PUT Toni Elias back on a MotoGP bike.

FACTORY said:

Mladin had no problem staying in AMA collecting titles, wins, and cash....as far as I could see.

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Yeah and look at what people in general think of his decision to be top dog in a smaller (yet lucrative) pond. That said, whatever floats yer boat in my opinion...

Loris Capirossi left the 500's to go back to 250, collected a title and came back to experience the best form of his life, far better than his first attempt at the big class. It can work

Tom said:

Loris Capirossi left the 500's to go back to 250, collected a title and came back to experience the best form of his life, far better than his first attempt at the big class. It can work

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Never thought of it that way. It's possible but I think if anything he should stay in Moto2 for another season at least, then see where he's at.

He started complaining after a race where he got on the podium and had already had his bike for next year taken away. Tony can out ride half the grid IMO. You put Tony on a good machine, not even the best just good and he'll be battling hayden/spies for 5th every race.



But this stuff happens and he probably won't get a ride in motogp again. Look at Hopper, finishes 4th in the championship behind vale, dani and casey and ends up in wsb with a string of bad luck. If anything he deserves to be in MotoGP as well.

Rossi_fan said:

Look at Hopper, finishes 4th in the championship behind vale, dani and casey and ends up in wsb with a string of bad luck. If anything he deserves to be in MotoGP as well.

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Do me a favour...there's an old seldom seen stalwart on this forum called BassPete. Be a good lad and P.M. him this sentiment...and be sure to share the reply.

Arrabbiata1 said:

Do me a favour...there's an old seldom seen stalwart on this forum called BassPete. Be a good lad and P.M. him this sentiment...and be sure to share the reply.

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Arrabbi - why - ohh WHY??!!!!

Never understood why he got a 4 year contract extension for winning 1 race. He's a frigging maniac and motogp is better off without guys that take unnecessary risks at the expense of others. I'm not saying he's worse than some guys in the class because he's on par with a lot of them but does motogp really need to sign another veteran midpacker.

Rossi_fan said:

But this stuff happens and he probably won't get a ride in motogp again. Look at Hopper, finishes 4th in the championship behind vale, dani and casey and ends up in wsb with a string of bad luck. If anything he deserves to be in MotoGP as well.

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Hopper was a classic case of nearly making it. His 07 season was excellent. He was on a reasonable bike, was consistent and was best of the rest. But what could he do, get rides in the less capable factory teams or take a risk on satellite bikes from Honda or Yamaha where he'd be forced to ride a bike developed for other people while being overlooked for the factory team by the latest 250 hot shot. It's a bit of a shame but then again it does happen, Colin Edwards was best of the rest and was never likely to get further either.

JohnnyKnockdown said:

Never understood why he got a 4 year contract extension for winning 1 race. He's a frigging maniac and motogp is better off without guys that take unnecessary risks at the expense of others. I'm not saying he's worse than some guys in the class because he's on par with a lot of them but does motogp really need to sign another veteran midpacker.

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He's a good racer, and not as risky as he gets credit for i don't think.

Tom said:

Hopper was a classic case of nearly making it. His 07 season was excellent. He was on a reasonable bike, was consistent and was best of the rest. But what could he do, get rides in the less capable factory teams or take a risk on satellite bikes from Honda or Yamaha where he'd be forced to ride a bike developed for other people while being overlooked for the factory team by the latest 250 hot shot.

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This is one of your better more sober posts. Did you listen to KRJR's take on Hopkins? (Who by the way, after his last surgery seems to be making a regular appearance on the superbike podiums). Make of it what you will, but I thought the podcast shed some light on Hopkin's GP career.

Rossi_fan said:

He started complaining after a race where he got on the podium and had already had his bike for next year taken away. Tony can out ride half the grid IMO. You put Tony on a good machine, not even the best just good and he'll be battling hayden/spies for 5th every race.



But this stuff happens and he probably won't get a ride in motogp again. Look at Hopper, finishes 4th in the championship behind vale, dani and casey and ends up in wsb with a string of bad luck. If anything he deserves to be in MotoGP as well.

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I think he would have been in GP a bit longer had he stayed at Suzuki....he finished 4th in 07, jumped over to Kawasaki that was the worst bike then. He got hurt a couple times that season and Kawi pulled out of GP racing. Hopper was screwed at that point, went to WSBK and got really banged up....left for AMA and got banged up this season, but at least he got a couple podiums at the end!!



I guess he saw Suzuki was not putting the effort into making the bike any better and wanted to try to turn it around at Kawasaki....he did not know the economy would take Kawasaki out only a year later and ther other GP seats dried up.

