[kropotkin thinks...] - Of Walls And Riders

[Ninjette Newsbot]

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They seem to be all the rage nowadays: Walls dividing pit garages in MotoGP teams. The fashion started in the FIAT Yamaha team garage, where a wall was supposedly fitted to prevent data sharing between Valentino Rossi's Bridgestone side of the garage, and Jorge Lorenzo's Michelin squad. The fashion soon spread to the Repsol Honda garage, where Dani Pedrosa's switch to Bridgestones necessitated similar measures. Or so we were told, though the walls were not removed along with their original rationale once the single tire rule meant everyone would be running on Bridgestones.

The wall erected this weekend in the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha garage is perhaps a more honest one. Colin Edwards is still seething at James Toseland having kidnapped his crew chief, after Toseland had reportedly had communication problems with Guy Coulon all year. Since then, Edwards has not missed an opportunity to take a potshot at his team mate, despite being very happy to have Coulon as his new chief. The instigation of the wall at Edwards' bidding is just another shot in the war of attrition which is raging in the team. And we can look forward to more of the same as the season progresses.

The irony is that at Jerez, a wall also disappeared from a team garage. In the Repsol Honda garage, now only a workbench divides the two halves of the garage, the wall entirely gone. But then again, the injured Dani Pedrosa has been temporarily replaced by Kosuke Akiyoshi at the IRTA test, who will be riding the Spaniard's bike for the two day test. If I were a betting man, I would not put money on the wall not returning along with the Spanish title favorite.