with Willy Ivins
Okay, so the Yamaha M1 may have been a bit over-hyped when the MotoGP season started, and it had to be more than a bit embarrassing when Yamaha factory rider Max Biaggi offered “congratulations to Honda” for a job well done on its four-stroke after pre-season tests showed Yamaha off the pace, but turn about is fair play.
Ex-Honda four-stroke star Alex Barros got his first ride on the Yamaha M1 yesterday. And what a ride it turned out to be! He went out on the track at Valencia after winning the day before on a Honda V-5, and beat his own best Honda time (1:33.873). He ran a 1:33.6! This speaks volumes about Barros’ skill as a rider, both in technique and adaptation to a new bike, and also highlights how good the Yamaha actually is. Max Biaggi’s late-season success on the Yamaha M1 was clearly no fluke. This should be an eye-opener for Honda, and probably has the race execs at Yamaha wearing big, toothy grins.
Rossi had a pretty easy time of it this year, at least as easy as it gets in MotoGP. Next season stands to pose a real challenge for him to retain the title on the Honda, and, at this early stage, his number one threat would appear to be Barros on the Yamaha M1.
