there are no excuses Rossi and Burgess are not the development set up gods they have been portrayed all these years. The single most important factor is the quality and current pace of the rider,when thats gone it's an embarrasing slide downhill,one or two podiums or maybe even a race win will just be the bright light of a star finally fading
Translates to: 'I eerrrrr don't a know what to do anymora, sooo err maybe I try to copy Nicky' Hahaha
Look, I'm no Rossi fanboy but it seems unlikely that he suddenly lost all his riding skills/talent overnight, the only logical conclusion is he was on a much better/sorted bike before he chopped it in for a Ducati, I love my Ducati Monster, if Honda wins the title again this year I'm not going to sell it and go out and buy a Hornet but the simple fact is ( for now ) Honda, Yamaha make better motoGP bikes than Ducati, an R1 would probably beat an 848 on track, I know which I'd rather own, and yes, if you put Rossi back on the Yam he would be up at the sharp end. COME ON DUCATI , SORT IT OUT & COME ON CAL !
I'm hearing what your saying but for me it's not the fact I think Rossi's lost his abilities , he simply may of lost that cutting edge pace he once had and also possibly the drive/ambition required to push the limit of the bike underneath you. That's what these boys do day in day out and it's what Rossi's been doing for 10 years. It makes sense that he loses a few hundredths here and there, the blokes only human and unlike what people may have dreamt up he's not a god or immortal. The point is are Ducati wasting they're time plowing millions in to VR? Could another younger, fresher rider get the laps required out of it who hasn't already been tainted with years of feel from a Yam M1? IMO they need to part ways, irrespective of whether VR rolls in 3rd, 4th or 5th over the season and no matter about his fan club, it's about business and the future GP of Ducati. He's not come in and set the world alight with his requested developments, his demeanour shows more and more a lack of direction or even understanding what to do next . The problem now is are Ducati being forced in to continual changes to try and make a bloke faster who simply isn't anymore just because of his reputation from a couple of years back on a bike he loved and cherished? I think what VR needs is a satalite team where it's expected he'll be slower but there's less pressure, what Ducati need is somebody untainted and to a degree trophy less so that they can have a future rider who adapts (like stoner did for example) It was a nice pipe dream but in reality that's all it ever was gonna be
The fact of the matter is VR brings in millions with him and ducati are having a good turnover in sales of late ! Ducati are not stupid that's why they the motogp team were told to sign him. Picture this! who will loose if VR jumps on the pani in WSB ? Motogp is loosing viewers every week and don't dorna know it. I'm seeing this as not a huge race fan but one of the millions of fans who switched on the watch the VR and supersic show.
BTW If any commentator says "Burgess worked his magic over night" before the warmup they need to be .................................. I feel for VR's team, the pressure JB, Brigg's and co must be under at this time must be depressing to say the least.
Unfortunately Imola your right,, however it's as good a time as any to cut him loose and create a new realm of superstars, plenty of them exist on the current grid and it's looking back at the 'good old days' that's hurting the sport, nothing else. It's fathers, brothers etc that grew up loving VR that won't let go and they pass that same religious following on to they're kids who are the young generation and they should now be idolising the newer talent (of which are all faster just not as comical) and not somebody from a past generation. There's nothing wrong with VR leaving motogp, in fact I think it needs to happen for the sport to continue and have a future, clinging on to Rossi is doing more harm than good, move over and let some others take the helm is what I say. It's a new age grid with new riders, in a few years time VR will be doing whatever he likes and the motogp world will be all about battles between Bradl, stoner, Lorenzo, Marquez etc It's going to happen anyway so why put it off even longer. I wish him all the luck in what he does next, I wish him luck if he stays on and try's to create a decent satellite team, but taking a top factory spot and holding back a younger riders place or development isn't really what should be happening on the back end of such a great career.
You are right mate. Like me you are a race fan, But we sadly lost VR's replacement last year, The Super Sic following is still going strong! The sport needs a marketing Rider to sell the show. Why do you think Dorna are letting eurosport show motogp live today, they have no contract to do so..... But the project Pheonix has crashed and burned...........................
