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I agree with Oxley. His views are well-reasoned.
I'm a Hack Oxley detractor for being extremely Rossi-centric, that can't mean as the saying goes, a blind dog stumbles on a bone, he can stumble on the truth; at very least he admits in this blog that he dislikes Lorenzo. Note, he also dedicated exactly one line, perhaps reluctantly, albeit subtly, to Rossi eliminating Viñalez. There is no shortage of points I could critic even this editorial frankly, particularly the double standard of not taking Rossi to task for doing similar .... to Viñalez.

I'm not going to cite Hack Oxley as a source to advance my contention on this matter, I already sound like a blowhard but frankly I think I can do a better job presenting my position on Lorenzo's behavior and Ducati's reaction (note, I'm not tooting my horn as much as I'm saying Oxley is unsophisticated). Notwithstanding, les I'm reminded by someone that I've all but dismissed Oxley, and for different reasons I've been critical of Kropo, I'll refrain from using Oxley as a source. Though I will say this, I don’t think it's far fetched that some journalists lurk through this unique forum to lift insightful ideas from time to time, particularly Mdub's point that Lorenzo's claim of unequivocally "knowing" what was going on to Dovi 'behind' him is to the Nth degree preposterous (or to quote Mdub, "sick".)



Stand by...

Above "disclaimer" specifically with you in mind compa.


But I will say this regarding Kropo & Hack Oxley's takes, as a point of debate: context for me was, I was carrying on a debate with J4rn0, where he has not expressed such misgivings with these two "journalists". Therefore, as you pressed J4rn0's earlier for a response, I reiterated your question, does this alter his view?




If you live in a glass house don't throw rocks.
 
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...............

Funny thing about being drunk, I'll be sober in the morning, you'll still be stupid, buddy.
........................................

Wrong Jums, in the morning I'm fine an you have hangovers. :)

But you know that don't you.



_____________________________________________________________
When you are drunk, remember: don't piss against the wind. ;)
 
Wrong Jums, in the morning I'm fine an you have hangovers. :)

But you know that don't you.



_____________________________________________________________
When you are drunk, remember: don't piss against the wind. ;)
I honestly hope some day we can sit at a GP and have a glass of whine laughing over our life and death debates. Maybe you can give me a tour of Ducati's garage or corporate offices buddy.




JLo would make an excellent white house press secretary for trump.


e83af314e4bb4fa0e0427b516d1e1ced.jpg
 
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I'm a Hack Oxley detractor for being extremely Rossi-centric, that can't mean as the saying goes, a blind dog stumbles on a bone, he can stumble on the truth; at very least he admits in this blog that he dislikes Lorenzo. Note, he also dedicated exactly one line, perhaps reluctantly, albeit subtly, to Rossi eliminating Viñalez. There is no shortage of points I could critic even this editorial frankly, particularly the double standard of not taking Rossi to task for doing similar .... to Viñalez.

I'm not going to cite Hack Oxley as a source to advance my contention on this matter, I already sound like a blowhard but frankly I think I can do a better job presenting my position on Lorenzo's behavior and Ducati's reaction (note, I'm not tooting my horn as much as I'm saying Oxley is unsophisticated). Notwithstanding, les I'm reminded by someone that I've all but dismissed Oxley, and for different reasons I've been critical of Kropo, I'll refrain from using Oxley as a source. Though I will say this, I don’t think it's far fetched that some journalists lurk through this unique forum to lift insightful ideas from time to time, particularly Mdub's point that Lorenzo's claim of unequivocally "knowing" what was going on to Dovi 'behind' him is to the Nth degree preposterous (or to quote Mdub, "sick".)





Above "disclaimer" specifically with you in mind compa.


But I will say this regarding Kropo & Hack Oxley's takes, as a point of debate: context for me was, I was carrying on a debate with J4rn0, where he has not expressed such misgivings with these two "journalists". Therefore, as you pressed J4rn0's earlier for a response, I reiterated your question, does this alter his view?




If you live in a glass house don't throw rocks.

I think you have now revealed to me the reason for my somewhat subliminal disquiet about involving the likes of Oxley in this debate, not that it doesn’t increasingly look as though there isn’t much to debate.

Not a word of condemnation from any of them about Rossi having a role in eliminating Vinales from mathematical contention for the title, in fact you are pretty much the only person who raised this of whom I am aware.

