Ah Rossi has had everyhting & everyone in his pocket argument again huh, hmmm lets see (By the way if my memory is failing me abit dont be afraid to correct me if any bits are wrong)
Many a rider has had preferential treatment in some way shape or form over the years in ALL racing series -
Superbikes (World & British) - Ducati enjoyed a sizeable advantage in both engine power, displacement & weight. To add to that when they were not 1 minute ahead of the field they had other things changed like the tyres to suit their bikes.
500's (Now this is where i may be wrong as im basing this on what someone told me once at Assen) - Doohan or the Repsol team were getting uprated electronics that no other rider not even those on Honda's were getting, plus something extra special in the Dunlop department??
990's - Rossi, Biaggi, Gibernau & a couple of others got overnighters from Michelin - Rossi was able to get the best out of them. What i found a bit off was that they gave the other runners like Stoner in 06 tyres made form hula hoops, hence why hea kept loosing the front.
800's - Stoner & Ducati had extra hard tyres from Bridgestone that enabled the screamer 800 to be ridden the way it was by Stoner. Since then & i think Lex may of alluded to this, the tyres have gone softer which has not helped stoner or rossi as they both like a very hard carcass tyre. Maybe that was a big part of Casey's front end woe's??
My point is that manufacturers are going to give the people they think is going to give them the best return, much like a bank lending their money to who ever is going to give the return on their investement. Rossi certailny has done that, Doohan has & most recently Stoner. I think you could probably say that Lorenzo has repayed Yamaha's choice in him by retaining the title at Yamaha last season.
After Rossi has gone it will be sopmeone else who may get tyres developed for them or something else.
I do agree that far too much emphasis is put onto Rossi although im not sure how much he has actually asked for, thats Dorna's fault not his though. These guys are competitive animals & they will seek out anything to get their noses in front & bring home the gold, whether it machinery, electronics, tyres, sponsors etc etc.
Many a rider has had preferential treatment in some way shape or form over the years in ALL racing series -
Superbikes (World & British) - Ducati enjoyed a sizeable advantage in both engine power, displacement & weight. To add to that when they were not 1 minute ahead of the field they had other things changed like the tyres to suit their bikes.
500's (Now this is where i may be wrong as im basing this on what someone told me once at Assen) - Doohan or the Repsol team were getting uprated electronics that no other rider not even those on Honda's were getting, plus something extra special in the Dunlop department??
990's - Rossi, Biaggi, Gibernau & a couple of others got overnighters from Michelin - Rossi was able to get the best out of them. What i found a bit off was that they gave the other runners like Stoner in 06 tyres made form hula hoops, hence why hea kept loosing the front.
800's - Stoner & Ducati had extra hard tyres from Bridgestone that enabled the screamer 800 to be ridden the way it was by Stoner. Since then & i think Lex may of alluded to this, the tyres have gone softer which has not helped stoner or rossi as they both like a very hard carcass tyre. Maybe that was a big part of Casey's front end woe's??
My point is that manufacturers are going to give the people they think is going to give them the best return, much like a bank lending their money to who ever is going to give the return on their investement. Rossi certailny has done that, Doohan has & most recently Stoner. I think you could probably say that Lorenzo has repayed Yamaha's choice in him by retaining the title at Yamaha last season.
After Rossi has gone it will be sopmeone else who may get tyres developed for them or something else.
I do agree that far too much emphasis is put onto Rossi although im not sure how much he has actually asked for, thats Dorna's fault not his though. These guys are competitive animals & they will seek out anything to get their noses in front & bring home the gold, whether it machinery, electronics, tyres, sponsors etc etc.
