Props to Stoner.

[richie_gt]

Couldn't agree more, Rossi by far is the greatest rider ever in the sport. I was always against Rossi, but the year that he was on the Yamaha without the pneumatic valves and still managed to be competitive; he won me over - hell his bike was down 10+kmh on the straights! Why Yamaha took so long to develop the valves is beyond me...

An old housemate used to be heavily involved with Repsol HRC the year Sete Gibernau won the title, and he absolutely loathed everything Ducati - apparently they were all "push to the very end no matter what the situation". Funny that Casey ended up getting Chronic Fatigue at Ducati, hey... Casey was oh so quick on the Ducati, but he's just that little bit more faster on the Honda.

Should be an interesting season! Hope it's a close one!

Sete Gibernau never won the title

 

[Nerf Herder]

But that is in the past, let's talk about the now. So if, as you say above, Rossi can turn a nail into gold, why can't he ride on a proven race winning bike?. The same bike thatwon 3 of the last 6 races last season.

coz his shoulder really does hurt

You've all said it already, he has Burgess, The Bike can win, Lets presume he has talent ... so that leaves his body... or the bike really isn't all that good ... or more likely a combination of the two.

Maybe ... the Bike needs to be ridden at 100% (likely more, but we know thats not possible) to get it up there, but he isn't quite right yet. Soooo ... 1+1= uhmmm something that doesn't lead to him winning just yet.

 

[rone]

coz his shoulder really does hurt

You've all said it already, he has Burgess, The Bike can win, Lets presume he has talent ... so that leaves his body... or the bike really isn't all that good ... or more likely a combination of the two.

Maybe ... the Bike needs to be ridden at 100% (likely more, but we know thats not possible) to get it up there, but he isn't quite right yet. Soooo ... 1+1= uhmmm something that doesn't lead to him winning just yet.

Well said. Rossis shoulder probably still really hurts, especially after 20+ laps on a GP bike. Anybody aged 30+ who has carried a shoulder injury will attest to them being slow healing and painful.

He will also have a bigger job, together with JB to get the Ducati to perform as he likes it, compared to the Japanese factory teams, but he will get there. Whether he will get a title, however, will remain to be seen.

It does go to show what a talent Stoner is, though.

 

[No Skid Marks]

Not sure why there has to be hatred.
Rossi is fricken sick, even if he was an arse(I don't think so, just a typical wog(said lovingly)).
Stoner is a great rider, and great to see another Aussie killing it.
I think Rossi will get the Duke dialled and be a force. and I hope Stoner keeps the it ruub er side down so iot's a fair fight/season.
Good times. Lots of other interesting stuff and possible victors in the pack too.
Should be a bonza season.

 

[Bjorn]

Not sure why there has to be hatred.
Rossi is fricken sick, even if he was an arse(I don't think so, just a typical wog(said lovingly)).
Stoner is a great rider, and great to see another Aussie killing it.
I think Rossi will get the Duke dialled and be a force. and I hope Stoner keeps the it ruub er side down so iot's a fair fight/season.
Good times. Lots of other interesting stuff and possible victors in the pack too.
Should be a bonza season.

Hear, hear. Good call NSM.
The more contenders there are the better the racing and that's what I want; good, close racing.

 

[richie_gt]

Hear, hear. Good call NSM.
The more contenders there are the better the racing and that's what I want; good, close racing.

100% agree...this year is looking as though it will be a cracker!

On another note Rossi seems to be a fair sport, good on him for his celebrations but he is also gracious in defeat! If Stoner wasn't there I'd def be going for Rossi as he is a character!

 

[jrewing]

Sorry, I must have missed the time he won on bikes that were only capable of midpack? Must have been that race on the 38th of Octember?

I will never take away the fact he is an amazing rider, but he has never had a bike/package that is not one of if not THE best bikes in the field, until now. Maybe back in his 125 years he may have been on more equal machinery, but c'mon, seriously? He has always been a rider of considerable talent, but take away the special overnight tyres, or favourable engine packages and he is at the same level of the riders around him.

The excuses he now comes up with through this season to explain his substandard results will be more and more fanciful, or he can always just blame his poor shoulder

Great season ahead no doubt! Lorenzo and Stoner are to have some pretty serious battles this year I think!