Vinales’ chances were obviously implausible, but for a start MM and Dovi could have taken each other out in something such as a last corner stoush battling for the title themselves, just as Zarco and Pedrosa could have done battling for the win in the the recent race, although Pedrosa would possibly still have prioritised ensuring MM’s title win.
 
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Don’t read too much into it. JLo started fast on the Duc last year as well. It takes awhile for reality to sink in.

Totally agree its too early to say anything concrete but Jack is a nut. I have feeling he will be fast or in the kitty litter round after round. I hope he gels with it.
 
Lol, designated villain. Rehabbing. Plotting against riders.
I missed the part when Dorna stopped wasting their time involved in getting circuit and supplier contracts in order, managing Cashflow, printing tickets and a million other things real companies are busy doing in the real world and started writing House of Cards scripts instead.

No one needs to plot anything against Lorenzo to make him unlikable. He does a stellar job at it himself.

You mean like the "House of Cards" script, apparently written by Uccio, Rossi advanced in regard to the PI 2015 race at a certain press conference?.

That Dorna are venture capitalists/merchant bankers concerned with the box office rather than a sporting body is rather the point, some of us preferred things when gp bike racing was an actual sport with a long tradition run by bike racing guys.
 
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I'm not sure how Dorna figures in here.

Though I agree that Krops/Dorna (and Harris) by virtue of being Rossi-centric have historically been "anti-Lorenzo" in their view, I don’t particularly think this narrative applies with what we witnessed from Lorenzo.

I've given Lorenzo much props throughout the years, particularly this season at Ducati; but I see his behavior the last two races as an affront to Dovi, and thus I cannot stomach. Dovi is not cut from the same cloth as most of the characters in MotoGP, he far more special as a man than a rider. For Lorenzo to treat Dovi in this way, in the most important and fluid moment of his professional career, is unforgivable. As I said, Lorenzo rode the last two races as if it was a foregone conclusion that the championship was already decided (to my amazement, mirroring much of the sentiment expressed on the forum by supposed members who "understand" that it's not over until it's over.) The greatest example of this being true about sport is the 2006 championship, which if you care to scroll back, was a similar sentiment expressed here back then. The miraculous was pulled off, because it was possible. But lots of things have to go right and wrong, in this case, as I've said repeatedly, Pedrosa thumbed the balance in Marc's favor, Lorenzo decidedly thumbed the scale 'against' Dovi.

Go back and read the stuff people are posting here, including Lorenzo's pre-event statement, much of it follows this defeatist sentiment: well Marc isn't going to crash, a mechanical is more likely but lighting won't strike twice, he almost did crash! Well Dovi wasn't going win, even my friend Arrabi, whose opinion I consider as close to the Word of God, suggesting Pedrosa's race was inconsequential when asked to comment on Honda team orders. Inconsequential? The man sat comfortably back between Marc and the Ducatis for .... sake, then challenged for the win immediately after Marc went through the gravel! That's exactly what Marc needed to happen in case he lost concentration for a '2nd' time and crashed out! Then there's people saying, Dovi didn’t have the pace to win, he looked tired, Lorenzo owns Valencia (except Jlo won at bunch of other tracks over the years, yet was .... at all of them this year). WTF am I reading here? If Zarco and Pedrosa have contact (not unlikely considering Zarco) then Dovi is suddenly in the lead! At that point "pace" means .... all. These are statement from solid members saying basically Dovi didn’t have a chance, EXCEPT that's absolutely wrong. That's the nature of a hail mary, miracle, snowball's chance in hell, etc. It may not have been pulled off, we already know it was unlikely, it's a stupid thing to repeat this when considering what 'might have happened'. Because when it does, like 2006, it reminds us that all that .... stacked against it means on occasion the Nicky Hayden's of the world, the Leicester City's of the world, the 1980 US Olympic hockey teams of the world can pull it off when everything goes right. Lorenzo could have quite possibly been that tiny butterfly that tipped the scale against Dovi, the good guy of the paddock who deserved at very least to be treated by his teammate as Marc was served by his.

You may not care for Mdub's opinion on several matters, but he was spot on in this thread regarding Jorge's absurd claim of "knowing" Dovi's pace who was directly behind him in real time ( laughably people agreeing here with Lorenzo's real time assessment, note, some of these same people also "knew" Lorenzo pulled over at Malaysia). But, I couldn't say it better myself and that is: Lorenzo had no ....... way of "knowing" what Dovi was experiencing behind him, to claim so afterwards is "sick"! Considering the context too, as Lorenzo viewed his pit board several laps "Dovi +0", later becoming "-1 neon arrow down", meanwhile his dash was lighting up like a Christmas tree, hey ......., pull the .... over' for Lorenzo to then turn around and say he thought he was "helping Dovi" and worse "knowing" he was towing is "sick"!

