Rossi also doesn’t panic early. Five rounds into an 18-round championship and he’s just 21 points behind. An off-track or a tech problem on Stoner’s part, a win for Rossi, and the king could be back in charge.
Suzuki Seek the Final Squirt.
Suzuki’s resurgence - a third and a win in successive races - is the reward for a winter testing programme intended to establish very early the basic specification of the 800cc GSV-R engine.
"We wanted to do the hard work then, so that we could make it easy for the riders when the season started," Stuart Shenton, John Hopkins’ crew chief, said at Le Mans. "The riders were doing long runs to check controllability. It meant that for the first three or four races we knew the engine spec that we would use and we knew that we would keep it."
Now the team has new parts coming through from Japan, and can easily compare their performance with the base specification. So what’s the next step that could help the Rizla Suzukis to achieve continued podiums?
"A tiny bit more acceleration out of the corners, without sacrificing anything else that we have" Shenton said. "We want to make the bike rideable and controllable, and keep the tyres under it, rather than trying to match the Ducatis."
Judging by the speed trap figures at Le Mans, Suzuki are getting close to their target.
Casey Stoner was fastest on the Ducati, at 288.5kph (179.16mph) in the dry qualifying practice, while
John Hopkins was second fastest overall at 287.7kph (178.66mph).
A Great Love Story.
Le Mans turned into the race where Casey Stoner’s Buddha-like composure in the saddle of the Ducati Desmosedici might finally have cracked. A slippery track, a pit stop to change to a bike with full wets, a downpour, and
Valentino Rossi out in front in the early laps - exactly the circumstances in which a 21-year-old who had completed only 21
MotoGP races might have cracked the throttle open a fraction too early and hit the ground.
