Honda or ... not Honda?

With Hopper emigrating to Kawasaki along with Capirossi, Melandri to Ducati, and Pedrosa getting most of the pressure and the blame for the lack of results of the new bike, I have yet to read something explaining how Honda intends to solve its 2007 flop. Last year, the Honda- Repsol Team was able to win the championship with Hayden’s podiums, Rossi’s misfortunes and with a competitive bike that was evolved earlier by Valentino and his boys. Indeed so far the RC212V has not won a race and even if someone will be able to do it before the end of the season, the bike remains a lemon. For years, if not forever the HRC Team has been considered the ultimate Team, the team that has been behind most of the world champion stories of the modern era, but today the same team doesn’t seem to be as appealing as we think and the lack of rumors in the pre-market season seems to confirm it. Probably the Japanese will end up importing new talents from the 250 or from WSBK but with what promises? In fact they too could turn to be other Pedrosas ….

MotoGp Poll: Grand Prix Deutschland

Who is going to get the second place Sunday in Germany? I say Stoner. Why? Because last year Rossi won the race starting from 11th position, as he did in Assen 2 weeks ago. The Sachsenring circuit has 14 turns, it’s tight, bumpy and with change of elevations that tend to upset the bikes. Also by being a short track usually the lap times are very close so we should expect some close racing for Sunday. Having said that I believe that in dry conditions Rossi should be able to win in front of the 2007 matador Stoner and, why not, Hayden. Indeed Nicky has taken third place at this circuit for the past three GPs. He is very excited for his recent improvements and looking forward for a winning in Laguna Seca, but in Germany last year he fought for the victory right up to the end of the race so he knows that this is a track where his style could make the difference.
Anyhow, I speculate a very tight race, with a lot of dicing and Stoner getting even more determined in closing the doors to contain Rossi, so in such a scenario anything could happen, and we should not be surprised to see “strangers” on the podium.

PMP Event: Pocono Raceway, June the 19th

On June 19th, another Absolute Cycle event brought us to Pocono, but this time on the North Course (lower right corner of the picture). The Lombardi School (Robert Lombardi, Steven Lombardi, Todd Cuso, Naim Behdzet and myself) had ten students that challenged themselves on the North banking of the raceway and on the famous cement patches that characterize the infield of the North and FUSA courses. They are famous because every time we teach a class we are asked the same question: “ Why there is cement in the middle of the turn” and our typical answer is “ …because in the past the asphalt turned to be rippled because of the cars, so a few years ago Pocono Raceway decided to eliminate those bumps, at that point too severe, with cement to avoid the repetition of the problem…but in doing that they have created another issue because the cement starts 3 feet from the inside of the turn and runs parallel to it, so now we have to make other decisions that go beyond what would be the racing line …".









Anyhow the weather was great, we had a very smooth day with all the students improving substantially from session to session while the rest of the riders enjoyed the high speed of the banking while friendly dicing with others. Later on I was told that in the advanced group our PMP control riders Mario Pires and Alex Berrera along with the well know racer Joe Ribeira put together a nice show with repetitive passings.
A special thank you goes to Mark and Roy from Absolute Cycle Performance for organizing another superb event; Pocono Raceway in the person of Bill Jones; the track Marshall Speedy and his excellent corner workers PA POSSE; Dennis Cuevas from Racedayphoto for the photo coverage and finally our sponsors for their continuous support:
Mario Pires from AJS Autowerks, Diana from JS Typography, Techline Constructions, United Watermains, 666 Cycle, Stucco Antico, SilverLining, Pasticceria Tichetti, MadeinItaly NYC, Strawberry Shakes & Grill, Brooklyn Bike Works, and Lee Miles Transmission in Brooklyn.

MotoGp Poll: A-Style TT Assen

Last Sunday, Colin's second place was somehow a surprise considering that we would have imagined a better performance by Rossi or by Vermeulen, the Suzuki Rizla specialist. I have read that even in Assen there could be rain conditions, a critical situation for Valentino considering that his Michelin rain compound do not seem as good as those for dry conditions. Anyhow, MotoGp.com has posted the results of the FP#1 with Stoner preceding Rossi with a gap of .04, Hayden with .18 and Edwards with .41. Also they reported their top speed: 290kmh for Stoner against 281 for Rossi and 285 for Hayden. Ok, we have to pick who is going to get the second place in Assen and even thought there are several possible candidates, I choose Stoner. Rossi needs to fill the gap separating him from the leader; he needs to win in Holland while Stoner is still the best rider at this point.

Michelin recalls some Pilot tires

Valentino and the other MotoGp Michelin riders are not the only ones to suffer from the quality of their tires. Our PMP friend Almos has found the following picture of a Pilot, showing the consequences of some sort of manufacturing defect. As reported by autochannel.com the recall affects the 120/70 ZR 17 (58W) Michelin Pilot Power 2CT and Michelin Pilot Power front tires with the label "Made in France" and the marking DOT 6UCW 980T or DOT 6UCW 979T.
Last night we were watching again the Donington race in Matchless sipping some charming Stella Artois when Naim shouted ... I swear that my Supercorsa are better than those Michelin, and I bet that I could hook Vale up with a better price ...(LOL).
A company wants to be in MotoGp to give worldwide visibility to its products and services but when at racing and street level people start losing trust, it's a major strategical problem to face for any corporation even for one of the biggest in the industry.

