05-19-2006, 02:57 PM
MOTO GP
Nicky putting it together
This is American Nicky Hayden's fourth season in the Moto GP class on the Repsol Honda team. The Repsol team is Honda's official factory team and many have been very critical of Nicky since he was not able to score a win until his maiden victory at Laguna Seca last year and because he finished 8th in the championship in 2004. Nevermind the fact that he was rookie of the year in 2003 and finished a narrow third in the championship in 2005, a season that Rossi soundly dominated.
But this last race at China makes it 8 podiums in a row for Nicky (the longest active streak in GP) and he leads the championship by 12 points. Having come from the AMA Dirt Track and Superbike championships Nicky knows that the key to championships is consistency and not having any DNF's.
Right now he is the only rider on the 2006 version of Honda's RC211V. All of the other riders are riding updated 05 chassis. The 06 machine is said to be narrower and features some new engine design features (in the bottom end I've heard) which are meant to go into the 07 800 cc machine.
Through the preseason the 06 bike was actually a bit slower than the updated 05's and it wasn't expected to be competitive for the first few races of the season. But Hayden has been able to pull some strong results with it already so it should only get stronger as the season progresses.
Young Guns
This season saw 3 newcomers enter the GP class from the 250cc championship and a replacing of the guard at Honda that has resulted in a team with an average age of just 23 years old.
Most heralded of the new comers is 2 time 250 cc World Champion, Dani Pedrosa. Dani is the smallest rider on the grid at 5'3" and somewhere between 105 and 113 lbs (reports vary) and many thought he would have trouble adjusting to the GP premier class due to a lack of strength. He proved the detractors dead wrong by winning his first GP race last week in front of the home crowd at Barcelona, Spain, making him the 2nd youngest rider to win a GP race behind 2 time American champ, Freddie Spencer.
In 2005 the runner up to Pedrosa was Casey Stoner (Australia). He earned himself a 3 year deal with Honda for a satelitte ride and has already put it to good use earning himself a pole position at Qatar and being narrowly beaten out for the win at Turkey. The message is clear, don't sleep on Stoner.
^^ Honda ^^
HRC's 6 bike armada is looking like they can win back the manufacturer's championship from Yamaha and possibly unseat Rossi for the rider's championship. On a good day Rossi can/will still win but now he has at least 4 Hondas to fight with at the front rather than maybe 2 from last season. All they basically have to do is not take each other out.
^ Ducati ^
As predicted, the Bridgestone tires proved to be a big advantage for Ducati riders Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau at the season opener, yet they have been only average at other tracks. Ducati could legitimately challenge for the championship but not if the Bridgestones aren't competitive at more of the venues. At the venues they don't do well at they will have a gaggle of Hondas and a few Yamahas ahead of them stealing away precious championship points so its imperative that the Bridgestones are more consistent.
^ Suzuki ^
The 2006 GSV-R is a new machine signalling Suzuki's renewed committment to success in Moto GP. Its almost shameful, but until the USGP last year Suzuki's current president hadn't even visited a GP race. After seeing the poor results for himself he decided to dedicate more resources to their effort. Recently the rumor is that the head of the GSX-R project will be moving to the GP team.
Out of the box the GSV-R seems faster although it suffered an embarassing double retirement at Qatar. But Vermeulen was able to take a pole position at Turkey (finished 7th) and Hopper was able to come home 4th at China. Much better results than this time last season.
^ Team KR ^
Team KR is the currently only privateer team on the grid that manufactures their own chassis. Owned and ran by two-time GP champ Kenny Roberts Sr. Team KR had a deal last season with KTM to provide engines. This deal abruptely crumbled before the end of last season leaving Team KR high and dry. They were ominously close to folding when Honda stepped in to supply them with engines. In another stroke of fortune prodigal son Kenny Roberts Jr. was not extended an offer to re-up with Suzuki so he joined his father's team. Getting KRJR for relatively little money is definitely a god send.
