Suprises and Letdowns of the season so far

So with 5 races gone, who has done better than you expected so far, and who has let you down slightly? It can be a rider, team, circuit, anything you like.

For me, the big letdown so far has been Honda. They have slipped down from probably the best team in the paddock to about fourth, and thus far we haven't seen any signs of improvement. Pedrosa flatters the bike in occasional races while others struggle.

Then theres Gresini, from four wins last year, which was no mean feat as a privateer, I was expecting them to slip in just behind Yamaha and compete for the championship with Melandri. But it hasn't happened, and they may be facing the prospect of losing both riders for 2007. Again, this can be blamed on the poor performance of the Honda.

Another one I have to say is Randy De Puniet. For some reason I had a feeling he would have been on the podium by now, and be in the top 8 in the standings, but it hasn't quite happened. I still think he will before the years out though.

The biggest suprise for me is Suzuki. They are almost certainly now the third powerhouse, not far behind Yamaha and Ducati. With two great young riders on board who are both capable of winning a world championship, and a good leader in Paul Denning, I think its only gonna get better from here. I hope so, anyway.

I'm also quite impressed with Guintoli. Beating his much more experienced team mate in the standings (all be it by two points) is no mean feat for a rookie, especially on the Tech 3.

for me the biggest supprise is stoners form and the ducati straight out the creat.
letdowns has to be krjnr and team fr concidering the results they had last season on the 990 and nakano non the honda.

Surprises:

Ducati - unbelievable speed considering new rules
Stoner - hasnt crashed yet
Bridgestone - better than michelin
Guintoli - leading at Le Mans!
Suzuki - race win and podium

Letdowns:

Capirossi - has been poor on best bike
Hayden - expected more from the champ
Honda - surprisingly slow although improving now with Pedrosa
Jacque - i didnt realise quite how crap he was!
Team KR - they are rubbish!

biggest let down....Stoner getting married.

should be nailing umbrella hoes instead.

Pleasant surprises:

Stoner: Does anyone call him "Crashey" anymore? I remember how we were all scratching our heads when Ducati announced the deal with Stoner. The little guy was hired shortly after binning Gibernau, aggravating his shoulder injury. So far this year he has been unrecognizable. Casey has ridden with his head, preserving good finishes when the victory or even just the box is out of reach. He looks like Nicky did last year, only much better because he is winning races as well. Qatar was a career ride for Casey (even though his career is still young); riding in such close proximity to Rossi for an entire race is perhaps the ultimate test for an improving young rider. Casey aced it!

Bridgestone: Since I've been a huge sports car racing fan before picking up Moto GP, Michelin seems invincible. Over there, The French rubber company dominates. If you want to win, get some Michelins! Team Corvette had to switch from Goodyear to Michelin in order to keep up with Prodrive. The increase in grip caused parts in the driveline to break! These parts had before run flawlessly in 12 and 24-hour enduros! Seeing Bridgestone get such good results this year surprised me. Maybe some 'Stones will find their way onto a sportscar or two and give the Michelin teams a fit.

Disappointments:

Nicky and Honda: Who'd a thunk that Honda would be behind with their new bike? They had what was arguably the best 4-stroke GP bike in the 990 era. So why such a hard time now? Nicky has been a let down as well. His teammate is clearly showing up right now. Throwing away the good result in France just adds to the hurt. Hang in there Nicky!

Surprises

Stoner&Ducati: I thought they would be fast but inconsistent, I was wrong.
Barros: I thought he would be a gridfiller except if it rained, I got it the wrong way round!
Hopkins: I didn't rate the guy, but his pace and consistency this year are pretty damm good.

Letdowns:

Capirossi: I expected him to actually be the fastest Ducati rider and he barely beats Hoffman.
Hayden: I didn't expect him to beat Vale and Pedrosa, but I expected him to be in the top 5 at least!
Honda: What a piece of .... they've built! Worse bike on the grid!
Nakano: I thought he used to flater the Kawa, maybe it was the other way round. :S
KR: Imagine the RCV, take out the few things the RCV has got right, what you got left is the KR bike.

Surprises:

Ducati, no doubt. The bike has been awesome, while everyone else was riding leisurely down the straights, the Duke disappeared in front of them. I'll add a note for Pramac D'Antin here, their performance this year on the Duke will surely secure them Ducati funding for next year. Barros has proved himself as more than a grid-filler, as have Pramac.

Suzuki. Whatever parts they brought in recently, work. Vermeulen's win and Hopper's podium is arguably Suzuki's best run in the last five years.

Stoner, his maturity has taken everyone by surprise. I still think Rossi was riding second in Qatar expecting to pass the various parts of the Ducati scattered around the track at any point.

