Cycle News

Cycle News 2016 Issue 05 February 9

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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VOL. 53 ISSUE 5 FEBRUARY 9, 2016 P101 his title chances. He'd blocked him in Australia, thwarted him in Malaysia and then declined to pass Lorenzo at Valencia, guar- anteeing the title would go to his compatriot. This has triggered fresh ex- haustive analysis (as if any more were needed) of the "did Rossi kick Marquez at Sepang" argu- ment. Honda's on-bike data, for so long teasingly dangled in front of the media only to be snatched away again, has now been permanently put on ice. As if that could have proved anything. Rossi's appeal against his pen- alty has also been laid to rest. Just for the record, of course he didn't kick him. But he did cause him to crash with his extraordinary slow-bicycle-race blocking move. Ultimately, it cost him a last chance at an awe- inspiring return to the title. There could have been no clearer illus- tration of how his own frustration got the better of him. Marquez appears to be an unwilling passenger in this runaway train but has started to throw his luggage out of the window. Among other ongoing disentanglements, his men are busy working on jettisoning the contract with the VR46 outfit to market MM93 clothing and so on. But the matter is not just two- fold; Rossi's spat included Ya- maha teammate Lorenzo, whose own contribution was public condemnation in Malaysia, and then the impertinence of taking the crown. It is an unholy trinity, and their knives-out rivalry might easily work in favor of other riders. Two in particular spring to mind, who have so far managed to avoid getting involved: the long-denied Pedrosa, alongside Marquez at Repsol Honda, and up-coming Iannone, if the Ducati manages to keep up its rate of improvement. Then there's the Suzuki pair, especially Vinales, Crutchlow on a second Honda year, Dovizioso with a hot Ducati teammate to outrank, plus a whole batch of contracts to be signed at year's end. In other words, vendetta or not, there's still some racing in it. At the time of writing we're still awaiting the outcome of the first tests. How much they will mean is dubious. The switch to stan- dardized electronics is huge; and there is a great deal to be learned and put into practice before even approaching their full potential. Both technically, and by the riders. At least as fraught with uncer- tainty is the move to Michelin. Tires are the bond between rider and road, and many subtleties apply when they are being taken to their limit. And early tests indicated that in the case of Mi- chelin's front tire, that bond was all too fragile. Again, it's a two-fold task: for technicians and riders. In the pits, they first have to unlearn the lessons of seven years of Bridgestones. Rossi's former crew chief Jerry Burgess recalls having to make a mas- sive rearward weight shift for the Japanese tires. As a result, tests so far on 2015 bikes have been largely meaningless. Only with the weight shifted forward again to suit Michelin characteristics can any real assessment start to be made. So the key elements of 2016 will not be who hates whom or who has the toughest back pro- tector, but who is the quickest to adapt. In terms of technicians, it is usually those with the biggest financial resources, though not always, as Yamaha has shown Honda several times. For the riders, Rossi and Mar- quez are both strong in finding new ways to crack the same nut. They can ride around bike prob- lems. Lorenzo has a different reputation: needing everything to be spot on before he can reel off those metronomic laps. Pedrosa's somewhat the same; Iannone is an unknown quantity, Vinales a dark horse. It's way too early to jump to conclusions. But I'd say the signs for a second successive epic season are pretty promis- ing. CN

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