MotoGP 2009 Preview

By: Abel Lin

Nicky Hayden is greeted with
a US flag livery by Ducati

It's no secret that we're big fans of road racing here at SMR - one of the first things we did after starting the site was register as an official press site so that we could give you access to rider quotes, news, and high res imagery. This season were going to add a bit more - we're going to offer our personal/editorial comments. Every so often I'm going to chime in with my thoughts about the races and the season. It'll be an occasional column as being in the states, Speed TV only gives us (or our DVR) one chance to catch the race on Sunday afternoon - otherwise we have to hope that they replay the race at 2am Wed mornings. Being an editorial, I figured I'd get my bias out in the open in this MotoGP 2009 preview column.

As far as riders go, I'm a fan of arguably the best on two wheels of all time - Valentino Rossi. Yes, he is a bit of a showman but one only needs to attend a race to hear the difference between him and everyone else. With all the other riders you can distinctly hear the rapid downshift as they approach a corner and acceleration as they hammer the throttle to exit. With Rossi, you simply hear a steady buzz as he seemingly enters and exits the corner at the same speed - particularly noticable at turn 5 at Laguna Seca.

I'm also a fan of Nicky Hayden - probably the hardest working rider in the paddock. Many will claim that his championship in '06 was lucky, but no one can deny he finished with the most points at the end of the season. As we learned this season, the Repsol/HRC garage was not the most harmonious.

I've only owned Ducs, so it's been a couple of pretty good years for following the constructors. The GP9 looks to be interesting with its carbon fiber frame components. While I'm not the biggest fan of Casey Stoner, he is no doubt fast. Hopefully the thoughts on Hayden's dirt track style meshing with the Desmo will ring true and he'll be able to tame the bike as well. If he can learn the bike and adapt to Bridgestones, he should have a good season.

Other than Hayden going to Ducati, the biggest news of the offseason is undoubtly the widthdrawl of the Kawasaki factory. At this point it looks like Dorna is really working hard for a title sponsor to take over the team with some support from the factory for bike development - looks like it's going to be another long year for Hopkins and Melandri.

In other news (that I'm not a fan of), Bridgestone is the sole supplier for tires. That's right folks, MotoGP uses a spec tire - there are also no qualifiers this year. As a fan of technology, I simply don't think it's a good idea to start limiting technology - tires included. In my opinion, MotoGP should be an open prototype class where we get to see the fastest riders on the fastest bikes. It's a slippery slope when we start implementing spec parts for all the bikes - what's next...ECU, Chassis, Engines? I think it would be a shame for MotoGP to become a 'control' series.

Hopefully this wasn't
Melandri's final ride on the Ninja

There are better ways to keep the racing interesting. Instead of simply limiting technology, how about trying setting goals that promote technological creativity. For example, give each team 20 Liters of fuel (one less than current) and tell them to build a bike that goes the distance in the quickest time. The teams can choose between small high reving engines or larger capacity slower reving engines to get them around. Wouldn't it be great to see different racing lines every once in a while?

Anyhow, I'm done with the grumbling and all said, I'm excited about this season. The top 5-6 riders/packages are all pretty close which should make for great racing. Here are some of my completely non-expert opinions and predictions:

Champion - Valentino Rossi, Fiat Yamaha
Not too much of a suprise here, Rossi appears to be at one with his M1 and Bridgestone tires. I think that the lack of qualifying tires will help Rossi as he's never been a 'expert' at qualifying. The closer he is to the front at the start the better.

2nd - Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda
A bit of a risky prediction, but Dovi was pretty impressive last season. He was consistently in the top 5 and even podiumed on a markedly slower spring valve Honda RC212V - the bike HRC ditched after one season. A bike that caused HRC chief Satoru Horiike to admit that they 'made a mistake' in the motorcycle's development. Dovi has alway been fast but has never had full factory resources, it'll be interesting to see how he copes with expectations - particulary in the HRC garage.

3rd - Casey Stoner, Ducati Marlboro
Stoner is fast, but I haven't been impressed with his mental approach...particularly the last half of last season. Instead of putting Laguna Seca behind him, it seems as though he got caught up in Rossi's showmanship and let it affect him for the next couple of races. I don't think he'll crumble like Gibernau, but I do think Rossi is a bit in his head.

4th - Nicky Hayden, Ducati Marlboro
At first glance this appears to be a sentimental pick, but Hayden finished 6th last year despite three DNFs (one retirement and two DNS due to injury). If he gets along with his new very fast bike and his new garage, he should do well.

5th - Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda
Pedrosa is very fast, he's definitely HRC's golden boy and has always had the full backing of the factory. When he's out front he's incredibly fast, but in a close racing situation he always seems to get passed. He'll have a lot of pressure this year - this is his 4th year in MotoGP, the same number of years it took Hayden to win the championship. Rumor is that if he doesn't bring the trophy home this year, he'll be sent packing.

6th - Jorge Lorenzo, Fiat Yamaha
Lorenzo is certainly exciting, he's either dicing out front or giving us specatular high sides. He should be a contender if he becomes more consistent. It'll be interesting to see how he adapts to Bridgestones. His teammate has obviously been using them the past season, but the team has confirmed that the 'wall' between the garages will remain this year.

Darkhorse - Chris Vermeulen, Rizla Suzuki
Vermeulen and Suzuki have been working very hard on their package this offseason. Vermeulen has never adapted to qualifying tires and in fact frequently uses a race tire to set his qualifying times. With no qualifiers this year, he should be closer to the front of the starting grid more often this season. Also expect Vermeulen to do well in the few wet races that we get every year. If he and Suzuki can squeeze out that extra second from their package expect to see more of number 7.

Well there it is...comments? Keep an eye out for more during the season.

Published: Jan 12, 2009

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