And again in his return at Le
Mans, when another front-end
fail ended a convincing run to
the podium.
At least three new fac-
tory chassis have obviously not
given the bike the
balance it
needs, while new factory team-
mate Joan Mir is continuing the
crash-crash-crash
disaster.
Hence the commissioning
of a chassis from the domi-
nant Moto2 specialists Kalex.
Whether
this is admitting their
own designers have run out of
ideas or conversely a clever way
of short-cutting research, it is al-
most unprecedented for Honda.
But not
quite.
Honda has twice previously
had to face being more of an
engine than a chassis company.
D
orna's aim at making the
racing closer has been
thrillingly successful. But
making it so close can make
fools out of heroes. Here are
some examples. Honda, Ya-
maha, Quartararo. And the panel
of
stewards.
Honda is paying the price of
having one super-strong rider
who then got hurt. Development
concentrated on Marc's extraor
-
dinary abilities, which left a
machine with
shortcomings that
only he could ride around. Most
of the time.
His prolonged and frequent
absences since 2020 left the
most successful racing manu
-
facturer scrabbling to find tech-
nical direction.
Short
of grip, acceleration
P122
CN II IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
His struggles are
painful. His ability
to qualify well
has gone, and
his struggles in
mid-pack off the
line have seen
more prangs than
passes, race after
race ruined.
HERO-ZEROS
and, as a consequence, good
speed, the bike has left Marc in
full-risk mode, as demonstrated
all too painfully in the opening
round in Portugal, when a crash
under braking wiped him and
Oliveira out and left him out of
action for the next three races.