With the proven powerplant of the RC211V Team KR is now arguably in the best position they've ever been to post competitive results. True to form they were able to post competitive lap times in some of the preseason tests and pulled an 8th place finish in the season opener ahead of both factory Yamahas and both Suzukis. That finish was followed by a 10th and two 13th's but still much better than their performance in recent seasons. At the very least they can beat all of the satelitte teams except for the Hondas and probably even finish ahead of Kawasaki.
< Yamaha >
![[Image: 27304d1.jpg]](http://www.eluniversal.com/2006/03/27/27304d1.jpg)
The Valentino Rossi and Yamaha showed seemed to be on easy street for most of the preseason, posting even stronger lap times than he did before his dominant 2005 season. But on the last few tests a new Michelin tire caused a massive handling problem with the Yamaha M1 that has left both Rossi and his teammate Edwards in the proverbial boonies.
Rossi's unique talent has always been to ride around difficult conditions and indeed he recovered from a 14th place finish in round 1 to claim a victory in round two. But in the third race he was only able to get a 4th place after qualifying poorly and in the last race he had to push so hard from 13th place that he totally chewed up his tire to the point that he had to come into the pits to change it.
The Yamaha crew for its part has been bewildered by the handling problem which has been described as chatter but Colin Edwards has said that it is not. They tried bringing their 2005 M1 back out to test back to back with the 06, and even modifed the 06 chassis with some of the 05 geometry.
Oddly enough in the same race where Rossi destroyed his tire and had to retire, his teammate Edwards was able to score a 3rd place finish. So maybe all is not bad at the Tuning Fork race team but its certainly not going to be as easy as last year. Even so, as quickly as the chatter problem appeared, it could be solved just as quickly so watch out.
v Kawasaki v
Kawasaki is the only factory team that doesn't seem to have improved much over the off season. While their qualifying performance (a 3rd, 9th, 8th, and 4th) has improved a tick they haven't posted much better race results (7th, 11, 9th, 10) than last season. Its clear they need to take another step to start fighting for a top 5 rather than a top 10.
Most Likely to Lose His Ride
Makoto Tamada
James Ellison
Most Likely to Mistaken for a Carnival Worker
World's Largest Forehead (Sete Gibernau)
Peanut Boy (Dani Pedrosa)
![[Image: Gibernau-with-AIS-system_L.jpg]](http://www.esrin.esa.it/export/images/Gibernau-with-AIS-system_L.jpg)
[img]
In Danger of Getting Shown up by his Teammate
James Ellison
Nicky Hayden
John Hopkins
Most Likely to Bitch and Moan
Valentino Rossi
Rossi is typically jovial and upbeat but when/if difficult weekends stack up you can expect to see a sullen and bitchy Rossi. He was already complaining about difficulty in passing countryman Marco Melandri at Shanghai:
Most Likely to Crash
??? The fight at the front has a lot of different players who all want to get a piece of Rossi in possibly his last season so I think we'll see several different people crashing out this year.
I should've taken the Honda
John Hopkins
Chris Vermeulen
Both of these guys probably could've gotten a win by now even if they were riding a satelitte RCV. Luckily it seems that the team is moving forward so they might be able to score a "W" this season on the ole 'Zuke.
Most Likely to Deliver Surprise Finish
Suzuki
Team KR
In the Shadows
BMW
WCM
There is a persistent rumor that BMW is looking to join the party in 2007 and there are reports that they are already testing a prototype.
WCM couldn't find the funds this year but look for them to team up with a manufacturer for an engine deal next season.
Nicky putting it together
This is American Nicky Hayden's fourth season in the Moto GP class on the Repsol Honda team. The Repsol team is Honda's official factory team and many have been very critical of Nicky since he was not able to score a win until his maiden victory at Laguna Seca last year and because he finished 8th in the championship in 2004. Nevermind the fact that he was rookie of the year in 2003 and finished a narrow third in the championship in 2005, a season that Rossi soundly dominated.
