2015 Misano MotoGP Friday Round Up: Disappointingly Fast Times, And Tweaking The Nut Between The Handlebars

The trouble with raised expectations is that they are so often trumped by reality. After all the hype about Misano's new surface, there was much puzzlement among the MotoGP riders, and among the teams. Danny Kent's reaction after Moto3 practice was typical. "Having heard so many people say that it's two seconds a lap quicker than last year... I'd love to know where I can find two seconds!" So much had been expected that it could only ever end in disappointment.That's not to say the surface was poor. Praise for the new track was universal, and the times were definitely quick. In Moto3, Danny Kent beat the race lap record. In Moto2, Tito Rabat was over a tenth quicker than the existing pole record. And Jorge Lorenzo managed the same feat in MotoGP, breaking the existing pole record by a few hundredths. To do so on a Friday, when the track is still relatively dusty, and fairly green (new and not yet worn in), means the track really is a lot quicker, and times will probably drop quickly on Saturday, once the riders start to turn up the wick.But teams and riders had been caught off guard. Several teams tried something a bit different on Friday morning, partly with an eye to a much grippier surface. With temperatures much cooler than during the MotoGP tests here in July, the reasoning went, the track should be faster, and so bikes were set up to deal with that. Such experiments were quickly abandoned in favor of the base setting which worked at other circuits, and this provided an instant improvement. It turns out that a solid base setting is the best starting point for just about any circuit, no matter what you might hope to encounter.read more