Word...good to see there's a few can see past the all that Rossi shits is gold. Yes he's as good as Doohan, Rainey, Spencer.

Rossi has always had the best..period, 125/250 factory aprilia on. Never makes an uncalculated team move. Always had easier competitors like Doohan in his later years.
Do you think he would've beat Doohan/burgess combo? Nope- Why did Doohan vouch for Rossi to take his spot when he retired.. So some lesser rider didn't dominate on No.1 Repsol bike/package and have that detract from Doohans achievments.
If he was against Wayne Rainey in his era on another brand? Nope. That yamaha was down on speed compared to the Hondas of that era but had better handling.

The Ducati will get there- because of the development of the Burgess' input. Plus Burgess even said that the Ducati corp have promised them anything they need.
Would that luxury have been afforded to Casey and Homeboy Hayden..no.
Casey is the real deal. Trains super hard, dedicated and smart. Livio Suppo knows and lured him to HRC. He started out crashing his brains in the 125/250 on privateer machinery and learnt to ride to and beyond edge. Its in the saying - You can teach a rider to stop crashing but you teach them to ride fast. Doohan crashed in the beginning, Rossi crashed in the beginning etc.
I believe that Casey's lead will be too much before Burgess/Rossi get the Ducati sorted. But i'm not counting out Jorge though.
Again Jerez will answer a lot of things next weekend.

 

[Bjorn]

Its in the saying - You can teach a rider to stop crashing but you teach them to ride fast.

Did you mean? You can teach a fast rider to stop crashing, but you can't teach a slow rider to be fast.

 

[jrewing]

haha that's it

 

[Bjorn]

If they could teach a slow rider to be fast, I'd be awesome.

 

[riderseventy7]

100% agree...this year is looking as though it will be a cracker!

Agreed, it's definitely one to be excited about and as you can see it has lready given us plenty to talk about. It's finally looking like it won't be a one horse race like it was last year and there looks to be a bunch of guys that will only improve as the season wears on.

On another note Rossi seems to be a fair sport, good on him for his celebrations but he is also gracious in defeat!

HA!. You obviously haven't seen how Rossi congratulated Marco Melandri, his supposed mate, on his first GP win. You have to remember as well as being great on the track he is also great off it with regards to PR, but sometimes he drops the act.

Rossi is one of the most vidictive and petty guys out there, which is partly why he has been at the top for so long. For his idea of fair just look at what he did to Sete at Jerez which he called fair and compare it to how he complained about Toni Elias passing him under brakes at the bottom of the hill at Sachsenring. Aparently barging people off the track is racing, but rubbing is not racing.
Lets also not forget his little pass on Stoner at Laguna's corkscrew, where he gained position by running off the inside of the track and making his rival take evasive action when he rejoined the circuit. Of course because it was Rossi it was fair.

As for the shoulder, boo hoo, and they call Stoner a whinger. I didn't know Pedrosa had shoulder and arm problems until after the race, why?, because he wasn't harping on about it. The same with Cal Crutchlow, he much more recently had the same surgery as Valentino and he still managed to not make a big deal about it, Crutchlow even rode with a half ground off finger.
And let's not forget when Lorenzo was riding with not just one but two broken ankles he still managed to podium.

I do hope Rossi comes to terms with the Duc and starts being able to match the pace of the front runners. As much as I dislike the guy I really enjoy watching him race, especially now he has some competitors that don't crumble in his presence.

 

[Ben-e]

Stoner a 'aussie battler'?Aussie whinger, more like...

Your kidding, right? I have seen 90% of races since Stoner's start in MotoGP and the only thing I can remember him complaining about is Rossi dangerous riding and his illness/lack of strength.

Rossi is one of the most vidictive and petty guys out there, which is partly why he has been at the top for so long. For his idea of fair just look at what he did to Sete at Jerez which he called fair and compare it to how he complained about Toni Elias passing him under brakes at the bottom of the hill at Sachsenring. Aparently barging people off the track is racing, but rubbing is not racing.
Lets also not forget his little pass on Stoner at Laguna's corkscrew, where he gained position by running off the inside of the track and making his rival take evasive action when he rejoined the circuit. Of course because it was Rossi it was fair.

