This year promises to be the most exciting in MotoGP’s three year history, with Suzuki coming back with a bang and Kawasaki lifting their game considerably to try and give the rest a run for their money. But the combination everybody’s watching closest is that of the effervescent Valentino Rossi and Yamaha.
In 2002, the first year of the 1000 cc four stroke formula, he trounced all comers in no less than 11 Grand Prix on his Honda, and last year the Italian took his Japanese machine to nine wins from 16 starts on his way to the title. In fact, Honda has dominated the series convincingly from the beginning. In 2002 only two races were won by other marques, with Max Biaggi taking a pair of wins on his Yamaha, and last year Honda won every GP but one – a lone victory by Ducati’s Loris Capirossi at Catalunya deprived the Big Red H of a full house of wins.
But that was then and now is now. Rossi’s moved to Yamaha, and at official pre-season testing in Spain last month the five-times world champion stunned the opposition by recording the quickest times at both Catalunya and Jerez. Not bad, when you consider that the five riders mounted on the Yamaha M1 last year managed but one top-three position in Grand Prix all season.
Now that we know that Rossi and Yamaha mean business we have to decide who his biggest threats are this year, and on the evidence of what happened in Spain there are a couple of surprises in store for last year’s front runners. Two times World Superbike champion Colin Edwards was on brilliant form in Spain after having a disappointing year as a MotoGP rookie on a sub-standard Aprilia in 2003. Now Honda mounted, the Texas Tornado is back on track, and was only narrowly pipped by Valentino Rossi in the final lap of a special 40 minute timed session for the BMW Z4 that was up for grabs at Catalunya. Ex 500cc World Champ Kenny Roberts Junior also surprised many with some spirited riding at Catalunya, ending up near the sharp end of the pack, and last year’s World Superbike Championship runner-up Ruben Xaus was consistently a front runner, both at Catalunya and the rain-marred Jerez testing. If he doesn’t crash out too much he could quite possibly snatch a podium or two for Ducati in 2004.
Also on a MotoGP Ducati for the first time is reigning World Superbike Champion Neil Hodgson in his GP rookie year, and he too has shown more than a few of the established MotoGP riders the way home in pre-season testing.
And what about the Roman Emperor, Max Biaggi? Has he shot his bolt? Probably not, but his confidence must have taken a huge knock after the first test sessions of the season. Biaggi on a Yamaha played second fiddle to Honda mounted Rossi for most of his 500cc and MotoGP career, and consistently claimed that this nemesis had a better machine. Then, last year, when he shifted to Honda only to be again trounced by Rossi, he claimed that his countryman was being given superior machinery by the factory. Last month, in Spain, with Rossi now on a Yamaha and Biaggi on one of the top Honda four strokes, he found himself in 11th place, nearly a second behind the champion on a derivative of the bike he had consistently slated when he rode it. Even worse, four of the seven Hondas competing for the BMW Z4 prize circulated quicker than Max did. Some people consider Max Biaggi to be somewhat abrasive, but that’s an understatement. He’s a thoroughly arrogant sunovabitch who hates to lose, especially to Rossi, so we can expect to see fireworks, on and off the track, from him at Welkom.
Which leaves us with the rest of last year’s front runners and a couple of dark horses. Sete Gibernau is sure to be a regular race-leader on his Honda, and you can take it for granted that Ducati’s A-Team of Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss will have picked up the pace by the time they get to Welkom. Ducati has short lines of communication between the race teams and the factory, and they can do what needs to be done to become competitive in less time than the Japanese superteams can. In Spain Capirossi clocked the highest top speed ever recorded on a Grand Prix machine, with a stunning 347,4 km/hr, so there’s no shortage of horsepower under those exquisitely sculpted tanks.
What’s become increasingly obvious is that there are more potential race-winners in MotoGP this year than ever before, and tipping a winner is going to be hard work. My choice for the title? Just watch Colin Edwards prove that his two Superbike World Championships were no flash in the pan!