Young Guns Set To Load MotoGP Bullets

Gibernau’s move is a good one. It gives Ducati perhaps the strongest team for 2006 as both Gibernau (nine wins) and Capirossi (five wins) are capable of winning on the Ducati and if Bridgestone can continue to edge closer to Michelin in constructing tyres for these 225 bhp machines in all circumstances, the Italian factory seems likely to move further up the grid in 2006. For Gibernau, it’s probably his last chance to shine before the next wave of young riding talent headed by Melandri and Hayden but followed closely by Hopkins, Pedrosa, Vermeulen, Stoner and Divizioso matures.

Young Guns given a chance by Honda

Honda appears to have had a major change of mindset over the course of 2005 – recognising that it is unlikely to beat Rossi with the current crop of riders, it is now seeking to ensure it secures the next champion. Though it has lost the services of the talented Vermeulen to a Suzuki MotoGP ride, it has now sltted the two most promising 250 riders into its 2006 MotoGP line-up and yesterday Thomas Luthi (Elit Honda RS125R), Andrea Dovizioso (Kopron Team Scot RS250RW), Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda CBR1000R) and Max Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR) were given the chance to experience the demanding charms of the RC211V at Valencia. This was partly as a reward for their great efforts in their own classes, and also as a reminder to them that there is a lot more to come in a few years time, if their careers keep heading in an upward spiral.

Luthi tests the RC211V

What’s better than winning the World 125cc Championship on a buzzing little two-stroke bee of a machine, with a single stinging cylinder? For new champion Luthi, probably nothing imaginable at present, only days after his triumph in the 2005 series, but he was nonetheless in line for a taste of the sweetest honey; the golden result of Honda’s industrious workers in the race department, the RC211V.

Five cylinder’s instead of one, whirring cams and baying exhaust notes, the RC211V so much horsepower no circuit can truly ever corral it entirely, and the latest in Honda’s astounding heritage of four-stroke racers must look like the steepest side of the Matterhorn to Luthi right now.

The young Swiss – without a full-sized racetrack in his country at all because of long-standing legislative intervention – has had an outstandingly unusual road to success. Still not even 20 years old, Luthi started out at the tender age of nine years, running in the Swiss Pocket bike Championship, usually held on makeshift tracks around large, out-of-town Supermarkets. His Mother Sylvia and ex-Honda Cup racer father Hansueli helped him along, with his mother cited as his biggest supporter in his young career, in which he was to win eventual Swiss titles on the baby bikes.

Having to travel to Germany to begin his ‘real’ racing career, he was one of many young German-speaking riders to compete in the ADAC series, but despite his clear talent, his career only really took off this year. His previous seasons were marked with good results, then misfortune, but in 2005, the combination of his Elit team, the RS125R Honda and Luthi cracked the code for first race, then Championship victory. His total of four race wins (all coming this year) was not added to at the final round in Valencia, but his name was added to the ultimate role of honour in the smallest modern day GP class.

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