I had similar thought to yourself Mike, as I watched in dismay, the only explanation I could figure was that they had a previous agreement. I thought ok, maybe Dovi and Jlo talked about a strategy, like in distance running, I'll be the rabbit, then you can pounce. But post race almost immediately it became clear, Lorenzo had not helped Dovi, he had not helped Dovi at Malaysia either, but rather the reality came into focus; Lorenzo tried to assert himself selfishly for position to save what has been a season long failure. He raced like many of these guys do at Valencia who have had a .... season, they see it as their last opportunity to salvage something. In Lorenzo's case, to assert himself in a team that he's been thoroughly whipped, knowing they signed him to lead the project, but up until then had been an abject failure! I said it before on this thread and it bears repeating, if you compare Rossi and Lorenzo's first year stint at Ducati Lorenzo comes off looking far far worse. Rossi's teammate didn't go winning 6 races to his 0. Lorenzo is desperate, selfish, and unfortunately perceived the championship to be over.

I would think we all know enough about world and how sophisticated organizations go into PR damage control when an employee goes rogue. We see it played out in real life all the time, yet we're supposed to swallow the ........ Ducati is dishing, don't believe what your eyes saw people, "trust me". No, I haven’t heard that before this year.

If you live in a glass house don't throw rocks.

But surely we aren't ignoring that Dovi has been at Ducati a number of years now as opposed to Lorenzo's first year? And likewise do you not think that Ducati's performances this year could possibly have something to do with Lorenzo's input?

Let's be real here, Dovi has been capable of getting past Marquez this year yet we're meant to swallow that he deliberately held back from attempting an overtake of Jorge? Is no one considering that he simply couldn't get past him? I didn't see a moment in the race when Dovi drew alongside and Jorge blocked him. Likewise, when Dovi was 'released' after JLo binned it, how did he react to being freed from the evil games of JLo? He stacked it.

Now maybe JLo should have moved over to let Dovi go even though he hadn't been seeing Dovi harassing him on the track. Maybe JLo should be a nice compliant rider that extinguishes his ego and desire to win on the command of his team and without any evidence that his teammate would prosper from his appeasement. Maybe JLo should have tried to win favour with all the pundits who were quick to admit their long held prejudices against him because of him not stepping aside.

What I do know is that JLo is a racer and a winner and it does take a certain amount of alpha male ....... to be a successful champion. Look at Senna or Schumacher or even Marquez. They wouldn't be the type to meekly step aside for no real advantage because a team was instructing or a press contingent was clamouring for him to do the nice thing.

I'm afraid they'll be the ones remembered in the history books and also rans like Gibernau, Pedrosa and Dovi (no matter how nice they are) will not.
 
Wow, 10 more pages since the weekend!
Love the Lorenzo is a villain theme, I hope shows up in pirate gear for the first race of 2018!
While like many it seems, during the race I was surprised also that he didn’t let Dovi by. However, again, if Dovi had pace, he would have just passed, plain and simple. Dovi couldn’t keep up. Somebody posted the lap times when Lorenzo took off.
I think it’s obvious that Lorenzo doesn’t care what anybody thinks of him. Good I say. Can you imagine Roberts, Lawson or Doohan caring about others feelings and public opinion? Ha ha.
And like it or not, Lorenzo is in that category. The results speak for themselves.
That being said, as others have mentioned, next year is when all will count for Lorenzo.
Bring on 2018, I will renew my video feed subscription.
Have a nice winter all!
 
But surely we aren't ignoring that Dovi has been at Ducati a number of years now as opposed to Lorenzo's first year? And likewise do you not think that Ducati's performances this year could possibly have something to do with Lorenzo's input?

Let's be real here, Dovi has been capable of getting past Marquez this year yet we're meant to swallow that he deliberately held back from attempting an overtake of Jorge? Is no one considering that he simply couldn't get past him? I didn't see a moment in the race when Dovi drew alongside and Jorge blocked him. Likewise, when Dovi was 'released' after JLo binned it, how did he react to being freed from the evil games of JLo? He stacked it.

