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/128373
By IN "HE PADDOCK MICHAEL SCOTT A Prediction. Or Two. here is (I always tell outsiders, who question my many years of fascination with motorcycle racing) a specific technical reason that preserves the essential humanity - and thus the enduring interest - of the most human of motorsports. I hardly need add I am talking about the mobile center of gravity, or, to put it another way, the fact that the rider shifts his weight to apply subtleties of control. His movements are an integral part of a control equation that in a car is entirely mechanical but on a motorcycle is enriched by humanity. The corollary was demonstrated with devastating precision last year that a gifted rider can overcome and even exploit machine weaknesses, and prevail over lesser riders on technically better machines. Now, testing folderol behind us, season under way, the same question will again be asked and probably before the last race in November will be answered. Can Valentino Rossi do it again? Another beauty of motorcycle racing is shared with other motorsports, and it can be cruel. At any moment, otherwise predictable outcomes can be overturned by an accident. Every time a rider falls off, his immediate and long-term futures are both open to potential disaster. It doesn't have to be as severe as the paralyZing spinal injuries to Wayne Rainey that handed the 1993 crown to Kevin Schwantz. Championships can be decided by a sprained thumb. Or indeed a failed qUick-shift gear mechanism. It is hard to think of anything other than mischance that can prevent the gigantic Rossi from adding yet another title to the six he already holds. The only other weakness might come from within - if he loses the heart for the struggle. Something of the kind, a minor but costly ennui, did occur in 2003, his last and unhappiest year with Honda. He got over that soon enough, his taste for winning refreshed and reinforced by a little bit of the other thing. That taste seems unabated. Rossi did not dominate the preseason tests, and furthermore failed to prevail T in the Catalunya dash-for-the-hatchback - 40 timed and televised minutes of hype, whose main function was to whet the appetite for the forthcoming series. Observers of this first prize of the year watched Rossi theatrically punch the air in apparent frustration after missing out, and some took this unprecedented gesture to show he was under pressure and getting flustered. Not this observer: I'm confident it was just more Rossi pantomime, albeit rather more sophisticated than the dressing-up-as-a-doctor stunts of yesteryear. In other words, Rossi has been bluffing. Not so, any of the others. There are 17 races in which to find out how much the indications of testing really tried their wacky, new, full auto-declutch "engine braking system." None of the above, however, are serious Rossi rivals, whether for technical or personal reasons. There are some maybe candidates, such as double 2004 race-winner Makoto Tamada, newly on Michelins and with one fastest-of-session and one big crash in testing. Nicky Hayden had some fast days preseason; Loris Capirossi's Ducati was quick earlier on, and on its new Bridgestones might have some lucky tracks that suit the rubber. The list of serious candidates gets shorter, however, when you look for strength in depth. Colin Edwards, now Rossi's Yamaha teammate, can be forgiven for an up-and-down showing, learning a keys of the BMW hatchback. Sete Gibernau has twice been victim of a lateseason Rossi charge. He starts this year as the only rider other than Rossi to have racked up not just generally fast times but consistent times, as well as impressive longer runs, reeling off not just one or two dynamite sparkling laps on soft tires, but series of consistently quick race-time laps on race tires. If Rossi was bluffing, then Gibernau's psychological advantage leaving Catalunya will be worth nothing, and his smug expression short-lived. Iexpect Rossi will soon address himself to wiping the smile off the Spaniard's face. The interesting thing will be how Gibernau handles it. Say what you like about modest results earlier in a career blessed more by who he is than how he rode, he's a rider who has consistently improved year by year. Not many can say that. Strong enough? Let's say it would be a surprise, but not a shock. It's easy to see that Gibernau's Honda is faster and generally a more well-rounded motorcycle than Rossi's Yamaha, but as we have seen, we are into much meant, and to determine which of the would-be Rossi-beaters will be able to call his bluff. The preseason gallops yielded f1ash-inthe-damp performances from the likes of Kenny Roberts Jr. and his Suzuki and Shinya Nakano and his Kawasaki; a good run or two from second Suzuki man John Hopkins. Marco Melandri got going well at the end after switching Yamaha to Honda; Troy Bayliss was still coming to terms with the apparently much bigger change from Ducati to Honda. Lots of others went around and around a lot. And new Ducati recruit Carlos Checa fell off and hurt himself, as soon as he third type of MotoGP bike in three years. Max Biaggi must also be allowed to waver - this is normal for him, and as long as it happens before rather than during the season, it is not too worrying. Biaggi's record, however, suggests it might happen again - at any moment. In fact, it's difficult not to feel sympathy for this rider, whose skills approach divinity but whose humanity takes a hammer blow every time he lines up on the grid, looks across and sees Rossi alongside him. Old lags aside, it leaves just one candidate who ended the preseason tests with something more in his pocket than just blind hope - and something more than the more personal areas, and the confrontation is totally man to man. This is pure sport, purely human. And fascinating. Too predictable, if there are to be just the two in it? Well, circumstances have a way of mixing things up, but it's an interesting question. We need to look over our shoulders at Formula One for an answer. Over on, four wheels they've changed the rules, and apparently made the contest much more equal. Early on at least, it looked as though almost anyone could win a given race, while the hitherto imperious Michael Schumacher could barely finish one, let alone win at his leisure. But instead of making the contest more exciting, the random element has had a perversely dampening effect. When Ferrari and Schumacher don't win, it's even duller than when they do. Enjoy the bike heroes you have while you have them. There'll be more along in a minute. Humanity is like that. So is motorcycle racing. eN CYCLE NEWS • APRil 13, 2005 9S