Rossi

[Squashed_Fly]

What do we reckon, is he playing mind games by finishing outside the top 10 in practice again, and commenting still on his shoulder?

Or is he finally getting to that stage where he's no longer competitive? Or is he strugling to tame the ducati, as many have before him?

Thoughts anyone?

[redken1]

I suspect all will be revealed when the real racing starts.

[BladeTriple]

Clever money says mind games . He has done enough and earned enough to walk out tomorrow. Rossi wouldve quit by now if he never thought he had another title in him. I think he may struggle first couple of races but he will be top 4 every race until he is fully fit.
Rossi is a genius on 2 wheels plus he has something none of the other riders have..... Jerry Burgess!

[Squashed_Fly]

True, but has he bitten off more than he can chew with the Duke? Like Ken says, time will tell. I'd like to think mind games too...

[Nooj]

As long as Ducati listen to what him and his spanner wizard say and don't try and over rule them, we'll see some good results from him.

[Hunar]

you doubteth the Rossi? you cad sir, should the fair Roxy see thy thread, she may rippeth thee a new one, sir!

[Squashed_Fly]

Lol, I doubt any rider over 30 when there is so much awesome young talent snapping at their heels. I don't think there is anyone out there that will take his GOAT status (for now anyway) but is he capable of consistently putting in the same levels as he has been? I'm not sure. As you get past the big three oh, every injury will take longer to heal, every race will be more of a struggle and there will always be more new blood on the scene desperate to win at any cost. His shoulder injury ios case and point. Until now, he probably thought he was invincible. Now he has has had a stark reminder of his mortality.

That said, I won't be taking down the Rossi memorabilia in the house and replacing it with Lorenzo stuff anytime sooon!

[Hunar]

Lorenzo? lorenzo..... hmmm lorenzo...... I'm sure I have head that name before.......

Some jumped up little arse as i recall, full of fake sincerity and can onyl win a title with Rossi out injured for a few races.

No not a lorenzo fan, wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire, I might even siphon some of my own fuel from my bike to help him burn though.

Rossi is the ultimate world champ, not because of his amazing skill, but because he is, or at least doesn't come across to me as, up his own arse about how good he is, Lorenzo has some great skills, but if he wants to be the next rossi, he needs to learn some humility, but even then I still won't like the little runt.

looking forward to how this years pans out, stoner on a honda, i will be very suprised if he isn't at or near the top the whole season.

I rekon Roxy should open her living room up on raceday and we all go round for tea!

[Squashed_Fly]

Lorenzo? lorenzo..... hmmm lorenzo...... I'm sure I have head that name before.......

Some jumped up little arse as i recall, full of fake sincerity and can onyl win a title with Rossi out injured for a few races.

No not a lorenzo fan, wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire, I might even siphon some of my own fuel from my bike to help him burn though.

Rossi is the ultimate world champ, not because of his amazing skill, but because he is, or at least doesn't come across to me as, up his own arse about how good he is, Lorenzo has some great skills, but if he wants to be the next rossi, he needs to learn some humility, but even then I still won't like the little runt.



Not sure I'd agree there tbh. Rossi has learnt those skills over time as his maturity has grown. He certainly wasn't always as calm and cool as he is now. lorenzo has been consistent all year. Even if Rossi had been there, Lorenzo has had so many 1st & 2nds that I'm pretty certain he would have still won last year. My money's on him for this year as well. He deserved his title and he won it fair and square. Rossi was out becasue of his own doing. In Rossi's own words - that's racing. Races are not just won on the track by the fastest riders. The season is fought on track, off it, and the riders out for injury always play a part in the wins of others.

[Squashed_Fly]

When Rossi was just starting out, people said the same about him as you are Lorenzo, and then Biaggi was the guy to beat. Only time will tell if Lorenzo has the stuff required to go the distance.

[igbell]

I think Rossi has one final time in him, if he didnt think it he would gone off to either F1 or doing his rally driving full time, as he does this already but cant get the grades as he is on his bike all the time.

[Uber Dave]

It could be mind games, esp with the reputation the Ducati's have for been difficult to tame, but then again Rossi took his ENTIRE pit crew/engineers with him from Yamaha to Ducati and the amount of money they are investing in him they will bend over backwards to build a bike for him which works off the line on race one.

There have been reports for the last three or four weeks though that have said his shoulder isnt right and may not be for some time so these times may be enough to get the results they need testing wise for data but not enough to break his recovery time.

As for Lorenzo, there is no doubt he is very talented, but in my eyes he is very much the biking version of Hamilton, if its all going well and to plan he is happy and nice to people, when it doesn't its everybody else's fault but his!

My money is literally on Spies this year, at 10/1 when I put the bet on it was worth a go, and his times were admirable considering its his first time out on the M1 5th overall time wise and only half a second off Lorenzo with half the laps done is very good.

[wiltshire builders]

Ooooooh it's started already! Push all the bull**** aside and nobody knows what's going to happen. What I do know is that Yamaha phuct up BIG TIME with Rossi. The man is a marketing dream and all they come up with is an R6 and a moped with a paint job. There is no way Ducati are going to let this chance pass them by. They will throw everything they've got at Rossi. Expect a full fleet of LTD edition dukes to be gracing our streets

Lets not forget that YZR M1 was built around Rossi. Lorenzo got to reap the rewards.
The 2004 season Yamaha struggled against Honda and it was only Rossi's ability that made it competitive. Compare that to 2009 when there was only 1 race that didn't have an M1 on the podium. Will be interesting to see how Yamaha does without Rossi/Burges.

