Gran Premio de Espana: Asphalt Roller Fiat-Yamaha #46 dominates

Last Sunday in Jerez the Doctor won in a way that reminded to most of us the victories of his “beloved” competitor, Max Biaggi. Pedrosa had a good start but in a few turns was overtaken and relegated to a comfortable second position for the rest of the race. Since the first few laps I noticed the little Spaniard eagerly spinning the rear tire right from the mid corner revealing that he was trying to get closer to Valentino to gain back what he had lost at the entrance of each turn. In the same way we have already noticed in Qatat, despite his weight advantage and the smaller bike, Pedrosa is not able to match Valentino’s entrance corner speed: they start braking together but Rossi seems to apply less pressure on his brakes and use a bit more the last part of his line going to the apex to scrape the extra speed. I would not be surprised by the difference in skills if we were comparing Valentino to Hayden, but not to a former 250cc World Champion matador. My reading is that Dani is still not very comfortable with the front end of his bike and, also, that he is aiming to win the crown by being extremely consistent. He wants to collect each and every possible point, hoping to capitalize his strategy if Rossi should suffer some sort of problem during the season.
Colin Edward got the third place, a result that confirms the successful winter development of the new Yamaha and pleases greatly FIAT, the new Yamaha sponsor.
In fourth position we had Elias: a great race for Toni, too bad that he started cranking fast laps too late to remain attached to the front train. Stoner got 5th, enough to maintain the second place in the Championship with Pedrosa. It’s interesting to notice that both of them are 21 year old, and with Jerez they have took away respectively from Capirossi and Hayden the role of team main riders. To be honest the Kentucky Kid had an incredible start and fought for the 4th position for some time until the deteriorated tires started to slow down his pace and affecting his lines.
My praise goes to Checa for an incredible weekend that unfortunately didn’t produce the deserved podium. After the race, very philosophically, he explained that Sunday the temperature were lower than expected and he didn’t have a good feeling from the bike for the fist half of the race.
Finally a big clap for Hopper: he was the protagonist of a great race with increasingly faster laps that unfortunately ended when he washed the front tire right after passing Hayden for the fourth place.



In three weeks the MotoGp will be in Turkey, a track where Rossi want absolutely to win after last year experience. At that time he started in 11th position, overshot a turn losing almost 3” and getting a final 4th position. Melandri won that race over an impressive Stoner. I personally see again the Asphalt Roller Fiat-Yamaha #46 to crash his competitors, in order, Pedrosa and Stoner.

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