MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

MotoGP riders learned a new English word last Sunday at Buriram. Typical of this was Joan Mir, who had crashed out shortly after the halfway mark. "I have burns," he explained to journalists, before turning to the Honda HRC Castrol press officer to ask "como se dice? (how do you say that in English), before journalists jumped in with the word "blisters". "Ah, the tire also!" Mir joked.

Blisters were a common theme. Official air temperature of 36°C (measured in the shade) meant there was little respite for rider nor machine. The combination of blazing sun, 300 horsepower, and hot air meant that the heat produced by the engines was not being dissipated to the air, but heating up frames and chassis as well. Temperatures of metal parts were reaching nearly 100°C.

There is no better setting for Round 1 of the Superbike season than Phillip Island. With the Bass Strait dominating the horizon it offers a truly unique setting. It also all but guarantees that we’ll have classic battles with the drive to the line, a slipstreaming battle separated by thousands of a second...it was just a shame that Nicolo Bulega didn’t get the memo.

Toprak threatens to walk away from WorldSBK

As ever the WorldSBK paddock is centred around Toprak Razgatlioglu. Last year it was for his stunning championship winning upset. This year it’s because the Turkish star is upset.

Coming to Australia it was clear that BMW would be on the back foot. A late change, mid-January, in the regulations saw them unable to capitalise on their former Super Concession status and upgraded chassis parts. The change in regulations was small but incredibly significant; a manufacturer developing a new bike can only use Super Concessions if they are still eligible. In the past BMW would have been able to continue to use the upgrades with their new homologation.

A couple of decades ago, when Valentino Rossi was at the height of his powers, Rossi's crew chief Jeremy Burgess was interviewed. Burgess explained that if he was shown a photo of Rossi riding, he could identify what lap Rossi was on.

Is this some kind of weird superpower? Not really. Burgess was looking at Rossi's position on the bike, and dozens of tiny telltale signs of how he was adapting his riding to the bike and tires as they changed during race, as the fuel tank emptied and the tires wore and degraded.

If you have the kind of intimate knowledge of a rider's talent and habits that a crew chief does, you can spot those subtle changes. Or if you are an ex-rider and have been watching a particular rider for a long time, you can pick up on those signs too.