MotoGP – The king camelids of the desert –

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The kings of the desert camelids

MotoGP - The king camelids of the desert -

This week, it was Yamaha and Suzuki’s turn to carry out further tests on the Losail track in Qatar. If the Camel Yamaha team has monopolized the first places, the good performances of Checa also marked the spirits. Report.

As the Honda, Ducati and Kawasaki riders recovered from their Australian session (read), the members of the Yamaha and Suzuki teams trained on the sandy track of Losail, Qatar.

On Yamaha, the two camelids Rossi and Edwards toured three days from Monday to Wednesday, while the Tech3 team (Checa and Ellison) began testing on Sunday to finish Tuesday. Likewise, at Suzuki, Hopkins and Vermeulen began their tests last Sunday, performing over three days "a fantastic job"according to Paul Denning, the team manager.

John Hopkins – who would nevertheless have liked to do a little more – is very satisfied with its new compounds: "it was good to do a long distance test and to see that Bridgestone has improved tire endurance compared to last year is a big bonus", rejoices the Anglo-American. His best time of 1 ‘58.33 still leaves him far from the best time in the 2005 race (Hayden 1’ 57.903), but allows him to erase the Suzuki record, held by Kenny Roberts Jr during the same race (1 ‘59.488).

In addition to this best time – to be taken with a grain of salt -, Hopper first of all brought back some confidence from Qatar: "I feel this new bike has a lot more potential than last year’s. It’s more consistent and easier to drive, I know I’m going to be able to drive it to a higher level". But once again, it is better to wait for the first races before deciding…

On the other side of the stand, Chris Vermeulen also sees the future positively: "we’ve worked a lot here and I’m getting to know the GSV-R and Bridgestones really well"As proof, his best time of 1 ‘57.88 puts him ahead of his teammate. Although it is not known what type of rubber the Australian used, it seems in any case that he has now made his mark: "my technique has improved since the start of the tests at Sepang in january and it has helped me find more consistency"says Chris.

In short, for the Suzuki team: strongly the recovery! Because according to Paul Denning, "John is driving superbly and if Chris continues to close the gap on John like he did on his three days we should have two very competitive drivers for the first race in Jerez"…

Yes but here it is, the competition is also constantly improving! Arriving on the circuit on Monday, the world champion team proved intractable: author of all the best times, Valentino Rossi took advantage of a particularly clean track on Tuesday to beat the lap record signed by Capirossi last October (1 ‘ 56.53 against 1 ‘56.917, read). The climatic conditions being different and the times during the winter tests remaining unofficial, we will not dwell on these data alone because the speech of the seven-time champion says more..

On his last day, Vale complained that the track was too slippery: "last night it was very windy, and having two motorcycles on the track today was not enough to clean the surface properly", he regrets. But the most annoying remains these" vibrations", which the Doctor intends to delete upon his return to Sepang next week.

Problems his teammate Colin Edwards did not complain about: "overall I’m really happy with these tests and look forward to the coming season". Tired of having to discover a new machine and a new team every winter since his arrival in MotoGP – Aprilia in 2003, Honda in 2004 and Yamaha in 2005 -, the Texan tornado admits"regain confidence"by settling again this year on the handlebars of his official M1.

Among the many new tires made available by Michelin, Colin has apparently found his happiness. "My race simulation was not bad and the encouraging thing was that my times were consistent even later when my tires started to slip in the heat", explains the American.

A priori handicapped by his little experience in MotoGP, Dunlop for his part succeeded in providing Checa and Ellison with gums that were nevertheless effective. Once again, the lack of information concerning the type of tires tested blurs the tracks but it is clear that Carlos Checa created the surprise by turning less than half a second from Rossi !

And even in qualifying tires, this performance (1 ‘56.65) is respectable since the best Dunlop driver last year – Roby Rolfo – had only set a better time of 1’ 59.392 … Beyond this good surprise, Carlos was able to appreciate the marked improvement of the M1: "I must admit that my feelings with this Yamaha were better than with the bike I left when I left for Ducati", admits the Spanish !

First amazed by the results of Checa, his British teammate James Ellison, who was satisfied with his best time of the first day (2’00.00) before discovering his neighbor’s time (then 1 ‘58.22) … The arrival of the most experienced pilot on the field made him realize – in a somewhat brutal way! – progress that it would need to make.

In his article – English has a column on -, "JameZ" explains that he was able to study Carlos’s readings and compare them to his, in order to know where he was wasting time. The explanation was not long in coming: "it’s just that I have a different style from his and that I fell into the "routine" (in French in the text, NDLR!) which consists of trying to save time in the turns"… precisely what Edwards is trying to do and what Mamola observes of the best – who he says develop a very style"250 cc"- (read).

In fact, Ellison will especially need to train himself to get out of the corners efficiently and tame a number of horses well above that offered by his old WCM. "I have a lot to learn from riding a MotoGP", he concludes modestly. For that, he will benefit from the next tests at Sepang from February 14 to 16 in company, for the first time this year, of the entire 2006 MotoGP field. But the only comparison that is worthwhile remains. obviously the race … Stay connected !

Losail tests – Best practice times:

  1. Valentino rossi – Camel Yamaha Team – 1 ‘56.53

  2. Colin edwards – Camel Yamaha Team – 1 ‘56.81

  3. Carlos checa – Tech 3 Yamaha – 1 ‘56.95

  4. Chris Vermeulen – Team Suzuki MotoGP – 1 ‘57.88

  5. John hopkins – Team Suzuki MotoGP – 1 ‘58.33

  6. James ellison – Tech 3 Yamaha – 1 ‘58.98

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