Yes and on a few levels: Yes, we have entered the MM era. Yes, JB gone from the VR camp if not altogether. Yes, BBC and Eurosport will no longer show MotoGP in the UK (at least for a few years) as BT Sport takes over.
Well, I reckoned that MM would wipe himself out at some stage this year, and he didn't. Good on him, but he was lucky. Even after his pole lap, he almost binned it big style. What are the chances of his hospitalising himself next year? Quite high, I would think. If you're going to ride on the ragged edge, you have to reckon you're going to fall off. If you fall off enough, you may miss races. The bloke is a motorcycle genius. But would you bet against a Steady Eddie-style Lorenzo next season? I'm not sure that MM would have caught JL at Valencia, even if he'd wanted to. JL put in a whole heap of fast laps in qualifying. MM one very fast one on the edge of the possible (must have given his team a heart attack). If the Yam was as good as the Honda, would JL have won the title? He won more races, even missing one. Next season should be highly entertaining. Even more so if Cal on the Ducati can actually get the thing in the same frame as the top guys so that we actually see it. Well, let's not be greedy, eh? Rossi seemed to intimate that mid season, if nothing has changed (and dumping Burgess doesn't find him some tenths - which it won't) he'll pack it in. I'd almost be prepared to take a bet on that. I don't think he'll finish 2014. Does he really want his nose rubbed in it for another season? All this talk about needing to adapt to the bike was baloney. It's a bit sad to see him only keeping up vaguely when Jorge is deliberately hanging around to let everyone catch up. When that tactic didn't work, it was "AdiĆ³s amigos!". They are on the same bike, after all.
Oh I agree, the boy is fantabulous no doubt but I still believe all the Motogp planets align when it comes to Marquez, things haven't come easy for him per say, but they've been delivered on a silver platter at the very least. his records are a great achievement , winning the title IS without question a great achievement , but as I'm not one to get wrapped up in media luvvy frenzys I can still see the whole picture. Our little pedders is an anomaly unfortunately so him having that bike and not delivering with it doesn't change the fact it's still easily the best bike on the grid. Nobody has ever been given such a ride in recent history in their first outing, even if Stoner stuck around you can bet your bottom dollar that Repsol would have still put 3 bikes on the grid just so MM ended up with one. the boys done fantastically well, he really really has. But I'm just saying if other people would have been given the same privileges in life some of those records would have been broken before as well. Take Sebastian vettel for an example, he's bloody good, everybody knows it, but they simply don't see his multiple world championships in th same light as he's always had the best car on the grid without question. You could actually say MM has had it even earlier in his career due to the package he was handed in Moto2. It's all ifs and buts anyway, like I say, he's a good kid but I don't hop on bandwagons that easy and so ill not be one of the many wondering around next year wearing a 93 red tshirt pretending I've supported him all along. i like to watch him race, but give him a big off (which he'll have) and JL will win the title next year, without the off it'll be close, but if JL can stay on the bike I reckon he's coming back for another crack.
I'm more concerned with use of the word 'bandwagon'. It's a quintessential English tradition to support anyone but the clear favourite...
As it would seem with the amount of Ex Rossi fans now all of a sudden being Marquez loyalists, I can just see my twitter feed and crash.net next year being full of the usual replies: 'Marquez we love you funnyman, gooooooo 93' 'Marc iz da GOAT man, haterz' 'MM is an angel sent from god, you make my life complete' and so on and so on i expect you Fig to still don your Rossi pants until the day he retires, then and only then are you allowed to consider a Red 93 string vest, that's the rules
You're starting to sound like 749er... As much as I have supported Rossi over the years I never got round to buying a shirt, but the idea of a Marquez walking frame is starting to appeal...
I wonder how many fans Rossi has lost to Marquez this season, do people analyse that sort of thing? i mean surely success is measured by whether you have a range of pants to sell? Rossi by the way has far too many to list, Marquez it would seem has only managed to branch out in to crop tops thus far.... Maybe its two titles you need before going the pants route?
It's just natural wasteage, isn't it. Rossi gets slower, loses some fans, Marquez wins a title, gains some. The fact they're both happy-go-lucky marketable chaps would suggest they'd attract the same supporters too, so it's no real surprise. I mean, you can't expect the fans to sit in the stands looking grumpy cos Phil Read's gone off the boil a bit lately...
I knew there was a reason I don't do Twitter. Having your entire life gummed up with illiterate drivel - who needs it? Seems the young (teenagers) are going off Facebook. Twitter will be next. People will just lose interest in documenting their lives because everyone is so busy doing it no one is listening. The nadir of communication is probably Youtube comments. I've never read anything in one which was remotely interesting or useful.
Fore me Lorenzo is the real champ. Slow bike, less money, less r&d and he still finished v well this yr.
+1 in not a fan of lorenzo. but this year i have realised he is the class of the field. everyones good luck fortunes being equal he would have walked it imho
i dont give a shit..but to me, Rossi will always be the greatest. In the day, i loved Doohan....he was my fave....but by christ did he take his time getting up to that level...the Schwantz, Rainey, Doohan battles..epics....Rossi has more than a few shades of Doohan about him, but is/was even better. So, MM looks like he may well be the new hero of motogp good on him...he may well have been gifted the team, the bike, the money and have the luck of the devil, but the kid is also unfkn believably good and i honestly think that he would still have been kicking arses on a lesser machine..at the end of the day, he's world champ....you dont get that for nothing, and he set the world alight in a way the likes of Nicky Hayden, another former world champion, never could have. Dont forget, Marquez may not have won as many races as JL, but he won enough, got black flagged and still had a large enough points advantage to give him a cushion in the final race. By comparison Jorge won a single race in his first year, and got 6 podiums riding the then greatest bike on the grid, ending up 4th overall..incredibly impressive...he also got about 2000 free air miles..Marc won 6 races and got 16 podiums...not bad for a kid. Oh, and the world title. I root for a lot of the guys out there..Rossi is my main man, but i love Colin Edwards, MM, Jorge (even though he's a bit dour), Cal..and even on occasion Pedders... Next year, Cal will be in the wilderness...MM will either run out of luck or steal the title from Jorge who will be riding Marco style and trying to shoulder barge MM off the track. I can see shades of Biaggi/Rossi again.
Aside from the JL/MM show next season, we've got Cal, Bradders, Redding, Laverty to watch out for. It's gonna be good no matter what.
we can only hope. im actually quite intrigued to see Marquez get ruffled, you know, just a little angry after a few knocks. Hopefully JL will give it out and we'll see them battle every race of the season, little pedders can nip the ankles of the loser