[Patrick-of-the-Hills]

The rapidly-developed tradition says that Rossi takes one year to acclimate to a new formula, then wins the championship. Wonder if it'll hold true this year.



Oh, and riding in the rain probably isn't anything new to him; last I heard, he was living in London (with an F4i as his main ride).

 

[RobF4i]

He won't need that season to get used to the 4-stroke. There isn't anyone who can keep up with him on a 4-stroke (remember Biaggi has to finish a race for once in order to get points) and the 2-strokes don't seem to have what it takes. If Katoh can only finish 10th, then nobody on a 2-stroke can touch Rossi.

 

[12er]

"Coming across the finish line in third place was Yamaha's Max Biaggi on his M1 four-stroke."



Coming across what Finish line? Biaggi was a muddy mess after crashing out. Am I missing something here?

 

[banda]

Announcement

Due to unforseen circumstances beyond our control, the part of Max Biaggi will be played by his understudy, Carlos Checa. We thank you for your patience, and return you to the regularly scheduled program.

 

[das]

Katoh struggled in the rain last year, too. He won 11 of 16 races in 250GP, but finished way back in the pack in the heavy-rain races. I'm waiting until a dry race before I count Katoh out.



That said... anybody know what happened to Barros? He's usually awesome in the rain, but he was way back in this one. Roberts is usually an excellent rain rider, too, but he crashed out.

 

[das]

Kudos to Rossi & Honda for the win, but... am I the only one who appreciates how competitive the Suzuki and Yamaha 4-strokes were? I mean, even people in the Suzuki and Yamaha camps were admitting that the Honda was currently the best bike, but, in this race, at least, it didn't appear to be far superior. It appeared that Rossi was simply a better rider.



Have the Suzuki and Yamaha folks been playing with the media in hopes of a big upset, or did the rain just even the field a bit?

 

[jmeyn]

Rain is the great equalizer

Anyone who watched the race know Yamaha and Suzuki were competetive... in the rain. Rain robs the Honda of the advantages the other teams are talking about. Apparently the three top bikes all have great power management systems both electronic and manual.

 

[jmeyn]

Rain questions

Did the power management systems required for 210+ hp bikes help the new 4-strokes in the rain?

Did the rain hurt the 2-strokes more because of the broader 4-stroke power band?

Did this race teach us anything about the relative speed of the top 2 and 4 strokes on a dry track?

Will Katoh win a GP this year?

 

[jmeyn]

The other guys

Ukawa and Roberts crashed out early. Could they have restarted to get some points?

 

[DucButt]

Re: Rain questions

The only thing the rain revealed in the new formula was Rossi's true talent. I suspect the 4strokers were easier to handle in the rain - I don't think we've seen the early demise of the 2strokes or Katoh. I really expected the 2strokes to have superior corner speed, but we'll have to wait for a dry race to see - I expected Katoh to be able to outbrake and carry more corner speed than his 4 stroke rivals and win his first GP1, but I could be wrong - not for the first time, either...

 

[das]

Re: The other guys

Didn't see Ukawa's crash, but Robert's bike appeared to be smoking after the crash (but even that could have just been steam from the rain hitting the hot parts). Hard to tell how much physical damage there was from the view they showed.

On the subject of crashing and restarting... kudos to John Hopkins for having the perseverence to keep going. He probably learned a lot about riding that bike in the rain, and he gained some points.