The MotoGP 2008 Season Preview

It's actually still not sunk in that Casey Stoner won the 2007 MotoGP world title.

It was such an even-more-stunning-than-usual-Australian onslaught that even the genius that is Valentino Rossi had no answer to Stoner's Ducati.

This season Rossi is out to get it all back again. He is not the kinda guy to drag along a career for the money or because he doesn't really know what else to do, and it will make truly fascinating viewing. I cannot wait ...

Coming into its 60th year, the championship genuinely goes from strength to strength with, Rossi beaten but looking for a way back into the ways of young Stoner.

Rossi is not old, but he is the elder statesman in the MotoGP paddock, if not in the history of the sport full-stop. The masses will want Rossi to win because he's the king and he's the one with the wacky cooling-down celebrations. And the girls chuck their G-strings at him.

The 'Ducatisti' and the Aussies want a Ducati to win, while the engineers want Dani Pedrosa to win because he's on a Honda and they're rather good at that sort of thing. The difference is that the racing purists want a clean fight to the last race, so long as the racing is close and exciting.

Will we get that in 2008? I obviously hope so, and I believe so too. As close as a 125 race? No. But closer than last year? Yes.

Rossi stays in a top-flight team and seems happy in his own heart that last year's problems will have gone away with a change from Michelin tyres to the dominant-in-2007 Bridgestones.

But he will not have it all his own way, as Michelin have had four months to work things out and vent their anger at being dumped so publicly by Rossi.

To that end, they are putting nigh-on all their weight behind Repsol Honda, Rossi's new team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, and the underdogs of Tech 3 Yamaha. It will be a fascinating tyre war now that Michelin have not a lot else to worry about in motorsport.

This time last year we had three major regulation changes all at once; 800cc, 21 litres of fuel and 31 tyres to be used over a weekend.

This year, we have the same engines, the same fuel and more tyres to play with - 18 fronts and 22 rears to be chosen by each rider by Thursday evening makes 40 tyres to mess around with, giving you more qualifiers and another choice of race tyres should the weather forecast be wrong.

During the first year of MotoGP regulations back in 2002, Honda dominated with Rossi, who then switched to Yamaha and still dominated for five years on the bounce. Only one other Honda got close in those days but it proved that Rossi was the key, just as Stoner is for Ducati.

The question is, will it be Pedrosa or Nicky Hayden who is instrumental in trying to return Honda to the front of the grid? The pocket-rocket Spaniard believes it will be he who takes the first victory of the year for Honda.

But he also knows deep down that he is on the back foot after crashing in Malaysia on the first day of 2008 testing, breaking a bone in his all-important right hand.

And he is still not yet back up to full strength, leaving him frustrated, and preventing Honda from putting the miles in with him. Proper, 100 percent riding on a bike since? Not with that kind of injury, no. Pedrosa must feel that the world is against him ...

That actually leaves things nicely in the lap of Hayden who returns to his 69 plate having handed the No.1 to Stoner at Valencia last year.

Hayden believes he is better than Pedrosa and has that 2006 title to show for it, leaving me to think that the intra-team fighting would be most intense at Repsol Honda this year. Honda need two angry riders for 2008, as the bike was strong at the end of last season. Pedrosa's four pole positions in a row was evidence enough of that.

But what about Honda's new guys, Andrea Dovizioso and Alex de Angelis, coming in? They really should not be overlooked.

We have a new venue in the diary with the Indianapolis Grand Prix taking place at the Mecca that is Indy. Even F1 cannot boast of having a race there let alone two, so the sport needs to make hay while the sun shines Stateside.

Meanwhile Istanbul has gone, which is a shame because it was a cracking circuit, but no loss to many of the teams.

In a nutshell, if Stoner can win the lion's share of the first six races, then the title will be his. However, if he gets beaten on an even playing field, then he may check pace before running at top speed again - and that may offer another rider a chance to pile on the points and edge ahead of him.

Stoner was immortal last year, scoring in every race, with ten wins and a lowest position of a mere sixth place. He missed the podium just four times.

