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Qatar 125 and 250
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125
Let's hear it for Steve Bonsey. 1st GP, finishes the race, not last and
not lapped.
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Not too bad considering the time he's had on the bike and that being his first race
at this track.
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Bradley Smith will not be happy with 12th, 10 seconds behind his team
mate. He rode ok, but screwed up the first two laps. Come on matey. You
can do it.
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He did qualify pretty well in 9th - almost the fastest Honda. I think he'll do
better, but the Hondas do seem to be a bit further down than the rest (at least at
this track).
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The Aspar boys are in another league entirely with only Pasini able to
get near them and his bike failed. It'll be a shame if 125 gets like 250
from the last few years with one or two bikes miles in front of the
pack.
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You're right, in the last couple of years, the 'factory' Aprilias in both 125 and
250 have been a lot faster than the production versions. It'd be interesting to know
how different the factory bikes are to the production ones, if it's like when Honda
had NSR250s that only a couple of teams (or riders) had, while everyone else had
RS250s of one level or other. There was pretty much no similarity between the two
bikes. I wonder if Aprilia also has varying levels of parts that teams get, like the
"A" and "B" kits for the Honda RS's.
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250
If he can just start better and have better luck, De Angelis should be
able to give Lorenzo a real run for his money. That was a really gutsy
ride through the field but when he got to 2nd there was nothing left.
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Make it de Angelis vs Aprilia at the moment. He was the only non-Aprilia
rider up front.
KTM was not so lucky. Kallio (the guy who was 125 runner-up in the last
two seasons) qualified 8th, climbed to third on start, but couldn't keep
up with the Aprilia pace. He was pushing the same lap times
consistently, but lost over a second per lap to Lorenzo. Eventually his
race ended in a technical failure two laps before the finish. His
team-mate Aoyama crashed out earlier in the race.
Sadly it looks like Honda is vasting its vast resources on Hayden, and
can't even beat an Italian junkyard manufacturer like Aprilia in 250.
KTM and its shoelace budget pale in comparison to Honda, so I highly
doubt that they can improve to even Honda's level any time soon. It'd be
a miracle if Kallio and Aoyama were going for the podium before mid season.
Nice race from Lüthi, though. The little Swiss dared to show the finger
to Honda and jump to Aprilia to get better hardware. I have to admire
him for that. :)
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I wonder if Luthi has gotten it back together after last year's fairly dreadful
performance. New class and bike for him this year. But I liked seeing Bautista qualify
4th, only .695 back in his first 250 race. Crashing out of the race didn't help,
though.
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Laverty finished, didn't come last and didn't get lapped. It's a start.
And we have a new nationality. Ratthapark Wilairot must be the first
Thai racer in GP. 2nd in the Japan 250 championship is a good
background.
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I think he has some potential, and the new nationality in the mix is good. He was
smart enough to go where the racing is tough to learn before getting into this level.
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It looks like 250 might well be closer than in the last few years. I
count 9 or 10 riders able to run up front at some races. But the back of
the field is still filled with too many privateer Aprilias that will
just never be competitive.
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