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/128364
By IN THE PADDOCK MICHAEL SCOTT A True Tire War? ff the blocks like a sprinter, MotoGP burst into preseason action at Sepang in Malaysia at the end of the winter testing ban on the second-to-Iast weekend of January. Racing fans, their excitement similarly pent up, pored over the lap times and tried not to jump to conclusions. The first conclusion to avoid would be that, because Valentino Rossi was not fastest, the forthcoming season is wide open. Instead, that honor went to the newly Bridgestone-shod Ducati of Loris Capirossi. The red bike set the pace on all three sweaty Sepang days, and by the end, Sete Gibernau was second, with Rossi third, then Nicky Hayden, Max Biaggi and Colin Edwards. Earlier, Kenny Roberts Jr. had been fourth on the Suzuki, but it was Capirossi and the Duke setting the pace all throughout. Ducati had won the first contest of the year. It's tempting to read a lot into this, but don't get carried away. The most significant thing is just how much faster everybody was than at the Malaysian GP just three months before. Even Yamaha new boy Ruben Xaus and class rookie Toni Elias, his new Tech 3 teammate, ran inside Rossi's race lap record, and the top four were all well inside the same rider's pole time. It's significant because there wasn't a common reason. It wasn't as though the track had been resurfaced or the weather was especially kind, or because they all had nice new engines. Everybody had different circumstances. Rossi and Edwards, and the other Yamaha riders, had a brand-new M I, both engine and chassis changed. One should consider Rossi's speed impressive at an early stage of machine setup, still seeking to improve agility to make it more like last year's machine. Third on the time sheets is far from Rossi's final word. Ducati also had its 2005 bike - new chassis and swingarm, and upgraded electronics. After wrong-footing themselves last year with too many changes, the Italians seem to have done the other thing this time and have started out in very good shape. The combination looks good, the switch to Bridgestone highly promising. Ducati's weakness lies in the rider lineup: Capirossi is a superlative competitor, but he doesn't have the strength or depth to match Rossi; and new-boy Carlos Checa made a rather typically luckless start, cutting his hand at the skiresort team launch, then falling victim of a fever - he rode only one day. Suzuki had a new chassis that was quietly thrashed even before team regulars Roberts and John Hopkins had ridden it, but much promise came from significantly improved engine performance from the V-four. Both riders spoke of the biggest season-to-season jump forward, but there remains much to be done. It's a O good start, but no more than that. Kawasaki was testing tires and the 2005 chassis, and both Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann also slashed their raceweekend times. But their next big thing is a revised firing-order "Iong bang" motor, like Yamaha's, and they were still waiting for that. And the big H? Mystery surrounds - all their riders made big lap-time improvements, but they were all on last year's bike, with "new parts." This suggests that the 2005 model will be very much evolutionary, with no major changes. But nobody can know that for sure until it emerges, probably at the next Sepang tests in mid-February. There are some common ingredients. One is rider inspiration - it's that time of year when there is still hope - plus possibly an element of foxing by Rossi. Measured against the racing year to come, however, it takes a different perspective. Every single racing observer will predict a Rossi triumph in 2005, other things remaining equal. And his rivals must track, Ducati would be among more than a dozen machines on similar tires with similar chances, but now, at a Bridgestone track, the team has the chance of beating all of those, with only Suzuki and Kawasaki as rivals on the same tires. It's the opposite of seeking safety in numbers. But even this high-profile desertion is only one element of a tire war that has been heating up behind the scenes as well, as the long-dominant Michelin bristles to see its empire under increasingly vigorous and effective attack by the Japanese company. This culminated in what looked suspiciously like a fit of French pique during December, at the final GP commission meeting. The background goes back to a costcutting agreement signed by all three tire suppliers - Michelin, Bridgestone and Dunlop - proposing a significant limit to the number of tires supplied at a GP weekend, and effectively banning qualifying tires in the process. Although signed by all, the document had a strong flavor of Michelin, since it was a development of And blow me down, two out of three Bridgestone customers will have official testing teams in the year to come with Ducati employing longtime Bridgestone development rider Shinichi Itoh, and Suzuki his former partner in the same enterprise, Nobuatsu Aoki. Ducati says its testing will be "mainly" done at Mugello, but there is nothing to stop the team from testing as much as it likes at any of the tracks on the caiendar. Ducati could spend days, sometimes even weeks, building up data and developing tires, chassis settings, gearing and so on in the run up to any GP, just as long as no GP riders or team members are involved. You might imagine that when it gets to the level of factory engineers, the description "team member" becomes a little loose. And you can certainly imagine the advantage accrued at circuits like the new Chinese GP track at Shanghai, or at Laguna Seca, where other teams (and other tire companies) have no data whatsoever. Michelin cried about it at that December meeting, withdrawing its sup- also have the same thought in the back of their minds. Another commonality is, as always, tires. But it's no longer a Michelin benefit. And with the title fight promising few surprises, this is where much of the interest of 2005 will lie. Ducati's switch from Michelin to Bridgestone is significant. Ducati explained it on the grounds of seeking an edge by being different. At a Michelin proposals Michelin had been kicking around for some time. This was rejected by IRTA at the penultimate race of the year, but it remained on the agenda. Until Bridgestone pulled a flanker. Another existing measure to reduce costs and cut unfair advantages to rich entrants is to ban Grand Prix teams from testing at any GP circuit until after the race has taken place there. But nowhere is there any mention of testing teams. port for the cost-saving proposals it had been instrumental in putting forward on relentlessly logical grounds: that it would be pointless to save costs in this way, while at the same time opening the purse strings to finance full test teams. It boosts the year to come in a rather unexpected way. Instead of merely speculating about who will win the battle to be second to Rossi, we'll now be wondering what kind of tires he'll be using, too. eN CYCLE NEWS • FEBRUARY 9,2005 87