Can he break them all again, or will someone smash through Stoner's armour plating?

Ducati Marlboro

Casey Stoner is the near-evens favourite for the title again. His self belief on a motorcycle is quite staggering. It really is up there with Doohan, Fogarty, Bayliss and to a certain degree Rossi, with his attitude of 'I really am better than all you lot, so sod you' when on a bike. It is not arrogance, it is confidence and there is a difference.

Stoner's laps in the wet at Jerez three weeks ago were staggering. New team-mate Marco Melandri came into the garage thinking that his times were not bad, only to look up to the screen and see that he was three seconds behind Casey. And he thought he was getting closer during testing ...

To the naked eye the Ducati has not changed a huge amount over the winter, but inside they have breathed on the engine, moving the power band towards more torque as well as still squeezing even more top end out of it. It sounds fantastic. It's miles better than before; a return to the good old rip-snorter 990 of 2003.

Casey continues to be fast in a straight line because a) there's nothing of him, and b) he's got a long back that makes his body aerodynamic because there is no drag around his backside where it meets the seat section.

He was fastest throughout an entire weekend twelve times from the eighteen races last year, while in 2006, his rookie year in MotoGP, he was fastest through the traps four times, proving he has got the drive off the corners like few others.

Sponsor and associated not-actually-riding-the-bike things do not interest him. Bored, bored, bored as a teenager during summer holidays. There is only one thing in life he wants to do, and that something is actually ride a terrifying motorcyle flat-out.

There really is nothing in between. All those years of training in Australia on the dirt tracks with his father Colin shouting at him to keep his feet up on the pegs have all been worth it.

Melandri, Ducati's newcomer, has the best and the worst job in the world. He may well already feel like Fernando Alonso did half-way through 2007; sign up to the best team, but get whipped by a pup.

Incredibly, Melandri is starting his eleventh season in Grand Prix so he is wise to what will happen, but he must feel like Sete Gibernau did when he moved from Honda to Ducati - finally free from the shackles of a satellite Honda and an HRC contract that actually didn't get you anything like what they promised you.

The difference is that Gibernau had a chance of beating Capirossi back in 2006, but here and now even if Rossi was in the same team as Stoner, it may be touch and go if even No.46 could beat the Australian. He really is that fast.

Ducati has to have an Italian riding - it's in the script for a red bike out of Bologna - but Melandri may well have been the best bet regardless of his passport.

No-one else of that level who fitted the Ducati template of who they needed was available. Rossi costs too much money, even for Philip Morris, while Hayden is locked in until the end of this season.

If Melandri is struggling to keep up with Stoner (and who isn't?) then he makes up for it in bravery and a resolution to ride the bike, no matter what. He's a bit like Tady Okada was in the late 90s, and Capirossi is all the time - the more badly he was injured, the faster he went.

So he is tough, and far more experienced at coping with injuries than perhaps Stoner is, but God forbid they need to broach that again.

Overall, Ducati Corse is on maybe even more of a crest of a wave than when at the height of Stoner's 2007 powers, as it is winning in World Superbike with a brand new-bike while, at the factory it is producing as many bikes as it can, all of which sell before they touch the floor.

All 1500 of the Desmosedici RR road bikes have been sold, while the Hypermotard, 848, 1098, 1098 S and 1098 Rs are rushing down the Autostrada because of racing success. Figures for the first half of 2007 show that turnover was 235.7m euros over 168.4m euros for the year before, and that's before the effect of the launch of the 848 and the 1098 S and R.

Fiat Yamaha

For Rossi, the 2006 season was unlucky, 2007 was coincidence, but 2008 is war. He's realised that his flamboyancy alone is not going to get him through; it's time to kick out the Michelins, the manager for not paying his tax for him, and his team-mate. Very Rossi to do things his own way.

He is his own man and sticks to those around him closely (except his manager), something that has worked wonders in the past, and will work wonders again. He hopes.

