MotoGP 2009 musings

 
I was thinking about the prospects for MotoGP next year and was
surprised at just how good it *might* be.  There's a lot of "if's"
that need to happen but imagine this...

What if Casey comes back healthy?
What if Lorenzo finds some consistency to complement his speed?
What if Pedrosa lives up to his promise?
What if Dovi can avoid being submarined by Puig?
What if Nicky gels with the Ducati?
And of course, what if Rossi continues to be Rossi?

All of these seem like reasonable outcomes.  If only a few of these
come to be it could be the most competitive season we've seen in a
long time.

The bad news is it will all be heralded as yet another triumph of the
almighty control tire!

 Dave wrote:

I assume that will be the case. What difference it makes, I don't know -
I can't say he was really hurt by injuries this year.


Seemed like he had rookie problems, adjusting to the machine, getting
banged up and losing confidence. Perhaps my biggest personal surprise
this year was that I actually ended up liking the guy. I think he'll
factor, as long as the Yamaha is good enough.


I think he has, I think he always has. His promise was and is a
consistent high effort and analytical approach, with sufficient ability
to make the most of his physical advantages. His biggest problems over
the last two years were failures by Honda and Michelin, outside of his
control. He was unlikely to ever be a truly great rider, but he arrived
in the right time and place to gather the necessary support and
advantages to be a multi-time champion. On "equal" tires and a righted
Honda he could easily win it next year.


His biggest advantage is that a bike that works for Dani will work for
him much better than it would for Nicky. And he's unlikely to be saddled
with the kind of relative crap Nicky has had to work with the last three
years, Honda's down period is about over.


Count on it. The bigger issue is whether or not Ducati can continue to
hold ground against Yamaha and more importantly Honda. My expectation is
that all on Bridgestones might mean Ducati just won't be what it was the
last two years.


Count on that, too. But will Yamaha slip some?


Well, there's your 800-pound gorilla. If the tires are relatively shitty
(intentionally so), it should favor riders like Rossi, Hayden and
Stoner, and not the 250-stylists who rely so heavily on corner speed,
electronic aids and massive grip. But if the tires are designed to the
specifications of certain riders, riders important to Dorna, then the
situation might be worse than what we've had.

 On Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:59:55 -0800, Mark N


<snippage>


I really hope Bridgestone stays true to their word and develops
consistently good tires without catering to particular riders.  Like
you said, though, I'm not confident that Dorna won't stick their nose
into that.

Interesting that the Eurosport team was surmising that the smallest of
riders (aka Pedrosa) might suffer from the control tire.  Their theory
was that the tires will be developed to more of an "average" to suit
everyone reasonably well and therefore Dani's lack of wieght might not
allow him to make full use of them.  I suppose that could be more
likely if Bridgestone wind up focusing their efforts on Rossi.


Oh, and I forgot to add the longshot "what if?"...

What if Sete comes back on form and makes in impact?


Then there's the really long longshots...

What if Kawasaki mistakenly does something right and makes a big leap
forward with two quality riders onboard?

 

Lap times are already dropping with the control tyre. Tyre life up, speeds
are up,. Makes one wonder what the manufaturers have been doing these last
"X" years making tyres that don't grip AND don't last. Hayden managed around
40 laps at race speed with little degredation of the tyres. Not bad for a
"first time out".


I suspect the question should be "With what"? The ground, another rider, a
fence, his chin?

--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 
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