[redken1]

Agree with alot of what's been said. Rossi is without doubt in my mind the greatest rider of all time. To coin a phrase from the world of boxing, I just hope this is not 'one fight too many'. It would be fitting to see him end a glittering career and retire as world champion when the time comes.

[Mark_Able]

Mind games... ;)

[whizz]

mind games for sure ! ;) never under estimate valentino !

[Squashed_Fly]

mind games for sure ! ;) never under estimate valentino !

I really hope so, but every leader has to crumble eventually. Very few people actually finish top of their game...

[BladeTriple]

You need to remember too that Ducati have pulled the factory plug on WSBK this season, why ? Because they are piling every single Euro they have into developing that bike for Rossi and of course paying his claimed £10m a year wage bill!

I think if he doesn't win this year its going to be a very close run thing, however I don't think Lorenzo will win another title this year , for one he's carrying the No1 plate on his bike and since Mick Doohan retired in 1999 nobody has carried that number longer than a season in MotoGP.

I'm looking forward to a close run exciting 2011 season of racing on all levels from MotoGP to BSB and I really hope we see Rossi take the MotoGP title and a couple of Brits do really well in WSB , isn't it nice to see Castrol Honda back in WSB and Johnny Rea looking so fast in pre season testing too ?

[Roxy]

you doubteth the Rossi? you cad sir, should the fair Roxy see thy thread, she may rippeth thee a new one, sir!

I rekon Roxy should open her living room up on raceday and we all go round for tea!

Hunar..that's a mighty fine idea babe, but I get to choose who is allowed in! ;)

As for the thread..I will continue to read, nod/shake my head, laugh and scoff!!!! but will say one thing....

GO ROSSI GO!!!!!!!

Roxy ( Team 46 forever! [smiley=laugh.gif])

[Scotty]

Hmmm, much as I'd like to Valentino doing the biz I think he'll struggle this season with that shoulder injury, and racing every other weekend won't give it the time to heal properly. He and Jerry Burgess will get the Ducati sorted out over the season, but I doubt he'll be fit enough early on to be beating the likes of Lorenzo and Stoner (between whom I think the main title fight will be) and if he returns to strength and fitness by mid-way through the season he'll have too much ground to make up. :(

Question: will Lorenzo's bike advantage (thanks to seven years of development by Rossi and Burgess) gradually erode over the season as development stagnates without the principal movers to push it along? Don't get me wrong, I think he's a very talented racer, but the best bike on the grid was handed to him after all the work had been done (probably the thing that riled Rossi more than anything else) and as far as we know he hasn't put a lot into it himself... Discuss :)

[Roxy]

Question: will Lorenzo's bike advantage (thanks to seven years of development by Rossi and Burgess) gradually erode over the season as development stagnates without the principal movers to push it along? Don't get me wrong, I think he's a very talented racer, but the best bike on the grid was handed to him after all the work had been done (probably the thing that riled Rossi more than anything else) and as far as we know he hasn't put a lot into it himself... Discuss :)

That's my line of thinking Si, I think he has been handed a bike that is at the top of it's game and he revelled in it last year (yes he is a very talented rider but with Rossi out for a few races it was as good as given to him imo), he now needs to carry on the development that Rossi completed in order to stand any chance of keeping up with the likes of Stoner this year. Time will tell if Lorenzo is as good as he tells us all (over and over again) when it comes to development as well as racing. The second half of the season, when Rossi is fully fit again and the bike is the way he wants it will be very interesting.

I make no secret of the fact I am a pure Rossi fan forever (Schwantz in the early days!) and scoff at Pedrosa (who in my eyes is the Tim Henman of moto gp lol) Stoner (if he can stay on the Honda) he will fly this year but I would love to see the bun fight that will happen in the Honda garage between the 3 of them ;D. I like Dovi, Simoncelli and I think Spies will shine too so I Look forward to shouting at my boy this year!

Roxy

[Squashed_Fly]

Well it was no secret about the wall in the garage, that was put up to stop Lorenzo seeing how they prepped Rossis M1, so it wouldn't surprise me if that was a factor Scotty...

(also team 46 forever!)

[silly_simon]

I don't mean to throw a spanner in the works BUT IMHO I think Pedrosa may well be up for it too this year, Stoner, like Lorenzo has been handed a very strong base bike to work with and the test times never really say how good or bad a particular rider or bike is.

Let the battle's commence is all I can say :D :D

[Mark_Able]

Pedrosa will always be runner up. Stoner will be flying... into the gravel head first, just as he did every race before he got on the Ducati. Spies will be top 5. Simoncelli will be top 3. It'll be between Lorenzo and Rossi. Undoubtedly Lorenzo's got the head start, so Rossi will be all out to win the first race to put the wind up him. The first race is going to be awesome... :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[Squashed_Fly]

Ben Spies said this about the M1:

""The Yamaha is a very balanced and great bike."

Of course it is, it was developed by the GOAT & his trusty sidekick!!

[R1chie]

As much as I like Rossi....it'll be Stoner's championship to lose this year.

I'm not sure whether Lorenzo can develop the Yamaha as much as Rossi did and so push come to shove might struggle in the latter half of the season against the Hondas.

On equal bikes I'd go for Lorenzo as I don't think Stoner likes to rough it out as much as others. It might also come down to mistakes and injuries. I hope not though.

I think it'll be an interesting season. Shame there's still a lack of numbers on the grid. Moto 2 however... 8-)

[Uber Dave]

I think it'll be an interesting season. Shame there's still a lack of numbers on the grid. Moto 2 however... 8-)

Oh yes, I will be watching Bradley Smith again this year after his 125 season last year. Fingers crossed he will get on well with the 600 this year!