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Anyone else could build a 1,000cc twin if they wanted. Honda did. They won the championship with it. Twice. Apprilia did. They won races. Chris Walker nearly beat Hodgson on a 750 Suzuki in the BSB - he even won more races! Haga should have beaten Edwards on a 750 Yamaha. Now the 4-cylinder bikes have an extra 250cc and they're still whining about Ducati?
The reason the different engine sizes for different engines was used was because theoretically a 1,000 4-cylinder bike will be able to get more power than a 1,000 twin. Same principle with Supersport, where the 600 fours thrash the 750 twins. Back in the old days, 750 fours and 1,000 twins got about the same power - now everyone whines because Ducatis are simply good. It's the Ferrari syndrome: "They can't just be that good, it must be biased toward them!" Ducatis are just damn good, because if it was just about a 1,000 twin, why did they still seem invincible? Why couldn't Aprillia mount a serious challenge? Why did Edwards not thrash Haga's R7 when he had a brand-new twin? Why did he seem the underdog against Bayliss all last year?
Suzuki are mounting a serious challenge. The bikes in Britain are beating the Ducatis now. If Kawasaki brought out a bike that wasn't about a million years old they might have a chance - but judging from their Moto GP efforts, maybe not!
It's cowardice. Almighty Honda win the world championship and then refuse to defend it, because the rules are biased against them? How can they be when their bikes is the same type as the Duke, running to the same rules? If the Rizzla team can do it, why won't the other teams? Why not put some factory effort into it?
But I say this - The 500 GP class shouldn't have gone to 4-strokes. I said at the time (on another forum) it would hurt SBK. But really there are too many top riders in GPs now and not enough top bikes. GP bikes are prototypes and not road bikes - in SBK you can watch a bike that you can own going round the track. You can take yours to a track day if you want - where's the marketting opportunites in Moto GP?
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