Mind Games...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BarryMachine @ Feb 23 2008, 06:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>yeah well thats right .... another dead end lead ....... thats a classic "Rossi Fan Fact"

?????
The give veto to Brivio ...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (michaelm @ Feb 23 2008, 01:15 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>The other thing is, my observation is that casey usually tells the unvarnished truth as he sees it, and people look for subtleties which are not there. Whilst I agree with most of you that rossi is the bigger threat, casey may not see it that way. He pretty much had rossi/yamaha's measure last year, but has been beaten by dani in the past and clearly has a lot of respect for him. In dani's 2 wins last year when everything came together he was quite dominant, and rode right away from casey and everybody else, whereas rossi virtually had to carry the yamaha over the line to win.

Rossi on the other hand seems to have it over pedrosa and is more worried by casey.

That maybe a measure of his lack of maturity and expeirence with the big boys. Wheather or not you are a die hard stoner fan or die hard rossi fan, you have to admit that Rossi had Yamanha sitting on their butts all year and Stoner took advantage of every opertunity presented to him. I feel that his lack of expeirence is making him look at only last year instead of thinking about the capacity of the actual riders and companies. If this is so he might be in for a surprise this year with the new yamanha and that my be enough to shake his confidence, which, as an inexpeirenced rider, is quite easy to shake.

I say we just leave them too it and see what happens at Qatar, whatever they say (anyone of the riders) is quite inmaterial, what really matters is what they do on the track.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (citadina @ Feb 23 2008, 04:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>That maybe a measure of his lack of maturity and expeirence with the big boys. Wheather or not you are a die hard stoner fan or die hard rossi fan, you have to admit that Rossi had Yamanha sitting on their butts all year and Stoner took advantage of every opertunity presented to him. I feel that his lack of expeirence is making him look at only last year instead of thinking about the capacity of the actual riders and companies. If this is so he might be in for a surprise this year with the new yamanha and that my be enough to shake his confidence, which, as an inexpeirenced rider, is quite easy to shake.

I say we just leave them too it and see what happens at Qatar, whatever they say (anyone of the riders) is quite inmaterial, what really matters is what they do on the track.
Winning a single premier class world championship obviously doesn't make stoner as good as rossi, but I find it hard to see how he can be regarded as inexperienced after doing so; there are only 3 premier class world champions in the field. Which rider other than rossi do you consider a bigger boy than stoner?.

No-one can seriously question rossi's ability, but the yamaha can be questioned. The bridgestones will probably help, but I am not convinced that yamaha have made a significant advance as yet; stoner has actually performed relatively better in pre-season testing this year than last year.

As you say we need to wait for qatar, and in particular see how the yamaha's acceleration and speed look under race conditions with the race fuel restrictions. Yamaha (and honda) would appear to have some persisting concerns themselves given their recent call for an rpm limit.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (citadina @ Feb 23 2008, 05:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>That maybe a measure of his lack of maturity and expeirence with the big boys. Wheather or not you are a die hard stoner fan or die hard rossi fan, you have to admit that Rossi had Yamanha sitting on their butts all year and Stoner took advantage of every opertunity presented to him. I feel that his lack of expeirence is making him look at only last year instead of thinking about the capacity of the actual riders and companies. If this is so he might be in for a surprise this year with the new yamanha and that my be enough to shake his confidence, which, as an inexpeirenced rider, is quite easy to shake.

I say we just leave them too it and see what happens at Qatar, whatever they say (anyone of the riders) is quite inmaterial, what really matters is what they do on the track.

Stoner is young but already experienced... He knows that Rossi can win races and that Pedro can also, and he knows that Honda and Yam are working hard. But so what? He is the world champion and confident in his skills, in his team and bike which he has learnt to exploit fully. His attitude is something like 'let them come' -- which is a good attitude, look at him, he' s there on top of the world and still he seems to have less pressure, less to lose than the others. If he was a little more cheerful, he could remind us of Rossi at his age.

Rossi is certainly not old at 29, and is the most experienced rider out there, with an impressive record. He knows Stoner is the new star, but he has no intention to fade away quickly just to let him shine. His confidence in his skills is still intact, and he seems to have found again his team and bike, at least to an extent. This year his whole attitude is better, he's less arrogant and has more peace of mind. So he will be a formidable opponent both for Stoner and Pedrosa.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (J4rn0 @ Feb 23 2008, 06:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>This year his whole attitude is better, he's less arrogant and has more peace of mind. So he will be a formidable opponent both for Stoner and Pedrosa.

I agree, i think that now he has learnt to lose it will make him a better rider than he was last season

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BarryMachine @ Feb 23 2008, 12:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>yeah well thats right .... another dead end lead ....... thats a classic "Rossi Fan Fact"

You get it the wrong way. The documentation (for what ever it is worth) only came out when jumkie continued with his tiresome banter and adjusted reality, and he was and is the one with no documentation. Oh, I forgot, he witnessed it with his own eyes, clearly a superior observation compared to the one riding the bike, so of course he must be right.
I find the fact that edwards was litterally thrown off by the bike this year more than a little interesting. To me it looks like Yamaha has some debuging to do.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (J4rn0 @ Feb 23 2008, 07:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>If he was a little more cheerful, he could remind us of Rossi at his age.

Rossi is certainly not old at 29, and is the most experienced rider out there, with an impressive record. He knows Stoner is the new star, but he has no intention to fade away quickly just to let him shine. His confidence in his skills is still intact, and he seems to have found again his team and bike, at least to an extent. This year his whole attitude is better, he's less arrogant and has more peace of mind. So he will be a formidable opponent both for Stoner and Pedrosa.
I agree with the first statement, including the unfortunate cheerfulness deficiency.

I actually don't agree with your second point. I would question rossi's riding in 2006, particularly the last race crash but I don't think he or anyone else could have ridden the yamaha/michelins much better in 2007. Even his crashes were due to him having to go hard early on cold tyres, which has not been his practice over his career; he knew stoner would be gone otherwise, and he doesn't race to finish second.