Lorenzo is my bet, hands off. I'd luv to say Rossi will be up there but i think he may struggle again. Would be nice if someone unexpected blows them away as Casey did in his first year at Ducati but can't see it although Cal is looking good.
I'd say Honda need to do more than 4 laps at a time for a true race time TP JL's 25 lap run at sepang was most impressive with the reports of tyres going off at half distance.
I reckon VR will be up there after May but who knows, the new tyres, test ban lifted..... going to be a good year for close racing.
I think slide would be more appropriate ... the flying would have come after that, over the mountain Yep - You're on, my tip is Casey to win title number 3. My charity is Riders for Health Ok, so your man is Jorge - nice. I think rossi will struggle again as well, testing hasn't looked good so far despite a whole new frame and everything else. Why? That's all Casey has always done and it's earned him two titles - he knows more than us about what he needs I hope so mate, I want to see him and the Ducati up there. My 1, 2, 3 prediction: Stoner Lorenzo Pedrosa The more interesting developments will be who appears next ... Dovi? Crutchlow? Spies ... who has the second factory yamaha after Spies contract runs out? He needs to impress this year...
Being Neutral!! I think the new tyres and increased weight limit has caught honda out (I'm only going by reports from the hrc team) they spent all last year building the new bike... Yamaha waited a little. Have a look at JL's lap time over the 25 laps. Next year!! who know's CRT ?
i'd settle for a proper race (not a run away winner) whoever it is. If nothing else CRT wil bring an axe murderer element to the racing even if it's there own race seperate from the factory boyz. RDP will be good, Ellison will not be is my prediction. Bradl might be one to watch once he finds his feet. Not long now.
You know me, I try not to favour any rider over another Yep, the new tyres and weight have caused Honda problems, namely chatter - but despite that they're still the quickest and they've got more time to develop it. I'd rather be in that position in having a few problems and still being the fastest, than anywhere else, no? Yep - though I'm thinking I know what colour those factory bikes (being beaten by CRT machines) will be, and it's the wrong colour ... It'll be interesting to see how Edwards goes, the old man's still quick! I reckon you might be right about Ellison - he's a good rider but maybe a little out of his depth at this level. I like him too, just think he's not a MotoGP rider. Bradl will definitely be interesting to watch, I hope he doesn't go the way of Aoyama and confidence will be the key for him early on. He's unlikely to get the levels of support he needs to develop that though, so I hope he's a strong character - like a Crutchlow. As for seeing a race, we'd all like that too - but like Mick Doohan said when he was asked about his buggering off at the front making it a poor spectacle "What do you want me to do, slow down?" Everyone else needs to pull their fingers out - like Yamaha appears to have done, their bike is pretty good, maybe the best on the grid.
100% can't lay any blame on Stoner. A racer races start to finish. Last year was a strange one as Pedrosa would have been more of a challenge had he not shattered again etc etc. I think Casey would probably enjoy a fight more to be honest and i'm sure Dorna would.
I think Dorna would fall all over themselves to see more of a fight and I think the Yamaha is closer, or better, than the Honda this year. And yeah, I agree, Dani had some bad luck last year but then he always seems to have bad luck every year. Who knows, maybe this year could be his; he's definitely fast enough. Can we watch some racing yet? :smile:
Hi Dave, sorry I missed this. Too far! It's 1000 km's away from my place according to Googlemaps, an 11 hour drive. I hope to race there either this year or next. More likely next year.
