Grand Prix of Turkey: "Michelin Impossibile" ... even for Rossi

Last Sunday, back from the weekend in Pennsylvania, I went to check the results from Istanbul and it didn't take much to understand that something went wrong, very wrong if nobody out of the first three riders from the qualifications were able to make the podium. Stoner, the 21 year old Aussie on Ducati, won his second race of the season in a manner absolutely authoritative. After a crash on the first lap caused by Olivier wiping out Pedrosa and Edwards, Stoner took the lead on a mistake committed by Rossi, and maintained it to the end. Behind him, everything happened: Rossi, after taking a tour in the grass on the fastest turn of the circuit, found himself in 5th position. From there it took some time for the seven time World Champion to gain the second position: he seemed to struggle a little bit in making ground on the leaders of the race, maybe because he didn’t have the typical that extra corner speed that we had noticed in the first two rounds of the season. Probably the vibration that has churned the rear tire and forced him back to the tenth place was already challenging his confidence on the brakes. As matter of the fact when he was aggressively overtaken by Elias he did not reply. I would like to open a short parenthesis about the Spaniard who finished in second position at 6 seconds from Stoner but with 2 seconds on the rest of the group. Some people have pointed out that after what Rossi has done to Gibernau and other riders, last Sunday he shouldn’t have raised his elbow to fence off the young Honda rider and he should have avoided to comment (italian video) the accident with the press . About the first issue I am positive that raising the elbow and converging towards the other rider is totally normal in such a situation because there is a tendency to support each other in a moment of contact. Elias reached his side only by the turn point when Rossi was going to release the pressure on the brakes and dive toward the apex of the turn. It seems to me that Elias had never showed his front tire to the Italian, and he did gamble a little bit in a maneuver that, if not successful in its timing, would have sent Rossi out on the tangent compromising his race and in case of a bad accident even his championship. Also, Elias is the rider that knocked him down at the first race last year and he is the same guy that after some rough passing won by a couple of inches a race on Valentino that could have made him to win the 2006 MotoGp World Championship!
Anyhow, last Sunday the real show was for the third place: Capirossi at the end prevailed on the 37 year old Alex Barros and on the last year winner, Marco Melandri. Macho looked very aggressive but he was worn out by an extremely tough Hopkins, protagonist of a spectacular performance. Hayden, first Michelin rider, finished in a mere 7th position, definetely not enough for someone who is supposed to defend the crown.

Next appointment in China: another fast track where the Ducati will show off the extra speed. At this point all the attention is on Michelin: we have not forgot the faulty front tire that stopped Rossi last year and in consideration of the work done by Yamaha and its riders, the Michelin man has to be sure not to fail again ….
Video source