Wow, kind of early to be writing him off, don't you think? Let's see......he is the current defending World Champion. He is only 31 years old. He is recovering from a crash earlier this year, getting inferior equipment (because he is going to another team), yet still places way high up in the finishing order. I think Rossi at Ducati will be the greatest thing that could ever happen to Ducati. He will have a new fire lit under him, and will be more dangerous than ever. I predict at least 1 more WC, if not his 1st year at Ducati, then his 2nd at the latest.
You may be right, but I doubt that Rossi will ever be as dominant as he once was. He is certanly a breath of fresh air for Ducati, that needs it after Stoner's departure. I am wondering why Stoner decided to leave in the first place. As for Hayden, his place should be taken in the team by another promising talent. It's obvious that Nicky is in serious decline.
I don't know if that was Stoner's decision to make. I have to imagine Ducati was getting tired of Stoner's inconsistencies. That illness last season cast a lot of doubt on him........maybe someone who knows the real story can chime in here.............? He's a great rider, and I think he is capable of challenging for more WCs.....joining a new team may be the best thing to happen to him. As for Nicky, he is having his best year at Ducati this year. He'll make a great #2 to Rossi. I think teams generally work better if there's a clear #1, it makes for much less inter team fighting, and also stupid moves taking each other out on the track. Also, points are maximized towards the #1, instead of them getting divided up. Rossi/Lorenzo, Senna/Prost, Vettel/Weber etc are great examples of this.
I don't think Hayden deserves a MotoGP factory ride anymore. Frankly, for an ex-world champ, he is an embarrassment to watch ! The writing is on the wall for him, and I don't even think he could cut it back in Superbike. He never impressed me as a rider.
There is much to choosing and putting together teamates, and talents and responsibilities that conjoin synergistically to get results. Prior to Hayden joining the team, the 800cc Ducati was unrideable for anyone BUT Stoner. You can imagine that Stoner had quite a negotiating chit in his corner due to that, and further, people gave all the credit for winning to Stoner and not the manufacturer. Nicky's journeyman approach to putting in lots of laps, working with engineers and data people, and trying out a lot of new stuff took pressure off of Stoner to do so and allowed him to concentrate on winning races. That this eventually caught up with Casey to the point where the bike seems LESS capable in his hands is curious, but I also think Honda have come WAY up the ladder, and the Yamaha has some great strengths, too.......almost anyone can get on the Yamaha and go pretty fast. The Duc is becoming better sorted to allow more riders access to its speed, and most of that was due to Nicky, IMO.
i agree totally. anything other explanation is just an excuse. back in ama he was not the best rider...he raced on the best race package. e-boz was the talent at the time but never had a solid package in the kawi. hayden being the u.s. moto gp guy was akin to michael andretti going to f1. not the right guy and short on raw talent. pcb
Rossi will not be in F1... EVER. He might get another chance to drive the car because they like him, he likes them and every time it happens it keeps both in the headlines for a week without them having done anything. That is the extent of Rossi's involvement in F1, IMO.
Its about time Rossi got on a Duc. I remember watching him wow the stands during his first three seasons with Honda, and then chortling gleefully when Yamaha snatched him. Now we get to see him ride for Ducati? Yes please. Ducati has been off the main podium for far too long. Watching Hayden ride was almost painful. Yeah, he could rack that grip, and fly, but he never looked like he was in his element like he did on the Kawi. I really look forward to seeing what Rossi can do on a Duc. Maybe he is the rider they need to utilize the power band on those desmo twins. Anyone remember when Ducati took the season last? (its almost like asking when the Cubs won a series last)
Yes, e-boz was the talent, and I appreciate your recognition of this fact. And had not Aaron Yates crashed into e-boz. e-boz might have won AMA Superbike in 2002 riding the ZX-7R. I've never found anything else as exciting in AMA Superbike since then.
... Ducati's MotoGP bike is a (desmo) V4, not a twin... Ducati runs (desmo) twins in the Superbike class though.
Casey's a good rider but he won the title after a year ducati spent more time developing the new 800cc motor more than anyone else. And its pretty obvious that ducati has gotten slower every year since which is understandable when your lead rider *****es about what the bike is doing wrong for him instead of explaining how the bike can become better period. Ducati needed a rider that can help them keep up development wise and also keep moral up in the garage which Casey DEFINITELY lacks. Constant sulking and complaining along with going back to '09 pieces are signs of why they let him go to make room for Rossi.