Picture source: gsxrboyz.com

Casey "Stormer" conquers even Donington

Casey “Stormer” wins even in a soggy Donington Park, in a track where, theoretically, his red Missile shouldn’t have outperformed the rest of the competitors.
Indeed on Saturday during the qualifications he had made a mistake on his fast lap and for that reason he ended up in 5th position in the final grid. A grid that had 4 Michelin riders in the first 4 places: Edwards, Rossi, Pedrosa and Hayden. The qualifications results prompted all different kind of speculations given this unusual grid but we were in Donington, England, where they have the greenest run offs of all the all the MotoGp circuits so it was not surprise that on Sunday it was raining. At the beginning Pedrosa led the group for 4 laps but as soon Edwards passed him and he had to ride in the clouds of water created by the front riders his start losing positions. The Texas Tornado seemed very comfortable under the rain in a track that he knows very well and maintained the first position for 15 laps, or until he started suffering Stoner's pressure, he went wide on a right turn and left the door opened to the Aussie. Casey had been riding behind him for 10 laps at a pace very similar to the leader, but when the rain stopped and the riders formed a dry line, his Bridgestone turned to be the winning cards for the day. The Michelin tires of Edward & Co. started to overheat and losing pieces of thread as the camera mounted under Valentino’s tail showed very clearly. The analysis of the fastest lap for each rider shows 5 Bridgestone riders leading before Edwards and Rossi, the fastest Michelin men. Curiously the best time for the Bridgestone group was achieved between the 23rd and the 27th lap, when they were riding in dry conditions.
Let’s face it: Rossi never looked very comfortable Sunday. He was already more than 4 seconds behind the leaders when he started matching their lap times. On top of that he mistakenly went into the grass in a double right for which he lost precious time that could have been useful in defending his third position against Vermeulen. The young Aussie took advantage of Rossi’s rear wheelspin when the track started drying out and passed him with four laps to go relegating the Doctor in 4th position.
Now with other 10 races, Stoner has extended his lead to 26 points: not too many, but still quite a bit considering that he has won 5 of eight MotoGp races, in pretty much any condition. Right now the trio Stoner-Ducati-Bridgestone seems irresistible with Rossi, the only other contender to the World Championship, still working hard with the Fiat-Yamaha and Michelin engineers in order to improve the performance of his YZR-M1. With 2 of the last 3 races in wet conditions where he suffered the dominance of the red Casey “Stormer”, I am sure that for Assen he is hoping for a sunny day, like he had in Mugello for his last victory.

Picture Source

Who's this person?

Nowadays it’s easy to go at a race event and see the PMP “That’s How We Ride” shirt and ask yourself: who is this person?

Any clue?

Answer: Bill Jones, Pocono Raceway Manager in charge with the leasing of track facilities or in other words the person with whom every club renting the track has to work elbow to elbow for a smooth and flowless event.

Stoner like Gibernau?

Stoner has already been compared to Gibernau and people seem to agree that the Aussie is a better rider, someone who seems not to crack under pressure or when jinxed. Almos, one of our PMP members, has found a very interesting video from LeMans, 2003 World Championship.
Rossi and Gibernau are both riding Hondas, same engines, same speed … only different wrists
Enjoy the show


Video source

Rossi and his feelings at the beginning of a straight

Today, as reported by the Italian medias, Valentino participated via telephone at a prominent radio show, Vivaradio2. Initially Rossi acted as he was just one of fans calling to talk to the singer invited for the day, but then he went on talking about the World Championship and ventilating his concerns about the extra power for the Ducati engines. Among other things he said “…the Japanese companies were not ready to the change of engines, while the Ducati it was… Unfortunately the speed gap on the straights is almost embarrassing …” and then added “ I almost cry at beginning of a straight … but I will compete hard against the Ducatis and Stoner, who is riding like a God …”
Anyhow, the serious topics and comments left space to irresistible laughing when Rossi agreed to participate in a play during which he imitated the engine sound of his race bike, even during the gear shifting and at … the beginning of the straights (LOL).

Good luck Champ …. we will be watching you.

As matter of the fact, next Monday at 8:00PM the PMP crew will meet at Matchless, a bar in Williamsurg, NYC, to watch again the 250cc and the MotoGp races along with other local motorbike lovers. See you there, hopefully drinking on Valentino’s victory in Donington.

A fast lap on the legendary Nuerburgring

This video is suggested by Almos: a fast lap on the fabulous Nuerburgring.
Thank you to jmlwalker67 who has posted it on YouTube we learn that the rider is Helmut Dahne, bike lap record holder on a RC 30. In the video he is riding a R1 and commenting his lap with a voice that I would have never linked to a damn fast guy!!!! His lines, throttle control and braking are just perfect! He rides with the confidence and smoothness of a champion knowing perfectly the challenges of the Ring, maybe the most difficult racetrack built in the world.



Video Source