Yamaha's last chance with Rossi.

[bestfit]

I doubt it.

[Knowlesy]

No doubts here.

[Gerben24]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Would have been champ without the injuries probably.

Yes! He would have been champ! I believe he finished less than 25 points behind Nicky in 2006. I remember he finished only 15th at Assen and he wasn't at his best in Donington.

[Gerben24]

Originally Posted by jhansen

Rossi and Stoner on the same bikes would be pretty even stevens...

Maybe... Stoner was pretty fast. But Rossi on an equal bike and tyres would have beaten him every day of the week as he is ruthless in race-situations and he can overtake everywhere on the circuit, where Stoner has only been able to do that on the straights.

[bestfit]

Originally Posted by Gerben24

Maybe... Stoner was pretty fast. But Rossi on an equal bike and tyres would have beaten him every day of the week as he is ruthless in race-situations and he can overtake everywhere on the circuit, where Stoner has only been able to do that on the straights.

Did you watch Catalunya?

[Gerben24]

Originally Posted by bestfit

Did you watch Catalunya?

That is exactly what I'm talking about. Stoner had one good move when he went into the inside of Rossi when going into the long right hander which follows the first chicane, all his other moves where on the long start and finish straight or given the oportunity by Rossi when he was outbraking himself.

He has won an awfull lot of races this way, you can't deny that.

I'm not trying to bash your man Bestfit, but I'm trying to open peoples eyes by saying that this is an area he can improve.

[FPV GTHO]

Rossi couldnt finish all races ahead of Colin Edwards this year.

[bestfit]

I'm not trying to bash your man Bestfit, but I'm trying to open peoples eyes by saying that this is an area he can improve.

I don't take it as a bash against Stoner, I just don't agree with you on this point.
Catalunya was a brilliant race and IMO put pay to the "he can only pass on the straights" theory. The two bikes were very evenly matched in that race, the Ducati had a (reduced) speed advantage and the Yamaha handled better. A major factor of the race was that they did pass each other all round the track, both riders mentioned it in their post race press releases. Stoner did pass Rossi on the straight but Rossi was also able to slipstream Stoner and pass him into turn 1 as well.

Valentino Rossi
Position: 2nd Time: +0.069
"What a race! Even if I'm disappointed not to win, it's a great emotion to be part of a race like that and fantastic fun. It really was an amazing battle to the end with many wonderful overtaking manoeuvres by both of us in all different parts of the track! Unfortunately I lost a bit of time at the start and then it was quite hard to pass Hopkins because he was fantastic on the brakes. Then with Stoner it was a great fight and honestly I couldn't have tried harder to win, but he was a very hard rival. There were some places were we could have been better today, not just on the straight but also in some corners, but anyway it was a great experience and it will help us to understand what we need to do to keep on improving. Yamaha and Michelin are working very hard and the fact that we could fight like this today to the very end showed this. Of course I'm sad because I've won a lot of times here in Montmelo and I wanted to win again, but like I said, I don't think I could have done anymore today! We know that we can beat Stoner but today he rode like a god and he's a fantastic rival, so congratulations to him."

CASEY STONER, winner, World Championship leader on 140 points
"Going into this weekend we weren't sure how things would go. At Mugello we had a few difficulties and we thought it might be the same here. On Friday we weren't exactly on the pace, we were losing a lot in a couple of areas. Fortunately, the team worked really hard, we came up with a solution on Saturday morning and since then we've kept the bike exactly the same. The whole team did a great job this weekend and proved wrong people who said we can't win on European tracks. There were some nice passing manoeuvres going on everywhere. All three of us had our strong points and our weak points around the circuit, I was just trying to minimise my weak points and cover my lines, and it worked out. It was such a close race, no one could go away, it was very, very enjoyable to be racing that close. It was really good because our bike was set up quite well for the braking points, so for Valentino to pass us he usually had to run wide and we were able to pass him back immediately a lot of times. The way the team has set up the bike for me is fantastic, and the Bridgestones worked great again, at a circuit where they've struggled in the past, so they've really changed things around. Today was another great race for us, I'm still not thinking about the championship, maybe later in the season we can really start aiming for that."

