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Rossi and the V5 fast in Sepang

4246 Views 10 Replies 7 Participants Last post by erc, Feb 13, 2002

jmeyn

Discussion Starter · Feb 11, 2002

Previous posts said he was shredding his tires every 15 laps. Apparently that problem is magically solved! Michelin Magic or Honda Magic or just Rossi Magic?

Well... Ukawa was super fast too, and I notice Katoh beat the record on the NSR500 1.4 seconds back.

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Lincoln

· #2 · Feb 11, 2002

The RC211V improved on it's times from 2 weeks ago, yet Katoh's NSR was slower. what gives??

Ukawa 2 weeks ago - 2:04.78. this week 2:04.29

Katoh 2 weeks ago - 2:04.86. this week 2:05.35.

strange

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Joe_Momma

· #3 · Feb 11, 2002

Honda Politics. They want the V5 to look unstoppable and make it look like their development of the bike is going great by making Katoh's bike a little slower. Just my opinion anyway. They wouldn't let the old 2 stroke beat their new baby, now would they? Even if this is not true, sometimes riders are just slower. It's a phenomenon in racing. Look at Ben Bostrom last year. In the Valencia test, Ben was so much faster than everyone else, but when the race practice/qualifying came, he could not figure why he wasn't near as fast as he was in preseason testing. I think Troy Corser won both of those races.

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El_Flaco

· #4 · Feb 11, 2002

Paranoia...

No, check this out. Sorry to spoil your paranoid delusions of a conspiracy, but here are the facts-

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/detail?sectionID=212131&documentID=131755

3 full seconds under the lap record! That thing is a beast.

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Joe_Momma

· #5 · Feb 11, 2002

Re: Paranoia...

Ahem, read again. Says some days riders are just slower on some days. I think a bike will 230+ Horses with a smoother delivery against a bike with 190 horses with a more violent delivery, the larger bike would seriously outdo the other. How about someone understanding when someone is kidding. Next when someone says Mat Mladin is putting water in the fuel tanks of all the other riders in the AMA field to win races, you will call that paranoia too, right?

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evilgenius

· #6 · Feb 12, 2002

Re: Paranoia...

You do bring up an interesting notion thay Honda may play a role in making the RC look "much" faster. They have indeed been notorious for playing "politics" as some have accused during last year's Suzuka 8-Hour when the team of Barros/(forgot other rider) was quickly catching up with Rossi/Edwards when Edwards and Barros pitted - Edwards was given new tires and fuel while Barros's bike "unexpectedly" developed an engine "anomoly" that it required an oil change.

However, others pointed out that Honda didn't want the competition to know how fast the RC really is until now (some have claimed that Honda intentionally slowed Rossi down during the first few shakedown tests). Maybe/maybe not the RC is really a rocket, but we should have an idea when this weekend's IRTA tests (Biaggi and Checa's and now Kockinski's M1 will duke it out with Katoh's NSR, along with Laconi's RS3 and others). By the way, where's Rossi/Ukawa and the RC?

Then again, maybe Honda will slow Katoh down to give competitiors the illusion that the RC isn't really that fast yet or vice versa. The bottom line is we won't know how fast the RC really is until Round 1 at Suzuka...

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Lincoln

· #7 · Feb 12, 2002

excellent point, Evil

i don't know who to believe at this point, because there has been a lot of propaganda flying around - especially by Yamaha. The RC211V is proving to be a rocket - but i have deep suspicions if those quick lap times could be sustained through race distance - no matter what Honda is feeding us to the contrary. Hey, 2 more months and a lot of questions will be answered. on a side note, I wonder how KRJR is reconciling the fact that no matter how long and hard he whined last year for a better bike, he'l be relegated to backmarker status this year and possibly next

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crg

· #8 · Feb 12, 2002

Attenting a GP

Anyone here attend a GP event? I am planning on trying to see the April 9 event at Suzuka, and was wondering if anyone out there in MO-land has any advice or websites I should check out.

I really hope it is something normal tourists can attend...

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Joe_Momma

· #9 · Feb 12, 2002

Re: excellent point, Evil

Harsh words about Roberts. While I may agree that the XREO just doesn't look as good as the RCV, Roberts seems to be all smiles. There was a release from MCN that said Roberts was running as slow as 7 seconds off the pace [of the Rcv]at Sepang, which I find really hard to believe since it's basically a RGV with a four stroke engine with no other real mods but a slipper clutch.

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Joe_Momma

· #10 · Feb 12, 2002

Re: Paranoia...

The RCV is not showing up at the Test. Honda is again hiding the real "speed" of this Demon. I find it hard to believe that this bike is so much faster as it seems that with the skill of today's top riders, it's really the tires that limit the lap times and distance. 3 seconds faster at Sepang than last years bike I can understand, but they are on this years tires and Katoh is only 1.4 seconds behind.

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erc

· #11 · Feb 13, 2002

Re: Paranoia...

Some probably-reliable sources have said that the former tests lap times of the RCV were false, i.e. inflated in about half-a-second... It that's true the RCV has been beating all the records from early on as Autumn!

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