David Emmett @ MotoMatters: "If you looked at the throngs of reporters that crowd round Valentino Rossi, you would not have guessed that he ended the day as the last of the Ducatis, as well as the last of the factory prototypes. Twelfth position is not where you would expect to find a nine-time world champion. They took a wrong direction in setup, Rossi told the media, a small change that had a massive impact. They then returned to a previous setting, but by then it was too late to make much improvement. The team will now take a look at Nicky Hayden's data - the American was best Ducati, qualifying an extremely respectable 5th - in the hope of learning something new. Things are bad. Perhaps not as bad as they look, but they are still bad. Where Rossi - or perhaps it would be better to say, his hordes of tired, despairing fans - can be hopeful is in his race pace, which is not all that far off the pace of the group fighting for 5th. Rossi always finds a little extra in the can for the race, as Cal Crutchlow explained when asked if he stood by his assertion that Rossi might be sandbagging, and the Italian is also extremely good at managing worn tires. But the best that Rossi can hope for is 5th spot, not something that he would have signed up for when he put his name to the Ducati contract. So what has happened? From the outside - and that is currently the only place available for inspection, the internal politics of the situation hermetically sealed from the outside world - there is nothing obvious to blame. The bike is clearly better, but the engine - though powerful - is still not providing the right weight balance for the front end to grip in the way that Rossi wants. An overly aggressive engine was making it hard for Rossi to control the spinning in the rear - though Hayden, with his background in dirt track, is having much less problem with that. The spinning rear tire is causing the front to push wide, and for the bike to understeer. But despite the dignity of Rossi's bearing - and given the massive pressure the Italian is under, the calmness and simplicity with which he answers the questions put to him is truly remarkable - it is hard to avoid the question of whether Rossi still has the fire to push for results. Has his mindset changed from racer to test and development rider? Is his crew able to translate the feedback he is giving correctly, and pass it on to Ducati Corse? And is Corse - as personified by Filippo Preziosi - listening to the feedback being given? Someone, somewhere, is falling short, and perhaps the most likely explanation is that it is all three parties. A backlash is brewing. Discipline at Ducati is tight, and the Italian media are still too tightly entwined with the legend they have helped create around the persona of Rossi. True, a massive proportion of the crowds that come to MotoGP events come for one man, and one man only. But the tone among fans is starting to change. Die-hard Rossi fans are starting to vent their frustration, unaccustomed as they are to such a continuous run of poor results. Unless something radical happens to turn Rossi's fortunes around, this will surely end in tears. Tragically for the Italian, for Ducati, and for the fans of both, the signs are not good at all."
Makes me laugh! Do some homework Casey! In the meantime, Stoner is getting frustrated at handling the chatter issues. A wrong direction taken during qualifying saw him struggle more and more with the bike, especially with the soft tires. In parc ferme, he pointed the finger of blame at his team, in terms reminiscent of his time at Ducati. According to the Australian, his team acknowledged that he was suffering massive chatter, but were not as concerned as Stoner felt they should be, because of the reigning World Champion's speed. That line of thought produced a bike that nearly broke Marco Melandri, and saw Valentino Rossi wobble about for a season in mid-pack. Stoner's natural ability to ignore bike problems and push to the limit of the tires too often mitigates against him. In the press conference, the Australian was much more diplomatic about the situation, diverting his ire into an attack on the rule changes which have taken place over the years, in response to a question about Ben Spies bizarre crash. Spies got caught up with his bike after losing control, getting dragged along beside the machine before finally separating. Spies denied that the problem had been caused by the new compulsory front brake lever guards fitted to all bikes, saying that review of the video had shown the guard had already sheered off when he got caught up. Just what it was that was entangled is still a mystery, but Stoner pronounced his opposition to the brake lever guards, saying that it was too easy for the guards to get tangled up with the inside of a glove, posing a danger to the rider. He had been against them from the start, he said, the situation being made worse once he found out it had been put into the rulebook. He was then asked what his answer would be to solve the crisis in MotoGP. After expressing his firm opposition to the CRT concept - making some fair points about the difficulties an independent manufacturer faced in making a bike based on a production engine competitive with factory bikes that have been under development for many years now - he argued that the real problem was the constant changes to the rulebook. When it was pointed out to Stoner that it was the manufacturers who had pushed through almost all of those changes - the MSMA had a contractual monopoly on technical rule changes, up until December 31st, 2011 - Stoner flatly denied it, saying "Dorna can blame who they want for this, but they have the final decision," before backtracking a little once the contractual situation was explained to him. Stoner has a point about the necessity of a stable rule package, the problem is that the time when we needed a stable rule package was in 2004 and 2005, when the decision was taken to go to 800cc. Right now, MotoGP has nearly bankrupted itself - in part by the manufacturers' manic pursuit of rule changes, and in part by Dorna's failure to attract new sponsors to the sport - and needs a new set of cheaper rules before locking down the rulebook and not touching it again for at least 10 years. Stoner and his crew have a lot of work to do during tomorrow's 20-minute warm up, but the good news for the Australian is that the chatter on the bike tends to drop off as the tires wear. Some electronics tweaks should help smooth out some of the chatter, and the rest will be down to the Repsol Honda man.
Lots of Rossi slating, and maybe your right but we haven't had a race yet. He may have the perfect race setup which doesn't always translate into a single fast lap. Lets wait and see how the land lies after the race. No one has won or lost anything yet.
Much better racing to watch than the 800's. Did i mention Stoner would feck his tyres up TP ? VR needs to go!