I tend to agree. Rossi is a great rider, not argument, but his overtaking manoeuvres are definitely more dangerous than other riders' and he tends to act out of desperation, and making risky decisions, such as Laguna. I don't know how the heck they let Rossi get away with that, but im 100% sure that if he caused a crash during that pass, there would have been consequences for Rossi. And Rossi says, "its just racing"...


Just found the vid:
[video=youtube;lboSRZT2XxI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lboSRZT2XxI[/video]

IMO Rossi is a bit of a dick here.

 

[zoidberg]

Your kidding, right? I have seen 90% of races since Stoner's start in MotoGP and the only thing I can remember him complaining about is Rossi dangerous riding and his illness/lack of strength.






I tend to agree. Rossi is a great rider, not argument, but his overtaking manoeuvres are definitely more dangerous than other riders' and he tends to act out of desperation, and making risky decisions, such as Laguna. I don't know how the heck they let Rossi get away with that, but im 100% sure that if he caused a crash during that pass, there would have been consequences for Rossi. And Rossi says, "its just racing"...


Just found the vid:
[video=youtube;lboSRZT2XxI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lboSRZT2XxI[/video]

IMO Rossi is a bit of a dick here.

I agree with you, this is very typical of Rossi. He has some of the dirtiest tactics displayed on track. He would be pretty good riding Supercross with his block passes etc.

DORNA has quite the history of ignoring Rossis indiscretions on track whilst penalising others for doing the same. His start at Qatar pretty much looked like a jump start to me, shame we didn't get to see the replay of it with the lights superimposed. He was lucky not to ake anyone out in the first corner too!

As far as Stoner being called a whinger... Gah, that really gets under my skin. I have never once thought he whinged about anything, he is a straight shooter, if asked a question he will give a straight answer.

I am really looking forward to Jerez! It has never been a good track for Stoner I don't think he has ever finished higher than 5th there? And traditionally the spaniards always step it up a notch at their home rounds, so if Dani's fully fit it and Stoner can work out which way the track goes, it could be a pretty serious battle for any of the podium spots. That is if Rossi doesn't take em all out in the first corner

Now I just have to find a regular source of torrents to get my racing fix!

Ah, what a season!

 

[Nerf Herder]

I hadn't seen that vid before ... and it definitely is props to Stoner.

I'll admit that the constant references to his [Rossi's] shoulder is somewhat unbecoming of my idea of a champion. But, he is a champion and I reckon he can turn the Duc around.

So Hay Ho Lets go ... bring on Jerez

 

[shitbmxrider]

..... And cue the sooking to begin....

 

[Bjorn]

..... And cue the sooking to begin....

No sooking here. It was a shithouse manoeuvre, by a rider who should know better, but that's racing.

Stoner's reply to Vale's apology was pure gold. "Your ambition exceeded your talent." G.O.L.D.

 

[No Skid Marks]

Shit though, Rossi back from last to 6th. Yes he had all race, but still. Dike can't be all bad for him.
Going to be an interesteing year. Can't wait for Stoners block pass on Rossi next race

 

[Ben-e]

No sooking here. It was a shithouse manoeuvre, by a rider who should know better, but that's racing.

Stoner's reply to Vale's apology was pure gold. "Your ambition exceeded your talent." G.O.L.D.

Yet another risky move from Rossi, at Stoner's expense. I don't agree that "that's racing", Stoner clearly had right of way there, the track being slippery and riders taking wide lines to make the turns, Rossi was a complete douche to consider that manoeuvre. This is just poor sportsmanship, clear and simple. In Rossi's defence though, he did apologise post race.

 

[rone]

I think a lot of Stoners' anger was directed, quite rightly, at the biased track marshalling.

 

[willsy01]

I think a lot of Stoners' anger was directed, quite rightly, at the biased track marshalling.

Yup....that was inexcusable.

The initial impact was racing, that's the way it is......but to have ALL the marshalls help one rider but ignore the another that is right next to them in the same predicament is just pathetic.

I'd hope they all got a slap after the race from the powers that be. I highly doubt they did though.