What are Ducati doing in Moto GP? They are competing with a machine that has no relevance to their current range and almost none to their history, and in so doing they are being made to look mediocre by the Japs. Would they not be better off diverting these resources into WSBK, an event that is hugely associated with their iconic design, and one that they have a proven winning record in?
think its wrong as well going into the lower spec class when dovi is 1thousand of a second off pedrosa,
It's a four stroke, electronics and so filter down to road bikes regardless, Hondas RCV doesn't represent a road bike being a V5 but they spend more than anyone else. Its the blue riband racing class lets not forget.
Fair point Freak, but Honda has a long history of flagship V4s, and most people like to associate racing success with a machine they own, even if much modified. Hence WSBK doing wonders for Ducati sales over 20 years.
Unless you have something like a 100m sprint, where it's just a question of who can run fastest, and assuming no one is cheating by doping, things are fairly simple. In motorsport, they are rarely that simple. There are multiple rules which will advantage some more than others. Arguably, the premier class in Moto GP is a Nipponese benefit. They more or less imposed the rules which benefit them, due to their being able to throw more resources at squeezing the most performance out of their answer to those rules. The Open class seeks to give other factories a better chance of being competitive. Yam and Honda didn't want to work on the Magneti Marelli ECU, so if they don't like what it has become and feel it now favours Ducati who did work on it, it's somewhat tough titty for them. However, now that they see that Ducati may be getting closer to them and the season won't be a Honda Yam benefit as usual, they have applied pressure to essentially handicap Open class bikes. In other words, if an Open class bike becomes more successful than they are, or even threatens to be really competitive, then handicapping enters the frame and their performance will be harder to attain. That's not really fair, in my view. I can't remember another premier class Moto season where handicapping has ever been applied during its course. If Honda and Yam wanted to exploit the Open class, they were and are welcome to do so. I have no time for pseudo green considerations in racing, like limiting fuel capacity. Racing is anything but green. What happens to all the used tyres and all the engines which only last a few miles? Having a nod at fuel consumption is just ridiculous. More fuel comes with more weight, limiting handling, braking and acceleration. That should be disincentive enough to cart around litres of the stuff you don't really need without restricting it. If you want green racing, have a dull solar bike challenge. I don't see anything Ducati has done as being unfair or rule exploitation, though you can argue that their WSBK success was based for years on favourable rules, which they managed to tweak in their favour season after season. If the Japanese factories think that Ducati has an unfair advantage in the Open class, nothing is stopping them joining the fray. They have the resources. For the punting public, we just want to see the fastest bikes and the closest racing, so the Open class is going to be a lot better than the also ran CRT things.
Good response Glid . The sort of answer I have in my head but would never take the trouble to type out. I do admire people that can form a well written post more than ten lines long , I just haven't the patience or the inclination.
Even if Ducati never get a third and never make it to factory 2, or whatever they want to call it , They will , or should , win the open class . That leaves very little encouragement for the proper none factory teams as they have little to aim for . Without crt there would no longer be Motogp as there wouldnt have been enough entries . I think that the crt teams have been treated appallingly . Ducati is a factory team however you want to package it . This is a big mistake by a team grasping at straws and a poor decision by Dorna allowing it to happen.
Moto gp is like watching paint dry, BSB or WSBK are ten times the joy for the spectators. Moto go has gone the way f1 was for years , changing rules engine limits and all the other bollocks.its being destroyed further year on year. Just my opinion. Others may disagree but I just can't stand to watch it anymore
