Marco Melandri: 'Rossi's crisis has given me credibility'

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Valentino Rossi’s failure to perform in two seasons with Ducati has left former MotoGP riderMarco Melandri feeling somewhat vindicated because when he failed at Ducati no one gave him a free pass like fans have been doing with Rossi, and many wrongly said that Melandri was burned out and now we know that it wasn’t true.

The Italian was set to ride for Ducati in 2007, but Fausto Gresini decided to use his option on the Italian and wouldn’t release him, so Ducati’s third draft pick Casey Stoner was hired and the rest of the story is now written in motorcycle racing history books.

Melandri finally joined Ducati in 2008 and had a two-year deal to ride what at that time many deemed to be the best and most powerful bike on the grid - while the wildly talented Stoner who took 10 victories and four podiums that season seemed more of an afterthought - but the Italian’s debut season was disastrous that Ducati forced him to go to a sports psychologist because of his lowly position in the championship and they even publically asked Ducati Superbike riders Troy Bayliss and Max Biaggi to test the GP8 (which was a hybrid of the 2007 machine) to show Melandri that his lack of performance was not due to the bike - both riders declined, while Sete Gibernau came out of retirement to do a three-day test on the 2008 and 2009 machines and would later make an aborted attempt to return to action with the very short lived Grupo Francisco Hernando team.

In an interview with the usual Gazzetta dello Sport, Melandri said, “I haven’t enjoyed seeing the difficulties Valentino has had, but they do show that I was right. I knew I was fast and had the right sensations to help in development, but I wasn’t listened to, Valentino’s problems has given me back credibility” but the Italian was quick to point out that he doesn’t “ live on revenge and the past does no longer counts.”

On Andrea Dovizioso going to Borgo Panigale, Melandri doesn’t predict an easy future for his fellow countryman, “For Andrea it was the only choice. I hope that I am wrong, but the premises aren’t rosy. Ducati will not spend the same amount on research and development that they invested on with Rossi.”

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El Solitario MC in States :
"Old cars and bikes roar along its beautifully aging bumpy roads, and decadent XX century architectural gems, exhibiting their patina and their usual lack of lacquer in a way you can’t see elsewhere. Its the battle of certain individuals & machines against consumerism and programmed obsolescence… and they seem to be winning!"

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Carlos Checa fastest in final session at Moscow Raceway

from http://www.twowheelsblog.com

In the final test session at Moscow Raceway ahead of this weekend’s first ever World Superbike Russian round, Carlos Checa once again headed the top of the timesheets after leading this morning session.

Lap times were considerably lower with the riders now knowing the new track and the teams beginning to refine their set-ups and the gaps between riders remained well contained.

This morning Checa posted a best lap of 1.37.189, while this afternoon he topped the charts with a 1.35.891 and like this morning he was followed by BMW’s Leon Haslam who was still a little less than two tenths adrift.

Tom Sykes moved up to third and Marco Melandri also jumped up to take fourth, while Hiroshi Aoyama who suprised everyone with his third this morning, dropped back 15 positions and finished in a lowly 18th.

Standings leader Max Biaggi also improved to take 5th and he was half a second off pace and Chaz Davies also made a big improvement to finish 6th after this morning’s 11th spot.

Following Davies was Althea Ducati’s Davide Giugliano in 7th who recovered from his crash this morning as did Aprilia’s Eugene Laverty, who jumped into the top ten to take 8th, Niccolò Canepa was another rider that crashed this morning moved into 9th. Sylvain Guintoli who was suspended from this morning’s test after getting a red card warning (the don’t give them in races and they give them tests?) closed out the top ten.

WSBK Moscow - 2nd session results

01- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – 1’35.891
02- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 0.180
03- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 0.228
04- Marco Melandri – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 0.413
05- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.530
06- Chaz Davies – ParkinGO MTC Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.746
07- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 0.825
08- Eugene Laverty – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.932
09- Niccolò Canepa – Red Devils Roma – Ducati 1198 – + 0.967
10- Sylvain Guintoli – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 0.974
11- Lorenzo Zanetti – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 1.008
12- Jonathan Rea – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 1.052
13- Leon Camier – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 1.109
14- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 1.187
15- John Hopkins – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 1.272
16- Michel Fabrizio – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 1.306
17- David Salom – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 1.445
18- Hiroshi Aoyama – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 1.452
19- Loris Baz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 1.842
20- David McFadden – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 3.276
21- Alexander Lundh – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 3.728