Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 21 MAY 27, 2015 P141 From what Rossi could see, the Honda had improved from last year to this… but his Yamaha had improved more. It fell to Andrea Dovizioso—the newly re-nick- named "Desmo Dovi"—for a more piercing analysis. In my opinion, he said, with his mournful face, the talents of Marquez had masked the faults of the Honda. It was not a well-balanced bike. This is not the first time this has happened to Honda. The last time was in 2004. Rossi had been running riot on their 990cc RC211V; but was getting a queasy feeling from HRC. To him, they gave the impression that it was the bike that was win- ning, not the rider. He determined to prove them wrong, switched to underdog Yamaha, and proceeded to kick Honda's backside in serial style. Honda recruited riders of some skill to resist the prospect of losing face in this way. Including Biaggi, who may not have been Rossi's equal, but was no slouch. Neither he nor anyone else could do much with the bike they'd inherited from Rossi. While Yamaha had jumped forward, Honda hadn't bothered. It took some years before they regained the momentum of which this most ad- vanced of racing companies is capable of. That was then, this is now: and there's no hint at present that Marquez is about to jump ship. But his own pronouncements on the bike are rather grim. After the French race, he said he'd had to fight the bike harder than his rivals; earlier in the weekend that while his style of sliding into the corners under the brakes might be familiar, it now carried a quite different message. "Before, I made the slide. Now, the bike makes the slide, and I try to stop it," he said. As a result, a third straight championship is sud- denly looking… not impossible, but far from the foregone conclusion we all expected. Last year, Honda's better braking and stronger acceleration left the Yamahas floun- dering, by comparison. All they had on their side was corner speed. This year, Yamaha have added down-shifting to their seamless gearbox, and made other changes. Now the bike brakes as well as the Honda. And still goes around the corners faster. Plus, Ducati has returned, in force. The new GP15 is still under- going refinement, but it's a reliable top-three finisher already, and will only get better. This is not good news for the current HRC hierarchy. The man in charge is the bullish vice presi- dent Shuhei Nakamoto, who has enjoyed the plaudits of success for the past couple of years. In the way of things, he will also have to take the blame for failure. Don't expect him back next year. For one thing, Japan has a mandatory retire- ment age of 65, while Nakamoto is already 68. It's a bit of a puzzle that he is still working anyway. Whether he can turn the thing around or not, his days are clearly numbered. By historical precedence, his departure will trigger major changes at HRC. New managers bring in their own favorites. This applies both to the Japanese staff and the small army of ancillary Europeans, headed by ex-Ducati honcho Livio Suppo. Some nails will be bitten here, unless the bike's fortunes change radically. Five of 18 races is a fairly small sample. Things could change for Marquez in a couple of weeks. If they don't, in an ironical twist, it will be the bike rather than the rider that looks bad. CN "THINGS COULD CHANGE FOR MARQUEZ IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS. IF THEY DON'T, IN AN IRONICAL TWIST, IT WILL BE THE BIKE RATHER THAN THE RIDER THAT LOOKS BAD."

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