Jerez testing.

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I don't think there is. I think even Hailwood would have struggled.

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I agree with this. The top 4 are where they should be.


It leads me to a question though.


Are the next 4 best riders on the 4 satellite Honda/Yamaha?


And why have they got those rides?

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He is not eligible for a factory ride. He was offered one, but turned it down. Therefore he is irrelevant to the discussion.

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Since when

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Im not quite convinced he would have but we will never know but imagine KR, MH and Doohan all in their prime today, my money would have been on Hailwood but the other two would have scared the .... out of Danny and Jorge because they would be to tough for them. Hailwood was as on the limit as any of the current crop but the dangers he faced at every race let alone the island are ten fold of today,his mental toughness,outright speed and physical presence were far greater than Marco's and Danny and Jorge would have been unable to cope.

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Really good question. And there's Ducati as well.

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Total agreement, & then to come back & face those dangers again in '78 & '79? .... me, balls of granite laced with steel & diamond!

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I don't think that line of questioning works for the GP13 and it's riders as they are mis-matched. Lousy bikes but not so lousy riders. Why are they there. Money? Lost the hunger to be at the front? Content with a better pay check instead of a better bike?


As you pointed out the top 4 riders are on the best 4 bikes. Matched. Best bikes with best riders. The reason they are there.


The next best 4 bikes are the sat RC213V/M1. I think Cal & Bradl deserve their place.

Could Bautista's bike go to someone else? Someone better? Im 50/50.


However the one question I read regularly is BS38 and the M1? Questioned but not answered.

No moto2 wins but gets a better bike than GP winners like Dovi, Spies & Hayden. 3 guys that shouldn't be on the GP13.

Then there is Iannone who has won 8 moto2 races & should've been further ahead in the cue than Smith.

Suerly even RDP should be on a GP bike before BS38.


How did Smith leapfrog so many race winners? As a team manager how do you sell that to your sponsors?

Has he got money behind him? Is it political?

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Who could beat them all, if still young and alive today? Easy: Mike Hailwood, and Jarno Saarinen.


Hailwood we all know what he was capable of...


Saarinen's career was too short, so it is maybe worth recalling how as a wild card he once jumped on a Benelli 4-stroke 500 that he had never touched before, and beat Ago and his MV by a big margin.


Unfucbelievable. He had never ridden a 4-stroke 500 before. 


Nobody has ever come close to these two... Nobody.


They say riders of different epochs cannot be compared, not by any measurable standard, and it is true; but by immeasurable standards it is quite possible.

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I might be wrong but when Smith singed that "off to motogp" deal Cal wasn't exactly setting the world on fire. Cal barely beat Abraham for rookie of the year while on the M1 and Abraham on that POS satellite Duke. I think it was expected at the time that Cal would be back to WSBk and Bradley at Tech3 would be its token British rider. As per Motogp rules.

I think last year Cal shocked everybody.

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Really good question. And there's Ducati as well.

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Who could beat them all, if still young and alive today? Easy: Mike Hailwood, and Jarno Saarinen.


Hailwood we all know what he was capable of...


Saarinen's career was too short, so it is maybe worth recalling how as a wild card he once jumped on a Benelli 4-stroke 500 that he had never touched before, and beat Ago and his MV by a big margin.


Unfucbelievable. He had never ridden a 4-stroke 500 before. 


Nobody has ever come close to these two... Nobody.


They say riders of different epochs cannot be compared, not by any measurable standard, and it is true; but by immeasurable standards it is quite possible.

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The whole system works until someone wins on win consistently. 


 


 


 


 


The whole system works until someone wins on one consistently


 


The Ducati that is. Casey is with them for what he did on a red pig. 

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Since he turned Honda down. Have you been paying attention at all?

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Mat Oxley says it so much better than I can (BTW, he's a personal hero of mine for decades, as much as the GP riders - I tried to emulate Mat, technical writing style, riding style, team management style - but never made it to his level at any of them. There's still time!).

 

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Thanks Goaty, i dont know how old you are but i was 15 when MH decided to come back to the Island in 78 after an 11 year retirement and coming from a motorcycling family it was all that was talked about so i remember it very well,when he announced his comeback there was no interest from the factories for the fomula 1 race and considering what he had done for Honda it showed what his chances of being competitive were,the only offer was an 883cc road going Ducati from the UK importer Steve Wynne,it had a few mods  but against the factory four cylinder Honda of Phil Read it was plain slow but not only did he win on time he passed Read on the road,now think if Casey came back at PI and won it would be the talk of the year but after 11 years in retirement on a production bike and welding some old pieces of chair tube between the top tubes and head set the night before the race to get some rigidity speaks volumes,I think Jorge and Danny are awsome but to be honest they are not made of this stuff.

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