name
is a name...
Why there was only one development Honda is understood, but it goes to point
out the pitfalls if something isn't correct...
It was amazing how long it took HRC to address the situation. It wasn't
until after Motegi that they did something worthwhile about it That was15
races into the season.
Whine all you want about the points Rossi lost, but all he had to do at
Valencia was finish close to Hayden.
In America it's called "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory"

 

I'd prefer good old "choking" :)

 
The development RC211 last year was emphatically *not* the same as the
RC212 this year. Calling Hayden's last year's bike the 2007 bike just
confuses everything.

Honda chose to build a one off development bike last year to try and
break Rossi. If it didn't work, there was a more understood bike on the
other side of the garage. Hayden chose to ride it. Although there was
probably considerable pressure on him to do that. It may also well be
that Pedrosa chose *not* to ride it.

Funny to see the same Honda infighting happening all over again.
Melandri was led to believe he would get top equipment. Unsurprisingly,
Pedrosa-Hayden got a bunch of new engine parts for the Jerez test. And
equally unsurprisingly, Melandri didn't and was complaining about it.

I expect Hayden to really struggle this year. And I expect this group to
be all over it, claiming it's a Honda-Puig conspiracy not to give him a
bike he can ride.

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 Julian Bond wrote:

nah, the mojority of the group will claim it is hands down the best bike
in the paddock and it proves the Nicky can;t ride worth a squat.

Bruce

 

Since -unlike last year- he'll be riding the same damn bike as the rest of
the other top Honda riders, "new part" theories aside, that'll be a damn
hard thing to claim either way.

What we do know is the differences in bikes are not absolutely ridiculously
enormous between the top guys in Honda. Last year, all of the Honda bikes
probably had better bikes than anyone else in the starting grid. Chances are
the bikes were more suitable to some tracks than others, as where the riders
and the choices they made based on their preferences. A safe assumption.

This year the bikes will be closer and more dependent on whatever setup
choices the different riders make. New parts may provide a marginal or not
so marginal advantage, or disadvantage - rider's choice whether to use them
when they're offered or not.

Fact is motorcycling is still a sport where riding skill will always count,
and be able to come a certain amount of machine disadvantage. Which means
that those who claim Hayden can't ride worth squat are fools, as would be
the ones that put down consistently different results on damn near identical
machines just down to the bike.

The truth is somewhere in the middle, is always the safe assumption there,
and those who predictably claim otherwise allow their bias to cloud their
judgement. But hey, it's only a sport.