RiderTua.com – Pedro Acosta is in the spotlight, even Jeremy McWilliams, a familiar figure in the MotoGP paddock, also gave his opinion. He rode a 500cc twin Aprilia bike and managed to reach the podium behind Valentino Rossi at the British GP. McWilliams is the last pole position winner as a 500cc 2-stroke rider in history (Philip Island 2002). He crashed in Barcelona on a straight track with a 250cc Honda at top speed and McWilliams admits that he is a racing ‘junkie’ even at the age of 55 he has successfully achieved podium finishes in road races such as the Northwest 200.
McWilliams is still in and out of the MotoGP pit paddock today. The 59-year-old rider is one of Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow’s friends and was an Aprilia factory rider for many years and is still in demand as a development rider for the tire and vehicle manufacturer.
Jeremy McWilliams comments on the current situation in MotoGP
Regarding Pedro Acosta’s performance, what does Jeremy McWilliams think? “At the moment Pedro (Acosta) is like he’s from another planet. It’s crazy. It also shows how unpredictable it is, whether the newcomers from Moto2 will start to perform strongly. I don’t really understand why Remy Gardner or even Raul Fernandez haven’t made it to the top “Okay, Raul still has a chance, but he’s having difficulties,” he answered.
McWilliams added that by all accounts, Pedro Acosta was extraordinary in every way. Recently he also spoke to him and asked about the fact that Marc Marquez considers him a future world champion. Acosta replied “I agree with him.. And he said that without any arrogance. I also asked him how he would celebrate his first win. He just said ‘then I will go to the Pit (Beirer/KTM Sports Director) and ask him for a bike the orange color (of the KTM factory team).”
McWilliams was also impressed with the performance of the Gresini Ducati team newcomer, Marc Marquez. “Marc is Marc. In Portugal we could clearly see that he hasn’t changed at all. In my opinion, he’s riding with the same determination as on his debut. He can’t accept that his bike set-up is limiting him. He’s completely different from what he used to be. “Other. He never thought about overcoming his bike’s weaknesses. He always confronted himself with reality. He and Pedro are the most interesting people for me at the moment,” said McWilliams.
When McWilliams was asked, how could Japanese manufacturers not progress? He said it was truly amazing. Because if we realize that we are not making any progress, at some point we have to ask people to help us. It is normal among European manufacturers to occasionally bring in engineers from competitors in the simplest case of copying something.
Japanese manufacturers seem to be silent here. That’s why their steps are so small and slow. According to McWilliams, the key lies in the chassis area. Using a design that allows the bike to ‘flex’ with the tire and rider is of the utmost importance. Yamaha’s main focus is to make the bike easier to ride. Of course it’s important, but according to him it’s not the biggest job. But the problem is of course not trivial and basically Honda and Yamaha have the ability to control it.
