Uh-oh: Rossi disses Ducati (inc Qatar spoilers)

Has anyone noticed that Lozenge doesn't play to the crowd anymore,where was his flag planting antics,surely that was the perfect opportunity to plug himself,after all it was Casey's racetrack and one he'd never won at in motogp.
Either he never expected to win or he's matured from the clown behaviour and trying to outdo Rossi,or is that not so important now that Rossi is an also ran.
Just a Thought.

 

I think he has grown up and is not interested in being a clown

 

Can't say I missed it; Lozenges post-race celebrations were pretty lame anyway compared to Rossi's. That's another thing Rossi's the best at...:wink:

 

Hello all. Nice to see you are all well and having a bit of fun here.

I have been watching the 07 series. I had forgotten how well Hopkins was doing on that Bridgstone shod Suzuki, and can't help but think that their downward spiral started in 08, along with Ducatis, when Rossi got the same tyres.

Now in 2012, we see a new Bridgestone front that does not suit Honda but I bet my mortgage will suit Ducati.

But back to 07, Rossi and Edwards took the first 6 poles that year.

Rossi won at Jerez and Mugello, placed second at Qatar and China. He blew Turkey by making a lot of mistakes.

Time to bust a couple more Rossi myths.

1) he is blaming the problems of the bike on understeer and those are supposed to be due to the L4 layout. Go back and look at the races in 07. Stoner was turning inside Rossi all the time and not using the back wheel to do so! So who is to blame for the handling issues now he has his beloved twin spar chassis? What is clear is that Rossi was the undisputed master on the brakes but that suggests those Michelins still had something going for them, especially when you consider 6 straight poles for Yamaha.

2) Rossi says that Casey was young in 07 and he "evolved with the bike". Pretty fast evolution. Casey won the first race and the went on to win races 3a from the first 4. Those being Qatar, China and Turkey. Yet despite that Stoner was only 9 points ahead after 6 races.

we also read that Rossi says his GP12 is too powerful. Was this not his biggest moan at Yamaha in 07?

Make you mind up Rossi, do you want a powerful bike or not? Moan, moan, moan.

 

And yet he still commands so many column inches in the press and on forums, even when he's crap! Must be irritating for some...

 

It is.

It's a bit like an MP who has been booted put his party for fiddling expenses or wife beating, but just won't stand down.

Still taking the money even though they don't deserve it. They become a national scandal with, as you say many column inches handed over, when what should happen is they quit or get fired and everyone moves on to those who do deserve the attention. Eg Lorenzo.

 

Because we have seen before that once people stop watching Motogp/500Gp, WSBK becomes the premier motorcycle race class and the sponsors follow suit and stop putting money into Motogp and go to WSBK instead.

Sport is entertainment at the top level and it needs competitors who will bring the crowds in.

Just watched the latest F1 race on the TV and as much as it pains me to say it (cos i don't like F1) , Motogp has a lot to learn from them about making the racing entertaining again.

 

And the reason sponsers are happy to flock to either F1 or WSBK is because there are more riders/drivers who get air time and exposure.

Rossi can only have so many sponsers, so if your not sponsoring him the bike & rider your sponsoring is less likely to get that priceless coverage your paying for, hence which IMO sponsoring anybody in motogp is probably not as good as other series simply due to every man and his dog only wanting to interview or photograph Rossi like some teenage groupie crush on a boy band thing.

I'm not saying its his fault, I'm just saying that's how marketing and exposure works, if your not likely to get exposure your not as keen to throw money at it.
Not everybody can or will want to sponser Rossi , I'm sure he costs a lot for a start and the money he generates is i would assume for personal gain through sponsers and not bringing more interest to motogp, hes just keeping it flatlined and his bank balance fat.

Now if he wasn't in Motogp any longer and other riders were given more of an opportunity to shine then therefore get more coverage the series would then become more appealing to a wider range of sponsers and although non could quite command the same fees as Rossi I'd bet more people would be getting better airtime.

It's all hyperthectical anyway as he's still there and while he is he'll have all the money and press pull to him, if and when he goes we'll see.

At that point the extra thousands of 'just Rossi fans' NOT motogp fans can piss off as far as I'm concerned cos buying a yellow hat, car sticker and t-shirt dosnt do jack shit for the sport or keep sponsers happy

 

Really..?

