Hayden was a bit more cautious...
Hayden was a bit more cautious in his support of the CRT MotoGP concept, but he's still willing to support the idea for now.
BROOKLYN, NY, JAN 18 – The 2012 MotoGP season will be a showdown between the haves and the have-nots. The haves are the 12 factory MotoGP machines powered by 1000cc prototype engines, the have-nots, the nine CRT machines with the heart of a production machine.
The gap in pre-season testing between the two groups has been stark, though it has come down from the earliest days of the CRT testing. One gap that won’t disappear is the talent gap; the CRT field includes a few standout riders—Colin Edwards is the best of them—but also has riders with no MotoGP experience. Which means that the factory riders will find themselves on vastly faster motorcycles, with vastly greater corner and top speeds approaching riders with much less experience and a lower level of equipment. It’s likely to happen more often in practice and qualifying, and towards the end of the races when the CRT machines are being lapped.
That said, Ducati Marlboro riders Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden are publicly in favor of the CRT concept, at least for now. Part of their support comes from their understanding of simple economics; after a season of 17 rider grids, and often less, and only 12 factory prototypes in 2012, they realize the field needs to be bolstered. How they’ll feel after spending three days with the CRT riders and bikes at the Sepang test at the end of the month remains to be seen.
" To really understand the level of those bikes, they need top world-class riders on ‘em—and they have a few—to see where they stack up against us
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Rossi supports the CRT concept...as...
Rossi supports the CRT concept...as long as "the difference in lap time is not so big."
“It's an important season for understand the potential of the CRT and I hope that the difference of the lap times is not too big, and especially during this season coming less for the future,” Rossi said recently. “In a perfect world we would have 24 factory MotoGP on the grid, but unfortunately now without CRT we are just 12, I think, so it's not possible make a MotoGP race with just 12 bikes, so CRT is now the choice. We need some CRT for the grid and we hope that the difference in lap time is not so big.”
Hayden was more cautious in his assessment, “because we don't really know how they're going to stack up,” he began. “But I'm in favor of CRT. Of course more bikes on the grid more teams, more riders; I think it's better. I mean, I would love for it to be everybody to be on factory bikes, but now with the world economy situation that's not possible. So I'm kind of looking forward to seeing how it works out.”
Hayden compared it to Moto2 racing, which “has been great. I mean, the racing is awesome, a lot of teams showing up, so I'm optimistic and will hold out or hold my judgment until I really see ‘em.
“Obviously, I hope the gap is not so big, and the riders, hopefully they can get good riders who will sign up and who will take this chance to ride it, because at the moment I think that's what it needs. To really understand the level of those bikes, they need top world-class riders on ‘em—and they have a few—to see where they stack up against us. But I think it should be a few more stories, should be good for the fans and I think it could be something that works.”