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/1542347
u I - I ! I I ,v Marco Melandri: What's Going OnP l4arco Melandri could hardly have ended 2005 on a higher note, after claiming his firsr l4otocP race win in Turkey at the penulti- mate round, and another at Valencia lor rhe final race. Beatint Valentino Rossi once was an achievement. Twice had the hallmarks of a maior event. The 23-year-old ltalian has had a very dif- ferent start to rhe new season. Riding a sarellite-team Honda for the same Gresinr squad, now in Fortuna colors, he has beefl struSSling to reSain that form. It is not iust his problem. All the Honda riders found themselves worryinSly off the pace at the recent Catalunya tests. cn: Whats going on Marco? marcomelandri: We are working a lot today, working very hard. But at the moment we are still not able to change the level. I cannot really ride how I like. We need to do some more meetings, and improve the machine. We have quite clear che problem we have, but we don'r have an/ solutions. cn: So what is th€ pPobl€mP marcomelandri: I don't really know I can- not go inside a comer and keep good cor- ner speed- I cannot ride like at the end of last season. We tried so many solutions. But when we improve goin8 into the cor- ner, it is worse going out. And the other way round. So.-. cn: What arE ttl€ diff€r€nces from last g€aP's trik€ to this? marcomelandri: I don't really know wheae the bike is different. They told us it is a lit- tle bit different. But the feeling is .omplete- ly different. One problem was the first time we tried this bike, we had also new-gener- ation tires. I thou8ht the problem was th€ tires, but now we see that the Yamaha especially is going well on the new tire. Now we understand we have to teach the bike to take the new tire, With the new tire, the feelinS is good for grip and traction, but I cannot ride like I want to, and we can- not do the lap time. lt is difficult ro explain - but I cannot keep my ,ine, and it is not smooth, I have to cut the comer into three dill€rent parts - brakin8, corner speed, and then go out. cft Afte last UEer's strcng fin- ish. this must b€ difficult for gou. marrcomelandri: Yes, but arl) /vay I am qrJite h+py, because we rtill have time before the start of the season. But I am a bit sad. because I had such aSood feelint when (n: Ar€ qou hoping to 9€t th€ tull factorg bike. the n€w on€. likE Nickg HagdEn s? marcomelandri: At the moment I didn't think about that- I iust think about my problerns. When I go ,ast, then I can think about the other rid- ers and the other bike. But any' ,ay I don't think I can have the new bike. cn: Obviouslg gou ar- und€F a lot moFG pFEssuF€ to p€rtorm this U€an How do gou l-spond to that? marcomelandri: For sure. Bu! pressure is like that. when you have to make good results, bur yo! cant do ic- This is the pressure. When everything is working well - it is not easy to go fast, but it's so much better, cn: Wlat is gour goal ton this g€alP marcom€landri: To improve myseli da), by day- Now I don't want to think about the year, iust my problems. We still have three weeks. /t4ichdel Scott *# a a we finished the season, end we still have some problems that we c:mnot fix so easy. Today some (HRC) engi- neers were in my pit, so I explained everything to rhem, and now I think they are Soing to work on it. I haven't received anything new lrom when I got this bike injanuary. &ftlt rF ! -t h \ .iE rr Z.M -1-:- \\ €:=d, E. h iF. \ -. -ii.l al. ^,r.. Y. \,-. t"{rifut ,B'\ \t, T PLUS up to IN FREE ACCESSORIES on select models* *slzuro"