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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IN rHE PADDOCK By MICHAEL scorr Dancing With The Devil T he re is an old and servicea ble for the same reason. English proverb: The de vil The re is Alex Barros, who takes the hindmost. Well, the proved he can be a Rossi- devil obviously enjoys motorcycle racing. Every time the beater and race w inner on a checkered flag falls, there are always some ro le of serial crashe r when he moved to Yamaha. Unless hindmost for him to take . So let's think about the hindmost , as we get warmed up for the year to come. While we can't predict with certainty exactly who will win, it is a lot easier to predic t who won't . Among t he new Grand Prix season 's loser-candidates, along with unhappy reg ulars like Kenny Ro be rts Jr. and Carlos Checa, are some surprising names . Testing will Honda but resumed his old things change, he may not get another chance on a Honda. Sadly, there is World Supe rbike Champion Neil Hodgso n. It really doesn't matter how talented he is or how fast he can learn. He is not just on last year's Desmosedici, but also the first model of Ducati's first V-four. resta rt mid-January, and you can expect upbeat comments all around. But no matter The bike was amazingly good, how much optimism teams and riders are especially for a first attempt. able to radiate when they're circulating on But in the way of things the their own , the pecking order will be reestablished soon enough when the racing second is likely to be a whole begins. World Superbike sparring partner Rube n Xaus will be One prime candidate - one of the few who actually volunteered for hindmost duty lot better. Neil and his old feeling the pace , for sure . - is Valentino Rossi. Postseason revelations The re are the four riders about the superiority of his RC2 11 Y, when on lesser Japanese marques . Biaggi and Sete Gibe rnau tes ted it, do n't Both Suzuki a nd Kawasaki actually undermine his talent but reveal that have promi sed to come back stronger than last year. But he had rat her more help in expressi ng it than anybody realized . In other words, both have a lot of room for though he might be the best rider out there, improvement before Suzuki the margin is not as big as we had thought. men Yamaha will doubtless do its damnedest to offer its prize new fighter the same sort of subt le but special advantages for his M I. Roberts Hopkins and and John the all-new Kawasaki pairing of Andy Hofmann and Shinya Nakano can be co nfidently competi- So he is likely enough to beat the other Yamaha riders with the same panache as he tive . did the Ho nda ride rs in the latter half of last only have WCM this yea r, tho ugh Prot o n is tion. Rossi and his guys are highly likely to also poss ible. make the Yamaha M I into a much bett e r for indepe ndent spirit and unquenchab ie year. But it requires optimism to believe this will be enough to dominate the Hindmost? How abo ut t he who le of And the hapless WCM team . Full marks World Superbikes. The y face not just a transitional year, "Rossi will take a step or two backward, toward the waiting devil." championship in his usual style, even if he does win races now but one which the in Iran- bike . Suzuki is comm itte d to getting back into cont e ntion ; likewise Kawasaki. Aprilia has a major mec hanical update fo r the Cube's th ird season. Dunlop might find and then . Rossi will take a step or two backward, toward the waiting devil. Another volunteer, sort of, is Jeremy There are tech nical partners also feeling McWilliams. Perh aps. His seat on a Proton the hot breath of Beelze bub. Like poor old would have kept him in the lower positions, but switch ing to Aprilia might not serve him Dunlop . Sorry to pick on it again, but it is in a bind. Th e less it gets goo d teams and riders on its tires , the less information it has some secrets that will not just catch it up, lower level than ambition (a recent leak was that they are now considering building a V-SiX!). And lots of good luck, too. They 'll need it. a but move it ahead, so it becomes the tire of sition is to before, with slower lap times, fewer qua lity riders, and no wild cards . And there's a choice. And when World Superbike settles into blow for title- favorite James Toseland , on its new level, it might be a stronger champi- the only facto ry team in the field. Who onsh ip in the long term . should tu rn up but Garry McCoy on an only It's the timing that is crucial. None of th is slightly lesser Ducati! Th at should at least will happe n for the first half of the year, mean the re is some racing in it , anyway. while most of it will take a lot longer. In the much bett e r, in spite of the Michelin tires that he is guaran teed. As Colin Edwards dis- to find the improvement it nee ds . At the T he re is not one of these hindmosters covered when he chose Aprilia over Honda time of writing, it seems possible it will without the ingredients to change his situa- www.cycienEWs.com meantime, good old Satan can make a meal of them all. CYCLE NEWS • JANUA RY 21, 2004 eN 95