Note that Capi's time is right up there with Barros and Checa (as posted on the Yamaha article).
The pattern this off-season is for Capi to get up to speed quicker (he knows all the tracks, for one thing), and for Troy to take a day or two more to get up to speed. Typically, Capi's quickest times are a tick or so quicker than Troy's even then. Note that Capi has always tended to qualify better than he races, while the opposite is true of Troy. In WSB, Ben or Ruben would frequently outqualify him, only to get soundly beaten in the race.
Looks to me like both Ducati and Aprilia will be very close to the Yamahas from the first of the season. Most of us who follow the sport closely THINK that the Yamaha and Honda will be at close parity; however, Honda have been pretty secretive in their testing -- especially the factory team. They seldom test at the same time as another team, or at least one of the fast teams (they have shares some track time with Suzuki recently) so it is really hard to judge where the others stand relative to them.
Suzuki were also shating the track with Ducati and Yamaha, as were the Bridgestone-shod Hondas (Tomada and a test rider, I believe) but no times have been released from these teams.
This weekend is the first real test where everybody will be out there at the same time. The only exception is the Proton team, whose V-5 4-stroke is not ready, so they will be "testing" with their old V-3 2-stroke.
By Monday, we should have a pretty good indication if the new season will be the close battle that some of us anticipate, or if it will likely be another Honda Cup like last year.
My ranking of the BIKES (not the riders) based on testing to date is:
1/2 Honda/Yamaha (Honda more power, Yamaha better handling, braking)
3/4 Ducati/Aprilia (probably slight edge to Ducati, until Aprilia get the weight closer to the minimim)
5 Suzuki
6 Kawasaki (at the last official test, the quickest 250s were faster than the Kawasakis, and the quickest 125 was only a second slower)
7/8 WCM/Proton -- both brand new bikes, the Proton has not yet been on the track under its own power.
BMW is giving away a new car (reported to be an M5, but from what I read today, actually "only" a 3-series) to the fastest time set during a special, televised 1-hour period on Sunday.
I am going to stick my neck out and pick Kato to drive off in the new car.
Bob
The pattern this off-season is for Capi to get up to speed quicker (he knows all the tracks, for one thing), and for Troy to take a day or two more to get up to speed. Typically, Capi's quickest times are a tick or so quicker than Troy's even then. Note that Capi has always tended to qualify better than he races, while the opposite is true of Troy. In WSB, Ben or Ruben would frequently outqualify him, only to get soundly beaten in the race.
Looks to me like both Ducati and Aprilia will be very close to the Yamahas from the first of the season. Most of us who follow the sport closely THINK that the Yamaha and Honda will be at close parity; however, Honda have been pretty secretive in their testing -- especially the factory team. They seldom test at the same time as another team, or at least one of the fast teams (they have shares some track time with Suzuki recently) so it is really hard to judge where the others stand relative to them.
Suzuki were also shating the track with Ducati and Yamaha, as were the Bridgestone-shod Hondas (Tomada and a test rider, I believe) but no times have been released from these teams.
This weekend is the first real test where everybody will be out there at the same time. The only exception is the Proton team, whose V-5 4-stroke is not ready, so they will be "testing" with their old V-3 2-stroke.
By Monday, we should have a pretty good indication if the new season will be the close battle that some of us anticipate, or if it will likely be another Honda Cup like last year.
My ranking of the BIKES (not the riders) based on testing to date is:
1/2 Honda/Yamaha (Honda more power, Yamaha better handling, braking)
3/4 Ducati/Aprilia (probably slight edge to Ducati, until Aprilia get the weight closer to the minimim)
5 Suzuki
6 Kawasaki (at the last official test, the quickest 250s were faster than the Kawasakis, and the quickest 125 was only a second slower)
7/8 WCM/Proton -- both brand new bikes, the Proton has not yet been on the track under its own power.
BMW is giving away a new car (reported to be an M5, but from what I read today, actually "only" a 3-series) to the fastest time set during a special, televised 1-hour period on Sunday.
I am going to stick my neck out and pick Kato to drive off in the new car.
Bob
