Blog: Sepang Sauna

Phew what a scorcher today was. To be honest part of me is pining for some cold weather at home right now.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a bit of sun as much as the next person, but today here in Sepang was verging on ridiculous. 

I’ve been coming to Malaysia for 11 years and I can’t remember it being so baking hot. 

Normally this place has always got a fair amount of cloud cover because of the all the storms that rage round here, but today there were hardly any so the sun was just beating down constantly.

I’ve gone and got some chronic sunburn despite slapping on more Factor 3000 than you can shake a stick at and was so exhausted tonight I just grabbed some room service and chilled out as much as possible. 

And I reckon the bloke that runs the little goodie shop in the reception is going to be able to retire on the money I’ve coughed up so far on soothing Aftersun.

I’ve got no idea how the riders can cope with the extreme conditions that Malaysia presents. All you see them doing in between stints is guzzling liquids to stave off dehydration. 

They must lose several pounds in weight on days like today but I suppose they avoid the post Christmas diets as a result.

When the heat was at its peak between 12 and 2pm it took a brave soul not to seek solace in a nice air-conditioned room. 

What you learn now though could be the difference between winning and losing the world championship, and Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards did full 21-lap race simulations. 

John Hopkins did a long run too and he was again fastest, though his best time came early on only his seventh lap when track temperatures were somewhat cooler than in the afternoon. 

Valentino’s simulation was impressive as he reeled off a series of consistent laps in the 2.02 bracket, but not far behind him were Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen. 

They too stayed comfortably in the 2.02 on their long stints to prove again that Suzuki could be ready to spring the big surprise of 2007. 

Edwards’ race simulation was much slower, though he was trying a new Michelin rear tyre that went off badly after eight laps. It wasn’t all bad though as he was ecstatic with the new Michelin 16-inch front tyre and said he hadn’t felt so buoyant about a front tyre since his miracle comeback to win the World Superbike championship in 2002. 

Yamaha and Suzuki dominated today occupying the top four places to bring a refreshingly new look to the timesheets.

Valentino was again singing the praises of Hopkins and Vermeulen though he still hasn’t kept his promise to follow one of them just to see where the Suzuki is out-performing its rivals at present. 

We suggested he tag in behind John as they have a bit of history in testing at Sepang. Remember last year when Valentino got the hump when John followed him, and apparently kicked out at his Suzuki at turn one? 

Well I guess John owes Valentino a tow. Valentino said his intention all day had been to tuck in behind one of the Suzuki boys, but it was so hot that every time he went out on track he forgot!

There was a little press huddle today to meet the new project leader of the Honda RC212V. Takanori Okuma is his name and in true style he gave away very few details in a 35-minute debrief to the small band of hardcore hacks that pretty much do every test and every race. Now there is a man under some early pressure if I’ve ever seen one.

I know there is plenty of testing still to be done but best Honda today was only eighth fastest with Nicky Hayden being a massive 1.1s behind Hopkins as he barely ducked under the 2.03 barrier.

Even the Kawasaki that is at least two or three months behind in development was faster with the impressive Randy de Puniet on board. 

It seems that Honda have adopted a cautious approach and Okuma has pledged more power before the start of the season, but today must surely have been another wake up call.

The last time the MotoGP rules were changed and the 990cc four-strokes came in to replace the old two-stroke 500 lawnmowers Honda came out all guns blazing and Rossi and Tohru Ukawa were in another race to everybody else in the early part of 2002. 

Back then though HRC engineers had Jerry Burgess and Rossi developing the bike for them and it seems at the moment that the riders are complaining about different things. 

Dani’s beef today apparently was with the electronics and how it was making the engine braking inconsistent. That might have explained why he crashed unhurt at turn eight this afternoon. 

Nicky is still complaing about a lack of power and when I spoke to Marco Melandri tonight he was going on about the power delivery being too aggressive as he slumped to 11th.

You can never discount Honda from pulling something out and the time to hit the panic button will be if they get blown away in the desert in Doha on March 10.

Another interesting development today was the early departure of Ducati new recruit Casey Stoner. He had to take an early bath after just 31 laps with a muscle problem in both arms. Apparently it’s not an arm pump problem that will require surgery and threaten his appearance in the opening race, and circuit doctors assured him he will not need to go under the knife. 

They will assess him tomorrow morning before deciding whether he is fit to carry on and what treatment he might need. 

The issue again raised questions about Stoner’s fitness in some quarters, though Stoner vehemently denies having any issue with his physical condition.

But this is not the first time he’s suffered this problem despite Ducati’s contention that it was. It also seemed a fairly lame excuse from Ducati that Casey’s arms had suffered because he hadn’t ridden for seven weeks. 

Neither has anybody else but nobody else suffered the same problem. Hopefully Casey will be back tomorrow because I watched him on track yesterday and you can’t deny he’s spectacular to watch. 

He had a fair share of bad luck last season so hopefully the arm problem won’t require surgery.

Right, time for a lie down with a wet towel on my bright red head.

Later, Matt.