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/1542350
tl $qrrr :t a a NEW FOR zoo6 BY Mrcxlrl Scorr IN THE PADDOCK Parity! S omething really interesting has happened in the fifth and final year of the 990cc MotoGP bikes. lt was suggested in the preseason tests, and then proved very powerfully at the first race. Within that half-a-decade, l4otoGP has, rn a technical sense, reached a playing lield that might not actually be level, but it is very close to it. This does tend to happen as technical conventions become established. The greater surprise is iust how liftle time it has taken. With the dear departed 500s it was a V-four configuration and reed valves - br.rt it took several different experiments over many years before that became obvious. With the four-strokes, it is uneven firing intervals, slipper clutches and clever new throttle software. And a level of pariry was achieved. by compari- son, virtually overnight. The proof of this is not ,ust in qualify- ing and racing at Jerez that was so close that they bumped into each other in the first corner, but also in how unexpected the results have been over all areas. It is, after all, amazing that tiny 2o-year- old 250cc World Champion Dani Pedrosa can iump onto something much more than twice as powerful as his previous bike, and not only rest a! very competitive speeds, but come close to winning his first race, Gigantic talent is the main reason. but the technical contribution cannot be overlooked. The extraordinary Yamahaly'alentino Rossi tumaround in the space of iust a mooth is another example. They were cock- a-hoop at hrcelona tests, with e\.en the Dunlop-shod Cados Checa a surprise rop dql. along wi$ Colin Edwards and Rossi. Two week later the Yamahas went all ''leadbelly" at Jerez, when they ran into tire chatter problems. These proved so severe that neither Yamaha nor f4ichelin were able to solve them an time for the race. lam mildly embarrassed, having been as sucked in as anybody by the dominance at Catalunya. joining the chorus predicting total Rossi domination. His crew chief .lerry Burgess smilingly described this as the phase-three Yamaha: the first had been to win the title no matter what; the second to learn more about the bike while winning it again, the third to pro- duce a bike that everybody could ride fast, rather than only Valentino. I made this the topic of a column. .Jerez proved this all-wrong. Mystery tire chatter made the l*41 into a bike that nobody could ride fast, not even Valentino. Luckily for me, it's easy enough to write another column- lt's not quite so easy for Yamaha to design and build another motorcycle. Luckily for them, they won't have to. They will be back. and there will be cir- cuits where they will again be invincible, even without changing anfthing. What it proves once again is how close it has all become, between the different machines- Just one technical problem and Yamaha goes from the top of the tree to the bottom, Things become very deli- cately balanced when this level of equality has been achieved. ln the same way, the once mighty V-five Honda appears to have developed into something flawed. Lacking the direction of Rossi and Burgess, it has wandered into enSineering wilderness. lts basic strengths remain, but each new iteration (and espe- cially Nicky Hayden's exclusive '06 model) seems also to add new weaknesses. Until along comes Pedrosa. And anoth- er truth is overturned. Ducati has likewise accomplished a turnaround. For most of 2004 and 2005, the Desmosedici was a rather clumsy bike - masses of power, but lacking refine- ment, which made its results erratic. Bur it was obviously close enough, because when the new Bridgestone tires started making a good show at Motegi and Sepang late in the year, the Ducati was more than ready to take advantage. There are other examples: Kawasaki suddenly taking a iump forward, Suzuki intermittently threatening to do the same; Bridgestone playing teeter-totter with Michelin, and the sudden rise in status of Dunlop. All these situations are of course equally fragile, in rhis delicately balanced world. One little change can upset every- thing. Nothing is easy to predict - expect the unexpected. It puts us very close to motorcycle- racing Nirvana. Which, sad to say, is statistically improb- able, and therefore won't last the season. Because the closeness of the machines in the end cannot prevail over the inevitability of another racing truth - that, no matter what the rules or circum- stances. the same rider tends to win. ln a good year, it may be a group of rid- ers - bu! a very small and select group. Having parit/ of machines can only delaythis truth in the sense ofmakinggood riders have to work longer and harder to beat the more average riders, Snappy and difficult motorcycles, such as the old 500s, magniried the gap between the winners and the also-rans; the fast but friendly 990s do the opposite. That means the early part of the races at least are much closer lt's only when the tares go all rusty that the Eood guys get a chance to prove it. The long and the short of it is simple enough. Closely matched bikes make for closer and more entertaining racing. lt is historically rather a rarity at GP level. lt is somethidg that should be cherished. So what happens next? The 990s get deleted, that's what. Next year the 800s come in, and the technical parity goes straight out of the window The change in engine size can easily be bi3 enough to lay down a whole new set of technical ground rules. Therefore, one make (probably Honda) will prevail for a few years, while the others srumble rheir way closer, and a new convention becomes established. Seems a bit of a waste of the one we've got, really. It's true that the same rider does usu- ally tend to win in most forms of racing. Recent runs of domination from Wayne Rainey then lYick Doohan in GPs, to Carl Fogarty in World Superbikes and Mat It4ladin in Al'4A racing prove that. ln MotoGfl as with most racing ques- tions, that brings you right back with Valentino Rossi, But his personal situa on i5 another area of delicate balance. I've said for years that his greatest rival does not come from among the other rid- ers, but from the fact that his incredibly good luck could always turn the other way. ln spite of Pedrosa, this is stilltrue. It nearly did so at lerez. When he was knocked off at the first cornen he came very close to being run over by more than one motorcycle. Those accidents hurt the worst, He made light of it afterward, describing how after his assailant, Toni Elias, apologized, he'd suggested that nexr time Elias remember to brake, "or hit another bike." But it was a very close call, and it will make him think very deeply. One can imagine how inviting a strapped-in seat in a Formula One car must seem after such an experience. Cll D a D e )/,, €' .-'2- a r\ t llp E $t a 0. ) ; J oa a. ta 86 APR[.s, 2w6 . cyclE NEWS