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/127659
o and he was faster (fractio na lly) tha n Schwantz during Eastern Creek tests. Honda ha s the capability to us e fu el injection if it helps them ad apt to th e low-lead fuel , an d already have a GP bike good enough for novice Beattie to have taken a victory on last year. Schwantz's broken arm seems certain to damage hi s start to the season, no matter how success ful the quick-cure plating operation proves to be. Eastern Creek and the next circuit, Shah Alarn, are both intense and very ph ysical. But he's a seaso ned campaign er, and will su re ly rac k up go od points anyway, putting him in a position to benefit from any problems his rivals may run into. If so, then he'll surely be able to maintain mo tiva tio n. The Suzu ki effo rt is very much a ho lding operation. The ir bike w as the bes t all-arounder of last year, and they'v e done little except to polish u p some rou gh ed ges. In the no rmal course of events, this would be enough to keep it co m petitive - b ut as ever, Schwantz lacks any edge of speed. A few we t races would help his cause. The new wave spa ns the full spe ctrum of age and experience, inclu ding ex-cha mp ions in 125 and 250cc classes and a handful of other former race winn ers. As w ell as th eir in d i vid u al streng ths, all benefit from the technic al ch anges over re cen t ye ars that have swung the balance back a little from the whee l- spinning ex-d irt-bike rid ers tow ards those with a purer road -racing back g ro und wh o ha ve gra d uated to 500s from sm aller cla sses. Tires ha ve im proved both in grip and end urance, meaning that wild wh eelspinning is no longer inevitable from halfway thr ough the race, whi le the Big Bang close-firingorde r engines ha ve contributed hu gely to the sam e phenomenon . Smooth cornering and high lean angles are making a comeba ck. Schwan tz' s hot-to-trot teammate, Alex Barros , is a fine example. The ex250 rider is capable of lap-record speeds, and mat ured a lot during the course of h is first Suzuki ye ar in 1993, which ended in his firs t race win . He's still only 23, but very experienced, and probably n ow mature enough to hold back the wild streak that cost him two other race wins last year . The stand ard-bearer for the ex-250 riders will probably tum out to be Luca _ Cad alora, whose stylistic mastery gave him one 125 titl e, followed somewhat later by dominance in the 250 class. At 29, he also has to d o it soone r rather than later. Whether his second 500 year will b rin g match ing success de pe nds largely on what sort o f Yam a ha his 'Marlboro Team Roberts bosses give him to ride. For a second year the all-n ew debut at the age of 27 - his job at Team Pons has more to do with sponsorship than promise. Yet there are cand ida tes ap lenty to provide go od racing fo r the middle points. Cag iva's potential is always shrouded in some mystery - all the more so now they have John Kocins ki in the saddle. All the (Above and left) 250Cc World Champion Tetsuya Harada will delend his crown ona Yamaha France TZM250. (Below left) Mic hael Doohan shou ld prove to be Schwantz 's bigges t threat. (Be low) Luca Cada lora returns lor his second season on Ma rlboro Yamaha VZR500s. (Bottom) Cadalora will be joined by Yamaha and Dunlop lirst-tlmer, Daryl Beattie. The Aust ralia n l inished third in last year 's championsh ip aboard a Rothmans-backed Honda NSR500. bike (ru mored to have a fuel -injection op tio n) proved disappointing in prese ason tes ts, and the s q ua d a ga in sw itched back to the "old faithful" Rocfra med ma chi ne that is nothing more than an updated Big-Bang 1992 wo rks bike. It may be near the end of its develop ment potential, bu t it still ou tclasses anything else the factory has built. The seco nd Yamaha rider is Daryl Beattie, unexpectedly cast as ide after several years with Honda. So far he's shown himself skilled but also naturally conservative, holding back from taking risks to compensate for machine weakness. I expect he'll need a little time to find his feet. Honda's back-up troops are less than wildly exciting. Shinichi ltoh is back for a seco nd year, and might win a race . Alex Cr iville is also Honda-mounted again, but has proved to be so erratic in recent years that there seems little likelihood of a sustained year- long campaign. Alberto Pu ig is making a 500cc-class