Good post Imola. Very absorbing little films those. Furusawa is a delightful gent. There's clearly a lot of affection and respect between them. Rossi instanced Furusawa's imminent retirement as one reason for starting to think beyond Yamaha in 2010, though I was never persuaded by that at the time. But isn't that the problem, ie that Furusawa - VR's biggest advocate - has indeed retired, and that "door" isn't therefore open? I don't get the impression that Lin Jarvis misses VR one bit.
He might miss him if he didn't have the best rider currently in Motogp on his team in Lorenzo instead. I'm sure he doesn't miss playing middle man between Rossi and Lorenzo when they crossed swords. It's difficult to judge from the outside looking in whether riders and team managers are genuine best buddies or it's just business. I suspect many managers are your best buddy when your winning but would lose little sleep in shutting the door in your face when your not. Unless sponsors dictate otherwise.
Hahahahaha! That's good - I can just see Steve (Imola) drooling on himself with his horlicks being poured all over his bollocks while nodding off... You miss me doncha. C'arn, gissa kiss. I'll thank you now. Pssst, it was arm pump - we need to be factual after methinks. Deadpanned Paivi....That was a genuine PMSL moment i think Vale has retired from his Alien status. As in, he's lost that fine edge now and if you stuck him on a satellite yamaha Crutchlow's self confidence and hunger would get him past. Just my opinion of course but you have to recognise that he had a race long battle with a GP winner and former Honda factory rider in Dovi and beat him. Cal's hungrier with more belief. It's not just me who thinks Vale's lost that sharpness, Burgess thinks so too.
I was equallly shocked. Maybe it's a life crisis or maybe it's petrol fume abuse, but it ain't right.
Has someone actually seen Steve lately, has his account been hijacked? Maybe it's Derek? Hahaha Derek, you old dog you!
So Furosawa-san said Vale could always call him if he had problems. He'd better get on the blower f*ckin' pronto! :-0
Make the most of it Tony boy!! Reap it the best you can! Yes Ducati built a bike for them and not Stoner, same as they are with Rossi. TBH They know their way around trellis frames (CS won in 2007) so why not build one ? I think the reason at the time CS said one frame was never the same as the other...... But engineering has moved on since 2007! I think theres more to it why Ducati have delayed the pani in wsb next year ?
A very interesting thread which has answered a lot of questions for me. Rossi's remarks are truly enlightening. Clearly his beef is with Preziosi and now it's in the public domain, Ducati are going to have to take sides sooner rather than later. Also his performance is now seen in perspective. It basically boils down to the fact that he can't be @rsed giving his all to finish 5th or 6th whereas Hayden and Barbara can (as can Abraham when he's fit). He's happy to put his health on the line for a win (and has shown that many times) but not to finish mid-table. So it is indeed a motivation problem and not an ageing problem and consequent decline in ability. Part of me thinks that's fair enough and understandable and part of me thinks that for what he is being paid, he bloody well ought to be @rsed. But it is also strategic on his part. By refusing to do better he is embarrassing Ducati into doing something radical and he clearly wants Preziosi out. This may serve them better than making incremental changes to flawed design. Interesting that they have ALWAYS apparently been incapable of designing a bike with good front end feel.
Mmmmm....interesting. OR all of this could be a cover for the fact that he's got "The Fear" after Simoncelli's death last year. He's at an age where your mortality starts to dawn on you and running over a close friend MUST have taken a huge toll on him. I'm a HUGE Rossi fan so I hope he either snaps out of it or, if it really is as he says, they fix the bike for him. We shall see. I don't think anyone wants to see his career in bikes end on this low note!
I don't think so. There were many episodes before then when he was well off the pace and looking demotivated - eg Silverstone last year.
When you have been the top dog for so long it must be hard to keep the motivation going when you have nothing left to prove. I'm betting that Rossi would not have given up first place so easily though if he had had arm pump! :wink:
Sorry, I just have to revel in this a while longer. Someone pass me a cigar and a large port How many years have I been saying this and only now ... :wink: Muah ha ha ha ha
Ha! You've obviously never had arm pump. I entered MRO Minitwins in my first year of racing and it was my first long(er) race on sticky tyres and I got arm pump from hanging on too tight. It basically means you can't hang onto the bike properly and can't use the front brake properly. I got it another time racing an R6 in Endurance about half an hour into a session - my laptimes dropped by over a second and that was at Mallory. Armchair experts eh :wink:
Very interesting analysis of the respective riding styles of CS and VR, and its implications for riding the Ducati GP bike: Rossi & Stoner: two sailors in MotoGP
