I do hope Cal is not going to lose his sense of humour over the ducati, after all, he had a good idea about how poor it was before he signed the multi million pound contract. I can accept his anger etc though, it shows how competitive he is. Bradley on the other hand, well, I am warming to the chappie and he can only gain fans.
I also think it's only been one race on the bike and a couple of comments that actually have been extracted and slightly taken out of context, I think we should all have this conversation in 3 races time and yes, if he is openly moaning about the bike then it's a fair critic because he knew what it would be like and he knew he wasn't getting a new bike until at least mid season.
cals mouth will get him no where ,the way he snapped at hodgkins was bad crack ,it will get to him something rotten to se Bradley way up front, cal is not the man to do anything on the ducati, hes chased the cash , not his career , this may be his downfall,and his jokes are shite
Surely if we think back, Cal was being made redundant from Tech 3 in any case in order to make way for Paul Asparagus. How many better options did he have than ride for Ducati? It's all very well saying he "chased the cash" and not his career. I don't recall him being offered a factory Yam or Honda.
yeh gliddofglood probably because he wasn't good enough, lets face it Lorenzo or rossi you aint gonna pick cal r u , a moto gp rider should not be saying every opportunity he gets the bike is shit, he needs to learn the other part of the job , not just the riding part ,
CAL ,,, stonner may of said things but he won the championship on it so he talked the talk , cal needs to get results first before he mouths off about the bike being shit , I personally think as the complete package as a rider and all that comes with it he will never be a proper alien ,the last thing ducati want is a rider being interviewed on the grid saying the bike is crap,
Agree, he should save those comments for MCN, that way its easily defended as no one believes whats written in there anyway lol
did u see the bt sports moto gp programme ? think wed bradders even Edwards said ffs stop winging your all being paid millions of pounds for doing something you love ,,, I think hes hit the nail on the head ,
Totally. Which is why Teddy Eddy is a big favourite of the fans. His Silverstone interview on stage is still one of the best ever Tbf tho, if asked why things aren't working, as fans we want an honest, not political, answer. Bit its in the delivery of that message and timing.
yep agree , im no politician want the truth, but bet ducati higher archy cringe when cals got the mike in his hand
Telling like it is is a good thing. And seen too little. But what sort of leaves a bad taste here is that he knows very well he joined a - in corporate mumbojumbo - 'turn-around' effort. Gigi has to rebuild Corse from the ground up and is stuck with no platform he can just let 'evolve'.. especially the GP is one hell of a challenge to get right. Now in these circumstances, finding quick wins is crucial for the moral of the troops. As the crew all want something tangible to get behind.. and the last thing you need when everybody is digging in for a rough and diffficult ride is a guy whining that 'it doesn't suit him'.. what you want is the best paid guy to be digging even harder than you do.. And contribute, contribute contribute to getting where you all wanna go... what gets to me most is that most of us like him because of his fighting antics on the T3 ... till he signed that contract...
He stopped 'fighting' in Tech 3 because of the injury to his arm following his off at Silverstone. Had nothing to do with his desire to win.
Some people are grumpy, some people are moany, some people are happy and some people are nasty etc. We are all different. Cal just says what he is thinking out loud. Whilst it may not be to everyones taste, its his life and his future. He can only deal with it in the way he can because he is Cal. Thats just him. You have to take the good with the bad with everyone. Nobody (except my bleeding wife) is perfect. He is not a media savvy trained metronome. Hes an emotional guy who wants to be the best he can be. I respect that. I like Cal because he, to me, feels like a normal bloke whos wangled a motogp ride.
I like him too and haven't heard him whinge about the Ducati personally, so it's all hearsay as far as i am concerned. Still, I think the media bit is part of the job. Lets face it, the whole racing effort is a marketing exercise. Whilst it might be in the blood of Ducati, it's still the sort of thing that goes to the wall the moment the company faces real financial difficulties. So not publicly rubbishing the work of your colleagues who design and make the bike for you would seem to be part of the deal. You are better off keeping schtum and saying that things are progressing, in flux, or whatever else it is you have to say. If the bike doesn't suit your style, you say "I am still adapting to it".
I am happy with him saying that the bike is crap. It is crap. They've been miles off the pace for years. Now they have some slightly more accommodating rules and some money to fix it all. When Cal tells me the bike is getting better I will believe him. I love the fact that Cal isn't just some PR monkey trying to sell bikes whether he thinks they are good or not. Also, Lorenzo was a whiney little lady prior to qualifying in Qatar because he couldn't get on with the tyres. They're all at it, at least Cal's comments are justified. His bike died at the finish line for goodness sake.
I just think Cal gets weirder and weirder. Mrs RB and I met him at the first Brackley bike festival a few years back when he was in s/sport. He was in Leon Camiers shadow a bit at the time but was really nice and seemed chuffed to bits when we asked for his autograph (for the kids...of course!). He has got stranger ever since - though well out of Leaons shadow of course . It struck me how genuinely sad our tour guide was when doing the factory last year, when she explained why there was no number 46 GP bike in the collection. They all live and breathe the brand so lets hope Cal will wind his neck in, become slightly more of a company man and to work with David T and Gigi to wipe the floor with the Hondas and Yams as the season goes on. Well..............it could happen ;-)