MotoGP season so far

After watching a fantastic race today from Italy, what are your thoughts about the MotoGP season so far? There must have been 40 lead changes, when is the last time that has happened in F1?

It looks to me like a two-man race between Gibernau and Rossi. Biaggi is close but I wonder if his time has passed (even though he is second in points).

The other Yamahas (Checa, Abe, Melandri) can have great races but cannot put together the consistency needed to ever amass enough points to challenge for the championship.

Barros and Hayden seem about equal with barros more consistent. I would always laugh to myself when magazine cover stories about Hayden ask "Champ 2004?" or something along those lines. He'll be lucky if he even wins a race this year, it won't happen, IMHO. Tamada may have an advantage with his Bridgestones at a track later this year and he could also challenge for a win, similar to today on Italy.

The Ducati contingent seems to have great acceleration and top speed, the handling must be awful. How ironic that for years Ducati won world superbike championships from Honda by outhandling them, while the more powerful Hondas were regarded as having good turn-in or good exit traction, but you could only have one.

Kawasaki seems improved, but there was no where to go but up from last year's green caboose at most races. Proton, Aprilia, WCM, all seem to be working hard but never seem to gain on the front-runners. Suzuki looks to have improved their speed, but come raceday are still fighting to be in the top half of the finishers.

That leaves Colin Edwards, who is my pick for the disappointment of the year so far. Not that I root for him, I think he is extremely arrogant and unprofessional. Most picked him to challenge for the championship, he'll be lucky if he is not the sixth-place Honda (out of six) when the season is over. For over a year he cried about how he was shafted by Honda in 2002 for not getting the GP ride last year on the Honda. Now he has a Honda, so shut and win something...

 

Biaggi doesn't have the top equipment. He's riding on a B+ bike, not the A bike of the works riders. If and when Honda decides to provide him with the top of the line vehicles, he may be fighting for the lead. Honda isn't the most straight forward company, and its politics remind me of the Italians.

I do want to see Rossi win on the Yamaha, but I would like to see Biaggi have a fighting chance.

Suzuki is apparently out of it at this time.

Art

 

Rossi won, but what a race! Still think that Biaggi needs the A bike.

Art

 

I think Biaggi has missed his chance for a championship. '99 or '00 would have been his years. I guess the question is whether a B+ Honda is better than a A-bike Yamaha. I'm guessing that the B+ Honda is still better. Max gets the same tires as Gibernau, which should go a long way toward equalizing the bikes. Biaggi style may be just not as compatible with current MotoGP bikes, you may have to slide them a little to get that last 0.500 second of lap time. Max has never adapted to sliding, preferring the 250 style of high corner speed (hence his tendency to low side when he crashes).

I was thinking about something else this weekend as well. Is it just me, or does Kenny Roberts Jr look like he is just riding around for a paycheck? He does well generally in practice, but come raceday he is always midpack at best. If the Suzuki is a hopeless POS, why has he stuck with the team for so long? There were two spots open at Honda this year filled by Barros and Edwards, if KRJR was so concerned about winning, wouldn't he have tried to get on one of those bikes? Look at Tamada, who has been near the front recently on his B-bike Honda. That guy is riding his heart out.

 

As far as Kenny, Jr. goes: the tires were a major problem for Suzuki at that race. They were much too hard, Bridgestone overcompensated for their tires blowing up at the last race. Hopefully, they'll be better. He's stuck there because of his salary: he makes more than he's worth at the present, and no one will pay him more, or even the same. It's my understanding that KRJR did make some inquiries about another ride, but 1. he under contract with Suzuki for another year, and 2. He costs too much.

Biaggi needs the current bike, the A bike. Honda isn't going to give it to him, and we'll see how he does. At the present, Honda has the best tires and best bikes. What you're seeing with Rossi is brilliance, pure brilliance. I hope he wins the championship: That's what Honda get when they told him his record was due to the bike, he's out to prove them wrong, and may just do that.

Art

Art

 

Another pole for Rossi at a track that should be dominated by Honda. Obviously all of the Yamahas are improved by their qualifying 1,2 & 4. It appears as though the loss of Rossi and Burgess is hurting Honda while helping Yamaha. For some reason the Hondas are struggling with only two riders in the top ten.

Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden had miserable days. Actually Hayden had a miserable day, for Edwards it seems about business as usual. Even the Suzukis outqualified them.

Kawasaki seems much improved this year, or Nakano is much improved, or both. Either way it is good to see the green bikes getting faster.

Ducati continues to struggle, although Xaus seems get better each race weekend on the '03 bike. He hasn't crashed as often as he usually does when learning a bigger bike. Could he be on the full factory bike in '05?

WCM, Aprilia, Proton continue to fill out the grid. Pity poor Kurtis Roberts, he goes from front-runner Hondas in AMA to the dog Proton that makes less horsepower than a 1000cc superbike (190 for the V-5 vs 200+ for the CBR's and GSXR's). Hope a KTM V-4 could do them some good if that materializes for '05.

http://superbikeplanet.com/2004/Jun/040625c.htm

IMO, Rossi is asserting himself again this year and will be champion barring injury or extremely bad luck. Gibernau is close, so close, but will come up short in the summer stretch. I never rooted for him while he was on Honda, but Rossi may be the best ever (compared to Hailwood, Agostini, Roberts Sr., Doohan, etc) if he can pull this off.

 

Rossi won again today at Sepang, the seventh win for him this year and he now has a 30 point lead over Gibernau.

With only 2 races (50 points) left, he is very close to his fourth championship in a row.

He has performed incredibly well this year and would have already had the title clinched had he not crashed in a couple of the recent races. His accomplishment this year after switching to Yamaha would be analogous to Schumacher switch to Ferrari in '96, except Rossi will win the title against superior equipment.

I personally hope Rossi stays in MotoGP one more year, then moves to WRC or even F1.