Roberts Jr. slides his 990. Try that on an 800 says ScottIn your dreams, you can probably power-slide a sports bike on tar. Properly, I mean - using throttle control and footrest-weighting; pulling it upright to get on the fatter part of the tyre

for a generation of riders trained in the AMA mixed disciplines of dirt-track and road-racing.The supply seemed endless: Lawson following on directly, and Freddie Spencer. And Randy Mamola. Then came Kevin Schwantz and Wayne Rainey; and then John

to the Ivory Control Tower, and after a reportedly rather vigorous argument with Race Direction was disqualified.Flushed with success and by now clearly getting excited at this new-found task of making an example of riders, Race Direction then looked

it at all.His comments – “lost a little respect” and “some moves went beyond what is normal” – weren’t aimed at the fans, but directly at Rossi. And the purpose was simply to rile him. An unsettled rival is a weakened one, fact. So will it work

of special support? This applies not only to go-faster bits, but the privilege of being the number one voice in determining development direction, so the bike is tailored around your preferences.HRC's hands were tied. Their deal with Repsol gives that team

, in either direction. We have to look at the alternative - new riders coming up from the stroker classes. And there is at least one impressive young spunker in MotoGP this year - Toni Elias is up from 125s and 250s on a Yamaha, and finds himself not just

he remained blessed with the top Honda gear while he gradually got better. But he became Spain's first World Champ only after Doohan spannered himself in 1999. Criville faded directly away.Gibernau is suffering for events in front of his home

mutter darkly about the unfairness of HRC's direct links with F1. Being too clever by half can sometimes be self-defeating. Part of Honda's control software measures fuel consumption, to activate a programme that then makes sure there will be enough

all agree on the importance of the class. Big factories may take a step back from direct involvement, leaving the action to customer teams, and possibly for smaller manufacturers like Italjet and Derbi, as is the case now in the 125 class

."The interest lies in how narrow the margin is between dominance and desperation. A couple of months ago I wrote how Honda seemed to have lost direction, but they have regained strength and proved more than ready to profit from any vagaries in Yamaha