MOTOGP » Rossi makes giant leap

Before the 2007 season nobody thaught that stoner would do like he did. Weird that the year before, on the honda, he never came close to Rossi... Haden won one title too, where was he this year?
The previous year tells us something, but sure not everything.
We must wait and see what 2008 will bring!

Hopefully some good fight between Rossi and stoner, THEN we'll see who's the best!

Go Rossi!

Ozzie Boy,
Us Rossi fans are not going to make excuses, you will soon learn that last year they was not excuse but fact's my friend.

As for Casey he has my full respect & deserves the credit for the WC last year, however i'm telling you this & it's straight up, stoner had it easy last year virtualy romped away witht he championship.

He will not have the same luxury this year because he has another guy on decent rubber who is capable of racing him.

for those who thinks that the Jerez test is going to tell us who's in with a shout of the championship well don't count your chickens, although Rossi was the overall fastest it proved to be a complete red herring. Cont....

I'm certain that the Yamaha is quicker & has more horse power to be unleashed, the electronics is by far the biggest problem they have to sort out before the start of the season.

Rossi has already done a pretty good job at finding the right tyres for race's however i'm not convinced he's totaly happy with a qualifying tyre as yet.

In his recent interview Valentino has confirmed that he is much happier with the bike's power & the electronics, & confirmed that the fuel problems of last year have been resolved, if anyone wants me to clarify what I mean, it's the fuel that was one of the main problems.

The bike could not utilise the full power capacity because it would run out of fuel

before completing the race.

this year that's sorted & they are just tweaking the engine mapping now to see what's best, although this happens right through the year anyway.

i don't like the way they reduce the fuel capacity cos that is truly taking it out of the riders hands, tyres go off during a race and it comes down to tyre management but fuel there should be enough for the rider to go as hard as he wants all race and not worry about running out of fuel, thats not racing

And besides that there will be anther engine upgrade at the Qatar test, Yamaha are in a decent shape at the start of this season. Lorenzo still needs some tweaking.

Would anyone know which circuits are the most fuel critical on the calender. Some races must be longer than others,the time spent on full throtle,air density(temp,relative humidity,and barometric pressure)would all be factors. It will be be a big contrast between the Sepang tests(relatively poor density which should mean less fuel unless riders were raising RPM to compensate)and the upcoming one in Spain where the air density will be much better which will mean more power/fuel however I do not know how the circuits compare with the amount of time on full throttle. It would be a shame to see Pedrosa win the WC on the basis of his weight if the races turn out to be decided by fuel usage.

hello CA,
Im not sure about the tracks and No. of laps they have to go on them.But would be important to know - if the theme is fuel and running out of it. Would be good to know and think Morgue might know something about this?
Morgue, any comments?

Also, just wanted to correct you about Rossi's weight in your previous to last comment - he would be significantly lighter than both Hopkins and Hayden.
some sites I have found the 59kg mark ( when he was younger ) and the newest ones that I have seen would be around the mark of 62kg...all muscle of course

62 Kg??? with or without the hair....

Tom er how many races did Little Nicky win in 06 again? V Casey 07?? pretty lame comparison mate..... keep dreaming

Hi Gina..The 67KG came from the Motogp.com site on rider profiles but yes he HAS had that hair cut.
The site seems up to date but I do not know about the weight. If the weight is correct(and he is taller than most riders)he has definitely been doing a good job with the situation he is in.

I think fuel consumption was more of an issue last year than we are told with a loss of pace then possibly blaming the tyres for going off.

I remember Ducati project manager Suppo thanking Shell for coming up with a fuel solution overnight for a Sunday race in one of the European GPs last year.

The 800s are faster over most GPs race distance than the 990s and spend much more time on throttle.