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Posted by just bob on August 20, 2008, 12:31 am
News item from motogp.com in my inbox tonight:
"Melandri confirms Kawasaki move for 2009: Italian MotoGP star Marco
Melandri has told motogp.com that he will ride for Kawasaki next season."
Think Kawasaki might have wanted to disclose that first? Or maybe Ducati?
Way to go, Marco.
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Posted by Mark N on August 21, 2008, 12:34 am
just bob wrote:
> News item from motogp.com in my inbox tonight:
>
> "Melandri confirms Kawasaki move for 2009: Italian MotoGP star Marco
> Melandri has told motogp.com that he will ride for Kawasaki next season."
>
> Think Kawasaki might have wanted to disclose that first? Or maybe Ducati?
>
> Way to go, Marco.
Well, someone's got to get excited about it..
Anyway, it seems the pieces are falling into place for MotoGP next year
already, and so far it's making a lot of sense. Marco gets another good
chance, and a factory Kawi on Bridgestones should be better than a lease
Honda on Michelins. Assuming can get back pointed in the right direction
and Hopper can stop hurting himself, that ought to be a pretty good team.
Hayden seems 98% certain at Corse now, which is another all-around good
move - and one that really should have been made two years ago. Seems
likely that Nick's style will be more successful on that bike than
Marco's, and for him there isn't the political quagmire that Repsol was
opposite Pedrosa-Puig. And if he adapts well, it at least means another
guy running at the front when Bridgestones are superior, assuming that
problem isn't solved over the winter.
And it would seem Dovizioso is equally certain at Repsol, which is the
right move again. He's the right profile for Honda, and how many times
has he been the top Michelin finisher this year? It'll be interesting to
see how he handles the politics and second-fiddle status, though.
With Yamaha long-settled, that leaves Suzuki, which is the only
problematic deal to me. It seems it comes down to Capirossi, Vermeulen
and/or Spies, and right now the most likely seems to be Loris. But he's
35 years old, is about to break the all-time GP starts record, and has
never seriously challenged for the championship in this class, even
though he's been more consistently faster than Chris V this year and
certainly is a proven winner. Maybe it makes sense if they're going to
bring in Ben, who would definitely have a learning year, but pair him up
with Vermeulen again? I'd rather see then go with Ben and Chris, at
least that way they've got learning curve overhead and they have similar
backgrounds ands riding styles. And size.
But if Chris is out, that almost certainly means he's headed back to
WSB. If it's Ben standing when the music stops, then what does that
leave, Gresini? JiS? Maybe Pramac? If the long odds deliver, at least it
makes sense for him to land at Gresini, another midget in the Honda fold
and with an Italian team that's coveted him.
The Honda lease teams are a mess, with Scot and JiS splitting up, LCR
having to run an extra transporter just to have enough bodywork for
uber-crasher de Puniet (who has a two-year deal), and Gresini having his
worst season yet, just when his sponsorship magic seems to have run out.
It seems fitting that this cesspool is where the Euromidgets belong,
and to me it almost doesn't matter who gets the rides here.
What's a little disappointing is to read that Pramac is making offers to
Kallio and Simoncelli in the 250 class, just when it seems proven that
their like can't make that bike work. Oh, well, at least Kallio isn't a
Medget, and Simoncelli has some character as well as size. And it may be
that Canepa already has one of those rides bookmarked for him, which is
likely a good thing for the class and team.
Another disappointment may be that Bautista gets a Kawasaki as well. At
least it's a new bike on the grid and he's not taking up an existing space.
And then there's WSB. I'd say that about SB over here as well, but
probably there isn't...
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Posted by Julian Bond on August 21, 2008, 2:08 am
>What's a little disappointing is to read that Pramac is making offers
>to Kallio and Simoncelli in the 250 class, just when it seems proven
>that their like can't make that bike work. Oh, well, at least Kallio
>isn't a Medget, and Simoncelli has some character as well as size. And
>it may be that Canepa already has one of those rides bookmarked for
>him, which is likely a good thing for the class and team.
Hard to tell what the hell is happening at Alice-Ducati. It seems that
D'Antin was on a serious coke binge; Fast cars, fast boats, fast women.
It's at least possible that what we're seeing from Elias now is what the
team is actually capable of once it gets some serious management and
attention from the factory. Which means you can't draw any conclusions
from any of the riders in D'Antin's era. Just because Melandri can't
hack it on a Ducati doesn't necessarily mean other ex-250GP riders can't
either.
At the moment I'm trying to imagine the shit storm that would have
happened if Puig had managed to engineer an anti-Michelin protest and
all the Michelin runners had simply pulled into the pits at the end of
the first lap at Brno. There's a bizarre little story about Puig walking
up pit lane next to Poncheral and muttering "You've got no balls. You've
got no balls.". If you ask the riders whether they would want a single
tyre manufacturer this weekend, perhaps not surprising that they were
unanimous in saying yes. Ask them on a weekend where it's all more even
or Michelin has an advantage and you might get a different answer.
