Re: best rider in the world?
One should always take testing times with a grain of salt, but it's certainly true that Barros wasted little time in getting up to speed on the Honda 4-stroke. And he's quickly up to speed on the Yammie--impressive.
Actually, what impressed me most about Barros this year on the 4-stroke was not his ultimate pace but his race-long average pace. He won his first race on the thing, from the front, over Rossi, having never done a race distance. Very impressive. I'm sure Rossi is thankful Barros did not have the 4-stroke all year.
And I'm equally sure Barros will be considerably more competitive on the Yammie than Biaggi or Checa has been. Add to that Hayden on a RC-V and Hopkins on the big Suzuki and '03 looks like it will be a good year for MotoGP.
One should always take testing times with a grain of salt, but it's certainly true that Barros wasted little time in getting up to speed on the Honda 4-stroke. And he's quickly up to speed on the Yammie--impressive.
Actually, what impressed me most about Barros this year on the 4-stroke was not his ultimate pace but his race-long average pace. He won his first race on the thing, from the front, over Rossi, having never done a race distance. Very impressive. I'm sure Rossi is thankful Barros did not have the 4-stroke all year.
And I'm equally sure Barros will be considerably more competitive on the Yammie than Biaggi or Checa has been. Add to that Hayden on a RC-V and Hopkins on the big Suzuki and '03 looks like it will be a good year for MotoGP.