Now maybe JLo should have moved over to let Dovi go even though he hadn't been seeing Dovi harassing him on the track. Maybe JLo should be a nice compliant rider that extinguishes his ego and desire to win on the command of his team and without any evidence that his teammate would prosper from his appeasement. Maybe JLo should have tried to win favour with all the pundits who were quick to admit their long held prejudices against him because of him not stepping aside.

What I do know is that JLo is a racer and a winner and it does take a certain amount of alpha male ....... to be a successful champion. Look at Senna or Schumacher or even Marquez. They wouldn't be the type to meekly step aside for no real advantage because a team was instructing or a press contingent was clamouring for him to do the nice thing.

I'm afraid they'll be the ones remembered in the history books and also rans like Gibernau, Pedrosa and Dovi (no matter how nice they are) will not.

i was going to leave off from this, but my attitude before the last 2 races as a Lorenzo fan was that what was reasonable for him to do was to try to win the races, but if it would help or continue Dovi's title chances concede to him at the end of the race.

I actually have no problem with team orders, even riding to block a member of another team contending with your team-mate for a title as long as this is in the context of racing legally for position, which has been the way of the world in most motorsports over the several decades I have been a motorsports fan. I don't see that Lorenzo had an absolute obligation to ride in a blocking role however, particularly given the controversy about riders aiding others in which he was involved in late season 2015.

Where he is liable to criticism imo is if he slowed Dovi or otherwise rode in a way that was detrimental to Dovi's chances. I didn't think he had done so at Sepang after that race as long as Dovi was confident he would concede the win to him if that became appropriate, which I guess is now in doubt. At Valencia he was culpable, again imo, if he slowed Dovi down with Dovi still in contention for the title, particularly if he did it with the motive of exerting primacy in the team. I remain amenable to argument myself, but arguments that he couldn't have known he wasn't slowing Dovi particularly with his team telling him to concede from the pits seem reasonable. I agree Dovi never showed him a wheel; if he had done so I believe Jorge was obliged to concede, but how short of refusing to do that what he did do was is the point in question.
 
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That Dorna are venture capitalists/merchant bankers concerned with the box office rather than a sporting body is rather the point, some of us preferred things when gp bike racing was an actual sport with a long tradition run by bike racing guys.

And all 13 of you “purists” would be watching tumbleweed racing now if it wasn’t for them making the sport a commercial success with a massive fan following. Especially after tobacco money dried up.

Every sport has these purists who love talking about the good old days. Who look at the casual and new fans with disdain. And it doesn’t get any less pathetic each time I hear it.

Let’s see how Dorna made the sport so terrible:

- Brought technological parity between manufacturers with spec ECUs and concessions for lagging manufacturers
- Paying independents to show up and ride and give them a fighting chance
- Lowered the cost of entry into the intermediate class so much that it is actually cheaper to race there than the entry level class
- instituted great feeder series which are churning out future world champions and race winners regularly
- increased viewership and fan following massively in south east Asia, which is the only growing motorcycle market left, and thereby helping manufacturers sell more road bikes

We have not seen closer racing than what we currently do, any time before in history. But sure, boo Dorna!!!

Boo freakin hoo.
Grow up.
 
And all 13 of you “purists” would be watching tumbleweed racing now if it wasn’t for them making the sport a commercial success with a massive fan following. Especially after tobacco money dried up.

Every sport has these purists who love talking about the good old days. Who look at the casual and new fans with disdain. And it doesn’t get any less pathetic each time I hear it.

Let’s see how Dorna made the sport so terrible:

- Brought technological parity between manufacturers with spec ECUs and concessions for lagging manufacturers
- Paying independents to show up and ride and give them a fighting chance
- Lowered the cost of entry into the intermediate class so much that it is actually cheaper to race there than the entry level class
- instituted great feeder series which are churning out future world champions and race winners regularly
- increased viewership and fan following massively in south east Asia, which is the only growing motorcycle market left, and thereby helping manufacturers sell more road bikes

We have not seen closer racing than what we currently do, any time before in history. But sure, boo Dorna!!!

Boo freakin hoo.
Grow up.
I must be one of those 13 purists you talk about cos i remember watching Sheene,Roberts,Spencer et al back on the smoking 2 strokes in the 70's and 80's,i don't know how old you are but let me tell you the racing was pretty good back then as well my friend,take me back to the days when it was all about your right wrist and the size of your balls as opposed to the electronics of a modern GP bike,don't get me wrong i love the sport, and that's progress i suppose, but there was something about seeing a 500 2 stroke sideways not controlled by ride by wire ...
 
