A slow-motion video of Andrea Dovizioso, accelerating off a left, showed Dovi applying a bit too much throttle, the front lifting slightly and not just pushing but outright heading for the outside. He micro-knocks throttle, the front tire drops, and it grips. All in an instant. Whose sophisticated anti-wheelie system did we just see? The rider's? Or Ducati's?
MotoGP riders slide so routinely. On his out lap, Honda's Marc Marquez drops his bike into a short-radius turn, the back tire kicking out. It's back on duty after a brief oscillation. Tires don't warm up by themselves, and tire warmers can't give them a real, on-track temperature distribution; they have to be warmed up by the rider pushing them hard. The sliding becomes more and more like that of racing cars—it is the normal way of getting around the circuit. Riders who can't keep their tires hot lack the grip to keep up. They move downfield, and ultimately out of the series.
In past times, tire grip was more fragile, more apt to vanish at a bump impact. What we see here in MotoGP is as though tires and track are connected by a viscous, elastic adhesive. The back tire snaps out, faster than human reflexes, then as quickly returns. The front loses direction during hard braking, but an instant later no evidence remains—it was soaked up by the "adhesive." Many times per lap these motorcycles slip, shiver, and wiggle in ways that would shock a non-racing motorcyclist into sitting up and counting his blessings. But with the kind of grip and predictability these bikes and tires now have, it's hardly noticed.
Part of this is tire progress, and part is the decoupling of the tire footprints from the large masses, the engine, fuel, and rider. With a properly flexy chassis, the tire footprints can track up and over small-scale track roughness in corners without having to force the heavy stuff to do the same. The chassis gives so the tire footprints don't have to.
FREE PRACTICEWhat is distinguishing the two top men today—Jorge Lorenzo and Marquez, who are only thousandths of a second apart in times—is that they are gymnasts on their bikes in direction-changing. The upper body is horizontal next to the fuel tank on the right, and an instant later it is in the same position on the left, wasting as little track in the process as possible. Valentino Rossi, 10th in the session and a full 8/10s off the top, and Bradley Smith, are assuming the "right" positions but they are taking visibly longer in their movements, looking almost congealed by comparison.
Such quick whole-body movements are driven mainly by the rider's arms, which at the same time must accurately steer. The motorcycle is not a gymnast's rigid side-horse. Formidable strength and precision!
Rossi spoke of direction-changing later, in the afternoon media scrum behind the garages, saying that he was slow and that the bike felt heavy. I think of all the times in the past when Valentino and his former engineer Jerry Burgess would be off-pace Friday and Saturday, then "find something" between the Sunday morning warm-up and the race, resulting in yet another winning performance.
Can he still? He is leading the championship and so many people are hoping, yearning, that he can win it.
CHATTER
JORGE LORENZO"I'm very happy, because with every change we made we were able to improve the bike a bit. I'm riding very well and had a good feeling with the bike so I was able to ride close to the limit for the moment. We had the same sensation with the harder tyre, while other riders had used a new soft tyre they couldn't even get close to our time, so that was a very good sign in the morning and we confirmed it in the afternoon. Let's see if we continue working this way and we'll concentrate on improving the bike even more."
MARC MARQUEZ"It was the first day back after the break and I think it went pretty well overall. I felt comfortable on the bike and that is the most important thing. The track is gaining grip but we must continue working in the same way in order to continue improving. Currently Jorge is the rider that seems to be strongest, but tomorrow we will try to get a little closer to him."
FRIDAY TIMES: MotoGP INDIANAPOLIS
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Time/Gap 1 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1'32.860 2 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team 1'32.863 3 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team 1'33.155 4 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA Ducati Team 1'33.166 5 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR CWM LCR Honda 1'33.186 6 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'33.362 7 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team 1'33.377 8 REDDING Scott 45 GBR Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 1'33.443 9 SMITH Bradley 38 GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'33.474 10 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1'33.532 11 PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA Pramac Racing 1'33.763 12 HERNANDEZ Yonny 68 COL Pramac Racing 1'33.934 13 VINALES Maverick 25 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar 1'33.973 14 BARBERA Hector 8 SPA Avintia Racing 1'34.083 15 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar 1'34.139 16 HAYDEN Nicky 69 USA Aspar MotoGP Team 1'34.397 17 DI MEGLIO Mike 63 FRA Avintia Racing 1'34.459 18 MILLER Jack 43 AUS CWM LCR Honda 1'34.731 19 LAVERTY Eugene 50 IRE Aspar MotoGP Team 1'34.923 20 BRADL Stefan 6 GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1'34.935 21 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1'35.066 22 DE ANGELIS Alex 15 RSM Athina Forward Racing 1'35.185 23 ELIAS Toni 24 SPA AB Motoracing 1'36.336
