Marco Melandri is the child prodigy . . . now age 25. He won a GP at the age of 15 in 1998 — the youngest ever! A former 250cc GP champion, Melandri quickly established himself as a front runner when he moved to the premier class and now has a total of five wins with 19 podiums in MotoGP.
Quite frankly, this year Melandri seems completely clueless. He has no podiums, whatsoever, but things are even worse. Can you imagine Melandri the slowest rider on the track? Four seconds slower per lap than his teammate on the same bike? It has happened this year, and it is a mystery that frustrates no one more than Melandri himself. The Catalunya tests completed yesterday indicate things aren’t getting much better.
Given his undeniable skill on a bike, everyone seems to be pulling for him to figure out the Ducati GP8 and start running up front, again. We share that sentiment.
