[Ducati] It should be a good year in MotoGP

[Jones, Dennis]

Garth,
There's certainly reason to be enthused that we may have competitive
racing.  The Suzuki's might actually be quite competitive this year, and
perhaps the Kawasaki's might be in the mix, rather than in the back.
There's reason to expect that Ducati & Yamaha will continue to field
bikes & riders with podium potential, and it's interesting to see that
Honda seems the brand that is struggling the most right now.......all
the way down to the Roberts/ Honda-powered bike which is languishing
near the bottom of the lap time lists.

What's potentially sobering to me is looking at the lap time list for
Jerez, though.  Granted, this is just one day in time, but in the list
of Best Laps for this test day at Jerez, Rossi had 9 of the fastest 17
laps.  Edwards had 5 of the fastest 17 laps.  That means that Yamaha had
14 of the top 17 laps, and with Edwards turning fast laps it means that
Yamaha must have a pretty good bike at this point in time.  Rossi
doesn't need an advantage like having the fastest/best bike on the grid
in addition to his skill.  

One of the things that the race pundits who know what they're talking
about, unlike me, often say is how there may be a rider who can lever on
some Q tires and fire off a fast lap, or a rider can just get a flyer
going and put up one spectacular lap time, but Rossi can string together
10 very fast laps within tenths of one another, something others can't
replicate with the same consistency.  I do think it has the prospects of
being an exciting year, though, like you do.  Not too far away, either.
First race is just 6 weeks from now.
Dennis

Alex,

I'm not saying that Rossi won't dominate.  I think he's by the most
talented
rider in the field.  However, the fact that Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda,
Kawasaki
and Ducati were all in the 10 fastest is encouraging.  The last thing I
like
in racing is utter domination by one manufacturer.

Garth

On 1/25/07, Alex Ortner <aortner264789mi at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> Hi Garth
> That report was a little a head of itself seeing that Rossi finished
> with the fastest time over all. But I still think it should be a good
> year. Just hoping someone can take Rossi's measure when he isn't
having
> trouble but I won't hold my breath.
> Alex Ortner
> 1036CS
> 908SSP
> 966Gp Due
> Audi allroad
*****