Cycle News

Cycle News 2015 Issue 43 October 27

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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VOL. 52 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 27, 2015 P123 lided with another. The one that had 260-odd horsepower won a decisive victory. (As an aside, when the late gull snapped a shard off the outer edge of the cowling, at hand level, it reduced the fair- ing's overall width and made the wings project beyond the bodywork. His bike became technically illegal, so if Yamaha had cared to protest…) Third-placed Andrea Iannone joked that the bird "was waiting to give me a kiss." This useful sound-bite is an important ex- ample of his growing mastery of alien language, a tongue spoken most fluently by Rossi. More important was that Iannone had just defeated Rossi in a furious battle for third. Fearless as ever, he seized the position on the exit from that same tight corner. It was a signal moment in his career. Taken alone, it was a great Sunday's work. Taken against the backdrop of the whole sea- son, his third in the class but first on a factory bike, it was more significant. Another step on an increasingly impressive journey. Iannone's previous reputation has not been that good. Fast, very aggressive, and just a touch crash happy. He did nothing to soften that image with his self- styled nickname: The Maniac Joe. His performance this year has been rather different. Certainly no less aggressive (that Austra- lian double-overtake on Rossi and Marquez another landmark), he has become quite unexpect- edly reliable. Iannone has scored points in every race but one, Japan. But through no fault of his own—the bike failed. Until then, he had shared this perfect record only with the ever-amazing Rossi and the not-quite-yet-alien Bradley Smith, another major improver this year. Iannone has a few more boxes to tick before he can completely slip the surly bonds of planet Earth. He hasn't won a race yet. But there is another impor- tant yardstick: he is measured against the only other rider with exactly his kind of bike. Team- mate Andrea Dovizioso is a for- midable former 125 champion, but he has been thoroughly out- classed by The Maniac Joe this year, and not always for reasons of bad luck. Good tracks allow good riders to show their mettle, and there was nobody less non-ferrous at Phillip Island than the other new candidate for outer space. Maverick Vinales is a class rookie, as last year in Moto2, where he won four races. Riding the still-new still-slow Suzuki, he has excelled from the start, and also kept on getting better. He stands up well to the team- mate criterion. The other Suzuki rider, fiery-tempered Aleix Espar- garo, is no slouch, as shown when he managed to put the "Slowzuki" on pole at Catalunya, in spite of that track's very long straight. And new boy Vinales? He was second-fastest, right alongside. All this is a tribute to the over- all integrity of the sweet-handling Suzuki package—hope it doesn't become unbalanced when the next one has more horsepower. It is even more of a tribute to the young Spaniard's raw talent, shown to abundance around the flowing Australian circuit. He was sixth, beating Cal Crutchlow in the chase behind fifth-placed Pedrosa. Maverick by name. Won't the aliens' spaceship get a bit crowded with two new additions? Actually not, because there is an inevitable turnover here. New aliens come in, old ones go out. In the case of Rossi's species of alien, however, we're still wait- ing to find out exactly how old. Maybe 100. At 26, Iannone is not exactly a young thruster. But Vinales is just 20, some six days older than the youngest MotoGP rider, fellow class rookie Jack Miller (another interesting prospect). Once youngest-ever champi- on, is it already time for Marquez to start looking over his shoul- der? CN

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