Apart from the annual factory Ducati Team snowball fight, January has been pretty dead when it comes to Moto GP news. Thats why I can't wait for the testing ban to end on January 31st as I reckon we are in for a six week pre season treat.
The Moto GP grid may not be much bigger in numbers for 2011 but the major re shuffle of riders and teams is going to provide a fascinating build up before they all set off into turn one in Qatar on March 20th. Many believe the end of season test in Valencia gave us an indication of how things will pan out this year, but I’m not so sure.
For a start, Rossi being way off the pace meant nothing as his job back then was to simply complete a few laps for the press, choose an engine configuration, then get under the knife to ensure 100% fitness for 2011. He’ll begin the season aged 32 but that means nothing as many racers from the past have peaked in their thirties; Rainey and Lawson being two word championship winning examples. Rossi still appears to be hungrier than the hungriest young rider in the paddock and we all know is never more dangerous when he has a new challenge.
Then we have Casey Stoner, who believes his new Honda will be a better package than last year's Ducati so we are in for a fantastic showdown with his new team mate,the diminutive Dani Pedrosa. Jorge Lorenzo was certainly unbeatable in the latter half of 2010 but the nature of racing is that the opposition normally comes back stronger so he’ll need to dig deep especially with the very special Ben Spies in the same team. Ex world champ Nicky Hayden should, I hope, benefit from possibly more useful feedback from Rossi as it seems no other rider could really get on with Casey’s unique machine set ups.
Further down the field it is also difficult to predict where everyone will finish but we already have Marco Simoncelli closing in on the front guys, and providing the Suzuki improves, Mr Bautista is every bit as capable of running up front as the fuzzy haired lanky Italian. There are of course many others to talk about but I’ll leave it there for now and then back track, eat my words or say I told you so when the testing kicks off next month.
