Well Gents, with the Sepang shakedown already underway, and the first pre season test only days away, its almost time for all of the riders to hit the track on their new bikes.
Marc's recent surgery on his troublesome shoulder means he wont head into the test feeling 100%. His first time back on a bike since the season finale in Velencia was a week or so ago, on a Moto3 bike, just to see how things are feeling. By his own admission, he claims to only be around 60/70% ready, and that his recovery this year has been a lot more difficult that it was during the off season last year. Only time will tell, but you would be a foolish man to bet against him romping to his 7th premier class title this year, if Honda provide him with a bike similar to last years. Alex will of course be in a understudy role, but it will be nice if he can work with the chassis Honda have built for Marc, and get some solid results early on to help with his confidence.
Vale and Maverick have both stated that the 2020 chassis is an improvement over last year(which is really saying something), and that the engine response and power was better too, but still sadly lacking about 10kph at the end of the straights again, so Yamaha really need to try and massage a little more out of it otherwise they are going to be coming to the gun fight with a knife again.
It will be interesting to see how Fabio gets on riding a full works bike this season, and as above, whether or not Yamaha can find that extra top end speed that they so badly need if theyre to be able to fight for the championship. I hope the bike suits him, every bit as well as the 19 chassis did, plus a few extra ponies to keep up with the Honda and Ducati donk's. Franco should be there or thereabouts, but cant see him challenging Fabio week in, week out unfortunately.
The Ducati chassis is an entirely new design, and given they have been Honda's closest rivals over the past 3 years, heres hoping that they can claw back a bit of the gap that opened up between them and Honda last year. Petrux will really need to up his game if he wants to keep hold of his seat, as with Jack on the Pramac, and Zarco riding the Avinitia Ducati, there will be a few riders waiting to take his seat if his performance drops off like it did last season.
I hope that Suzuki can close the gap even more and be consistently at the sharp end of the grid. Rins was exceptional at times last year, and if he hadnt thrown it at the fence so often, second in the championship was a real possibility. Joan Mir showed amazing pace for his first season too, so we can expect to see him up his game too.
The Aprilla's looked to find something in the second half of last season, so I am hoping that they will be fighting in the top 10 a lot more. Having Dani as thier test/development rider must bear some fruit eventually. Hopefully its this year
Bring on the test, and the countdown to the first race of the season in the desert!!!
Marc's recent surgery on his troublesome shoulder means he wont head into the test feeling 100%. His first time back on a bike since the season finale in Velencia was a week or so ago, on a Moto3 bike, just to see how things are feeling. By his own admission, he claims to only be around 60/70% ready, and that his recovery this year has been a lot more difficult that it was during the off season last year. Only time will tell, but you would be a foolish man to bet against him romping to his 7th premier class title this year, if Honda provide him with a bike similar to last years. Alex will of course be in a understudy role, but it will be nice if he can work with the chassis Honda have built for Marc, and get some solid results early on to help with his confidence.
Vale and Maverick have both stated that the 2020 chassis is an improvement over last year(which is really saying something), and that the engine response and power was better too, but still sadly lacking about 10kph at the end of the straights again, so Yamaha really need to try and massage a little more out of it otherwise they are going to be coming to the gun fight with a knife again.
It will be interesting to see how Fabio gets on riding a full works bike this season, and as above, whether or not Yamaha can find that extra top end speed that they so badly need if theyre to be able to fight for the championship. I hope the bike suits him, every bit as well as the 19 chassis did, plus a few extra ponies to keep up with the Honda and Ducati donk's. Franco should be there or thereabouts, but cant see him challenging Fabio week in, week out unfortunately.
The Ducati chassis is an entirely new design, and given they have been Honda's closest rivals over the past 3 years, heres hoping that they can claw back a bit of the gap that opened up between them and Honda last year. Petrux will really need to up his game if he wants to keep hold of his seat, as with Jack on the Pramac, and Zarco riding the Avinitia Ducati, there will be a few riders waiting to take his seat if his performance drops off like it did last season.
I hope that Suzuki can close the gap even more and be consistently at the sharp end of the grid. Rins was exceptional at times last year, and if he hadnt thrown it at the fence so often, second in the championship was a real possibility. Joan Mir showed amazing pace for his first season too, so we can expect to see him up his game too.
The Aprilla's looked to find something in the second half of last season, so I am hoping that they will be fighting in the top 10 a lot more. Having Dani as thier test/development rider must bear some fruit eventually. Hopefully its this year
Bring on the test, and the countdown to the first race of the season in the desert!!!
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