Nobody here would consider it acceptable if a mechanic refused to wrench a precise setting that was demanded by the crew chief if that mechanic capriciously believed he "knew" better. The same standard to Jorge Lorenzo-one of many team members (fact) is NOT being applied, rather conveniently but certainly not consistently. 'Nah, I don’t think 3 clicks on the rear shock is a good idea, I'll just do my own thing, i think i "know" what the chief meant in my own way, I've been doing this for a long time, I've been part of championship teams before.' Well, that's a reasonable 'principle' we can all defend, right? (Sarcasm) It's a double standard!

It's an untenable position folks.

But surely we aren't ignoring that Dovi has been at Ducati a number of years now as opposed to Lorenzo's first year? And likewise do you not think that Ducati's performances this year could possibly have something to do with Lorenzo's input?

Sure, I'll play along my friend. Lorenzo is considered an "alien" full stop. He belongs to a class of few riders that the public perception is above and beyond Dovi--2nd tier rider. In other words, the context of comparing Lorenzo to Dovi, first/last year or otherwise is that Lorenzo was hired as the top mercenary to take Ducati 'motorcycle' factory to the title. I find the arbitrary pass for Lorenzo's 'adjustment period' unreasonable in this context. Did Viñalez get such a pass? How about Stoner when he jumped to Honda, because you know, the Ducati is so different you need a whole year, bla bla. It's something we've fabricated out of thin air to rationalize Lorenzo's absolute failure considering his 'elite status' amongst elites. Rank the current names of MotoGP, here is what most people would submit: 1. Marquez 2. Lorenzo 3. X. Who you gonna put in front of Lorenzo? Nobody.

The motorcycle Lorenzo inherited won 2 races by two different riders by the time Jorge started making development inputs. Ok, I'll grant you he's made the bike better, that is a tiny consolation for winning zero races over an entire year where his far "inferior" teammate has won 6. That "first year" adjustment period is given far too much disproportionate weight! At this point it's a copout.

Let's examine this supposed "first year" adjustment period notion further, since you're elevating the point as pivotal to Lorenzo's horrible performance, and strangely, some justification for him failing to cede the position to Dovi at Valencia (odd but ok, I'll go with it) . Surely this notion must have more 'points of reference', unless you're weighing this notion as if Lorenzo is a rookie to the class, or something similar, which he's not. The notion is he needs an adjustment period for what amounts to an unfamiliar motorcycle, ok let's take a look. Therefore, a comparison to Viñalez is a reasonable reference. Factoring in Viñalez isn't nowhere near as experienced nor rated as Lorenzo, yet he jumped manufacturers (note, different motorcycle factory) and won 3 races, competed for podiums and runners up, contended for the very championship up until the last few races of the season. Oh, but the Ducati is completely different, who are we to say judge the magnitude of difference comparatively between Yamaha vs Suzuki and Yamaha vs Ducati, hell even Dovi can win 6 races on it. I agree, Ducati is special, surely an alien like Lorenzo can unlock the code when an "inferior" rider, in perception far inferior to Lorenzo can win 6 races to Jorge's zero. How much weight is reasonable to handicap Lorenzo’s inability to match his "inferior" teammate on the same bike; or the rookiesk Viñalez another "inferior " rider who also needed an "adjustment" mulligan which also (note) changed manufacturers? Is there no expectation on Lorenzo? If so, you'll need to make a far more substantial case for it other than "it was his first year at riding another motorcycle" (one that won 6 races, not including satellite Petrucci being denied a win at Assen, plus another runner's up spot).



Let's be real here, Dovi has been capable of getting past Marquez this year yet we're meant to swallow that he deliberately held back from attempting an overtake of Jorge? Is no one considering that he simply couldn't get past him? I didn't see a moment in the race when Dovi drew alongside and Jorge blocked him. Likewise, when Dovi was 'released' after JLo binned it, how did he react to being freed from the evil games of JLo? He stacked it.