Absolutely... didn't mean to sound like a besserwisser, but that is how it came out I suppose. Sorry.
If you watched Casey, you saw that he relied upon the electronics more than anyone else. The basic problem with the pre 2010 Ducati is that unless you got the front tire warm, it didn't have any grip. That meant that you had to slide the front end from the jump. Very few riders are capable of doing that on a regular basis. Most of us fell down after we started doing that on a regular basis. Roberts was the only one I ever saw who could do that consistently, and not end up on the ground. I'm sure there are more now, but it's still a very rare trait. Now that they've got a stiffer frame, and a different set up, the bike is more rideable for the "average" motogp rider, and they are playing Honda's game, which they will find is a difficult win. However, they do have an advantage their desmo system is more efficient than the air valves everyone else is using. Not a large advantage, but an advantage. Since Burgess is going with Rossi to Ducati, I see him winning more than a few races next year. Lorenzo will move backwards as the other teams progress. Yamaha is losing it's development staff, whether they realize it or not. Without Burgess, they aren't going to be able to stay at the front, in my humble opinion. Honda will always put more people into the war, and they generally get it right or almost right sooner or later, so they will remain competitive. Art
Certainly, it's a team effort to develop a bike. In the Rossi/Burgess case, is it a 50/50 split in the success of their development work? If not, what do you feel is the breakdown?
I'm not going to challenge your knowledge but just wanted to note that the BBC commentators said exactly the opposite last race. Casey was riding with the least amount of electronic aids (TC) they said.
Strange. We were told and repeated several times that Lorenzo and Rossi's technical teams do no communicate or work together. This, at the insistance of Rossi apparently, who doesn't wish to share info with his team mate. It wasn't that way when his partner was Colin Edwards whom Rossi didn't fear as a rival, but Lorenzo is a different prospect, as proven ... On TV, the commentator visiting the Yamaha pits even insisted in showing us the partition built to satisfy Rossi. There are in fact 2 Yamaha teams working in parallel in the same garage! As far as I understand, Burgess is working exclusively for Rossi and not for the Yamaha team as a whole. I am not sure that his departure would be felt by the Lorenzo camp.
Your talking set up and you're right. I'm talking development on the bike whick Lorenzo got the benefit of. That's the difference. Art
He might be riding with less aids right now, but back in 2007 Ducati had a very good electronics package that seemed to allow better fuel economy, the desmo system is also a bit more efficient as noted earlier which also helps. Stoner "trusted" the electronics completely in 2007, he has said they were night and day difference from his LCR customer Honda the previous year. IMO, it is largely a matter of motivation for Stoner. In 2011 he will have his old boss at Ducati with a year's experience at Honda to help him, and he should be ready to prove himself.
I'm not sure who in the field is better. Edwards had his shot on Fiat Yamaha is didn't do anything extraordinary. Melandri was terrible on Ducati, as is Kallio this year. Espargaro is not mature enough to be a factory rider although he is improving. De Puniet is wildly inconsistent. Hector Barbara is a grid filler so far. Perhaps Simoncelli will be factory somewhere in a year or two. Ayoyama is also good but not setting the world on fire while recovering from injuries. Spies is probably the best rider from the US right now, although Hayden is close. Ducati likes his work ethic and he is popular with the fans. A solid rider that has all of the intangible boxes checked on his resume. I agree he was very lucky in 2006, but many other riders had a chance at that title and lost it for various reasons. We will see him for two more years at Ducati Corse anyway. After that who knows. He has the old dirt track style that would still suit a relatively flexible production superbike on slippery Pirelli tires. It is too bad Ducati disbanded their WSBK team for 2011, if Hayden was on the upcoming short-stroke 1200 twin in 2013 he would have been very competitive. A lot can happen between now and then though. Bridgestone could decline to supply tires for MotoGP and a replacement manufacturer could have tires with totally different characteristics that would suit his style again.
I don't understand why there's no love for Nicky. I'd never claim he's the greatest rider out there, or the greatest American rider out there, but I would certainly say he is better than the average MotoGP rider. He's good enough to have been selected by the factory Honda team, and now the factory Ducati team, two of the top teams in the sport. I've been impressed with the progress he's made on the Duc this year.
