Well thought out and good reply. I miss the 30 year old Rossi and would like to see him as a podium regular, at the end of the day he is living the dream. Still would like Dixon to have his seat if he calls it a day.
If a rider is good enough and has the right backing, they will get a seat .... there are others on seats I would rather got vacated ahead or Rossi ...... Hoping to see Dovi out on the Ape though ..... no prisoners and no f***s will be given at turn one lol ....
And being involved in Sic58's accident, he has endured some anguish, even if he hasn't endured some of the more extreme and debilitating physical injuries, sometimes between the ears is harder to overcome ...
Always a tricky job for him. He’s had mileage on the bike for sure but I think he had a couple of tricky years in Superbike when the Aprilia already wasn’t the bike to be on and sort of lost that last bit of the magic dust. See how he gets on next round at the same track, if the gap is halved, he’s making progress and I guess that’s all they can ask for as I imagine he is a 10th of the cost of Dovi
Personally I thought it was a really interesting race. Although I’m not a fan of Vinales he rode a really good race. Four Ducati’s leaving the rest of the field for dead at the start, I thought was a jaw dropping scene. Now the Bologna team just have to learn it’s a circuit race not a drag race and we’ll all be deliriously happy. Bagnaia did a fantastic job and it was great to see Zarco up there. I think there were quite a few markers put down in that race. My concern is that if Yamaha can win and Suzuki were right in the mix at an outright speed circuit, how does it bode for Ducati at the twistier circuits?
Yes but in this particular case / race it's about speed application and not the top end that'll get the right results.
Yes, and if they use up their tyres and fuel. The advantage is proven to be lost. Everything seems to revolve around tyre management these days.
I was shocked to see MV win, I have to be honest I thought it was a Ducati win for sure, not sure who it would be, probably Zarco if I had to choose. Clearly the start no one is going to beat a Ducati into turn one, but after than they went backwards not quickly but the field caught and passed most of them, Miller being the big one. As much as I like Jack he lacks race strategy or maybe it's communicating with the team to get the best out of the tyres and the bike? Rossi got T-boned by Binder which ended his race, plus tyre issues as with Morbidelli. I don't see Vinales being consistent over 19 rounds, although now he's number 1 in the Yamaha garage he doesn't need to live in Vale's shadow. My tip for the year is Morbidelli but after Sunday I'm not so sure, and I think Zarco's in with a chance, I don't see Jack or Bagnaia challenging this year. If Marc returns it will shake things up, but I'm not sure he'll return at all and if he does he won't be the rider he was.
I tried to watch the highlights but found there was little to no engine noise. Was this the same on all channels or just some quirk of ITV?
It’s the dechambeau model of racing bikes. Go hard and heavy and work it out from there. Also shows how good Dovi is that he could maintain both tyres and speed
In fairness to Morbidelli he was open about the fact his rear shock was not operating correctly and left him feeling with a floating feeling and unable to manage / measure grip, was costing him dearly. Frankies words .. "Basically, the rear-end of the bike starts to feel 'empty', like I have no damping in the shock and I have no shock. I can't turn. Well, I can turn, but I need to ride 1-second slower. I can accelerate, but I need to ride 1-second slower. "That's the effect that I have. We don't know the cause yet. We are trying to investigate, I'm sure the Yamaha guys will help me in this matter."
Basically to put it in simple terms, since Casey Stoner won 14 years ago, Dovi was the only rider that got a step away from securing a title for Ducati, and let's not forget this was against Marc Marquez. What have the much better paid ex world champions VR and JL achieved in the same team? IMHO AD deserves a little bit more credit for his work at the team. Jack Miller "In terms of MotoGP races and starts, I feel like I have the most experience and I’m happy to take that role on. "Andrea [Dovizioso] was Andrea, and I think the Ducati we have now is because of Andrea and what he’s done over the last few seasons. I think we can be very fortunate for that. I’ll just do my best not to stuff it up."
The Ducati seems to now be the Honda from the 2 stroke era, their mantra was always to have the most HP and let the riders manage it, which tbh still seems to be the Honda goal yet Ducati are just winning that battle. Interesting how Yamaha have just never changed the philosophy throughout all these years, and even more so when you think that the 800cc era when it was all about corner speed and should have suited the Yamaha, even then Ducati won by having a mental fast bike! I guess at the smaller tracks things will change, but perhaps Gigi has looked at the calendar and looks at 2x Qatar, other fast tracks and realised the odds still work in their favour, it will make it a really up and down season for Ducati riders though. The more I think about the race, the more I think Suzuki are in a really good way for the rest of the season, both MIR and RINS had phenomenal race pace. Rossi needs a solution it seems to this over-stressing the rear tyre. I'm not a particular fan but can't ignore that in the past he's been the best at managing a bike through a race, at managing tricky setup and working around it. He's not been a Melandri or Elias or one of those riders who if the bike isn't perfect he can't finish. This week will be really telling I think, you could see Yamaha and Suzuki with better qualifying and just in terms of shear numbers ending up with a couple of them breaking away at the front and it will be a different race. Once MV got away he was gone, it only needs the Ducati's stuck in a pack and 1s put on them before the straight and it's all over.
MM93 wasn't there last year and Dovi choked, easy as that really, great rider, he'll just never be a champion ... boat has sailed for him. VR admits going was a mistake and it was 2 wasted years ....
Seems Cal’s input is helping Maverick https://www.crash.net/motogp/news/974237/1/vinales-cal-crutchlow-and-i-have-same-ideas-feeling
Rossi on a Ducati should have been the dream team, but he ended up there when the bike was unrideable and only a certain Casey Stoner could muscle it around, that was the era of the monocoque chassis and the aluminium "spider" front end.... Sounds extremely familiar right now with what Honda are going through doesn't it? Jorge took a season to get his head around the Desmo's characteristics, he was all cornerspeed and the Desmo just isn't that, I think he could have taken it to Marc if he'd of stayed and I suspect his injuries towards the end of his tenure at Ducati were worse than we were led to believe. Personally I think the Ducati garage is probably quite a toxic place to be, at the start of a season and a couple of good results everyone is upbeat and happy, but when the results aren't coming I can imagine Tardozzi and several others will be blaming the rider and once that relationship is strained you're on a hiding to nothing. Dovi's worst thing was being as good/successful as he was, Ducati relied on him too much and when he didn't win it was his fault, last year his head was a mess and all he wanted to do was leave, unemployed on his leathers said it all... he lost his own championship last year, something he'll come to regret in later years I would imagine.
