Yeah 2003 was the disaster with only one podium but even before then Yamaha hadn't won a championship since 1992 and Honda were the big boys with a little success from Suzuki as well. I'll have to find a link but I remember reading that Yamaha was going to cut funds for the motorcycle side of the house until they were able to get Rossi because racing bikes wasn't making them money so they were going to focus on music(pianos I think).
Translate a Vittoriano Guareschi interview for me.
- Thread starter hawkdriver
- Start date
Yeah 2003 was the disaster with only one podium but even before then Yamaha hadn't won a championship since 1992 and Honda were the big boys with a little success from Suzuki as well. I'll have to find a link but I remember reading that Yamaha was going to cut funds for the motorcycle side of the house until they were able to get Rossi because racing bikes wasn't making them money so they were going to focus on music(pianos I think).
Joined Mar 2005
7K Posts | 20+
Woody Creek
Yeah, Ducati washed their hands of him. That's why Honda were waiting with open arms just two rounds in the season...
The Suzuki was unchanged from 2000 to 2001 so to say Rossi and JB had to develop the NSR in 2001 to compete against Junior probably isn't accurate. And I certainly wasn't in the garage, but I'd be surprised if HRC and JB were heaping development work on a class rookie in 2000. The Yamaha? You might have a point, I don't know for sure. But I do remember reading articles in 2001 that they were putting a lot of effort into the M1.
It all depends on how do you define real trouble, imo that's more like what Suzuki is now. Yamaha had a horrible 2003 but apart from their results weren't that bad.
2000 6 wins, 6 seconds, 5 thirds, 6 Poles. Biaggi third in the championship. Yamaha wins constructors title.
2001 3 wins, 8 seconds, 6 thirds, 7 Poles. Biaggi second in the championship
2002 2 wins, 5 seconds, 5 thirds, 6 Poles, Biaggi second in the championship
2003 very bad year
Joined Aug 2007
11K Posts | 3K+
Pomona NY
1Well, the M1 did go through some significant changes during 2006-07 and again in 2008 which made it back into a title winning machine, and since 2007 unbeaten even. Rossi and Burgess were also leading development on the best machine to ever grace the Motogp racetrack in the modern era, the RC211V, they also had to re-work the NSR500 a lot in 2000-01 as the Suzuki and the Yamaha were both Stronger than they'd been in a very long time in those years.
2And prior to 2004 Yamaha had only scored 1 podium in the 2 previous years so the M1 was definitely in Suzuki territory back then and if you ask Biaggi what the M1 was in 2002-03 I'm sure he'll tell you it was a piece of crap!!
3This of course was all changed by Rossi, Burgess and the brilliant Fuwasawa who pioneered the Big bang, which really changed everything for Yamaha. You say one bike, I say 4......
4As far as I'm aware the GP11 is still relatively unchanged from last season, the new parts have not arrived yet and far from going backwards, since the Valencia test last year I'd say they've made leaps!
5Despite all of you arguing the contrary since Rossi's signing with Ducati, they actually haven't done that much and at this stage are still right in the hunt as up to this point there is no evidence of major monies being spent and the bike is improving........Nicky just got his second podium in 3 years!!
1. Perception is everything. I don't recall any signs of Rossi himself doing anything to change the
already competitive Honda - that was over and above what any other rider normally does as part of the day-to-day duties of
riding for a team.
2. Yet Biaggi was 2nd in points at the end of 2002. Other Yamaha riders were not really of that caliber. But yes Yamaha were floundering.
3. How much of the change was Furusawa and how much can be attributed to Rossi - is highly debatable.
4. Yes... no doubt about it. I'm sure the fine folks at Ducati are just twiddling their thumbs, sitting on their
hands, etc waiting for Rossi to wave his magic wand and presto - competitive Ducati. Voila! And now for my
next trick.
5. Puhhleeez! Hayden got there through sheer attrition.
Joined Aug 2007
11K Posts | 3K+
Pomona NY
Sorry typo on 2002, however it still was far from successful and Max was bitter enough to move on to a satellite Honda in 03, I think I was just recalling Max's whinging being much louder and more frequent in those years!
There is really no valid argument saying that Yamaha were not in real trouble in those years and without the Fuwasawa, Rossi and Burgess combo they would have continued to be uncompetitive against the RC211V.
Has Biaggi ever been anything much else than bitter and discontented? He moved on to Honda because
they have won the most championships largely by virtue of having the biggest budget. The move was
purely based on common sense. Everybody wanted to ride for Honda.
Yes, the difficulty of developing the new 990 honda alone for the factory honda team to win against the obsolete previously dominant 500 2 stroke hondas to which the factory would have been giving abundant development resources so that they could beat themselves was obviously extreme.
To be fair, I don't discount his efforts in 2001 and 2002; he was being groomed but quickly supplanted alex criville due to superior talent, particularly development and set-up talent.
