Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

:1_.~p..I!liaH*t ........... tIIIlIIlIn In die dasa. In _ the ~ pqc::\(eC fOdca .lI1OIher youdiuI praduct of the AIbeno Puig 1elef6nIea MovIeSar alent school. ~ a mere 1.52 "*BrS (Iitde more !han S feet tal) in 1iia height and weighing just 44 kg (96Ibs.!) dripping wet • only finished off the rostrum twice all season long (both times fourth) and only carded one DNF, at Jerez when he crashed in the rain. A star is born - even Valentino Rossi had to wait a year before repeating his 12Scc WorkItitle in the 2SOcc class! However, controversy surrounding his weight has inevitably detracted from Pedrosa's sheer grit in overcoming the setback of two badly broken legs sustained at Phillip Island at the end of last season, one race after clinching his 12Scc World crown. By outbraking the much taller, more experienced but critically heavier Aprilia-mounted Randy de Puniet in the last turn at Welkom back in April to win his first-ever 2SOcc GP (and his first race back after that serious injUry), Pedrosa set the paddock talking, especially the vociferous Italian press and pitlane contingent. Even if rival Aprilia race boss Jan Witteveen publiCly spoke out against the idea of imposing a ballast rule that would have mandated a combined weight of bike and rider - such a rule already exists in the 12Scc category - it's hard to argue that Pedrosa's performances were somehow related to his stature. According to the generally accepted calculation that every six kilos of weight saved 38 APRIL 13, 2005 • ~ ~ Q'i11l'f!ltlllQl1 ~ .'iI;,;,o,,;..t:........ .... "'PIMdWlMry -lNRlIPen the 1SOCc GP ~ - lIIiU:Illpt kllwIrlltJty for ~·s boss, AIbeno Puig - was duly pre- senlIld toward the end or the --._ By then. ' - ; I'etIrosa was flrmIy in Nne to clinch the Work! crown in his debut season in the class. and in so doing return the 2SOCC GP Work! title to Honda after two years parked in the trophy cabinet of its Aprilia rivals. The fact that Pedrosa unjustly had to battie this perception that he was winning unfairly because of his light weight probably stemmed as much from the downsizing development path which Honda's engineers decided to follow in successfully revamping their single-crankshaft RS2S0R customer racer into a title-winning modern successor to the legendary NSR2S0 factory racer, which last raced in twin-crank I IO-degree Vtwin form in 200 I. In seeking to regain the class supremacy which Aprilia had wrested from them in the meantime - while the need to concentrate their resources on developing their V-fIVe RC21 IV into a MotoGP titlewinner had forced them to take their eyes off the 2S0-c1ass ball - HRC's engineers decided to maximize the handling assets of their Single-crank reed-valve 7S-degree Vtwin works bike derived from the RS2S0R customer racer, while striving to narrow the gulf in engine performance between it and the more powerful twin-crank rotary-valve 90-degree V-twin Aprilia. To do so, they played to the strengths of CYCLE NEWS tounft In tilt pofnIs UIbIe In ZOOI, tI*d m 2OO111lll1lllllld In 2003. Honda must hIM been ~ 1hIt die IikllIble kallln's .-no naIInII flIOfliIlSSion toward the ~ "*would yield them the tide hoped-for r8UIts in 2004 wtth the . - bike. But when this duly appeared in pi BSB ason testing at Barcelona. it was apparent that the 250 Honda had been still further downsized in 2004 guise and was targeted at a different rider than the slight but average-height RoIfo - or indeed his teammate in the Fortuna squad, Toni Elias, who'd moved over from Aprilia to tilt for the title as part of Honda's serious four-man effort to regain the 2SOcc World crown. That man was 12Scc World Champion Pedrosa, for whom the relatively tiny bike seemed made to measure - unlike Rolfo, who was painfully slow in preseason testing with a motorcycle so small that he got leg cramps from squatting aboard it after just a few laps! The new Honda was the exact opposite of what the Italian had been hoping for, with a new, smaller, twin-spar frame that allowed the fuel tank and seat to be lowered by 20mm (supposedly to lower the cee of gee, and thus build on the RS-W's ease of handling), and the fairing and screen had been reduced to the minimum to make it easier to change direction with from side to side, as well as to reduce frontal area. "I feel like an elephant sitting on this bike!" complained Rolfo, who even took a hammer to the fuel tank to try to make space for his knees on a motorcycle that had ... Iy Upper design,~ atimp~ Pedrosa'. persuaded Honda U; for RoIfo, wtth a thick tank and modifllld allowed him to at least out cramping up or unbalancing gave him enough pi olllCtII!!Jl to win the second GP the yeiI.1II rain - in spite of only quaiifyingQll row in the dry. Three days after the race, with Aoyama's chassis featuring the new swi suspension layout. convinced Elias to switch to the Evo bike for the I18l¢ Le Mans. Though Pedrosa tested It, decided to stick to his existing frame, grounds that he was already at home on It and it was perfectly adequate for ~ of his limited 2S0cc-c1ass expenence. P01e~--. position and a dominant race victory in the next GP at Le Mans proved that to be a right choice, allowing Pedrosa to resist considerable pressure from HRC to join the other Honda riders in switching to the new chassis. New is always better in the minds of Japanese companies, except here was the young Spaniard now overhauling the less consistent de Puniet's Aprilia to lead the World Championship points table, with the next-best Honda rider (Elias) only fourth. Tests in August after the Brno race saw or

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