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/1542354
1, BY Mrcxrrl Scon IN THE PADDOCK The Swing a I n g r06 Inere s a rrreo oro aoage I "Uout the Swinging Sixties, I much favored bv survivors of I tnrt era of free love. cool I -r",a and too many druts. The adage says that if you can remember them, you weren't really there. That was the youth revolution that wos. It's the Sixties all over again in l*4otocP This time around, for one year only, it will be at least highly memorable, and possi- bly, quite unforgeftable. The opening wvo rounds were the prool There's a new youth revolution. With the end of Valentino Rossi and his magic touch now in sight, this is not a moment too soon. It remains to be seen how it will develop, and the prospect adds another layer of com- pelling interest to what is already a landmark year - definitely the last of the mighry 990s, the marvelous ln'lk I lYotoGP machines, and very pos- sibly the last of resident Senius Rossi. The kids on the charge are led by the amazing Dani Pedrosa and the surprise pole- starring hero of Qatar - Casey Stoner, Toni Elias is hot behind them. The established youngsters - Nicky Hayden, Marco l''lelandri and John Hopkins - are under grave Pressure to per- form. Though it appears only the first tlvo have the machinery to let them do it, with the Suzuki still staggering from one problem to the next, And the oldies? The pressure is even more intense. Rossi, now 27. must now be counted among these, along with the age 3o-plus warhorses: Loris Capirossi, Sete Gibernau, Carlos Checa, Kenny Robens Jr., and Colin Edwards. So far, the lirst list- ed has come out all guns blazing, while the others have given rying accounts of themselves. llost have a reasonable excuse anylvay - switching bikes and teams. Except for Edwards. His problems have been puzzling, Eiven his breadth of experience, ind the fact that. like Capirossi, he has actually stayed with the same team and machine for the flrst time in MotoGP After just two races, however, they are not to be underestimated, any one of them. But the same could be said of the casualties of the deadwood clear out - Alex Barros and F'lax Biaggi. lt must sure- ly be worrying the graybeards iust how little either of these former GP winners has been missed. It's more than iust an old-young divide, however. There is a clash of creeds involved, to do with nothing less rhan how you actually ride the motorcycle, or more precisely, how you learned to race a motorcycle... those little habits a rider develops that give him the extra elements machine. with all the nuances ofadjustabil- ity - gearinE, suspension geometry, weight distribution, ride heights, damping rates, rear-suspension linkage changes, and so on. There's a great deal to learn, when you re already concenlraring on trave[ng at racing speed. No wonder the best guys are also nearly always the brightest. ln the wo-stroke days, the $ep up from 250 to 500s was somewhat daunting. Only a handful of riders in recent history have accomplished the transition seamlessly - Rossi being one of them. The step up in power and controllability imposed new lev- els of learning - and rook more rime again. point-and-squirt Superbike style. and switch back to riding his HotoGP Yamaha more like a 250 - higher corner speed, smoother rhythm, Given the amount of time they all spend sideways, this seemed surprising - but the fact is that advances rn electronics and tires are reducing the bucking and sliding to a maior extent. ln spite of the huge disparity between front- and rear- tire widths, it seems the big one-liter MotoGP bikes really do respond like big 250s. And the new riders are good enou8h to be able to add in a bit of power sliding as well, (And, in Stoner's case, a very delicate touch on the clutch dr-rring decel- eration, revealed on Qatar's TV feed by a new clutch-cam). Conventional racing wisdom, however, leads to an inescapable conclu- sion - the MotoGP bikes are only like big 250s for iust so long. With all that horsepowe4 when those tires go like ielly (as two- stroke slide-master Garr/ Mccoy once graphicalty described it), all the elec- tronics in the world can't stop them from tuming back into monsters. The opening two rounds were a Sraphic illustration. Pedrosa was incredible in the way he caught up and hounded leader Capirossi at Jerez. It was ancient and mod- ern with a special bal- ance, since each has three titles in the 125 and 250cc classes. though many years apan. When the ielly moment crme, it was experience that counted, and Capirossi pulled away again at the end. Stoner was equally amazing at Qatar. Stricken by jet lag, sleep deprivation and flu, he was quickest in almolt every ses- sion, and as fast as anybody in the opening laps of the race. Again, the jelly got him, and the old hands took over We're going to see lots more of this during the year. And we'll see how much of the testing and early-race upsets were flash in the pan, and which really meant something important. And we'll see Rossi having to work harder and think harder than ever to win his title. Looks like a vintage year. CN of control and finesse that turn him from merely fast into a serial winner. The three young braves of 2006 all do have one thing in common. Pedrosa, Sbner and Elias have all three come up vra I 25s and 250s. Quite why that this means amazingly fast lap times and good race results is far from clear. For one thing. they've been schooled on two-strokes - quite different in character from a MotocP four-stroke. Weight alone makes them very different, not to mention almost three times as much power. And that power is expressed completely differently, There's engine braking, iust for a srart. Coming up throuSh the classes does give certain obvious advantages - you know all the tracks already, and you are familiar, also, with a purebred racing This year's toothsome twosome - Pedrosa and Stoner - have both dispensed with this period of adjustment; even toothier Elias has switched machines - Yamaha to the friendlier Honda - and has picked up the pace pronto. It's iust not supposed to be this easy. Especially for kids who just iumped up off light, little two-cylinder two-strokes. I don't particularly want to return to a hoary old question, but you have to remember that everybody expected that the new four-strokers would give World Superbike riders an easy entry into MotocP lt hasn't happened, and although that may be more due to circumstances than anything else, the fact remains. ln the case of Edwards, he actually spoke last year of having to unlearn his tD 3 I ADMITS TO I I Ro5 , SHocK 'l I E "--\-/ \ 74 APR|L 26,2006 . CYCLE NEWS