Who is copying whom? That is the question circulating the Fiat Yamaha pit, after the title had been resolved in favour of Rossi over hard-pressing team-mate Jorge Lorenzo. And it follows a remark made by Lorenzo in an Italian magazine, that Rossi has on occasion copied his settings.
Rossi, questioned on this in Australia, smilingly demurred; adding that “at Yamaha everybody’s data is available to all the other riders”. Naturally each checks what the others are doing (this includes the satellite Tech 3 team); but different riders like different settings anyway. “It’s not as simple as that,” confirmed Rossi’s crew chief Jerry Burgess.
But the story wouldn’t go away – especially after Jorge’s manager, the scarily big Brazilian former physical trainer Marcus Hirsch pitched in. He was tired of hearing that Rossi had developed the bike to Lorenzo’s advantage, “Rossi does copy Jorge,” he insisted, adding that Lorenzo’s crew chief, Ramon Forcada, “is working for two”. Hmmmm. A bit more trouble in the pit next year then?
Rossi celebrated his ninth World Championship in Malaysia with a somewhat obscure pantomime based on the Italian proverb: “Old hens make the best broth”. The planned celebration involved tethering a live chicken to the tank of his bike for his victory lap.
Sadly, by the time it all happened, the bird was at best rather sleepy, and more likely very close to death, its head lolling as they tried to put it in position. The feather parade was abandoned.
Mindful of his reputation, however, Rossi spoke highly of the creature, when Pit Bull asked him directly at the next race: What happened to the chicken?
“We gave it to the circuit operators,” he said, “after they promised that they would not kill it. So it is living happily in Malaysia today.”
Looked to me as if they were a bit late. Bring on the satay sauce, someone.
Three years in, the 800cc MotoGP generation has won few friends. The lack of torque of the smaller engines has changed premier-class racing from a battle of bruisers into a tight-rope act. All the riders can do is balance on the narrow edge of perfect performance, finding the best possible lap time and sticking to it, so then they all follow each other home.
Dwindling grid numbers and soaring expense are the symptoms of a racing series about to disappear up its own bottom.
No wonder a suggestion which was scorned earlier in the year is beginning to gain some credibility: to replace the finicky prototype engines with production-based one-litre engines, which will at least have a bit of torque to spare, giving the riders something extra to play with.
The original idea was to bring in these humble bikes as a sort of B-grade for privateers, just to make the grids look a bit fuller. And it was a political move, to joggle the factories into a counter-offer, to make more prototypes available.
Instead, however, they opted to hum and hah and play for time. And in the interim a fair slice of racing’s hierarchy has taken to the idea of a return to full-size premier-class motorbikes, whether the factories like it or not.
Watch this space …
There has never been a year like this for changes to the rules. The latest is for long-life engines: adding an element of endurance racing to what has hitherto been an extended sprint where speed was the only important factor. And meaning that post-race burn-outs are a thing of the past, as riders save their engines for next week.
The second half of this season was a trial run: five engines for the last seven races. Next year they get six engines for the whole 18-race season.
The first to fall foul of the new regs was Suzuki. Capirossi needed a sixth engine in Australia, after only four races. Never mind that the troublesome part was relatively minor: valve gear, requiring only that the cam cover be removed to correct it. But that cover is sealed, like all the others.
The penalty is for the rider to go to the back of the grid (he was there anyway, so no difference there) and for the manufacturer to lose ten points in the constructors championship.
Wonder if any of them will end up with a minus score next year.
Memento mori. Remember we must die. Especially if we are 250cc racing two-strokes.
There were black armbands all round at Valencia for the last ever outing. In the space of 40 minutes of racing the Aprilias, Gileras and Hondas went from being state-of-the-art racing bikes to redundant museum pieces.
Pit Bull will mourn them for ever.