[jhansen]

The thing is, the Stoner-Ducati-Bridgestone package was so good this year that it's tough not to think about the machine-tire advantage. In some ways, this has done a disservice to Stoner, as some have not given him the credit he deserves. And yes, he deserves a lot of credit, because he rode the darn thing and embarassed Capirossi at the same time. However, if he would have to fight for more victories the way he did at Catalunya he would have gained a lot more respect.

And I do see Gerben's point. But early in the season the Ducati power advantage was at it's most obvious. Unfortunately, we didn't get any more Catalunya like battles later in the year. Pedrosa's front straight pass of Stoner at Valencia shows that Honda at least closed the power gap some.

[Gerben24]

Originally Posted by jhansen

In some ways, this has done a disservice to Stoner, as some have not given him the credit he deserves. And yes, he deserves a lot of credit...

Has there ever been a World champion that deserved the title?

Hayden was lucky to get the title because most of his competitors were injured during the season and Rossi's Yamaha broke down one time to many...

Rossi's championships on the Yamaha were down to the fact he had the best team (Burgess) around him and the Honda was still set up for him so Hayden, Barros and Biaggi couldn't ride the darn thing. Furthermore, Honda failed to support Rossi's biggest thread, Gibernau.

Rossi won his championships on the four stroke Honda because that just was the best bike out there and his teammates weren't up to the job (yet).

Rossi won his two stroke championships, cause he was using the best Honda and the best team (read: Doohan bike, Doohan team).

Roberts won his title cause it was Rossi's first year (meaning he dropped it a lot) and all the others had way to many brake downs.

Criville won it because Doohan wasn't there.

Doohan won all his titles cause he was on the best bike with the best team and for most of the time he had very weak competition.

...


The above is all nonsense offcourse! They all deserved to win the title and they all deserve a lot of credit. Every WC will get some criticism, otherwise these forums wouldn't be any fun .

[bestfit]

[jhansen]

Hayden on Rossi:

Q Last question is a Valentino Rossi question. I've been very surprised at the amount of hysteria associated with Valentino this year, and his public outcries about the tires and the bike and things like that. What's it been like from your perspective?

Originally Posted by Nicky Hayden

What do you mean when you say "hysteria?"

Q He's lashing out. He's clearly very frustrated.

Originally Posted by Nicky Hayden

Well. It's going to be hard for me to take a shot at a seven-time World Champion when he's had one bad year, and he's over there with a broken hand and a bad back. Our sport is the way it is. You're only as good as your last race. Like it or not, that's the truth. Yeah, he had a rough year. But I rode with that Yamaha. That Yamaha on Michelins package, you could see it wasn't for lack of effort on Valentino's part. He was definitely, at times, getting every bit of everything out of that bike and that package. Which you would expect. Which he should. That's what he gets paid the big bucks to do. I don't know about some of the stuff he said. Sure, emotions run high. There's times this year I've probably said stuff after the race that come out wrong. People interview you after a race, and it's pretty easy to get a guy to say the wrong things. Really, who am I to say what Valentino's got going on over there? Sure, you lose $58 million or whatever they say he lost to the taxes. If I lost that, I'm probably going to say a few things that come out the wrong way, too. Clearly it's been a hard year. But that doesn't give a guy an excuse. You've still got your sponsors, everybody you've got to represent. I don't know. That's a bit of a tough question, too. I don't need to motivate the guy. I'm sure he's going to come back next year on Bridgestones plenty strong. I know it'll be a big year. His legacy, he's not going to want to go out losing. Lorenzo's his teammate. Here we are, a long way from Qatar, and he's going to Bridgestones. Already it's got a lot of talk, and a lot of things going. It'll be interesting. I think people are already counting the days down to Qatar under the lights.

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2007/Nov/071127-69-4.htm

[Gerben24]

I think people are already counting the days down to Qatar under the lights.

104 days

[Dani Filth]

that many .. grrrrr . too many

[Hazza]

WSBK is worse isn't it? Is there still like this one round in Febuary then like a month break then Phillip island then a 3 week break? Or did they get rid of that idea?

[Gerben24]

Originally Posted by Hazza

WSBK is worse isn't it? Is there still like this one round in Febuary then like a month break then Phillip island then a 3 week break? Or did they get rid of that idea?

PI is the week after! Than it's time for the first of the summer holidays!