Does anyone actually belive that Stoner choked under pressure???

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pacman @ Sep 2 2008, 01:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I don't agree he's choking. Casey has proved he can handle pressure, he just ...... up, twice. I just find it strange he's making mistakes when he's the one catching Rossi because it's a lot easier chasing than defending a championship lead. Now if it was Casey was leading the championship then i'd say he was cracking under the pressure.
dont yyou mean 3 times and in a row. once while fighting which was not choking imo and twice while having a healthy lead which is choking imo.

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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (xx CURVE xx @ Sep 2 2008, 02:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>
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lol
Ducati Garage Sunday

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Andy Roo @ Sep 2 2008, 11:42 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Just pointing out that Casey attributed different causal factors to each accident. Blaming himself for one and a tyre for the other just may be (are you ready!!) THE TRUTH.

Now we’re doing 5 year old stuff.

Ner ner ner ner ner

Lol. Actually I agree. There's often a grain or two of truth in what the riders say and in this case I'm willing to belive it. Things here are too often black and white here on the forum while the reality is way more complex. If Stoner had the perfect day he probably would have run away, at least the practice times suggested that. But if the tire was not perfect that could be connected with the higher temperature on race day. And an improved pace of Rossi's bike couled be masked by worse conditions. It doensn't really matter, tire, injury, stars, Stoner missjuged some or all of them and payed the price when going down.
Kudos for pushing so hard that he went down while injured though. That takes some balls.

Hey everybody, I'm new to the site. I've been browsing for a while however this topic got me to sign up as all your opinions on the matter are extremely interesting. The following is just my opinion, so please don't take offence

Imo I think Stoner has choked under the pressure, which I put down to his lack of experience. I don't think it's as bad as some of you are making out though, he is only young. At the end of the day this will make him a stronger and better rider in future seasons to come. I also don't think it's all his own doing. If Stoner had better people around to advise him I'm sure the two crashes following Laguna would not of happened.

Additionally I beleive JB and VR are not getting enough credit for their tactical nous at Laguna. However I'm sure they were not expecting to get into Stoner's head as much as they did. Alex Ferguson would be proud of those mind games.

If you cast your minds back to sometime last season (I can't remember which race exactly), JB came up with a plan to outwit Ducati by setting up the bike so it would be in front at the start/finish line but not at the 1st corner.

It seemed to me that they had a similar tactic in mind at Laguna. I also believe they knew their bike was able to match/get close enough to stoner, however didn't let on and were purposely not pushing in the practise sessions. I personally believe Ducati were lulled into a false sense of invincibility, ie with Stoner continually being the fastest in each session.

We all know what happened during the race, however if Stoner had a few more races of that nature under his belt, he probably would of ended up winning the race. He let his lack experience and the red mist get the better of him. Stoner probably assumed he would run away with it and got the shock of his life. I believe all of this contributed to Stoner choking/bottling the championship. Stoner's post race comments obviously showed how much he was rattled, with there being the summer break this did not help either.

Stoner probably would of been better off letting Rossi lead the race at Brno, however when he saw the pit board come out showing Rossi catching he lost his bottle, afraid of a repeat of Laguna and tried to put the hammer down. When it came to Misano and the same happened again I was very surprised, however I beleive this all stems back to Laguna. It appears to me Stoner has lost his confidence and probably just needs to do what Lorenzo did. His championship is over and some racing in the pack will do him the world of good.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Andy Roo @ Sep 2 2008, 07:42 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Casey blamed himself for going down in Brno 100%.

This time he blamed his tyres or more properly the feel of the tyre (pre scrubbed in).

With the anti Casey crowd it becomes very apparent that when he wins it is the bike/tyres but when he doesn't it is the rider.

My answer was to that commentator who said Casey had a lot of pain and therefor he crashed,
While Stoner himself is telling something else. And i just put a news artikel exactly as it was and I certainly didn`t make that up from myself.

If you read my earlier post in this thread, you can see that i am not a Casey hater, and actually i appreciate the fact that he did his best and could keep the championship alive/exiting for a longer

while ,unlike Dani and Lorenzo who unfortunatly landed with some problems and from midway the championship, couldn`t keep any fight against Rossi.

At least i have given some of my positive opinions about Casey and i recognise him as a race and championship contender (and that's certainly not to making you happy).

While you have a long list of riders in your favorites, but still doesn't know/recognise Rossi as a good racer.(I think that shows more of you taking/chosing side, than me), and I dont acuse you of

Hating Rossi just because you are giving your opinion on this thread and is not what i think. while it is clear that if Vale is not the best out there, he is a lot better than a few of those riders that you have put their names next to yourself.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Babelfish @ Sep 2 2008, 03:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Lol. Actually I agree. There's often a grain or two of truth in what the riders say and in this case I'm willing to belive it. Things here are too often black and white here on the forum while the reality is way more complex. If Stoner had the perfect day he probably would have run away, at least the practice times suggested that.

thats what they want you to believe!

with a full tank and race tyres Stoner needs to ride more conservatively... he only knows one way to race (very fast) but its not so easy when you have Rossi behind you equalling your lap times or going slightly faster... he pushes some more instead of just staying calm.

hes still a young kid, i hope his big head doesn't get in the way because he still has alot to learn.