CoTA isn't the only long and high speed track and the M1 holds it own on the others such as Malaysia, Mugello. A lot is made of the Honda's speed on straights but there are plenty of occassions when a Yam has held onto one and even passed one down a long straight.
TV commentators often refer to the speed of the Honda without looking to see how quickly the rider came out of the last corner which gives them a head start in a drag race. Pedrosa and Stoner were brilliant at sitting the bike up early to get the power down as soon as possible. At PI lat year when Stoner took Lorenzo, you had the usual comment from Ryder and Moody about the power of the Honda, but neither noticed (or mentioned perhaps) the line that Stoner took out of the corner which was tighter and in which he was upright sooner. He was gaining on Lorenzo coming out of the corner, not just halfway down the straight. They've done the same with Pedrosa when he has clearly got the bike upright early. Marquez will probably do the same as he is one of, if not the most dynamic rider out there.
There's more to it than a bike just having a bit more power than the other. If an M1 gets a good corner exit, the Honda can't pass it down a straight and we've seen it many times, particularly with Dovi and the satellite Hondas last year.
This track threw up a great F1 race last year, so we can only hope it does the same for the bikes. It's a pity only two teams can afford to go there for a test but it is no disadvantage to the others in reality, as the reality is that only one of 4 riders at the test stands any chance of winning, so the rest are on their own level playing field. However, in an age when cost cutting is supposed to be top of the agenda, it would have made more sense to have put the track off limits for a private test. If other teams were closer in respect of performance but not budget, then it would have been a very real disadvantage and unfair.
And it would have been more interesting if they'd all have started from scratch.
