Sadly, it appears that the Doctor has been seriously injured in a motocross accident in Italy....
Sadly, it appears that the Doctor has been seriously injured in a motocross accident in Italy. https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/rossi-hospitalised-after-motocross-crash-947520/
Very unfortunate. With a great shot at the title and his age, who knows where this will take him and his career.
Daaaamn!! I bet he doesn't even care. If you watched his interview on Sunday after leading the whole race only to take 3rd, you can tell he's completely at peace/satisfied/proud of his life/career. I hope he has a quick recovery.
Last time was 41 days out which still gives him four rounds left in this year's championship amazingly from Japan to Valencia having only missed two rounds Unless someone really takes hold of the championship there could still be scope for improving his placing !
Rossi's second injury this year doing motocross. Because, why the hell not? Don't these guys have clauses in their contracts which stipulates that they don't take part in risky sports when not racing? BHW
Rossi has always used dirt bikes or dirt track as a training method. It is not possible to have endless time on an M1, so it has to be a YZF450. Interestingly his teammate, Maverick Vinales, does not like to train with dirt bikes. He said to be fast on a dirt bike you have to be aggressive on the throttle, but that habit works against you in modern MotoGP over race distance. Rossi never seems to be a guy that burns up his tires prematurely, so who knows. Either way, stinks for Rossi and his emphasis has to be on 2019. Getting healthy for the end of season tests at Valencia. Maybe he tries some 2019 parts early during the remaining races. It would be too risky if he was in the thick of the championship, but perhaps if he thought he could get an advantage for next year he could become the world's fastest development rider.
Here's the thing, if Yamaha said "here's a ton of money but you can't use any extreme sports for training during season" then Honda/whoever would say "Ride for us. We don't have that rule." Unless the governing entity makes it a rule, there's no way to keep riders from doing what they want.
That sucks to hear. I vaguely recall watching an interview with him and his love for motocross, but said how dangerous it was and that he probably shouldn't do it. :/
That accident could be a watershed in Rossi's career. He won't probably come back this year to finish the GP season. Also, there must be doubts at Yamaha if he will still be a contender for the title in future. A lot of bike racers retire because of injury.
What a shame. The Championship battle is incredible this year, with 5 horses in the race. Sadly, Rossi's injury will make it a 4 horse race. I would so love to see him win 1 more WC before he hangs it up..........
didn't one of the MotoGP guys have a clause in his contract that he couldn't ride motorcycles on the street due to the risk? this was 10 years or so ago I remember hearing that. maybe urban legend.
And most of this is what is wrong with racing. I DO understand the business side of it - you are hired to represent a company or a product, and if you are 'famous enough', you can be the face of that product (think of any car insurance commercial, cell phone commercial), you lose that person and there is a 'disconnect'. I just wish a driver could still to the 'have helmet will travel' thing, I think the sport has lost a lot when that ended, but I do understand why it is that way. Bobby Allison was hurt in a short track race, and he had a protege' Mike Alexander that took his place and was fast, and then Alexander was hurt in a similar short track race and that ended his career.
It depends. Joey Logano didn't have exclusions that effected him on this when he was at JGR, but Penske looked at his activities and cut certain things out. Same driver, different team, different contract, different stipulations.
It seems that VR is going to miss only one race, incredible! Too bad for my fellow Dutchman Van der Mark, who was poised to replace Rossi at Aragon.
Not the result I wanted. I still can't get over how ugly the fairings are on Lorezno's Ducati. It looks much better without them like on Dovizoso's bike.
Brave run by Rossi. To even start the race was incredible, and to qualify and finish as high as he did shows why he is the GOAT. It was very interesting to see how the race would play out with all of the different tire choices made on the grid. I don't ever recall a rider using hards on the front like the Hondas did - unusual choice, and both riders did say they were having front end issues in right handers, yet they finished 1 and 2! It's always a great season when there are a few teams that have legitimate shots at a win at every race.