Joined Feb 2007
11K Posts | 2K+
Tennessee
Joined May 2009
6K Posts | 4K+
Shovel's Club
Joined May 2009
6K Posts | 4K+
Shovel's Club
You said a former champion was going to race PI. You were half right. I'll give you half a championship for that.
Joined Apr 2015
6K Posts | 5K+
NJ
All 3 of Nicky's Phillip Island podiums came when he was riding a Honda.
I honestly don't know what to expect out of Nicky, but I will be happy if he can crack the top 10. The good thing is, since it's a rider's circuit, hopefully we see a good performance out of him. The competition at the front is going to be something fierce.
I honestly don't know what to expect out of Nicky, but I will be happy if he can crack the top 10. The good thing is, since it's a rider's circuit, hopefully we see a good performance out of him. The competition at the front is going to be something fierce.
Joined Jul 2015
812 Posts | 336+
Hurricane, WV
Very cool to see.. Nicky on a factory Honda will be very interesting. Hope he can adjust quickly over the weekend.
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Hmm... well it being Australia and all, I was kind of hoping they'd give Miller a factory ride with Hayden filling in at the Marc VDS team. Sure he's not doing too well at the moment, but he'd have a better shot at a top 10 result and he'd get one (and probably only) ride on a factory bike.
Joined Apr 2015
6K Posts | 5K+
NJ
Joined Apr 2015
6K Posts | 5K+
NJ
This has become an increasing point of contention I have with Stoner.
I love him as a rider, but I've felt it more and more difficult to defend his choices because I cannot come up with any of the legendary talents in any sport who walked away the way he did. I suppose it's admirable on some level, but it's also bizarre. Michael Jordan ended his Bulls career with a backbreaking crossover and all net basket on the Jazz in 1998. Yet he STILL came back to play some more.
The way I look at it, is that you (Stoner) have a gift to ride motorcycles better than almost anyone on this planet. Out of 6.5 billion people, the only one with the talent to match, if not exceed Stoner is Marquez. But irrespective, you and I have better odds of winning the lottery than being born with the inherent ability to ride a motorcycle at the level Stoner could. In fact, he still can do it!
I don't want to turn this into another Stoner debate, but the stark contrast between Casey and Nicky Hayden is perfectly exhibited by how Nicky just loves to ride and race motorcycles. I bet he can't envision life without motorcycles. Even VR, it's the same deal. You'll have to pry their hands off of the grips to get them to stop riding.
Instead Stoner lives for spite. He wanted to ride for HRC in place of Pedrosa for two races last year, and when he was denied, that coupled with the 8 Hours of Suzuka disaster was enough to send him running back to Ducati. I, along with many others thought if he was willing to stand in at HRC in 2015, it would be a no-brainer that he would want to at least run a race should Ducati need him to, or even to wild card.
Yet, with the prospect of being able to ride at Phillip Island, a track he so dominated for 6 years running, leading 160 out of 162 laps over those 6 years, he refuses to. He refuses to help Ducati at all. How the .... can you even be a team player if you can't even help your own ....... team out? Instead they are forced to use Hector Barbera because there's no one else to run. They were nearly forced to run one bike at Motegi because he refused to help out there to. If he ran, it would be an incredible event, and I can guarantee you, he would get 100% of the adulation he never got when he was a regular rider. Yet he would rather thumb his nose at everything, and continue with his wishy-washy ........ of testing bikes rather than testing himself against his replacement; Marc Marquez.
I have bagged on Nicky Hayden for being so devoted to HRC, when I felt like they were giving him the shaft. Yet for the first time in a long time, HRC is finally doing right by all of the loyalty Nicky gave them over the years, and decided to tap him to ride the Repsol Honda over anyone else. Had they picked Jack Miller, it would certainly have been understandable, but I was overjoyed to hear that they are finally repaying a drop of the loyalty Nicky gave them over the years in spite of the blatant favoritism Pedrosa was shown over him. Yet 10 years later, Nicky is still the one delivered HRC their first world title after the acrimonious split with Valentino Rossi. Pedrosa has never done this...and yes part of it is down to luck/unfortunate circumstances. But when most riders would have ripped a team to shreds after the Pedrocycle debacle that took away any chance Nicky had to put up a spirited defense of his world title in 2007, he did no such thing. Total class act all the way around, and my dream would be to see him wind up on the podium at Phillip Island. Either way, he's had a great attitude for so many years, and some of the dividends have come due for Nicky. Meanwhile the other one does nothing of the sort. I'm always reminded of The Beatles song 'The End' where it goes, "In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." There's something to it IMO. Doesn't always work out, but more possibilities exist with a good attitude than without.
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