You're not the first person to say this, and frankly, these very points have been fully address in this thread, but I'll oblige you specifically then. Your premise is that all races and conditions are the same for riders to be able to 'duplicate exactly' what they've done in other occasions. Or as you put it, because Dovi pasted Marc before 'therefore' he can duplicate it here. "Let's be real"? Honestly, i wouldn't know where to begin to refute such mistaken logic because I'd need to go back to the fundamentals of racing, the very fundamentals of competition, motorsport, and physics. But I'll skip ahead, to say Dovi has beat Marquez on X occasion 'therefore' he could have done so to Lorenzo in this occasion is grossly simplistic. Following your premise, hell why stop at Lorenzo, why not just battle for the lead against Marquez right? He's done it before, right? Full stop.

But I'll continue to entertain your impossible premise, skipping ahead; a race plays out over a distance, there are many variables not the least being a function of time, contrasting styles, performance strengths and weaknesses, then over this period, fuel consumption, tire wear vs conservation, ebbs and flows throughout the performance cycles of each machine and rider, etc.etc.

I don’t doubt and neither should you that Dovi could have forced the issue on Lorenzo, ala Andrea Iannone, however it's clear Dovi, Ducati, and every swinging dick involved and watching figured Lorenzo wouldn't put Dovi in a predicament to risk crashing for a mere pass on his 'teammate'. See Pedrosa, Honda. If Dovi dive bombs, makes contact, both lose momentum, you would have said how stupid of Dovi. There is a reasonable explanation why he didn't go Stuka on Lorenzo, because like everybody else we figured Lorenzo was going to cede the position, why? Because that's reasonable, it was what the rival team was doing and therefore needed to be matched as a countermeasures, and the team demanded it! The reasonable explanation is that Dovi was duped under false pretenses. Do you think if it were Marquez a bike length in front of him that he wouldn't have pulled a move? Precisely because it was Lorenzo he didn't dive bomb or as you say "harass " to make his intention known, as if it wasn’t abundantly clear to Lorenzo. You sound like Lorenzo came into this race unaware of the situation and the stakes. Riding along, hey, nobody is showing me a wheel, that must mean this dash message and pit board message is confusing.

When Dovi was "released" as you put it, it was at a 'stage in the race' that methodically pushing forward was already neutralized! It's an important aspect that you've completely glossed over or fail to understand. It's one thing to have 20 laps to push vs 6 laps to push when the main protagonists almost crashed in front of you. When Dovi was "released" it was precisely at a win or bin moment. The time to mount a long drive had passed, it was now hail mary time thanks in part to Lorenzo!

Have you ever seen a hail mary play? It's a 'last minute' ditch effort that most always turns out failing, the crucial question here is: do you understand why this is true? I'm not so sure you do, because you're pointing to Dovi's crash and concluding, you see, nothing would have been gained from Lorenzo pulling aside. I'll spell it out, Dovi was put in a position that on top of the snow balls chance in hell to win the title, it was further complicated by a teammate that made the mountain to climb a tiny bit harder by 'eliminating' /frustrating some of the crucial 'TIME' to pull off a miracle.




Now maybe JLo should have moved over to let Dovi go even though he hadn't been seeing Dovi harassing him on the track. Maybe JLo should be a nice compliant rider that extinguishes his ego and desire to win on the command of his team and without any evidence that his teammate would prosper from his appeasement. Maybe JLo should have tried to win favour with all the pundits who were quick to admit their long held prejudices against him because of him not stepping aside.



You're being coy about your point here, but I'll assume your message is that there is no obligation between riders employed by the same manufacturer to follow management's demands. You are simply wrong, because the messages Ducati dispatched make it clear the expectation was for Lorenzo to behave in this case as a factory employee subject to their demands. We can offer eachother our thoughts on such a dynamic, tell eachother we hate team orders, its a moot point; fact is that's irrelevant. For reference, see how Pedrosa conducted his race and the obvious 'discipline' that he followed as a Honda employee.

But I'll still address your incorrect premise, that being Lorenzo was not under any expectation. Regarding your point of not being "harassed on the track" to alert him of tge situation apparently he was unaware of according to you, Lorenzo's pit board showed "Dovi +0", if you don’t think Lorenzo can interpret that as your teammate is directly behind you then this entire exercise of debate is either disingenuous or futile. Your arbitrary standard for Lorenzo to "know" his teammate was behind him was to be "harassed". Dovi needed to "harass" Lorenzo to be "seen" according to your assertion. No offense, but that's ridiculous.

