Yamaha's 800 edge

Honda duo Marco Melandri and Carlos Checa reckon rivals Yamaha have a clear advantage going into the inaugural 800cc MotoGP world championship next month.

Former world champion Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards have been in blistering form all winter on the new YZR-M1 800, outpacing rivals Honda and Ducati on race tyres at more than one test session.

And Italian Melandri said: “With the Yamaha it looks so easy. They are not the fastest into the corners because I was with John Hopkins in Qatar and he was braking much later.

“They are getting on the gas so much earlier and they have a clear advantage, riding it like the 990. We can’t do that because our engine is too aggressive.”

And Spaniard Checa added: “Yamaha seems to have the top performance at the moment and they are the level everybody is trying to catch.”