Suzuki 08

[seppefan]

I cannot help but feel that Suzuki have the least interesting line up for 08. Will Loris push Chris, is Chris good enough, is Loris over the hill. THese are two riders that I like a lot but Chris has dissapointed ( apart from in the wet )I would like to be proved wrong but.....

[Mach24]

I agree.

Loris is closer to the 'end' than a he is to a title and CV whilst a good rider needs to show a fair bit more than he has to date.

Losing Hopper is going to hurt Suzuki.

[NinjaMaster]

I disagree. Capirossi will definitely help with development, I think he's still fast but the question mark will be whether or not he gets on with the bike.
Vermeulen is fast but compared to the rest of the competition he is still learning the tracks. When he knows the circuit, he is podium competitive and he will be even better next year.

[leopard]

Yeah, Suzuki Yoshimura has the best rider out of Suzuki on Biaggi's leave.

[Mach24]

I disagree. Capirossi will definitely help with development, I think he's still fast but the question mark will be whether or not he gets on with the bike.
Vermeulen is fast but compared to the rest of the competition he is still learning the tracks. When he knows the circuit, he is podium competitive and he will be even better next year.

How many seasons will you allow CV to 'learn the tracks'?

I am an Aussie and I support CV. Chris is a 'slowish' bloomer and has then delivered the goods. However against the best of the best I am not sure he can win a championship.

I think CV needs the absolute best machinery and he is not going to get that at Suzuki MotoGP.

PS: CV has been good in the races this year but FAILED in qualifying!

[jim mcglinchey]

Im not expecting great things from Loris at Suzuki, I think he will be developing the bike like he did at Ducati until Ben Spies comes on line, but lets not forget that Rizla Suzook came a very creditable third in the teams league, just a point behind Repsol.

The thing about Chris is that he never qualifies or gets a good start in a sport where the start is everything, but one of the things that I loved watching this year was the way Chris usually battled to the lead of the group that were just behind the front runners. He's nearly there.

[osg]

Loris went alright yesterday in the first preseason test....... 4th fastest.

[NinjaMaster]

How many seasons will you allow CV to 'learn the tracks'?

I am an Aussie and I support CV. Chris is a 'slowish' bloomer and has then delivered the goods. However against the best of the best I am not sure he can win a championship.

I think CV needs the absolute best machinery and he is not going to get that at Suzuki MotoGP.

PS: CV has been good in the races this year but FAILED in qualifying!

If I recall correctly, this was Vermeulen's second year of MotoGP? Given that this is the highest level of motorcycle circuit racing against the absolute best riders in the world, I would have thought that 2 years was fairly limited time to learn every track inside out to find the absolute optimal lines. Remember, even Stoner and Pedrosa, the youngest riders in the field, have 6 and 7 years experience respectively. He performed very well on tracks he had similar experience to everyone else like Laguna and San Marino. Also remember that he finished only 10 points behind his more fancied and more experienced teammate in John Hopkins and had he not been taken out of strong positions in China (?) and Assen, he would have been 4th in the championship.
Having said that, I'm not quite sure where to rate Chris as a contender but I've no doubt that he will become a more consistent top 5 finisher, provided Suzuki can continue on their upward trend.

[neninja]

The best riders will learn a circuit in a race weekend.

Look at Max Biaggi in WSB this year. Many of the circuits were completely new to him but he was competitive at almost all of them.

I feel that Hopper will regret leaving Suzuki and Suzuki will regret losing him too. Kawasaki are a much smaller operation than Suzuki and are unlikely to ever be title contenders.

I really like CV as a rider but doubt he'll ever be more than a consistent top 10 finisher who gets the odd podium when the weather is changeable.

[T-D]

vermin finished ahead of hopper in his rookie season, beat hopper at his home race, earned his first podium ahead of hopper, his first win ahead of hopper (who still has not won yet) and has more total podiums than hopper. all of this with only 2 years at the premier level compared to hopper's five.

outside of his poor qualifying results, vermin has proven to be the superior rider of the two.