Dani, best rider on a poor bike. Honda got it all wrong this year, and while Dani can't match Rossi, and I doubt he can match Stoner on the Duke, I'm amazed that he can keep up with Guintoli considering how poor the Honda is this year.

Disappointments:

Team KR, where to start? It looks like everything Honda got wrong, KR got more so. Hard to imagine how, but maybe they just took a hammer to the standard RCV. Its a good looking bike, the KR one, but you'd be hard pressed to see it through all the dirt its eating from the other bikes.

Vermeulen, now bear with me. A surprise is by definition, something that you don't expect. We all know that Vermeulen is fast in the wet, we saw it in Turkey in qualifying and in Superbikes, but I think what we expected was to see Vermeulen master the dry a bit more than he has. Qualifying towards the front in Mugello meant nothing when he had a reversing competition with Colin Edwards during the race. We've seen that the Suzuki can compete in the dry, now I want to see that Vermeulen can compete in the dry too.

Have to say I almost forgot about Stoner and Ducati. After just 5 races I'm so used to seeing them at the top it isn't even a suprise anymore. I will own up, I was sceptical when he signed with Ducati, but its turning into a great combination. I do think its only a matter of time though before I cracks and Rossi takes the advantage. I think his year will come, but I don't think it's this year.

Suprises

That everyone thinks the Honda is .... because it hasn't won yet. 4 2nd places and 1 3rd = ....?
No one thought Casey could ride as well as he has.
Jacque got a job
Jacque still has a job
Suzuki built a half decent bike - which by the way isn't better than the Honda, Ducati, or Yamaha.
Anyone thought Hayden would be a contender


Disappointments

KRJR - since 2001
Michelin - Admitted they got a little complacent, pathetic at this level.
Yamaha - hiring Edwards again

Biggest surprise hands down is the Ducati - the Stoner Ducati in particular. Nobody would have ever guessed he would be leading the championship. Not only that but he seems to have matured big time since last season when everyone caleld him "rolling stoner". The kid has grown up and clearly the Duck suits his riding very well. He is on fire...

I am also glad to see Suzuki getting up there and mixing it up. If they front another two bikes next year and possible new riders (Max, Spies, Toseland, or Elias) I expect them to be be up there more often.

Biggest letdowns have to be Honda in general for having developed a bike that nobody seems to like. Nor are tehy having Hondaesque results. Used to winning and always deemed as the best bike, this is no longer the case. I am bummed for Hayden...great rider and super nice dude, but can't seem to get to grips with the bike.

Edwards is also a huge letdown...not sure what is happening there but its a shame because he is a great rider, was wsbk champ and has had a world champ as a teamate for a few seasons now. I doubt he will be around Yamaha next year. I am afraid he is done...

I am also sad to see the king kenny team struggling...they performed so well last season but have not been able to adjust to the new regulations. Hopefully with Kurtis helping out, maybe they will figure out some things and beat some of the other hondas...

Surprises:

Ducati's dominance. It was evident in the GP7's debut test that it was going to be a very competitive bike but I don't think anyone outside the Ducati family had any idea it would be this strong.

Bridgestone. Take away Michelin's midnight deliveries throughout the weekend and suddenly the playing field is quite even.

Suzuki. It's about time they got it right.

Disappointments:

Honda. For those who think Honda's season isn't that bad, remember this is the team that dominated Grand Prix racing throughout the 90's and developed the most dominant bike of the 990cc era. No wins from six starts with six bikes and an engine supplier to a seventh? Huge disappointment.

Hayden. I knew he would have a difficult time adapting to the 800. I knew he should have taken the Ducati offer. I just didn't know the consequences of the two would be so large. It seems to me he and the RC212V are not very compatable to one another. Unless his results steadily improve this year and in 2008, you really have to wonder where he goes when his HRC contract expires.

Michelin. Funny how it all changes when you can't make tires overnight specifically from data provided throughout practices.

Team KR. They got it wrong. It also doesn't help that the RC212V powerplant is a pile that doesn't provide any proper drive. The factory hailed for their chassis need to prove their worth in that respect and save their season and future.

In my view, biggest surprise is without doubt Stoner. We knew the Ducati was good from the shakedowns last year but Stoner has been a revelation. Biggest let down is Hayden.

Honda may come strong later in the year, the philosophy behind the RCV212 was never outright power, but manouverability and fast direction changes. Ducati went for the complete opposite. they created an absolute bruiser of an engine and built the chassis around it. But it's still early days for the 800cc GP bike, seeing as these current regulations are gonna be here for a while.
It's going to get more and more difficult and expensive for team KR to remain competitive, I know kenny's got ideas of his own brand of track/race bike but I really think he'd be better off trying to lease at least one Honda seeing as US financial backing may be easier to come by in the future, as long as the team is competitive. As an existing, established, American motoGP team he's got quite a lot of leverage right now, lets hope he uses it.
Too much blame/credit for the tyre episodes so far have been placed squarely on the shoulders of the manufacturers. Good choice/bad choice may be closer to the truth, makes for the odd surprise result though.

