The last lap battle between...
The last lap battle between Lorenzo and Rossi at this year's Catalunya GP was another classic for the ages, with the two swapping the lead several times on the last lap. Rossi pulled another miracle win out of his bag of tricks with a last corner pass, however.
Of the day he said, "I did my best or very close to my best. If we can keep this mistake in that corner to try to overtake Valentino, I did one of my best races of my career, because today my physical condition was very poor."
Masao Furusawa carries the lofty title of Executive Officer of Engineering Operations for Yamaha Motor Company. More accurately, he's an engineer who specializes in the science of harmonics and also understands human behavior. Furusawa believes Lorenzo is the future. Furusawa said that "when Valentino will leave Yamaha, then the next guy will step up. Probably right now I'm thinking Jorge is a very strong candidate to replace Valentino."
The relationship between fellow...
The relationship between fellow Fiat Yamaha riders Rossi and Lorenzo is tenuous at best, as Lorenzo is really the first teammate that Rossi has had who not only poses a real threat to his position as leader of the team, but also the Italian's continuing title hopes.
Yamaha has three of the best riders in the world in Rossi, Lorenzo, and Ben Spies. Rossi commands an extraordinary salary, but Furusawa isn't going to overpay for the others.
"This is just a matter of negotiation," he says. "So if the bike is poor, I have to prepare lots of money to get the good riders. But this year I think Yamaha bike's pretty much competitive. So if a rider wants to come, then we can (lessen) some of the amount of the money." One of the advantages that Lorenzo and Furusawa agree on is that Yamaha "is a little bit like a family-oriented organization. So I would like to keep the riders motivations as they like. So I don't want to force anything to the riders," Furusawa said.
Lorenzo pulled off the hero...
Lorenzo pulled off the hero ride of the weekend at the Red Bull USGP by finishing third despite a dislocated shoulder and broken foot suffered from his massive highside crash during qualifying the day before.
Lorenzo concedes Yamaha is "the first option because they have a very competitive bike, who is winning a lot of races and is very easy to ride and also apart from this, the Yamaha team is like a family. The ambience is very good. This you can feel. If you are a journalist you can see it. And these two things are most important. You have to wait and see what happens." The story continues.