Misano FP and Qualifying

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (two-stroke @ Aug 30 2008, 11:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I wasn't a true Stoner fan until today.

The lad has balls of steel, throwing the bike around like, well no one else on the grid at least.

More than him throwing the Ducati around, it seems the other way around to me... Which does not detract at all from his riding skills or the steely quality of his attributes of course

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SackWack @ Aug 30 2008, 10:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Casey is definitely far better than anyone out there. This year will definitely need an asteriks next to the title. It should have been his title. I guess others just got lucky.

This seems a little fan-atic

If championships were awarded on FP/QP times and positions, no doubt Casey would be the winner even in spite of his bad luck and his crucial mistakes so far,--unless you want to call crashes 'bad luck' as well.

The truth is that Rossi and Stoner are the two best MotoGP riders. I would have a hard time indicating the 'best' between the two of them, what seems obvious is that Stoner is younger and could still improve even more, while Rossi is obviously the most experienced hand.

It is a classic duel between the 'old' champion and the 'young' one. It is best enjoyed with a bit of impartiality

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Frizzle @ Aug 30 2008, 06:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I think there is some winding up going on Rog. You took the bait.
The points table should probably be a little closer, but it is a fair reflection on the performance of each rider. On a whole, Vale has been the best in 08. He's also been the the most consistent for the year.


J4no, see above It's funny, Lex started the irony and double standards and I just jumped on the bandwagon.

Oh, and Rossi is only winning this year because he is very consistent, unlike Stoner who wants to win every race no matter what.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (J4rn0 @ Aug 31 2008, 05:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>This seems a little fan-atic

If championships were awarded on FP/QP times and positions, no doubt Casey would be the winner even in spite of his bad luck and his crucial mistakes so far,--unless you want to call crashes 'bad luck' as well.

The truth is that Rossi and Stoner are the two best MotoGP riders. I would have a hard time indicating the 'best' between the two of them, what seems obvious is that Stoner is younger and could still improve even more, while Rossi is obviously the most experienced hand.

It is a classic duel between the 'old' champion and the 'young' one. It is best enjoyed with a bit of impartiality

I’m not impartial – I’m a Casey fan but that lap made me go “holy ....” and it wouldn’t matter who rode it the response would have been identical – and that’s impartial.

He fought that bike.

To that end there was a Marco interview on RPM today and we talked about how hard the bike was to ride and how it required aggression and he likes it smooth so it didn’t work out. It was a very congenial interview and I rated Marco quite highly from it. It sounded like he was about to tell that joke about the guy who moves to Alaska and the locals put him through an initiation. He has to down a litre of whiskey, kill a polar bear and make love to an Eskimo woman for an hour.

Anyway he drinks the whisky and collects his rifle and off he goes and the locals hear all this screaming and bawling and carrying on, eventually he comes back all scratched up with an ear missing and stuff and says “Now where’s that Eskimo ..... I have to kill...”

Marco was about to say the Ducati is that polar bear and making sweet monkey love to it isn’t that easy.

I’m sure that’s what he was about to say.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Andy Roo @ Aug 31 2008, 09:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>............. It sounded like he was about to tell that joke about the guy who moves to Alaska and the locals put him through an initiation. He has to down a litre of whiskey, kill a polar bear and make love to an Eskimo woman for an hour.

Anyway he drinks the whisky and collects his rifle and off he goes and the locals hear all this screaming and bawling and carrying on, eventually he comes back all scratched up with an ear missing and stuff and says “Now where’s that Eskimo ..... I have to kill...” ....................

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SackWack @ Aug 31 2008, 09:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>J4no, see above It's funny, Lex started the irony and double standards and I just jumped on the bandwagon.

Oh, and Rossi is only winning this year because he is very consistent, unlike Stoner who wants to win every race no matter what.

However, you guys forgot that without electronic aids and better tires, Rossi could not have won any race this year...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (J4rn0 @ Aug 31 2008, 07:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>This seems a little fan-atic

If championships were awarded on FP/QP times and positions, no doubt Casey would be the winner even in spite of his bad luck and his crucial mistakes so far,--unless you want to call crashes 'bad luck' as well.

The truth is that Rossi and Stoner are the two best MotoGP riders. I would have a hard time indicating the 'best' between the two of them, what seems obvious is that Stoner is younger and could still improve even more, while Rossi is obviously the most experienced hand.

It is a classic duel between the 'old' champion and the 'young' one. It is best enjoyed with a bit of impartiality
You have a balanced and fair view, and even the most ardent stoner fan would have to admit stoner needs to achieve a lot more to be seriously compared with valentino. As you have often pointed out he does ride a motorbike damn fast and in my view fairly courageously, and also in my opinion deserves more credit for this than he gets in some quarters regardless of whether he has a warm and bubbly personality. You need a lot of things to go right to beat valentino rossi including a fair amount of luck, and whilst casey perhaps hasn't had much this year he didn't lack it last year. In general as many have said the better you are the more luck you have as rossi's career mostly demonstrates, although even he is not entirely immune from ill fortune.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Frizzle @ Aug 31 2008, 02:59 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I think there is some winding up going on Rog. You took the bait.
The points table should probably be a little closer, but it is a fair reflection on the performance of each rider. On a whole, Vale has been the best in 08. He's also been the the most consistent for the year.
i new i was taking the bait when i was typing the reply , but it's only sackwack having a laugh

Stoner is making qualifying a bit pointless... 0.5+ lead.

The bike is a different beast with a full tank of fuel.