Cal was, and has been awesome, not at all anything like Toseland, but I think they both have very different attitudes. If you follow Cal on twitter the bloke has basically been copying the other MotoGP lot and going to extremes to make himself ridiculously strong and fit, basically doing the equivalent of triathlons several times a week. It's good to see the dedication going in.
The whole field has closed to a second is good, it should mean nice racing.
Seeing Ducati totally at the bottom, I must admit, was unexpected, but a few things dont quite fully work out yet.
> Barbera - Ok, the guy is riding very well, but more refinement and time spent on the Valencia spec bike has got it to .7 off Casey, with Barbera on it, either Barbera has got very very good (last season he was getting there, but I still dont think he's amongst the best) or the setting changes and additional knowledge on the bike is moving them forward.
> Rossi - The whole team look dissapointed at the result, but lets not forget the first day had shit track conditions then rained, day 2 was ok in the morning then rained and day 3 was ok but they condensed all the work in, so I dont think they ever really got a chance just to chase after a lap, and that's if they're even that far down the road on it yet, as Pagik has said, the chances are they're still hunting a decent base. They've had that bike for 6 days, 2 of which have been wet, so really 4 days, and the bike has no real data with it.
> Hayden - Are we going to say Hayden with an injuried shoulder that's still recovering is only 0.1 slower than a fully fit Rossi? This bit doesn't quite add up to me.
> Tyres - There is a LOT of talk about these tyres going to pot over a full race, anyone that ran race sims had dramatically slower laps at the end and found the bike harder to ride, with Casey having an aggressive style this might actually slow him a 'little' over a race distance.
To be fair, it looks bad, but the GP12 Valencia has came forward since november, i'd imagine with Rossi/Hayden on it'd have gone even quicker, that bike was 1.5 down at Valencia, so it's dropped well over a second off it's time (take into account valencia is 1.30 lap, sepang is 2.00). If the GP12 Factory can do the same they'll be alright. The biggest enemy Ducati have now is time. One official test left then lights out in ~30 days. They (Ducati, Vale & Co) really need to have the package ready to race by then. The only thing they could hope for is an 'ok' result in Qatar giving them 3 weeks before the Jerez race. Dropping points this year will mean a lot, I dont think it'll be as open/shut as last year but I think the winner will have to be good throughout.
Posted: 02/03/2012 at 09:49
