Being a substitute isn’t always easy; as a casual relief teacher I know this only too well. And this has been illustrated overnight with first practice times from the Dutch TT at Assen. The track layout has been slightly changed yet again as owners struggle to try and bring back the excitement and character of the track that they so severely emasculated some years ago. And, while Lorenzo et al are flying at the front, Kousuke Akiyoshi, subbing for the scarily injured Hiroshi Aoyama, brings up the rear, some 6 seconds off the pace.
Riding a MotoGP bike isn’t quite the same as riding any other bike. Taking an experienced riders from any other category and screwing him onto a MotoGP bike isn’t quite as simple as it sounds. For a start, there aren’t many experienced MotoGP riders just hanging around by the phone waiting for a call. And, unless your rider is Troy Bayliss and he’s a freak, taking your rider from WSBK and expecting him to be instantly competitive is a fool’s errand. MotoGp bikes are ferociously fast, have wicked accelleration, carbon fibre brakes and electronic rider aids that take months to get used to. And, since out-of-race testing is virtually banned nowadays, you can’t “blood” a new rider out of sight of the media and have him on stand-by just in case.
Now it appears that Akiyoshi IS a test rider for Honda anyway, but testing and racing are two entirely different things, as we are seeing this weekend. And, when Yamaha decide to put the 41 year-old Yoshikawa on the M1 in a couple of races time, we are going to see the same scenario repeated (and, I suspect even more dramatically). superbikeplanet is running a hilarious poll about this subject at the moment, by the way.
On the subject of a longer-term replacement for Aoyama should it be necessary, there is some smart money being laid down for Alex de Angelis, currently languishing in Moto2 and riding for a seriously under-funded team.
As noted, Assen is on this weekend, and, in the fiercely Protestant Netherlands, still steeped in the Calvanist traditions, racing does not take place there on Sundays. OneHD is broadcasting the races starting at 2300 on SATURDAY night.
Oh, and if you’re looking for a giggle to get you through the last day of the working week, try this.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG57XNgKPNU[/youtube]
gearsau says
Phil,
This lacking of testing rule is killing the sport. I realise that there was really only 4 days between the British GP and the start of free practise for the Dutch TT, and really, nothing could be organised. However, if there was a two week break between races, then somthing could possibly be done.
Its the same in F1, where, in 2009, the replacement Ferrari drivers when Massa had his problem, were thrown in at the deep end. Makes everyone look stupid.
Of course, MOTOGP also has this ridiclous schedule of 5 race on 6 weekend and if a rider gets injured, there is no chance for him to try to make a recovery.
I cant understand MOTOGP schedule, where they have the last race of the year in Valencia in November, and then have everyone really doing nothing until the first race in April.
The off season is too long. People on the teams still have to be paid whether they are racing or not, but, to have this extended break, and only have a little testing allowed in that period seems crazy. Thats why we have a situation where one team who gets it right
(Yamaha) can rule, and the others who dont get the original design right ( Ducati GP10), take ages to catch up.
Whether or not this is a good thing depends on who you are following, but, it sure reduces the spectacle.
Phil Hall says
No argument here. The long off-season is a vestige of the old days when all the racing was done in Europe and the European winter precluded racing. But surely now that it is a world-wide spectacle and races CAN take place all-year round, why can’t they arrange the scehdule so it reflects this?
Of course the anti-Euro sceptics will point out that that “bulge” in the middle of the season does seem to strangelly coincide with the height of the European Summer where the track promoters can make the biggest killing. Pity about everyone else, though.