Great to see Denis O win his first GP, some effort that to pull Sasaki back in! First of many I’d imagine now
Of course but if someone cant see the huge jumps forward in quality of field and bikes in GP now to stoners/Rossi’s day then there’s probably not much more I can say on the subject to convince a person otherwise It’s fairly obvious to most id have thought
Different times. Different bikes. Different rules. Different tyres…. List goes on. Like comparing Ali to Tyson. although interesting you mention Stoner, who came back as a test rider, not an insignificant amount of time ago, and was still extremely fast. At Sepang he was quicker than Dovi
Going out on a limb, I tend to get the feeling it’s the older knackers that walk among us who constantly yearn for the “good old days“ and yearn for something that in reality didn’t exist lol.
I’m 32. I respect all riders (and drivers) from all eras. GOAT is relative to the time they race and to the rules and regs of that time. On the bikes of that time. Etc. Pace is entirely related to the technology of the time. The pace of the 80’s was ridiculous for the technology and safety. Tyre tech was crap for the amount of power they had. Safety equipment really poor as well. Time and technology advances, I don’t think that necessarily detracts from any rider of the past. It’s a different sport now.
93 is last man standing and even binned it again (fifth time this weekend?) in warm up. I imagine his management will take the five week break to serve Honda with an ultimatum; solve the performance issues for 2024 or we are opening discussions with other possibilities when we return.
But which team can afford 5 rebuilds per weekend? Esp when they are often write offs..then look at his points tally compared to the other Honda riders. Telling. Cant see such a big queue to be to be honest.
Wasn’t really referring to you more the older members of the forum (fairly obvious who that is, to me at least). I keep seeing this reference to a supposed golden era where the racing was the best and the riders were all goats (apparently). It wasnt it was largely shite with little depth to the fields shit machinery (as you say),riders winning races by ridiculous margins and half the field often getting lapped. Moto gp is at its healthiest it’s ever been today, with or without 93. And no one will convince me otherwise
At 58 I have been watching MotoGP for a very long time, of course every decade was different with fantastic talented riders, but if you want to use the phrase GOAT, then based on the ability and talent to continue riding, winning races and championships for 25 years, then it's clearly Valentine Rossi. In his 25 career, Rossi scored 87 500cc/MotoGP victories and a total of 115 wins, including 125GP and 250GP classes. As the only rider to win races and championships in all class previous and current classes, the term the GOAT was coined by Colin Edwards when he was asked to comment on Rossi's talent.
Which team can afford to lose all four riders due to crashes? it’s not him it’s the Honda. You may recall he won quite a lot when he had a competitive bike. It wouldn’t surprise me if Honda did what Susuki did last year and just pull out, for fear of more injuries. My bet, MM93 replaces Top Gun at Aprilia.
Said that on another thread it’s the only realistic option for him. Still can’t see Honda tearing up his contract though.
Rossi wasn’t so clever on the Ducati. He bailed. In other words, if he wasn’t on top machinery he didn’t win. Stoner had the measure of him. And so did Marquez imo….
If Honda are around at all in 2024…… Who now of their present four rider line up is not thinking about a new ride?
I think (and hope) they have too much pride to just walk away. Not exactly going swimmingly for them in superbikes either is it and I can’t see them just walking away from the problem. It’s not what they’ve normally tended to do. And as much as the Honda is seemingly a dog to ride they might look at the amount of mistakes that have caused the crashes rather than feel sympathy towards the riders themselves and demand better feedback. Taka managed to get a few points today after all that’s gone on I guess time will tell on that one.
Honda does not have time and racing is very expensive, especially if you are not winning or worse, you are in the aggregates business.
If I ran a team I’d want to know the limit of the bike course I would but I would t want a rider constantly going over it and wrecking (himself and) the bike to find out where it is. Finish the fucking race at least , and he hasn’t managed that this season (with double the races you’d have normally) and we’re off to assen next weekend lol. That’s just nuts and the only Honda rider to do so. I don’t think the blame is solely Hondas (although id hire a better test rider than Jonas Folger with their money and clout (no disrespect to him) . I’d imagine neither party is happy with the other right now so maybe they will tear up his contract for next year. Have to say I’d like to see him and aleix in the same team together lol What future that would hold for Honda is anyone’s guess
Honda’s test rider is Stefan Bradl unlessi miss-read your post? KTM have folger as their second tester. lots of big statements here regarding Honda pulling the plug etc, they won’t, for a start the teams are locked into contracts for multiple years, they could, like Suzuki did but it’s not a flippant thing. The Japanese NEED to shorten the development gap between japan and Europe, they are too slow to react, then on top of that, the ‘respect’ culture is blocking direct honesty which is needed now more than ever
