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Ryder Notes: Laguna Mk2
by julian ryder
Sunday, August 17, 2008The result of the GP of the Czech republic was decided in the USA, according to Valentino Rossi. The timing sheets say that the race was won when Casey Stoner slid off on lap seven and Rossi cruised to a fifteen-second win. Stoner had taken advantage of Rossi tangling with John Hopkins in the first corner to take a second out of the field on the first lap. His pit board subsequently showed his lead hovering around 1.2 seconds before Rossi took a third of a second off him on lap six. Stoner would have seen +1 on his pit board two corners before he crashed. These two facts are most likely related.
Rossi explained that after the first flying lap he knew that he would be able to reel Casey in - 'I understand it is possible' --and he knew it because of what happened at the dry lake, where 'I prove to myself that if we work at 100% it is possible to beat him.' Him being the post-Barcelona Casey Stoner who won the three races after Catalunya from pole position setting the fastest lap of the race on the way to victory each time. We being Rossi and the Jerry Burgess led crew who made a small front end adjustment to the Fiat Yamaha after warm-up which helped the rider in sections where the Ducati was distinctly superior.
Rossi's next task is to make up for the disappointment and embarrassment of last year's Misano race, scene of a Ducati win and a Yamaha dnf. If Rossi wins there in two weeks he will equal Giacomo Agostini's record of 68 wins in the 500cc/MotoGP class. Ago will of course be there. Are you getting a feeling of inevitability here? If it does happen, I would imagine the celebrations of such an occasion taking place on Italian soil will be memorable, in the same way that your team winning the world cup is memorable. This is a soccer theme but bear with me; France was plunged into misery at the last world cup when they lost to Italy after their star man butted Marco Matterazi and got thrown out of the game. Marco, a friend of Rossi's, was here today and watched the French suffer again. As everyone knew, no Michelin runner could compete. Their first finisher was Andrea Dovizioso, thirty-eight seconds back of Rossi. The situation was so dire that there was a suggestion of an F1 style Indianapolis parade up pit lane.
Thankfully the Michelin teams did race although Pedrosa was in dire trouble as were the Tech 3 Yamahas. Dovizioso salvaged a respectable result and Lorenzo improved massively on his qualifying. Michein apologized yesterday and said thank you to their riders today.
Not that every Bridgestone rider had a perfect day. Hopkins faded late when he lost rear grip, and Guintoli and Vermeulen suffered with the front. You have to factor the brand new tarmac in here, but it was the Bridgestone shod Kawasakis, Suzukis and Shinya Nakano's development Honda which provided the battle of the day for third place behind the satellite Ducati of Toni Elias who as usual did the unexpected. He also categorically denied all the rumours about him going to Superbike next year --'I haven't talked to anyone from Superbike.'
The third big grin on the rostrum belonged to Loris Capirossi. He has now scored top-three placings in the premier class on four makes of bike: Suzuki, Yamaha, Honda and Ducati - as have Randy Mamola (Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha, Cagiva) and Alex Barros (Suzuki, Ducati, Honda, Yamaha).
There will be more fallout to come in the near future. For starters, will Honda bother testing tomorrow?
ENDS
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