Perhaps the tyre rules have helped Bridgestone to get there. But they
probably didn't need the help. Maybe its time to just drop the rules
completely. If Michelin get an unfair advantage from shipping overnight
specials, perhaps Bridgestone need to open a European factory.
--
Julian Bond E&MSN: julian_bond at voidstar.com M: +44 (0)77 5907 2173
Webmaster: http://www.ecademy.com/ T: +44 (0)192 0412 433
Personal WebLog: http://www.voidstar.com/ skype:julian.bond?chat
Not Tested On Animals
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Posted by Mark N on August 21, 2008, 2:58 am
Julian Bond wrote:
> Hard to tell what the hell is happening at Alice-Ducati. It seems that
> D'Antin was on a serious coke binge; Fast cars, fast boats, fast women.
> It's at least possible that what we're seeing from Elias now is what the
> team is actually capable of once it gets some serious management and
> attention from the factory. Which means you can't draw any conclusions
> from any of the riders in D'Antin's era. Just because Melandri can't
> hack it on a Ducati doesn't necessarily mean other ex-250GP riders can't
> either.
Eh, I don't know about that. I expect it was a depressing environment of
those guys, but some false sense of optimism might be bouying them right
now and they might come back down to earth. And you have to remember
that even finishing 2nd Elias was 15 seconds behind a race-long cruise
by Rossi, was 14 seconds down on Stoner after only six laps, and had a
best lap 1.2 seconds off Stoner's best, which was in a race that lasted
only those six laps for him.
Anyway, it's a truly bizarre story, and it's amazing how long he lasted
considering what he was doing. I mean, how long did Inziger last, a
couple years at most?
> At the moment I'm trying to imagine the shit storm that would have
> happened if Puig had managed to engineer an anti-Michelin protest and
> all the Michelin runners had simply pulled into the pits at the end of
> the first lap at Brno. There's a bizarre little story about Puig walking
> up pit lane next to Poncheral and muttering "You've got no balls. You've
> got no balls.".
Easy to say for a guy snugly under the Repsol blanket. But what if
Alberto had spent the last two years running his boy on Dunlops?
> If you ask the riders whether they would want a single
> tyre manufacturer this weekend, perhaps not surprising that they were
> unanimous in saying yes.
I doubt that - why would Elias or Capirossi or West say that last
weekend? Crap Michelins got them their best finishes of the year, and
maybe work next year.
> Ask them on a weekend where it's all more even
> or Michelin has an advantage and you might get a different answer.
From the guys on Michelins, yes.
> Perhaps the tyre rules have helped Bridgestone to get there. But they
> probably didn't need the help. Maybe its time to just drop the rules
> completely. If Michelin get an unfair advantage from shipping overnight
> specials, perhaps Bridgestone need to open a European factory.
There was an interview in last week's Cycle News with Ezpeleta, and he
was kind of playing the rule as Michelin's concession to a fair playing
field, agreeing to mostly stop building tires overnight, and not really
a cost move for all manufacturers. My feeling is they ought to allow the
riders to try what they want on Friday and then select their tires for
the rest of the weekend Friday night. That means Michelin can't use
anything they didn't have on the rack going in, but it does give riders
a chance to zero in on the best tire. Although I don't know how much
money that saves. But it does take away some of Michelin's home field
advantage, and it would likely solve some of the problem.
And I still say control tires would be a disaster in MotoGP, because the
manufacturer will have huge input into who wins and who doesn't, by
designing tires for their favorites (seriously, how much did Michelin,
the worst offender, contribute to Rossi's championships?). I don't think
monopolies are good in big-time professional racing in any aspect.
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Posted by Julian Bond on August 21, 2008, 2:54 am
>> If you ask the riders whether they would want a single tyre
>>manufacturer this weekend, perhaps not surprising that they were
>>unanimous in saying yes.
>
>I doubt that - why would Elias or Capirossi or West say that last
>weekend? Crap Michelins got them their best finishes of the year, and
>maybe work next year.
So are you denying the meeting took place? Or denying the conclusions?
Or claiming its been inaccurately reported? Or what?
Or have you been doing it so long that "you're wrong" is just a reflex
action?
--
Julian Bond E&MSN: julian_bond at voidstar.com M: +44 (0)77 5907 2173
Webmaster: http://www.ecademy.com/ T: +44 (0)192 0412 433
Personal WebLog: http://www.voidstar.com/ skype:julian.bond?chat
Not Tested On Animals
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Page 1 of 2 1 2 > last >>
| Similar Threads | Posted | | Okay, Julian, let's move on... | July 3, 2007, 11:30 am |
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| Melandri to Ducati | March 28, 2007, 8:51 pm |
| Melandri=Idiot | October 15, 2006, 12:59 pm |
| Melandri signs at Ducati | July 23, 2007, 2:47 am |
| Kawasaki USA | July 29, 2006, 3:10 am |
| West to Kawasaki | August 31, 2007, 2:47 am |
| Sete and Kawasaki | November 8, 2006, 11:24 am |
| BSB rules for 2009 | October 28, 2008, 11:37 am |
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