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/1542338
[tihH T'he 2005 HotoGP season got sErted on I Monday, .lanuary 23, with the teams takint pan in th€ llrst of three days of t6t- ing in SepanE, Malaysia. The test marked the debut of the Valentino Rossi-led Yamaha team in its bright yellow Camel colors, the re-introduction of the Kenny Roberts- ollned team to the series with its Honda engines, and further testinS for the new young guns of the series. But when things wrapped up on the llrst day, not much chanSed at the very top of the time sheets, as Rossi and his Yamaha M I led the way. Rossi was the fastest on day one by virtue of his 2:02.14 time (under Niclry Hayden's 2005 lap record of 2:02.993), Riding the new M I, Rossi was shaking the cobwebs out after the winter break. "lt's always a little dimcuh to start again after the holidays, and I am never sure if I will be able to ride well straight away," Rossi said in a Yamaha team release. "Today, however, everything has feh good right from the stan, and I am already quite fast. Th€ new l'41 is a Eood bike. I like it. and I can s€e that Yamaha has worked very hard over the winter. we had a few problems with it today - some chattering - blt in reality, h is good lor this stage of the year. We still have a lot of work to do on it, ofcourse. The new bike is not so differ- ent from the 2005 bike. but still we have to understand comPletely hs chaiacter, and I have to 8et more confidenae in itt then we can betin to make the modifica- tions needed in order to improve it. Today has iust been about unde.standing the bike; tomorrow we will concentrate more on tires with Michelin." Fortr:na Honda's Marco Melandri turned in the recond-quickest time on day one, the Italian pickint up where he left ofl in 2fl)5 - as one of the top men in MotoGP Melandri's b€st was a 2:02.20 after 74 laps. "l'm happy to be back on nry bike atain," Helandri said. "l have been in train- ing sifte De.ember 27, gettirE in shape {or the season, but nothing beats workin8 with the bike. The new bike has some Sood points, and I'm happy at this 5tage, but we need to work a little more on the front end. The character of the engine feels a little different from the old bike, but basically I iust need to work with it and 8et a good ,eeling with this bike - test all the various parts of the machine to make it work lor me the way I Third fastest was Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden, the Kentuckian charnpinS at the bit to get back on his RC2llV and 8et back to work. Hayden lapped at a best of 2:02.23 after 85 lapc. "Today was pretty solid," Hayden said- "we found some good points, but we have some work to do. lt's hard work out there. We test€d some new part5 and Sathered some good data. The track seems like normal; it's always faster at this time of year, although they've put a new patch of tarmac in turn three, and the bike didn't like it too much. lt was dirty and bumpy, but it's allgood. BeIore we get to the first race ar Jerez. we're iust trying to chip away at development. I did some longer runs o{ l0 to 12 laps and some shorter stufl. At first I rode the bike from last season to get back into it, and then rode the new one. l'm looking forward. lt's Sreat to 8et back here with the boys and getting hooked in, and we're going to start di88in8 - we've tot a shovel, and we'.e Soing to do solne work!" Hayden's Repsol teammate Dani Pedrosa was fourth fastest, iust ahead of Marlboro Ducati's Loris Capirossi. Colin Edwards ended up iixth fastest on his Camel Yamaha, despite crashing. "l came out this morning and felt good immediately," Edwards said, "Strdight away, I felt happy on the bike and could notice alldre improvements that Yamaha ha5 made. I'm so accustomed to rhe 2005 bike at this track, bur ir was clear roday that lhe new one is better in many ways. I am a bit out of prac- tice after the holiday, but once I tot going I felt very comforable to be back on the bike. After a few laps, we beSan to play around with some fork settings and spring rates. and vol.nlino wenl debut in doing so wE lost a little bit of feel. Then, after lunch. I had the crash,,, it was at tum nine, and I just lost the front on the brakes. k all happ€ned pretty slowly, and I was fine, luckily. After that we didn't hrve time to 8o back to ou. good fork sefting, but an),way, the times were still okay. Oespite the mish+ today, I feel like I want to go faster and faster, so I'm looking forward to Marlboro Ducati's Sete Gibernau was seventh fastest in his new team, ahead of class aookie Casey Sconer, the Kawasaki of Shinya Nakano and Fortuna Honda's Toni Elias. iircuh in ilo No Checa For Ducati Rlmors, which appeared to emanate from Australia on Friday. January 20, floated the porsibility of Carlos Checa - or even, bizarrely, Alex Barros - or]sting Lorenzo Lanzi from his place in the Ducati Xerox factory World Superbiketeam. The rumors had him back in the SC Carac.hi squad, albeit on full factory equipment. Ducati Corse World Superbike director Paolo Ciabatti, clearly irritated by the story made a swift and categorical denial. "lt is completely untrue," he said. "We have never even consid_ ered this possibility. Our plans for Superbike in 2006 have been put in stone a long time ago. Some time ago, we rejected the possibil_ ity of Max BiaSti becomin8 a Ducati rider in World Superbike because we did not have the facility or resources to add another factory bike to our plans even then. lf we could not do it for Biaggi, then we are certainly not able to do it for anyone else now-" Ciabatti, a hute fan of Lanzi and the man who has led him all the way from European Superstock, via Superspon in 2004, to the status of double World Superbike race winner in 20O5, was hardly likely to get rid of his most prominent home-grown asset. "ln Troy [Baylhs], we already have an exPerienced rider, so why would we want anotherl Are we creating a Srandfather team? Allthe other ride6 mentioned are Sreat talents ofthe Pres- ent, but we rirmly believe that Lanzi is the future. He is young. only 24 years, fast, alrerdy a race winner, and ltalian, which is very important. We have not had a top-level winning ltalian rider on a factory Ducati for many years " Gordon Ritchie The New Season Dawns {Below, left) Closs rookie Cosey Stoner on hir Hondq RC2l lv. (Below, middle) John Hopkin5 5torti his tesling ieoson on lhe ngw Suzuki. (Below) Sefe Gibernou ond the Morlboro Ducoti. 8 FEBRUARY I, 2006 CYCLE NEWS t Nicky outing It I ) ,1. Kenny otlion Roberts Ja in t: POlvCr, L,, ,G;- -_..--sr} ,4 lZ7 .t N tr 8 o o o o o . a., II ',{ $.i. i ri l da- .'17-- \