The Honda is a competitive machine, far from a 'huge disappointment'. The change from 990cc to 800cc is a much smaller development leap then 500cc to 4 strokes.

The early 2002/03 Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki were piles of ..... These guys had no idea what they were doing, using 500cc frames with 4 stroke engines. Honda put all their resources into developing a clean sheet project. The Honda was amazing, but it was racing junk, 02 was littered with 2 stroke machines. 03 is the season they dominated winning everything except Catalunya, who did people expect to win, Kawasaki with McCoy? Suzuki with Jnr? Yamaha with Checa? The top riders were on the top machine (by a mile) Honda.

When Yamaha improved their bike for 04, the 'dominance' of Honda was broken and has been broken for the past 3 seasons. There is a lot more parity between the Japanese and Italian teams this year. The fact is Suzuki are now reasonably competitive, JB thinks Kawasaki could be on the podium if it didn't have two frogs on it, Ducati have continued where they left off in 06. Many of the top riders are spread around. Kawasaki are the only team missing out and are paying for it or should be paying for it $$$.

There is an expectation that Honda are able to kick the .... out of other teams whenever they choose and its simply not correct, not in this era of racing. The 4 stroke era was 'dominated' by Honda in 02/03, Yamaha 04/05, and now here we are, there is no single dominant manufacturer.

Honda won 3 championships in the 4 stoke era and they weren't dominate in 06. They have a bike capable of winning this year, the problem is Rossi and Yamaha are capable of winning, Stoner and Ducati are capable of winning. They are having to compete at a higher level, with many more manufacturers that can take podium positions away from them.

Honda have a good bike and a very talented rider, Kawasaki are the only ones that don't.

Top post


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vale4607 @ Jun 7 2007, 04:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>They [honda] have a bike capable of winning this year, the problem is Rossi and Yamaha are capable of winning, Stoner and Ducati are capable of winning.great isn't it!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vale4607 @ Jun 7 2007, 05:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>The Honda is a competitive machine, far from a 'huge disappointment'. The change from 990cc to 800cc is a much smaller development leap then 500cc to 4 strokes.

The early 2002/03 Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki were piles of ..... These guys had no idea what they were doing, using 500cc frames with 4 stroke engines. Honda put all their resources into developing a clean sheet project. The Honda was amazing, but it was racing junk, 02 was littered with 2 stroke machines. 03 is the season they dominated winning everything except Catalunya, who did people expect to win, Kawasaki with McCoy? Suzuki with Jnr? Yamaha with Checa? The top riders were on the top machine (by a mile) Honda.

When Yamaha improved their bike for 04, the 'dominance' of Honda was broken and has been broken for the past 3 seasons. There is a lot more parity between the Japanese and Italian teams this year. The fact is Suzuki are now reasonably competitive, JB thinks Kawasaki could be on the podium if it didn't have two frogs on it, Ducati have continued where they left off in 06. Many of the top riders are spread around. Kawasaki are the only team missing out and are paying for it or should be paying for it $$$.

There is an expectation that Honda are able to kick the .... out of other teams whenever they choose and its simply not correct, not in this era of racing. The 4 stroke era was 'dominated' by Honda in 02/03, Yamaha 04/05, and now here we are, there is no single dominant manufacturer.

Honda won 3 championships in the 4 stoke era and they weren't dominate in 06. They have a bike capable of winning this year, the problem is Rossi and Yamaha are capable of winning, Stoner and Ducati are capable of winning. They are having to compete at a higher level, with many more manufacturers that can take podium positions away from them.

Honda have a good bike and a very talented rider, Kawasaki are the only ones that don't.


Honda have a piece of .... bike, after 6 races, they haven't still won one, that has never happened before as long as I remember, I checked Motogp.com results that reach back until 1998 and there had always win a Honda win in the past 9 years. Probably you'll have to go back almost 30 years to find such a disastrous start for Honda.

Can't blame the riders because these same riders have won races before with Honda.

And considering the number of bikes they have on the field it's just embarrasing.

Honda will win races this season, because they bike is improving constantly and they have a lot of resources. But right now IMO Ducati, Yamaha and Suzuki are ahead and Kawasaki is thereabouts and that's the HRC bikes (Pedrosa, Hayden, Melandri) the junks Checa, Nakano and Elías are riding are even worse!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Teomolca @ Jun 7 2007, 09:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Honda will win races this season, because they bike is improving constantly and they have a lot of resources. But right now IMO Ducati, Yamaha and Suzuki are ahead and Kawasaki is thereabouts and that's the HRC bikes (Pedrosa, Hayden, Melandri) the junks Checa, Nakano and Elías are riding are even worse!

