mimosa
18-03-04, 01:56 PM
Starts in South Africa in April....
Unlike the predictable domination of Ferrari in F1, GP fans will have a real competition to watch. After three seasons of domination (not F1-type domination - people actually voertake each other, and people other than the champion occasionally win races ;)), the Repsol Honda team have two new riders.
The two-time World Champion, Valentino Rossi, will be riding the Yamaha M1 for the Fortuna-Gauloises team. His long time rival Max Biaggi, who claims that Rossi only won because he had the Honda RCV while Biaggi had the "uncompetitive" M1, has now effectively swapped bikes with Rossi. Biaggi will ride for another Honda team.
Ducati also have a super-competitive team for the first time, with GP star Loris Capirossi combining with former World Superbikes champion Troy Bayliss. Last years WSB champ Colin Edwards rides a Pons Honda, while the reigning champion Repsol Honda (factory) team have American Superbikes champ Nicky Hayden and former MotoGP champ Alex Barros. This season will be awesome.
F1 freaks: close your eyes for a moment, and imagine that Michael Schumacher had swapped cars with David Coulthard this season, that they'd had a punch up or two, that two seasons ago Coulthard had pushed Schumi off the track, only for Schumi to return to the track, overtake Coulthard on the next lap, then as he went past, hung out of the car on a 130mph bend and flipped Coulthard the finger, and gone on to win the race. Welcome to MotoGP.
Meet "The Doctor", Mr Valentino Rossi....
http://images.motograndprix.com/multimedia2/257/257665.jpg
Unlike the predictable domination of Ferrari in F1, GP fans will have a real competition to watch. After three seasons of domination (not F1-type domination - people actually voertake each other, and people other than the champion occasionally win races ;)), the Repsol Honda team have two new riders.
The two-time World Champion, Valentino Rossi, will be riding the Yamaha M1 for the Fortuna-Gauloises team. His long time rival Max Biaggi, who claims that Rossi only won because he had the Honda RCV while Biaggi had the "uncompetitive" M1, has now effectively swapped bikes with Rossi. Biaggi will ride for another Honda team.
Ducati also have a super-competitive team for the first time, with GP star Loris Capirossi combining with former World Superbikes champion Troy Bayliss. Last years WSB champ Colin Edwards rides a Pons Honda, while the reigning champion Repsol Honda (factory) team have American Superbikes champ Nicky Hayden and former MotoGP champ Alex Barros. This season will be awesome.
F1 freaks: close your eyes for a moment, and imagine that Michael Schumacher had swapped cars with David Coulthard this season, that they'd had a punch up or two, that two seasons ago Coulthard had pushed Schumi off the track, only for Schumi to return to the track, overtake Coulthard on the next lap, then as he went past, hung out of the car on a 130mph bend and flipped Coulthard the finger, and gone on to win the race. Welcome to MotoGP.
Meet "The Doctor", Mr Valentino Rossi....
http://images.motograndprix.com/multimedia2/257/257665.jpg