a first...?

lorenzo's 250cc qual beats the time set by a 500 a few years ago? how
significant is that? are 250 tires so much better? i say it's hype. sur ethe
bikes are still 30kmh slower, but the tires are much better, allowing them
to overcome a major motorcycle bottleneck. the only thing i am not sure
about is whether this is the first time that a 250 qual is faster than a
time set by a 500 years ago. i kind of doubt it, but i am not sure.

Lorenzo's pole time isn't faster than the fastest 500 in 2002 (Katoh,
1:44.86), but it is faster than the 2001 500 pole (Rossi, 45.51). The
250 pole in 2001 was Katoh at 47.26, so less than 2 seconds slower than
Rossi's 500 pole, and just over two seconds slower than Lorenzo's pole.
Another way to look at it is that 250 pole this year is 2.22 seconds
faster than five years ago, and Rossi's pole this year was 2.68 seconds
faster than Biaggi's pole five years ago - on a 990, and having a 8.6kph
top speed advantage (but slower than the Ducatis this year). That shows
tire advancement, particularly thanks to the tire war, but also machine
advancement, which must be greater in MotoGP than in 250.

There's always progress in lap times. The pole time in 500 in 1988 at
Donington was a 1:35.09 and at Brno 2:05.55, and last year in MotoGP
those times were 1:27.68 and 1:56.19. 250 times went from 1:38.22 to
1:31.66 at Donington, and from 2:09.60 to 2:02.29 at Brno. Again, you
don't see quite the same progress in 250 as in 500/MotoGP. In 2001 the
poles at these races were in 250 1:33.65 and 2:02.95, and in 500 1:31.96
and 2:00.35.

Anyway, to answer your last question, Lorenzo's pole this year at Le
Mans was faster than Biaggi's 500 pole there in 2001.

It would be impossible to do. But I'd love to know how fast Rossi could
be on the last 500 but with today's tyres.

Why Rossi? Why not Capirossi or someone else? Is he the only guy who can
ride a top race bike? Didn't look like it today. Maybe it's that he's
the only guy around who's always gotten the very best tires?