On what are you basing that the Suzuki is ahead of Honda?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vale4607 @ Jun 7 2007, 08:41 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>The Honda is a competitive machine, far from a 'huge disappointment'. The change from 990cc to 800cc is a much smaller development leap then 500cc to 4 strokes.

you're exaggerating the jump from 500cc 2 strokes to 4 stroke 1000cc because all of these factories, of which Honda is the largest, have been building 4 stroke 1000s for years. it's not like the factories all of a sudden had to figure out how to build a 4 stroke and Honda just got lucky. granted, we're talking production versus prototype, but it's not like the concept was foreign to them or they didn't draw on their R&D from their production bikes to develop the MotoGP machines.

you could even argue that the drop from 1000 to 800 is more difficult since nobody really makes an 800 machine; therefore everybody had to start from scratch. honda's 212 has been a huge disappointment and this has been backed up by Horiike's comments.

when riders of different styles (melandri/pedrosa/nakano vs. hayden) both complain of the same problems (front end), there has to be something more than just riders making excuses. they've got the world champ, pedrosa (multiple wins last year), melandri (multiple wins last year), elias (1 win last year) AND two different tire manufacturers and they can't win a race... the bike's seriously lacking.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Babelfish @ Jun 8 2007, 12:52 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>On what are you basing that the Suzuki is ahead of Honda?

World championship standings (teams)

1. Ducati Marlboro team 162pts
2. Fiat Yamaha team 145pts
3. Rizla Suzuki team 122pts
4. Repsol Honda team 118pts
5. Gresini Honda 113pts

And IMO the Honda riders of Repsol and Gresini are better than Hopkins and Vermeulen.

You could also add the other Honda teams (multiplied by 2 because they're just 1 man teams) and it would be embarrasing that they would be rock bottom.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (drumfu @ Jun 8 2007, 03:03 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>but it's not like the concept was foreign to them or they didn't draw on their R&D from their production bikes to develop the MotoGP machinesI think you got that one the wrong way roung drumfu


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (drumfu @ Jun 8 2007, 03:03 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>you're exaggerating the jump from 500cc 2 strokes to 4 stroke 1000cc because all of these factories, of which Honda is the largest, have been building 4 stroke 1000s for years. ...it's a huge jump changing regulations, no matter what the change. 500 2-stroke engines were pretty much as evolved as they could get so the jump to 990 diesels was pretty damn significant. If you can tell me one thing that Honda could learn about building a V5 4-stroke prototype racer weighing 145Kg, from mass producing fireblades, I'd love to hear it. I wanna hear it. The move to 800 which was heavily endorsed by Honda hasn't worked out so good for them.....yet. But it's still a massive undertaking and difficult to overestimate, it's still an all new engine and chassis. I think it's pretty amazing.



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Teomolca @ Jun 8 2007, 09:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>World championship standings (teams)

1. Ducati Marlboro team 162pts
2. Fiat Yamaha team 145pts
3. Rizla Suzuki team 122pts
4. Repsol Honda team 118pts
5. Gresini Honda 113pts

And IMO the Honda riders of Repsol and Gresini are better than Hopkins and Vermeulen.

You could also add the other Honda teams (multiplied by 2 because they're just 1 man teams) and it would be embarrasing that they would be rock bottom.I'm with Teo on this one...for now. Will it be Elias or Pedrosa who takes Honda's first win?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Teomolca @ Jun 8 2007, 09:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>1. Ducati Marlboro team 162pts
2. Fiat Yamaha team 145pts
3. Rizla Suzuki team 122pts
4. Repsol Honda team 118pts
5. Gresini Honda 113pts

How about the manufacturers standings though:

1. DUCATI 118 (115 from Stoner)
2. HONDA 109
3. YAMAHA 106 (all from Rossi)
4. SUZUKI 82
5. KAWASAKI 28
6. KR212V 4

(only the top finishing bike from each manufacturer scores points)

This would suggest the honda is a competitive enough bike and that it is more Rossi and Stoner performing particularly well that is helping to make honda look that bad. i know honda have more bikes but checa and nakano arent gonna win and neither is Hayden or Elias most of the time. Pedrosa or Melandri are hondas best overall riders although Elias could surprise but not likely to beat Pedrosa in a one-on-one battle if it came to it.

IMO the honda is the 3rd best bike after ducati and probably Yamaha although on the tracks with long straights honda can match yamaha.