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/1390385
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 27 JULY 7, 2021 P127 Restrictive one- size-fits-all technical regs leave little space for engineers to tailor the bikes for individual rider's needs or change them if they're wrong. the beast, and with just a couple of lowly top 10s was 18th overall, his worst-ever championship result. And retired. And while rookie Alex Marquez managed a couple of podiums, one in a wet race of much attrition, but at other times he struggled. The best-placed was Taka Nakagami, with a dozen top-10s including a couple of fourths. Significantly he was riding a year-old bike, not Honda's latest. So we come to 2021, and two races in, Marc returns. By then, new factory teammate Pol Espargaro has been up and down on the latest bike, results falling far short of what he'd been achieving on the KTM, while Alex—now a satellite rider— has been mainly down, one crash after another. Whatever changes Honda made to last year's bike did the opposite of improving it. Only Nakagami is having a half-reasonable time. Guess what? He's on his old 2019 bike again. Marc came back, and quickly rejected the 2021 version, saying diplomatically that after nine months away he wanted to ease his return with something familiar. He inferred it was his 2020 bike, the one he crashed, but it's understood to be a 2019/2020 hybrid as used by Nakagami. He's had a fairly torrid time on it, though being a genius he did manage to win the German GP on it. Then, on the latest chassis update at Assen, a massive high-side crash. Now to Yamaha, where factory new boy Quartararo had some up-and-downs last year. This year, on a new M1, he has been more than just a model of consistency over the first nine races. Five poles and off the front row only once; four wins, two more podiums and only once out of the top five, when arm pump undermined a clear lead at Jerez. Unlike last year, he now trusts the front. It feels, he has said, "like my bike." The plight of teammate Maverick Vinales makes grim reading and has become so bad that he's actually decided to walk away. While good days on grippy tracks mean he can win—once last year, and at the first round this year—in between his slumps are shocking. To last place at the German GP earlier in June, fourth. He's had enough, and managed to negotiate early release, for a move to the improving Aprilia squad. The other M1 riders are also deeply troubled. The once unbeatable Rossi is racking up one "worst-ever" statistic after another, including five no-scores and a best of a single 10th place. It seems that finally he is also looking for the exit. Morbidelli stands to benefit from the ructions, after finishing top Yamaha scorer last year, but he too is having a ghastly season, though it doesn't count in the same way, since he is stuck on a 2019 bike, and would dearly love to have a go on the new improved version. Riders are individuals, it seems that these bikes, not so much. Restrictive one-size-fits-all technical regs leave little space for engineers to tailor the bikes for individual rider's needs or change them if they're wrong. If they manage to suit just one rider, that's a result in itself. CN