10-23-2016, 12:15 AM
(10-22-2016, 11:42 PM)The ferret_imp Wrote: Over his career Rossi has basically been the only rider to be able to come from 3 rd or 4 th row to finish first or second. THe guy is gifted.All true. Rossi continues to show great strength and endurance as a competitor, and just when the announcers begin to imply he may be getting long in the tooth, he'll set a pole position, or the fastest lap or practice time.
AS is Marquez only in another way. THe kid never puts himself in a position that he has to come from that far back.
Two of the great ones.
Vinales looked great too.
Poor Lorenzo, he is NOT one of the guys who can come from the back to the front.
I have not checked but at one point in the race he set the fastest lap, faster than Marquez before #93 crashed out. Don't know if anyone bested that time.
Next year, if all goes well, I expect the Yamaha team to be very, very competitive.
Suzuki has the very best chassis on the racetrack but still lacks top speed. Honda has the speed and a good chassis, but it's set up quite "loose" and has to be ridden more like a dirt bike, as Marquez has shown. The Yamahas cannot be horsed around like the Honda or the Suzuki, but they have excellent mid-corner speed and good top end. I think Lorenzo's weakness is his lack of confidence when the bike gets loose; Rossi can cope with this better. Lorenzo needs a very smooth racetrack and a perfect bike setup. He ethereally smooth but in the wet, or on tracks with more technical sections, he's getting left behind. I also strongly believe that the many inexplicable lowsides (actually due to those winglets) spooked Lorenzo and led him to blame the tires for the problem. Rossi was smart to have those things removed from his bike this time around. Lorenzo left those "cowcatchers" in place and we see what the result was.
I don't know what Yamaha has in store for changes next year but if Suzuki finds a little more power and has talent in the paddock both Honda and Yamaha are going to be in for an interesting year.