The Yamaha let him down at times last year, but even with a bike that worked and tyres that were on a par with Stoner's, he would not have won the world title - he was 126 points behind Stoner. Five clear race wins!

Now on Bridgestones, one has to think that the upper management at the Japanese company are keen for him to win the title as he is one of the top five most marketable sportsmen on the planet.

Ducati may not like that and there is sure to be a fight, but the massive experience of chief engineer Jerry Burgess (11 world championships) and the crew in that garage will overcome being hamstrung of only having run on Bridgestones for the winter. Stupid they are not.

Experience with a tyre manufacturer is crucial, but he will be the only Yamaha on Bridgestones - surely a disadvantage of some sorts?

It is going to be fascinating to see if Rossi can do it again after he left Honda in a huff at the end of 2003, going straight to Yamaha and winning the very first race with them, and then going to to pick up two titles.

He likes being the underdog, which is why he went to Yamaha in the first place. Now he is playing catch-up to Pedrosa and Stoner while he gets used to his Japanese tyres.

Will Yamaha be split between supporting Rossi or his new team-mate Jorge Lorenzo? Many things are already separate betwween them, and it's not just the fact that Jorge is on Michelins. There is a wall between them, and they wear the same clothes, but that's about where it ends.

The Lorenzo lot will want to beat Rossi as much as winning the race, believe me. Lorenzo is an extremely determined young man underneath that quiet demeanour.

There is a completely different team around Lorenzo headed by Ramon Forcada, who learnt at the high altar of Antonio Cobas when at the Pons team, while the manager is Dani Amatriain, who did the odd 500cc race in the past.

Amatriain is a hard guy with the head of a racer, but also commercially-minded, enabling him to run riders in three classes, and run them well. It is the antithesis to the management ethos of Alberto Puig with Pedrosa, a good Spanish target that the Lorenzo camp have always sparred with.

Repsol Honda

Honda are bursting with the need to win races this year and win them well, but there is a sense that things will be the same.

Every true hardcore bike fan the world over has a soft spot for HRC and what it has done in the past. Anything with the letters RC before a bike's name makes you doff your cap. Honda just doesn't make bikes that are not incredible pieces of engineering ... right? Well, no, and that's where the confusion may have crept in.

The old chestnut of 'we train engineers to make things at the track so we can sell more road bikes' is wearing thin and the world is beginning to see through that.

But it doesn't make life any easier for Pedrosa and Hayden who have struggled, mechanically at the very least, with testing so far this year. Pedrosa has a hand that got broken on the very first day of testing, while Hayden is not being let lose on the pneumatic-valved engine that they've got kicking around.

Honda not got a pneumatic valved engine running to it's best? Surely there is a bit of F1 cross-over that can be applied here, no matter how difficult a time they're having over there on four wheels at the moment? When they get it right though, they will fly and bite people in the backside who were not expecting it. Never, ever underestimate them.

Michelin is well and truly on-side and like Honda, has total, unswerving faith in Pedrosa. But Honda now needs to climb over Rossi in order to even get near Stoner.

I hope my sense of history is right otherwise Jerry Burgess will trot out how many races Repsol Honda have won since he and Rossi left at the end of 2003; seven in four years is the current you-have-to-look-it-up-as-otherwise-you-won't-believe-it stat.

Tech 3 Yamaha

Five world championships under one roof at Tech 3 Yamaha if you include the team's 250cc title from 2000, and the good thing is from testing, the team hasn't lost the knack of making bikes go fast.

That's the fantastic news that leaves James Toseland and Colin Edwards looking to break their Grand Prix ducks as they start afresh with slightly different agendas.

Edwards is D-mob happy and away from the FIAT Yamaha garage, where you felt he had to do as he was told more often than not, while Toseland knows he is quick and knows that this is the time to do it and shed all the gossip of the nay-sayers.

He is cool, can snap knicker elastic at 50 yards, is a favourite of the UK after his high-profile Sports Personality of the Year piano-playing bit before Christmas, and is handily quick on a MotoGP bike. The entire press office is being reserved in not saying too much, but we are bursting with hope for JT.