 

Talking about Lorenzo here, but of course he doesn't have to rub Vale's nose in it any more. A lot of his antics were just bigger or more outlandish than Vale's ....I think just to prove a point.

Vale used to play mind games only with his closest rival and for Jorge that ain't Vale these days, so he doesn't need to 'out-Vale' Vale ...if you see what I mean. :wink:

 

I don't agree with much of this. You can't blame Rossi for making MotoGP a poor proposition for sponsorship.

In my view, motorcycling is a still a minority pastime for a committed few, when viewed as a proportion of the general public. That is why non-automotive related sponsors are hard to find. Everyone drives a car, so most people can at least relate to the idea of 4-wheeled motorsport. Even then, the Touring Car Championship isn't exactly high profile.

Golf is popular (and very rich) because business leaders over-index as golf players. I bet they under-index as bike riders. When you're in marketing, there are 1'000 ways to spend your budget and emotion does come into it. If the CEO is a huge tennis fan, your company is more likely to invest in tennis sponsorship. I could tell you a story lived from the inside about an alcohol brand and F1 sponsorship, but I won't. I could also tell you about how much effort I went to to get that company to sponsor MotoGP, but the will just wasn't there because none of the non-bike-riding decision makers gave a hoot about motorcycles.

Some reassessment of their decisions would occur if MotoGP was hugely popular with the general public, but outside a few countries like Spain (guess who have all the teams, riders and sponsorship) it isn't. Rossi actually does a great job in giving MotoGP some profile outside committed bike riders. Saying that this does nothing for the sport is rubbish. If you have 5 Rossis on the grid who were all so media friendly, you might have a different proposition. Dorna is well aware of this.

Even back in the day motorcycles (and cars to a lesser extent) were heavily backed with cigarette advertising - Marlboro, Lucky Strike, John Player, Rothmans, Kool. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for everyday branded products. People like Xerox and Sandisk remain exceptions.

Even to say that MotoGP is too expensive to sponsor is rubbish. The "economic crisis" actually isn't one for the world's biggest brands. They and their owning companies are getting steadily richer and a few million of sponsorship is no big deal to a big brand. If Bill Gates or Steve Jobs had been big bike fans, you'd have seen an Apple or Microsoft bike. But they're not (or weren't) and you don't. If you want to fill grids with real cutting edge bikes, then household names are what you need. Blaming the only one there is is deluded.

 

Agree with all of that. You have to go back to the days of Barry Sheene in this country when bike racing was high profile. Also helps if we have winners.

 

I didn't mean it's Rossi's fault, I'm merely pointing out pretty much what you have but in a different way.

You say yourself Dorna would like 5 Rossi's on the grid but that is never ever going to happen as there is only 1 Rossi and nobody else can start to shine through whilst he's there.

All I'm saying is that your 5 'rossi esq' type riders can't come to the forefront whilst everybody continually flocks to Rossi, So less individual country presence for each rider, less people can be proud of that particular rider from his home country as they don't know who he is , therefore less people give a shit and don't wish to sponsor.

It's not a Rossi witch hunt from me, I respect the bloke and his achievements, BUT I don't agree with the teary eyed crowd who try to suggest there's no light at the end of the tunnel for Motogp without him, it's just absolute tosh.

It may dip a tad to start but when new young exciting riders are given their opportunity and their tv presence a little more new stars will be born.

At the moment everybody seems to be flogging the same old tune in some glimmer of hope Rossi never bows out.

 

Utter nonsense.

If there was a single person in the paddock worthy of loads of media coverage (outside of their racing results ) they would get it. News hounds want an exclusive and they would be happy to have the kudo's of finding a good story. Every editor is the same and for that reason alone you can be certain anyone news worthy will be in the news.

No one else is because they're not.

Having said all that i am a Rossi fan as well, but much more i am a Ducati fan and have been since long before they had a top flight presence in world racing.

For that reason i wish them well in sorting this current issue out and actually have no doubt they will.

 

its strange how its always rossi fans who always seem to think nobody else is worth knowing about though isnt it? I for one would love to know more about other riders and have a better insight in to them.

Perhaps thats the difference.

 

You VR haters have got it bad!!!
We had the new Media man, but sadly He was taken from us! RIP Supersic!

 

Guy Martin for MotoGP anyone? That would be a press conference to attend!