Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1019648
VOL. 55 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 28, 2018 P129 placed. Second in the world championship is not too dusty— eat your hearts out, Aprilia, KTM and Suzuki. But this is Yamaha we are talking about, grand prix giants, without a grand prix win in more than a full year. There is clearly technical confusion. Last year's embar- rassment was that rookie Johann Zarco on the 2016 bike was much too often better than one and sometimes both of the fac- tory riders on the 2017 version. This year's embarrassment is worse—that Zarco, as well as Vinales, are both struggling rela- tive to their main rivals, and it is only Rossi's supreme determina- tion and race-craft that is saving at least some face. Valentino, meanwhile, is get- ting increasingly gloomy and repetitive, as he describes how they need more support from the factory in sorting out the electronics, to restore lost ac- celeration. The culprit is thought to be a lighter crankshaft caus- ing over-eager throttle response and consequent wheelspin, but the engine design freeze means they are stuck with it all year, while Yamaha's imperfect grasp of the simpler control electronics mean they have not so far been able to find a solution from that side. Even more downbeat, the meltdown in Vinales's side of the pit. Maverick has been eager to find someone to blame. And not just "the factory." Closer to home—his crew chief Ramon Forcada. Now Forcada is a revered figure, both within the team and in general, having spannered Jorge Lorenzo to serial success. Vinales's criticism and some pantomime work at Brno (ironic clapping after he'd missed get- ting through to Q2) didn't play too well. Yamaha then slapped a gag on the rider. No more speaks. By the time they got to Austria just a few days later, Vinales had found someone else to blame— the press, for pursuing the story. Conveniently forgetting that he had started it. By now, Yamaha must have been wondering why they'd signed up Vinales way back in January for 2019 and 2020? Vinales is doubtless asking himself why he signed. Unless he's been banned from talking to himself. Maybe he can be encour- aged to apologize (as, by the way, Scott Redding has done, after bad-mouthing his Aprilia in Austria). I think apologies are required all round. It's unthinkable that Honda might do so. Just as the old two-stroke Hondas never seized (although they might stop very abruptly now and then) Honda doesn't do apologies. Why should they? When Honda doesn't win, it is always the rid- ers' fault, never the engineers'. But others should take up the self-flagellation. Aprilia seriously needs to say sorry to their riders, who are struggling with a bike that is measurably inferior, even to the Yamaha. Mea culpa, Sr. Albe- siano. KTM has as many apologies to make. Last year's rapid devel- opment has not been sustained. The riders have paid the price— Bradley Smith, now looking for another job, and the rostrum-or- hospital Pol Espargaro, who has spent too much time in the latter. Suzuki likewise. Sorry to Aleix Espargaro for dumping him. Ditto to Iannone. Sorry to Dorna for having messed them around. And sorry to Alex Rins for taking so long to get fast again. Dorna should apologize for all their changes. They may have made racing closer and more exciting than ever before, but the murder of two-strokes is unfor- givable. Racing is where these light, feisty and potentially clean and economical engines should be developed for the modern world. And finally, my turn. To this magazine, for taking up this space. And to any readers who have made it this far. I'm sorry. CN