You say there was "no evidence" his teammate might prosper from ceding the position, what do you consider "evidence"? The fact they were locked in the lead group is all the 'evidence' (the root word being 'evident') you'd need, his rival Marquez looking back repeatedly, that's evidence of a possibility that pressure was a real factor, and the most glaring evidence that apparently you and Lorenzo missed is that this became 'evident' when Marquez nearly crashed! There was plenty of "evidence" that Dovi could "prosper" from Lorenzo not blocking or ceding the position, you are incorrect on this point. Evidence does not mean it needed to be a slam dunk proposition, there was plenty of evidence that a possibility exited where Dovi might prosper in real time as the race played out. Contrast that to Pedrosa, whose awareness of 'evidence' that Marquez needed his reassurance (needed or not) was provided the benefit of the doubt!

False premise, the pundits opinion is irrelevant because this wasn't an issue between Lorenzo and pundits, it was an issue between Lorenzo and Ducati management. Ducati were trying to win a championship despite you and others thinking it was a foregone conclusion lending credence to Lorenzo's selfish actions; the possibility still existed to win the title and therefore they were actively trying to manage it, that is their job! Lorenzo doesn't engineer the bike, he shouldn't be making those decisions, he doesn't work in the accounting department, if he overruled the accountant it would be absurd, the team manager has a job, it was hus decision to make, Lorenzo is not beholden to pundits, he is however beholden to the part of the organization that makes the type of decision he refused to comply.




What I do know is that JLo is a racer and a winner and it does take a certain amount of alpha male ....... to be a successful champion. Look at Senna or Schumacher or even Marquez. They wouldn't be the type to meekly step aside for no real advantage because a team was instructing or a press contingent was clamouring for him to do the nice thing.

I'm afraid they'll be the ones remembered in the history books and also rans like Gibernau, Pedrosa and Dovi (no matter how nice they are) will not.

First of all, I dispelled this notion that there wasn't 'evidence' for a possible advantage to Dovi which was evident to Lorenzo and his team mangers, but let's move on.

Famous people, champions, are remembered for various aspects of their lives, not just their championships. The way these people conducted themselves is also remembered by some and often is the reason they are admired. Think this year.

In addition, you are suggesting that these champions have achieved their accomplishments solely on the "alpha male ......." element of their personality, or at least it's a necessary element, again you are mistaken. Every single "......." who has made it as a champion has been part of a greater effort behind the scenes, and more importantly: being on a capable package and performing on it during a season that lots of things have gone right, either by design or by luck. My assertion is Lorenzo conducted himself to negatively affect and effect one of millions of tiny elements that individually seem insignificant. You are taking one of these tiny seemingly insignificant elements and saying it doesn't matter, it didn’t matter, that is the premise of yours and others of similar thought. I refute this premise, every little thing counts towards a championship, it can and often does have significant impact on the outcome.


For a moment imagine a team member in the roster of Ducati Corse having the attitude of doing their own thing, even going rouge and applying an algorithm that was specifically 'flawed' except he "believed" to be doing the right thing. Let's say a 2nd tier engineer, perhaps even an intern. Nobody here would think this acceptable, but you're position is if it's the rider then he can do what he "believed" was best for the team despite explicit demands to the contrary. Is that a sustainable standard for a collective type organizations to operate under?

Let's examine your premise here further, as it has lots of holes. Lorenzo isn't Mr. Nice guy, so then, why didn’t he win this year's championship? Nice guy Dovi won 6 races ....... Lorenzo zero, perhaps that "....... guy" element you're assigning weight isn't so consequential after all, eh? What exactly prevented "assholeness" Lorenzo, that winning element as you say, to win this year? Let's see, "Lorenzo alpha ......." rode a competitive machine, right? Fact. Evidently the Ducati package contended for the title up until 6 laps from the season's conclusion, fact. Lorenzo was healthy, supported, experienced, was a former series multiple champ, #1 status, etc. etc. That "....... factor" didn’t amount to much success! Perhaps maybe you're assigning misguided importance to this characteristics my friend.


Bottom line, your position that a rogue element of a 'team' is acceptable is untenable. Their 'belief' (faith) does not overcome the obligation to act in a manner consistent with the group's effort and explicit demands by management. The likelihood of the race playing out predictably falls on its face when you consider Marquez almost crashed, Dovi was in the lead group. Pace has zero to do with a potential win when the leaders, which were momentary reduced to two disputing the lead can possibly crash out. The contention that nice guys finish last is a false notion, ........ don't always finish first, even when they're on machine that have won 6 races, notion debunked. I will concede though, ........ alway get away with it.


If you live in a glass house don't throw rocks.
 
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