Toseland fell at Jerez three weeks ago, hurting his ankle, but has recovered for his GP debut so it'll be good to at last commentate on him on the TV, rather than watching him.

Edwards and Toseland get on comically well, having been Castrol Honda team-mates when Colin was on the RC45 and James was on the CBR600.

And no, I'm not going to list when the last race was won by an Englishman. I'm a bit superstitious like that, so look elsewhere please.

Gresini Honda

The only Hondas on Bridgestones, the Gresini bikes were a vital tool for Honda to have an eye into how good the Bridgestones really were. After seeing Stoner run off last year, they have a hell of an idea now.

Fausto Gresini always runs a tight ship, and he has again slavaged something from the fire over the winter with a new sponsor in San Carlo, a crisp manufacturer. He has had to take Nakano because of the bikes he runs, while rookie Alex De Angelis is there because of the Honda Italy money that comes in. This may well be no bad thing ...

He is quick, brave, has got a swagger, is unflappable and really doesn't care what he does nor where he does it. A proper racer! He has all the attributes to be Loris Capirossi II, especially as he is managed by the same guy, Carlo Pernat, the most wily of wolves if ever there was one.

I can't wait to see him in a fight with a Rossi or a Stoner on-track; there will only be one winner - and it may well be De Angelis.

Kawasaki

If John Hopkins finishes in fourth place again this year, I should think he'd be pretty happy with the result. Anything higher and it will be incredible, but if he wins a race it won't matter where he finishes in the championship as he will have got that monkey off his back.

Kawasaki really has to take a leaf out of Ducati's book in saying to itself, 'We are not going to win the title with what we have now against the like of Stoner and Rossi, so let's go out and win races. Build on what we are strong with rather than build on what we are weak with.'

The team is only just over a year old and has done brilliantly in 16 months after the falling-out with Harald Eckl left them with just a single screwdriver in their workshop and nothing else. They do not seem short of money, while their presentation in the paddock is exemplary and a lesson to many others.

Can they crawl higher up the order? With Hopkins and West they should, but they need 100 points to get ahead of the next constructor if you are looking at last year's table. That's a lot!

Anthony West was a lowly 250cc rider this time last year, jumping from bike to bike and then onto a Supersport bike and winning two races out of three as a one-off.

It earned him a chance to replace Olivier Jacque after Barcelona last year, and now he has a full-time ride. He doesn't say much, but on a bike he is brilliant: a world champion he may never be, but given that he is probably the best wet rider out there means it will be a horrendous crime if he doesn't win a race.

Some at Yamaha have questioned the thinking behind bringing out a screamer engine, but if it goes like hell down the straight, then they just have to get it to go around the corners ...

One thing that Hopkins has said is that the electronics were turned up way too high when he got on it. Again, the methodology in getting those to work best is key.

Suzuki

Amazingly, Suzuki was only beaten by Ducati and Repsol Honda in the team championship last year, and even then it was by just a single point in 369 points.

It was something that Paul Denning should be proud of after getting the company's first win since 2001, and a first podium for John Hopkins, too. Now a leap is needed to stay at that level and be there snapping away at Division 1, ready for any holes or chances to bite at heels.

But it looks like the first part of the season is going to be difficult for Suzuki after a head-scratching test at Phillip Island that left it completely lost. Surely if a bike can work well around there it will work well anywhere, but its bogey circuit will not go away, and one sometimes gets the impression that the team really doesn't know what else to do.

Vermeulen is a World Super Sport champion and near World Superbike champion, so he may be sparked by Toseland's arrival and the fact that CV has employed a management firm to look after his needs, so freeing up more parts of his hugely intelligent brain to think even more about racing.

Capirossi has surprised many with his fight after having joining a new team. He does not want to be seen as dawdling around just for the money, but will want to prove to Ducati more than anyone else that he felt he was hard done by last year after all that he'd done for them. Especially as he was only one of five riders to win a race last season ...