But this last race at China makes it 8 podiums in a row for Nicky (the longest active streak in GP) and he leads the championship by 12 points. Having come from the AMA Dirt Track and Superbike championships Nicky knows that the key to championships is consistency and not having any DNF's.
Right now he is the only rider on the 2006 version of Honda's RC211V. All of the other riders are riding updated 05 chassis. The 06 machine is said to be narrower and features some new engine design features (in the bottom end I've heard) which are meant to go into the 07 800 cc machine.
Through the preseason the 06 bike was actually a bit slower than the updated 05's and it wasn't expected to be competitive for the first few races of the season. But Hayden has been able to pull some strong results with it already so it should only get stronger as the season progresses.
Young Guns
This season saw 3 newcomers enter the GP class from the 250cc championship and a replacing of the guard at Honda that has resulted in a team with an average age of just 23 years old.
Most heralded of the new comers is 2 time 250 cc World Champion, Dani Pedrosa. Dani is the smallest rider on the grid at 5'3" and somewhere between 105 and 113 lbs (reports vary) and many thought he would have trouble adjusting to the GP premier class due to a lack of strength. He proved the detractors dead wrong by winning his first GP race last week in front of the home crowd at Barcelona, Spain, making him the 2nd youngest rider to win a GP race behind 2 time American champ, Freddie Spencer.
In 2005 the runner up to Pedrosa was Casey Stoner (Australia). He earned himself a 3 year deal with Honda for a satelitte ride and has already put it to good use earning himself a pole position at Qatar and being narrowly beaten out for the win at Turkey. The message is clear, don't sleep on Stoner.
^^ Honda ^^
HRC's 6 bike armada is looking like they can win back the manufacturer's championship from Yamaha and possibly unseat Rossi for the rider's championship. On a good day Rossi can/will still win but now he has at least 4 Hondas to fight with at the front rather than maybe 2 from last season. All they basically have to do is not take each other out.
^ Ducati ^
As predicted, the Bridgestone tires proved to be a big advantage for Ducati riders Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau at the season opener, yet they have been only average at other tracks. Ducati could legitimately challenge for the championship but not if the Bridgestones aren't competitive at more of the venues. At the venues they don't do well at they will have a gaggle of Hondas and a few Yamahas ahead of them stealing away precious championship points so its imperative that the Bridgestones are more consistent.
^ Suzuki ^
The 2006 GSV-R is a new machine signalling Suzuki's renewed committment to success in Moto GP. Its almost shameful, but until the USGP last year Suzuki's current president hadn't even visited a GP race. After seeing the poor results for himself he decided to dedicate more resources to their effort. Recently the rumor is that the head of the GSX-R project will be moving to the GP team.
Out of the box the GSV-R seems faster although it suffered an embarassing double retirement at Qatar. But Vermeulen was able to take a pole position at Turkey (finished 7th) and Hopper was able to come home 4th at China. Much better results than this time last season.
^ Team KR ^
Team KR is the currently only privateer team on the grid that manufactures their own chassis. Owned and ran by two-time GP champ Kenny Roberts Sr. Team KR had a deal last season with KTM to provide engines. This deal abruptely crumbled before the end of last season leaving Team KR high and dry. They were ominously close to folding when Honda stepped in to supply them with engines. In another stroke of fortune prodigal son Kenny Roberts Jr. was not extended an offer to re-up with Suzuki so he joined his father's team. Getting KRJR for relatively little money is definitely a god send.
With the proven powerplant of the RC211V Team KR is now arguably in the best position they've ever been to post competitive results. True to form they were able to post competitive lap times in some of the preseason tests and pulled an 8th place finish in the season opener ahead of both factory Yamahas and both Suzukis. That finish was followed by a 10th and two 13th's but still much better than their performance in recent seasons. At the very least they can beat all of the satelitte teams except for the Hondas and probably even finish ahead of Kawasaki.
< Yamaha >
The Valentino Rossi and Yamaha showed seemed to be on easy street for most of the preseason, posting even stronger lap times than he did before his dominant 2005 season. But on the last few tests a new Michelin tire caused a massive handling problem with the Yamaha M1 that has left both Rossi and his teammate Edwards in the proverbial boonies.
