Last year's Estoril GP was one of the most exciting of an outstanding year, with Toni Elias winning from Valentino Rossi by 0.002 of a second. The little Spanish lunatic had been rubbish all year until he decided to start braking sideways on wet kerbs, with Rossi trying it once and nearly flying off the track. Kenny Roberts Jr had led into the last lap, but finished 3rd while Toni out-dragged Vale to the flag.
But the talking point of the race was Dani Pedrosa's interesting decision to fall off his bike and skittle team-mate Nicky Hayden, leaving the Kentuckian ranting and raving like a lunatic in the gravel trap. Luckily for Dani, Hayden's Honda had no room for a pair of raccoon dogs and a gun rack, or he would have hunted down the teeny Spaniard and finished him off.
This time round, things are different. Hayden has been better in recent races, but can't really get the hang of the abysmal 800cc Honda. Pedrosa has taken a win this year, but de Puniet did a Pedrosa on him last time out. Rossi is well out of the championship due to a combination of rubbish engine and rubbish tyres. Casey Stoner, who fell off in front of Sete Gibernau last year, causing him to break his collar bone for the thousandth time, is now galloping towards the world title, and barely needs a top 10 result to stay on course.
Will Bridgestone or Michelin have the upper hand? Who cares? This tyre war sucks.
Predictions
- Stoner will be top Bridgestone runner, and will be unfazed by anything short of a tsunami hitting the circuit mid-race.
- If Michelin are dominant, Rossi will win despite his rubbish engine, otherwise he will have a disappointing race due to his rubbish engine and tyres.
- Hopkins and Vermeulen will be quick.
- Randy de Puniet will crash. This is because his beloved French football team lost 1-0 to the mighty Scotland on Wednesday night in Paris. The humiliation of seeing the Scottish lions horse the frog turkeys will leave him badly rattled.
- One or other tyre manufacturer will dominate, turning this into a snoozefest.
- Toni Elias will be spectacular to the point of lunacy, making the race worth watching after all.
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2 comments:
Your predictions are all pretty much spot on, except for number 4. You forget about Randy de Puniet's "one on, one off" schedule, where he only crashes every other race. So he's due to stay aboard, and bring it home in the top 6 this weekend. He's not due in the gravel again until either Motegi or Phillip Island.
Hmmm. So Randy de Puniet's random crashes might be predicted. Sounds like an advanced form of chaos theory!
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