He has been winning races at Grand Prix level for longer than some 125 riders have been alive(!), so the 'wise old owl' factor will come into play more often than not in that garage, and it's a coup that Suzuki has got him, no matter what the invoice is.

Roll on 12 months time when Suzuki will get some other bikes out there, maybe out of the garage of Aspar, which will add valuable data.

I have never understood why manufacturers do not sell bikes, get the money, peer into the data of that bike, and learn while being paid to do so. "We don't need the money and we cannot make any more bikes at the factory" is the stock answer. Doesn't seem to stop Ducati doing it, and they're the smallest of them all!

Alice Ducati

New sponsor Alice should assist things no end for the Ducatis of Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli. They will be quick in a straight line of course, but it is dependent on what electronics can be engineered by the engineers to get them out of the corners quickly. This is key with the Ducati.

Guintoli was lucky to get away with a massive Q-tyre crash last Friday night, so saving himself from missing the first race, but will be quick on his day. Elias was the superstar of 'that race' back in Portugal 2006 and will never live it down, but can the pair of them get ahead of the Kawasakis and Suzukis?

The awful question is that the best day of the team's life may well be it's downfall after Barros 'took' a place away from Stoner at Mugello last year, therefore being the only Ducati on the podium.

That was not in the script and things may or may not be allowed to repeat themselves, which is a terrible shame for the riders, but then again, anyone who beats Stoner does it on sheer merit, so let them ...

JIR Honda + LCR Honda

A real underdog of a team here, with the quiet man Andrea Dovizioso at the helm. He has always been quick on a 250, but was never given the goods by Honda as they are busy trying to make 990 and 800cc MotoGP bikes go faster.

But he kept his eyes down on the job, knowing he would get his revenge on runaway championship winner Lorenzo. Maybe that time has come.

The team knows it can win but that was a while ago, back in the days of Makoto Tamada winning in Rio and Motegi in 2004. At that stage, they had Bridgestones that worked all day around those tracks. That advantage has gone, but an influx of youth and talent over the outgoing Shinya Nakano will fire them back into the mood.

There are many who say he is better than half the MotoGP field, and I am inclined to agree with them, but this may well be a learning year for Dovi before he gets his teeth into a bike that is 'allowed' (like De Puniet's bike) to win ahead of the works Repsol Hondas.

De Puniet is incredibly brave, quick, and a winner of many a qualifying time bet in the garage at Kawasaki. The Michelin qualifyiers underneath him this year will be black gold for he and the little team run by Lucio Chechinello.

Can he run with the big boys on Sunday? Probably not, even if pre-season times say otherwise, but he will snap at Suzuki and Kawasaki heels all the time if he has even a chance. Remember: Bravado does not come in halves here.

Lost

Team Roberts are still waiting on the mega millions from a Las Vegas casino that may well be jumping into bed with a car manufacturer, incorporating a MotoGP team along the way. Should the money materialise, then bikes shouldn't take too long to appear once cash has been waved in front of faces.

Three time champion Kenny Roberts Jr will be missed around the paddock, particularly for his pre-politically correct talk and way of attacking things. One felt he always said the right thing, he just said it the wrong way ...

I suspect that he will not be missed by Dorna, but they secretly may hope for his return to give some bulk to the grid.

Alex Barros has gone back to Brazil - or even a Michelin test team if the rumours are correct. Watch this space ...

Makoto Tamada has gone to World Superbike and looks like he is still struggling.

The likable Alex Hofmann will be missed in the paddock after he has taken a testing job with the all-new Aprilia RSV-4 Superbike team, preparing the bike for its 2009 WSBK debut.

Chaz Davies has taken a ride in the AMA series on a Kawasaki 600 after an option of a test role at Ducati, but with hardly a chance of getting out there and racing. He rides in the great Daytona 200 this weekend, a race that he led last year.

Olivier Jacque is still testing for Kawasaki so should appear now and again for the green team at the odd race. Older, wiser and now a father, he is happy in the job.

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