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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By CHICANERY HENNY RAY ABRAMS The Last Hurrah lentino Rossi should win his sixth premier class championship next year. then move to the rarefied world of Formula One. The vacuum he leaves behind will be cavernous. Promoters will suffer as crowds shrink. The television audience will contract. Concessionaires will lament the days of long lines. But no one will mourn his absence more than Yamaha. Until Rossi and Honda decided they'd had enough of each other. at the end of the 2003 season. Yamaha hadn't been a factor at the top levels of racing for more than a decade. Their last championship came in 1992. the last of Wayne Rainey's trifecta. In 2003. the year before Rossi resuscitated them. Yamaha's lone podium was a third by Alex Barros in France. Their highest place finisher in the championship was Carlos Checa. the Spanish journeyman who tied for seventh. By contrast. Loris Capirossi. in his first season on the all-new Ducati Desmosedici. had a win and six other podiums. and finished fourth on the year. Rossi knew this when he signed. "When I arrive and when I speak with Yamaha. with Mr. [Masao) Furusawa." [senior general manager of Yamaha's Engineering Operations). "he say to me this. 'Yamaha now wants to change. We changed a lot of engineers and we want to try to win. Our race division start to work harder...• Rossi quoted Furusawa as saying. "We need to beat Honda." Furusawa said. and they did. Repeatedly. Like Rainey before him. Rossi will give Yamaha a trio of championships. His departure won't be as tragic as Rainey·s. but the results will be the same: It will be years before Yamaha wins another championship. As adept and generous as they've been with Rossi and his team. they've been equally clumsy with others. The point was driven home when I read Honda's release from the first day of testing in Sepang. Malaysia. Nicky Hayden. Marco Melandri. Casey Stoner. Toni Elias - all riders Yamaha had either signed or had in their sights were all quoted on the Honda release. Hayden was the first to slip from Yamaha's grasp. Following his AMA Superbike Championship in 2002, Hayden had a very public flirtation with Yamaha. Honda's view at the time was that Hayden go back and do what he was doing for another year, then they'd find a way to fit him in. Hayden looked for another option and found it with Yamaha. whose love was unconditional. Honda V What will Yamaha da in the post-Rossi era? woke up. With the looming threat of losing Hayden to their rival, Honda prudently exercised their right of first refusal. The matter was handled clumsily. but no one held it against Hayden, whose surge in the second half of the season vindicated all who'd championed his cause through the lean times. The only rider more ascendant than Hayden in 200S was Melandri. In his first year in the cloak of the Gresini Honda team, the former 250cc World Champion prospered. Fausto Gresini, himself a twotime former World Champion, is the model for team ownership. Some team er a MotoGP tea m (Cecchinello also looked into teaming up with Tech 3's Herve Poncharal.) But there were caveats. He'd be on Dunlop tires. And the salary offer was reported to be an insult. Cecchinello had owners want to make money. some to with Stoner for next year, but when 5ito Pons made the offer to ride an unsponsored Honda. that trumped the Yamaha deal. Will the Pons deal fly without a sponsor? It doesn't matter. Dorna. the series promoters who've seen a cascade of sponsor defections. will make sure it does. Eventually Yamaha relented on the Dunlops - he'd have second tier Michelins - but it was a desperate move that was too little, too late. Stoner moved to the Pons Honda team and Yamaha lost another piece of the future. In 2005, his rookie MotoGP season. Toni Elias rode a Yamaha for the Tech 3 team with Fortuna backing. It took the young Spaniard some time to adjust: His best finish was a hard-earned sixth when he passed Colin Edwards on the final lap in the penultimate race in Turkey. It was, by far. the team's best finish. Fortuna is another of the cigarette brands. along with Gauloises. under the Altadis umbrella. Altadis and Yamaha are in the middle of a very public spat over sponsorship of the 2006 team. The most commonly accepted scenario is that Yamaha will run in generic colors and the matter will end up in court. Of course, it could all be worked out and the bikes could again be blue for I5 of 17 races, as they were this year. When the relationship with Altadis broke down. reportedly over Rossi's insistence that the team not be tobaccosponsored. Fortuna could have left. But they had a relationship with Elias and Ruben Xaus in 2005 and chose to continue with Elias in 2006. Only now he'll be with Melandri at the Gresini Honda win. Gresini is the latter. And if you win the money will follow. Fortuna cigarettes was quick to jump into the sponsorship hole created when Telef6nica MoviStar left in a snit at the end of 2005. Melandri came to Gresini after two frustrating years on a Yamaha. The Italian rode for the Tech 3 Yamaha team of Herve Poncharal, a satellite team that didn't reap the benefits of the Rossi phenomenon in 2004. "My Yamaha last year. it was very different than Valentino's bike," Melandri said. Rossi made the point that Melandri would be better off on a Honda and Melandri agreed. He shunned both Yamaha and Ducati. and better money. to move to Gresini, who saw some- thing special. "In my opinion Marco has a chance to enjoy a good experience with us in MotoGP," Gresini said. Brought along slowly, and in the shadow of his imploding teammate Sete Gibernau. Melandri spent most of the season second in the points to Rossi, only losing the spot late in the season. Melandri came through with his first win, in Turkey, in round 16 of 17. and his second victory followed two weeks later in the Valencia season finale. That victory clinched the runner-up spot to Rossi. Satoru Horiike. Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) managing director. said that Melandri wouldn't be getting the new. smaller RC21 IV for 2006. "The policy is only two factory machines next year," he said. but without finality. Could Melandri get one? "Depends on race situation," Horiike said. Either way. Melandri won't be on a Yamaha. Neither will Casey Stoner. The young Australian had been heavily courted by Yamaha at the end of the season. The factory asked Lucio Cecchinello. Stoner's manager and team owner, to put togeth- an agreement team. Yamaha would like to have kept him, but there was no sponsor and the factory team was full. As of this writing. Edwards and Rossi are the only riders signed to Yamaha. Brit James Ellison is testing at Tech 3 Yamaha backed by Dunlop in Sepang and could join the team. Or not. Four of the brightest young stars in the MotoGP now ride Hondas when they might have ridden Yamahas. Will the tide reverse? It could. In 2007, when their contracts are up for renewal, Hayden and Melandri will have serious leverage. In 2006. Hayden will be Honda's number-one rider for the first time ever. If. as expected. he continues on his late season progress. and contends for the title in 2006, Honda won't let him go. Same for Melandri. who will continue the rivalry with Hayden that blossomed at the end of the season. Various reports in the European press put Rossi's salary at $18 million U.S. No one is going to confirm this on the record. I can assure you. But it's probably not far off. That's a lot of money. but it's well spent. Linking racing to retail is a tricky venture. but Yamaha is prospering in the showroom and its newest sport bikes have received rave reviews. They should enjoy it while they can. It could be a long time before it happens eN again. CYCLE NEWS • DECEMBER 7, 2005 79