Moto GP 2007 - expectations

[maxu05]

I think Loris would have to be the biggest challenger to Rossi IMO.

[jim mcglinchey]

Rossi will win championship without a doubt

Pedrosa will win championship without a doubt.......or Loris.

[Hotbikerchic33]

Pedrosa will win championship without a doubt.......or Loris.

ok its time to wake up from your dream

[jens]

ok its time to wake up from your dream

My dream is to see Alex Hofmann winning the title! :

[Hotbikerchic33]

ok Guys its ok to have dreams but unless your fan of Rossi none of your dreams will come true!!!

As Valentino Rossi is gonna win the 2007 Championship!!!

[leopard]

You will never be able to forecast what will Rossi do this year, he can do anything whatever he wants like dissappointing fans like you. Nobobdy rely on him playing the league fantasy

[leopard]

sorry... i was joking in my previous post, being Rossi fans isn't a mistake and it's fine

[Hotbikerchic33]

You will never be able to forecast what will Rossi do this year, he can do anything whatever he wants like dissappointing fans like you. Nobobdy rely on him playing the league fantasy

Yes, but some things in life you can be sure of and Rossi winning the championship is one of them!!!

[leopard]

There is nothing definitely sure in this life before it happens, unless as human each of us need eat, $, and maybe X

Max Biaggi all the wayyy

[jens]

Anyway, my thoughts.

Rossi is certainly the title favourite. He may dominate, he may not dominate, but he'll be at least in the title chase.
Hayden and Pedrosa are a very tight team-mate pairing, maybe Dani will have a slight edge and will score points, but it's only just. Nicky is, in fact, very consistent as some have already mentioned. But by raw speed he won't have a chance against Rossi and maybe someone else as well. So he has to hope for some mechanical gremlins or whatever at Rossi's bike again.

Melandri and Capirossi suffered in last year's Barcelona harsh collision, which affected their performances in the next rounds as well. I'd say Melandri is quite likely to attack Top3 again. He is still quite young (he started racing in 125cc-s, when he was 15 - I used to compare him to Rossi, when being a series lower). 2005 at last he managed to prove himself to finish 2nd, last year he was a bit inconsistent. He'll be a strong competitor for Top3, maybe for the title. Capirossi seems to be inconsistent to some extent and with several youngsters coming from behind, it'll be tough for him to keep the position.

If Rossi has a better season, then probably Edwards should also have a better one, although he probably will still be quite far behind from the title runners.
I'm afraid that 2006 stays as Roberts Jr's 3rd best season (after 2000 and 1999) and he'll drop a bit backwards again. Tough to say about other Suzuki boys - they have been pretty quick in qualis and in the first laps of the race, but lacked of consistency (bike's fault?) throughout the race distance.

Jacque with Kawasaki may score a couple of podiums, especially in the wet. Barros's best hopes for podiums is also wet. I think the experienced Brazilian will finish in Top10 in the standings, but anything higher will be a clear win. Checa - well, IMO his times are clearly over, but he still haven't decided to quit.

And then Stoner and Elias. Interesting how will new bike affect Stoner's performances (Ducati affected badly Sete). He was pretty good at the start of last season, but then dropped backwards. He should score his first win that he was pretty close on a couple of occasions last year. He should rise, but this year he won't be able to interrupt the title contenders.

Elias is a real fighter and seems one of the strongest competitors against Rossi himself on the final laps. There haven't been many occasions, when Rossi has been beaten on the final lap, but this is exactly what Elias did at Estoril. I'd say this was one of the most outstanding wins of the season. He needs to find consistency - if he can consistently drive in Top8 like he did at the start of last season and score some podiums as well, that would be quite decent. Among youngsters, he seems somehow in Pedrosa's and Stoner's shadows, although I'd say we should keep a very firm eye on that young Spaniard as well.