Rossi: two strokes can beat me

Valentino Rossi has been beaten in testing for the second time this year by a two-stroke NSR, and he reckons it won’t be the last time.

Daijiro Katoh was again the man. His best lap of 2:04.40 was 0.13s better than Rossi’s in a two-day test at Suzuka. Both times were well inside Loris Capirossi’s 2:04.77 pole time of 2002.

It prompted Rossi to admit there are certain tracks where 500s will have an advantage over four-strokes.

He said: ” This test has shown there is little difference between two-strokes and four-strokes. The second part of Suzuka is quite twisty and that’s where the two-strokes work better. But we’re still developing the RCV. The power is good, but we still need to work on traction. When I’m on the edge of the tyre and open the throttle, the power comes in very suddenly.

” It is much easier with a two-stroke at this point because you can control wheelspin by balancing the throttle and the clutch. ”

Rossi believes there are four tracks where two-strokes will have the edge – Suzuka, Welkom, Rio and Valencia.