Honda boots Lorenzo

Yes and no. In years past I would agree. Today, I don’t think as much. It’s a smaller operation so they can’t be expected to fly a rider to Japan Italy and have a modified tank for him the next week.

Lorenzo was an unknown and Dovi was winning on arguably the best bike on the grid. It’s hard to want to pull all stops out for your superstar that can’t win on a winning bike.

Honder has the Duc/Lorenzo experiment to reference.

 

It’s not like Italy is that far away from Spain

 

MM is the same as Stoner was. Able to just ride around the bike and win. That's a truly special talent at that level.

 

If he is, Lorenzo and Vinales will fill the seat. Not a bad trade. Plus they have Mir and Quaturarro(speeling?) will be looking for a factory contract soon.

 

IMO Yamaha would be crazy to let Mavrick go. Zarco is done. He'l collect his fat checks and maybe be back in Moto2 in 3-4 years or retire very rich. Pol has a bike that he likes to ride but isn't a good bike. IF it was a good bike, Zarco would be beating him IMO. Crutchlow is on a factory contract with HRC, He knows that he won't get a shot at the title and he seems to be okay with that. Actually, I think he likes being the thorn in everyones side on the track, it fits him well and he's getting paid damn good to do it. orbildelli is getting his ass handed to him by his teammate this year, he has a lot to prove if he wants a shot at the second Yamaha seat. Quaterarro, he's looking more and more likely to take Rossis place. Montmello was a very good race for him. He showed a lot of ability in his right hand during that race.

 

Yeah, but Italy has manicotti. I'm sure the Japanese weren't as worried about him gaining 15 lbs on a factory visit.

 

I disagree about Zarco.

Prior to this year, he was doing the same shit QuarterO is doing now. He was battling up front, setting fastest laps, and getting poles on a satellite Yamaha. He also did those things as a rookie.

Remember what he did in Qatar in his very first outing?

No way his skillset suddenly deteriorated in a year. He is just on a bike he doesn’t gel with.

Hell if anything, this year will improve his developmental skills.

I believe on a Factory Yamaha, he could consistently run up front.

 

I would agree except didn't he start having worse results the 2nd half of his last year with Yamaha? Seems like I remember @HPPT saying he changed managers around that time when he started slowing down?

 

Agreed.

I wasn’t implying that his skill set is gone. By no means do I think that. He’s fast for sure. What I meant was that his time is gone. Too many younger riders coming up and looking to come up. I don’t blame the guy one bit for the decision he made. He’s making a fat ass check and will be able to retire comfortably from a hard sport where most don’t.

The Yamaha has and is still proving to be the easiest GP bike to jump on as a rookie and go fast.

Comparing Quaturarro and Zarco I would give Fabio the edge. He’s proven to be just as fast but Quaturarro(I really have the learn the spell that) manages the tire much much better and possibly the race.

 

someone was quoted as saying that moto 2 zarco did magical things on used up tires that no one else could. perhaps his philosophy of always picking soft soft is what screwed him in GP.

maybe before signing a contract these manufacturers need to let the rider test the bike before blindly signing a rider to 2 years. clearly the zook and yami are fast corner bikes and the honda, duck and ktm are a bull riding machines. why are zarco and lorenzo riding the bulls?

 

But what can you really learn from a single test? There’s always a gamble that it won’t be a good fit or the rider won’t be able to adapt. If you get into signing 1 year deals then there will always be greener grass. This thread is about Lorenzo and while he showed promise his first year, without the contract, would Yamaha have kept him?

IMO of Lorenzo was in last years Honda he would be doing much better. Lorenzo is a front end rider and this years Honda has given up some of what it’s always been good at, front stability for the sake of better acceleration. Like most things and especially motorbikes, you can’t pull in one direction without taking something from another.

Zarco, well who can blame Zarco. He’s a GP rider in his early 30’s making a bank check. Has a couple of poles and podiums. It’s a young mans game and even more so now. I remember shaking my head at Zarco when he turned around at the last corner and Terol came by him in 125. He’s always had speed and in time came maturity, maybe a bit too late to be WC but not to late to earn a fat ass check. Good for him.

 

LMAO at all of the armchair quarterbacks with zero invested using their 20/20 hindsight to pretend they know fucking anything about selecting riders compared to MotoGP managers...

 

We’re not completely bereft of perspective.

 

Part of it is probably the satellite bikes have had a year of factory development on them, and the riders just need to work on setup from there to be in a good position vs the factory bikes constantly trying new parts and anything else. It's a bit reversed where the factory is doing all the developing and the satellite guys getting the developed package.

 

yes because in 10 years of GP lorenzo has always been clockwork tick tock lap lap lap smooth corner speed king. us spectators know nothing and neither do the gp commentators.

seems the gp managers want to change the riders like the men of this forums want to change the ex wifes in all these divorce threads.

 

NEWS FLASH! They've been saying that for the past couple years now. It's one of those "I'll believe it when I see it" kind of things.

 

Free beer tomorrow!

 

It’s almost like a new V4 superbike from Honda

 

Didn’t they do that already and it had like 93 hp unless you had the unattainable ECU?

 

One test was only took for Rossi to know that Ducati was a mistake. Zarco will say the same thing when KTM no longer signs his paycheck.