Young Guns Set To Load MotoGP Bullets

The fact that he was due to ride the RC211V was kept from Thomas before Valencia, to allow him to concentrate on the vital job of securing his title, so his sense of excitement must be as keen any rider’s would be when given the chance to fire up the ultimate in MotoGP ordnance.

Andrea Dovizioso on the RC211V

The feat Luthi pulled off in 2005 was the same as that completed by Dovizioso in 2004 - winning the 125cc championship. For ‘Dovi’ a rider with a deceptively languid expression when off duty and a measured approach to the job when in charge of a set of handlebars, his success led to an immediate promotion for both rider and team into the upper echelons of the 250cc class.

His first season in 250cc racing delivered him four podium finishes, and an overall third in the championship, the most impressive class rookie by some distance, in a year when many riders were pushed upwards to the rejuvenated 250cc category. Now he gets the chance to hear a MotoGP exhaust note from nearer its point of origin, and will indeed be in control of the volume himself.

National minibike and Motocross Championships came early in the schoolboy career of Dovizioso, still only 19 now, but in winning the highly competitive Aprilia Challenge in his native land in 2000; he singled himself out as another of Italy’s endless stream of potential world championship runners. His title-winning 2004 season was a largely dominant one, as he took a start-to-finish lead in the series, often using his cool head to win races other riders looked more likely to secure at some stages.

His 250cc rookie season may not have delivered a win quite yet, but as prizes go, a chance to ride a MotoGP missile is not a bad reward for a season of impressive effort, and an overall season podium finish in third.

Max Neukirchner

Neukirchner had a second consecutive rookie season after a successful year in SuperSport in 2004, followed by another very promising year in SuperBikes in 2005. The two-stroke-background of 2003 European Champion Max Neukirchner may have made him an immediate prospect for a move to GPs sooner rather than later – until Austrian sidecar legend Klaus Klaffenbock booked him for an adventure in World Supersport in 2004.

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