MOTOGP » Checa: This is my worst bike

Checa, imagine you were on the Yamaha, Suzuki or Team Roberts bike this year?

The Honda has come along way since the first couple of rounds, so IMO this is just another excuse from Checa.

well he will be on the best bike with the best team next year in WSBK, so lets see what he comes up with next

I look forward to seeing Checa in WSBK 2008.
He might be getting a bit long in the tooth, but he is a hard b'strd.
Remember a couple of years ago at the Sachsenring when during qualifying he highsided down the very fast'waterfall' section? After sliding all the way to the bottom of the hill with smoke pouring off his **** and the bike cartwheeling after him, he ran back to pits and jumped on the #2 bike and was straight into doing his fastestlaps.
Go on yersel old-yin!!

Ozzie Boy, the Honda Checa is on is a long way from Pedrosa's bike, or even Melandri's, it's probably not that much different from the beginning of the season.

Tom, in theory it should be the same as what Elias and Melandri have, and they've been competitive this year.

I know what your going to say next....tyres

Ozzie Boy - I think you'll find the Honda that Checa has bears only a slight resemblance to that of Elias/Melandri; the Gresini agreement with Honda allows them much more development than LCR unfortunately.

Why is it some are saying the Honda Checa is riding this year is as good a Pedrosa et al but the one Stoner threw down the road x amount of times last year was a dog?

Last year Honda won the championship for the third time on a bike with 5 years development. An awful lot of that development would have got through to Gresini and LCR after all that time. Even Roberts on a home made bike could get on the podium so the motor must have been good.

This year the very best Honda is only just beginning to come good. Any ideas?

I think a couple of factors are involved here:

1. Stoner has publicly stated that he didn't know when the Michelin front was going to 'go' and although he binned it many times was fast also, so the bike was no dog especially at the end of it's development evolution.
2. The new bike was no evolution of the 990 and was a ground up re-write, which left Honda along with everyone else at the start of the learning curve with the bikes capabilities
3. I think Honda probably underestimated the development of the 800's from the other manufacturers and expected theirs to be 'enough'

All the Honda customer teams have to pay for upgrades as the season progresses.
Team Roberts couldn't afford to and the results were plain to see.
I'd bet Gresini got everything that was available as it is a much better funded team. But LCR have always struggled to get sponsorship, so I wouldn't be surprised if Checa's bike didn't have the full upgrade packages.

Melandri agrees with Checa, compare Melandri this year to last or any other.

checa is riding next year for a bowl of rice - that shows determination go carlos