Michael Schumacher could have been a MotoGP rider…

That's Michael Schumacher, and he's properly fast on a MotoGP bike!!

Pics: MCN

Valentino Rossi could not (or did not) go to F1, but seven-time F1 world champ, Michael Schumacher has shown that if he had wanted to, he could have probably been a MotoGP rider! Schumacher recently got a chance to ride 2007 MotoGP world champ Casey Stoner’s Ducati GP7 race bike at Valencia, and his best lap time was 1:37:89, only a fraction more than five seconds slower than Dani Pedrosa’s outright lap record time of 1:32:748!

This wasn’t the first time Schumacher rode a MotoGP bike – he had earlier ridden Ducati’s 990cc MotoGP bike in 2005, at the Mugello circuit in Italy. This time around however, he put in 58 laps on Stoner’s bike and said he was surprised that he managed to go as fast as he did, despite not using Ducati’s hugely powerful carbon brakes and sticking with the steel brakes used by MotoGP riders in the rain.

‘It is difficult to come here and set times. I remember the last time I was riding and I was about 15 seconds slower than what you could do, so I thought maybe if I could run within ten seconds, that would nice,’ said Schumacher. But Rossi & Co. have nothing to fear from the German ace. ‘I’m just doing this for fun. I don’t I want to race. I love motorbikes so I ride motorbikes. My Harley is pretty fast…,’ says Schumacher.

Finally, talking about Casey Stoner, Schumacher said that he was very impressed with the young rider’s performance. ‘If you remember, last year no one would have bet on him at all and Ducati took the risk to take him on board. Sure he got a good bike and there is the tyre situation but he beat his teammate and other guys on the same tyres so a big credit to him,’ he said.

In the meanwhile, here we have Colin Edwards saying why he thinks Schumacher went so fast. "These bikes are so advanced now, all you need to do is crank the electronics up to where you can't crash and you can go five seconds off the pace pretty easily. You just get in and nail it! But to find that last four-tenths, say, you have to back the electronics off and really start to work it. It's like a gamble; play safe with the electronics and you'll be too slow. If everybody had the electronics turned up all the time then we would all be doing the same lap time," said Mr Edwards, who has never won a single MotoGP race ever. Hmm.....

And here's the video of Schumacher in action on the Ducati!

Also see:
First pics: 2008 Ducati 1098R and Ducati 848
10th Anniversary limited-edition Yamaha R1 released...
KTM to collaborate with Bajaj, expand in new markets...
2007 MotoGP race reports and HUGE collection of hi-res MotoGP wallpaper
Rizla Suzuki pit babes: The best in the business?
The amazing new BMW HP2 Sport...
Aprilia getting ready with 220bhp V4-powered superbike for 2008!