Rossi's unique talent has always been to ride around difficult conditions and indeed he recovered from a 14th place finish in round 1 to claim a victory in round two. But in the third race he was only able to get a 4th place after qualifying poorly and in the last race he had to push so hard from 13th place that he totally chewed up his tire to the point that he had to come into the pits to change it.
The Yamaha crew for its part has been bewildered by the handling problem which has been described as chatter but Colin Edwards has said that it is not. They tried bringing their 2005 M1 back out to test back to back with the 06, and even modifed the 06 chassis with some of the 05 geometry.
Oddly enough in the same race where Rossi destroyed his tire and had to retire, his teammate Edwards was able to score a 3rd place finish. So maybe all is not bad at the Tuning Fork race team but its certainly not going to be as easy as last year. Even so, as quickly as the chatter problem appeared, it could be solved just as quickly so watch out.
v Kawasaki v
Kawasaki is the only factory team that doesn't seem to have improved much over the off season. While their qualifying performance (a 3rd, 9th, 8th, and 4th) has improved a tick they haven't posted much better race results (7th, 11, 9th, 10) than last season. Its clear they need to take another step to start fighting for a top 5 rather than a top 10.
Most Likely to Lose His Ride
Makoto Tamada
James Ellison
Most Likely to Mistaken for a Carnival Worker
World's Largest Forehead (Sete Gibernau)
Peanut Boy (Dani Pedrosa)
[img]
In Danger of Getting Shown up by his Teammate
James Ellison
Nicky Hayden
John Hopkins
Most Likely to Bitch and Moan
Valentino Rossi
Rossi is typically jovial and upbeat but when/if difficult weekends stack up you can expect to see a sullen and bitchy Rossi. He was already complaining about difficulty in passing countryman Marco Melandri at Shanghai:
Quote:...I passed a lot of riders but I had a battle with Marco Melandri that cost me some time. Some of his moves were quite strong, which I could understand if we were fighting for the win on the last lap but not for eighth place at that stage of the race.Wake up Rossi, no one is going to make it easy for you whether its 1st place or 16th.
Most Likely to Crash
??? The fight at the front has a lot of different players who all want to get a piece of Rossi in possibly his last season so I think we'll see several different people crashing out this year.
I should've taken the Honda
John Hopkins
Chris Vermeulen
Both of these guys probably could've gotten a win by now even if they were riding a satelitte RCV. Luckily it seems that the team is moving forward so they might be able to score a "W" this season on the ole 'Zuke.
Most Likely to Deliver Surprise Finish
Suzuki
Team KR
In the Shadows
BMW
WCM
There is a persistent rumor that BMW is looking to join the party in 2007 and there are reports that they are already testing a prototype.
WCM couldn't find the funds this year but look for them to team up with a manufacturer for an engine deal next season.
2018 Ducati Panigale V4
Past: 2018 Honda Civic Type-R, 2015 Yamaha R1, 2009 BMW M3, 2013 Aprilia RSV4R, 2006 Honda Ridgeline, 2006 Porsche Cayman S, 2012 Ducati 1199, 2009 Subaru WRX, 2008 CBR1000RR, 2009 Kawasaki ZX-6R, 2000 Toyota Tundra, 2005 Honda CBR600RR, 1996 Acura Integra GS-R, 1996 Acura Integra GS-R, 1997 Honda Civic EX
http://www.aclr8.com
Past: 2018 Honda Civic Type-R, 2015 Yamaha R1, 2009 BMW M3, 2013 Aprilia RSV4R, 2006 Honda Ridgeline, 2006 Porsche Cayman S, 2012 Ducati 1199, 2009 Subaru WRX, 2008 CBR1000RR, 2009 Kawasaki ZX-6R, 2000 Toyota Tundra, 2005 Honda CBR600RR, 1996 Acura Integra GS-R, 1996 Acura Integra GS-R, 1997 Honda Civic EX
http://www.aclr8.com