and moto2! yep... skipped through the GP... watched M2 completely... now that is racing... bit like BSB
i know what you mean .... but by the time he picks up NH to fight over 6, 7 or 8th place, NH tire are gone from putting up some sort of very brave fight to show something at the front... you can win a Champioship without winning 1 race... But this is not very glorious, now is it? It is sort of sad to see this divinity on 2 wheels dwindling to mere mortalhood.. The question is if we want to seem him fade into "also ran"... And if holding on does any good to our beloved Ducati...
So Ducati haven't took the option to renew Hayden after Assen (within his contract I guess) claiming Audi will make a decision so maybe NH is off too, I saw somewhere that he's rumoured to be going back to AMA Roger his brother is his manager so no doubt will get a decent ride and decent cash. Pity if it happens as I cannot see Nicky getting another ride in MotoGP now unless he wants a CRT ride...
Well with the current rules Jon......there are no rides......the Ducati is a poison chalice, and the factories....only leaving Honda and Yamaha, can only run two works and two satellite bikes......so where would he go ? Moto GP is about to fall to its knees if they arent careful.......maybe the 30 bikes Honda spoke about building is the way forward......we used to have full grids when Suzuki sold customer RG's, and the racing wasnt half bad !
Not sure if it's being asserted that Nicky won the title in '06 without winning a race but if it is, he won two races that year. 10 podiums; all while Honda made him test parts for Dani...
Correct...he won at Assen and Laguna that year........and won the title at Valencia when Rossi, who had to finish fifth to land the title, slid off at Turn 2 while in....5th place....Bayliss and Capirossi walked away with the race on the 990 Ducatis....trellis framed I might add.......Lol....
If Nicky hasn't got a competitive ride.....and as Dave just said there ain't any, I'd like to see him on a WSB rather than him disappear from our screens competing AMA's. Dorna should be changing the rules to keep riders in the series, allowing more machines for them not creating a shortage.
I guess if Audi kills off Nicky they are mad. First sale in US of Ducati and Audi will suffer and both only have a foothold at best. Also even if Nicky is behind in points to Rossi well he provides more fun and TV coverage now.
Not forgetting that Capirossi won 3 races that year and had 4 2nds (Hayden had 2 2nds) and had 8 podiums in total.
Direct factory involvement in motogp is on the way out. This is what Dorna wants. The idea is Dorna supplies control ECUs and control tyres, the factories supply engines, and the individual teams build and race the bikes using whatever chassis and cycleparts they choose. The idea being you don't get one manufacturer (i.e. Honda) throwing millions of pounds into individual bikes or riders, and hence giving all the other riders a fair crack at the whip. Perhaps this is closer than we think. Could it be the reason why Stoner has chucked in the towel? Why Rossi isn't fighting for trophies (cos he's developing something other than a full factory bike)? Could it be why spy shots of the Suzuki show an in-line 4 engine rather than a V4 - a customer engine/bike..? Who knows. But when you look at the runaway success of moto2 and the potential brilliance of moto3, the fact WSB has continued to succeed despite the introduction of control tyres, and the fact one of the highest profile domestic series' has banned electronics, and you have to wonder if Dorna aren't onto something. I think motogp 2013 will be very different to motogp 2012...
Except that SURELY racing needs ONE class thats sort of " no limits" or where does development come from? If the factories just produce engines, who will be interested in improving them? Honda, Yamaha and Ducati have all said in past years that if they are constrained to control ecu's they will have no interest in racing in Moto GP.......
Prototype racing needs to continue! We already have production racing, and you can bet your last dollar that Dorna won't keep two series running when the boundaries become so blurred that you can't tell the difference between production and prototype racing, do we really want one series to disappear?
I've always been of the opinion that motogp should be a prototype series showcasing technical brilliance. That was until I saw the first corner of the first moto2 race... But look back to the start of grand prix racing and it wasn't all gleaming motorhomes, 'brand centres' and playboy riders; it was grit, one man bands tuning their ride-to-work bikes and racing for sheckles. Alan Shepherd, a works MZ rider, had to drive to east Germany in a Morris Minor van to pick up his 'works' bike, paying his own way there, then funding his entire race season himself despite being a 'works' rider. Most old racers' scenarios were the same, and as far from the current glamour show we now have. So I think we can easily do without factory teams and all their money and tech power. In fact I think it will improve the series. The biggest worry will be for the 'aliens'...
You could apply that to any sport.....but times have changed, business has taken over. The days you mention ain't never coming back :frown: What we have now in the domestic BSB, International WSB production series and the prototype nature of MotoGP needs to be preserved not combined. It's like combining F1 with the touring car series......
Quite so, and I've no desire to see any series merged. Neither, I suspect, do Dorna. It could be argued that factory involvement in racing has stifled development rather than encouraging it. The japanese are a race prone to evolution rather than revolution, and while the bikes are undoubtedly brilliant, they are also fairly formulaic. Suspension, chassis and engine design have remained roughly the same for decades, partly through race regs, but also through the manufacturers' unwillingness to take risks. Perhaps giving over the racing to smaller teams will encourage some outside thinking and produce even purer prototype racing. Wouldn't you like to see something like the Britten V1000 race at the highest level..?
Definitely..... I just hope the ever tightening controls don't choke the innovative thinking and development, rather than encourage it. Honda cup for MotoGP anyone???
I think Audi may pull the plug on the Ducati Moto GP effort unless some results are forthcoming. That will leave just two factories......who wants to participate at CRT level, when clearly the bikes are all crap...even Colin Edwards is last......the Aprilia are not as quick round the same tracks as the factory WSB Aprilias.......why would ANY team want to fork out for such a pile of shite? The whole Moto GP thing is a pile of pants at the moment. Bring back the 500-4 formula. Put a combined rider/bike weight limit in ALL classes, and have a rear wheel bhp limit. Otherwise, anything goes. Job sorted.