Jumkie said:

This is one of your better more sober posts. Did you listen to KRJR's take on Hopkins? (Who by the way, after his last surgery seems to be making a regular appearance on the superbike podiums). Make of it what you will, but I thought the podcast shed some light on Hopkin's GP career.

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Yes i managed to listen to that whole podcast, it took ages!! Kenny doesn't really get to the point much, But it was excellent listening. I'm glad hoppers doing ok, although its a shame his career fell to pieces the way it did because i believe if the circumstances were different we could see him at the fron in WSBK on a regular basis, and i'd like that.

Rossi_fan said:

He started complaining after a race where he got on the podium and had already had his bike for next year taken away. Tony can out ride half the grid IMO. You put Tony on a good machine, not even the best just good and he'll be battling hayden/spies for 5th every race.



But this stuff happens and he probably won't get a ride in motogp again. Look at Hopper, finishes 4th in the championship behind vale, dani and casey and ends up in wsb with a string of bad luck. If anything he deserves to be in MotoGP as well.

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Oh my fecking god, Hopper has been dug up. Hopper lost his ride because he was ...... The guy couldn't win a goldfish at a fair, waste of a motorbike, and probably the reason Kawasaki got out of GP, how could you recover from being associated with that clown? I'm sure his gardening business is doing ok now.



John Hopkins = .....



Pete

Anyhoo, ignoring Hopper, and onto Scud. I was not a fan of Scud in his early days, total nutjob who appeared to have a massive magnet in his fairing which made him unable to get round a track without crashing into someone. But, I'm going to agree with Tom here, his step back a class might just be what he needs to get him back onto form on a GP bike. He is leading the championship in Moto2 which is in my opinion where the best racing is this season. OK the close formula makes it perfect for a guy like Scud, but he is doing the damage big time, and deserves a chance to play with the big boys again. GP is struggling with a woefull number of bikes on the grid and needs to do something to make it interesting to watch again. I think GP needs Scud and a few others.

Hi Pete.

basspete said:

GP is struggling with a woefull number of bikes on the grid and needs to do something to make it interesting to watch again. I think GP needs Scud and a few others.

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I hadn't even considered Elias' entertainment value. Now i support the idea of him returning even more

elias is the best of the rest, honestly none of the current crop of 250 riders deserve a shot at the big time, having said that, i thinks loris and edwards are long past thier used by dates aswell.

basspete said:

Oh my fecking god, Hopper has been dug up. Hopper lost his ride because he was ...... The guy couldn't win a goldfish at a fair, waste of a motorbike, and probably the reason Kawasaki got out of GP, how could you recover from being associated with that clown? I'm sure his gardening business is doing ok now.



John Hopkins = .....



Pete

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Pete you might want to have a read at the AMA superbike thread. Hopper is back and the same old excuses prevail. Unfortunately there are those here that still hold him with some regard. He actually got third last week agains't guys that couldn't get a whiff of Mladin or Spies ... ever. Next year he''ll be better. How many years do we have to hear that.

JohnnyKnockdown said:

Pete you might want to have a read at the AMA superbike thread. Hopper is back and the same old excuses prevail. Unfortunately there are those here that still hold him with some regard. He actually got third last week agains't guys that couldn't get a whiff of Mladin or Spies ... ever. Next year he''ll be better. How many years do we have to hear that.

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You two crack me up. And I know most of it is tongue and cheek and pulling on chains, but I'll play along boys.



Suzuki GP, ruining careers for years.



Riddle me this Pete & JohnnyK, name me the rider who never lost to his teammate in standings while in GP on either a Suzuki or Kawasaki? If Jesus himself rode those bikes, I doubt he could have miracled that bike to look good. Suzuki today, with several years of development cannot manage to get very experienced and talented riders ,either young or old to finish most races; and those that do, never in the top 5. Look up Suzuki GP's DNF stats, most all of them are not mechanicals. Why do you suppose that is? Its not rocket science boys, the bike is .... (or as Pete says "....."). Who are you a fan of? Ask yourself this question, the rider you most admire, would that person look like a genius on a Suzuki or Kawasaki. Injuries, that's what those bike produced best. ...., at the moment we have a high profile rider citing a injury impeding his results (and he's riding the best bike on the grid), now multiply that inury by 10. Then with that injury, said rider must then attempt to compete on the same .... machine that caused the injury to begin with? Ah man, that's a winning combination for confidence, eh.



(BTW, JK, your post is factually incorrect, the current AMA SB champ did infact beat Mladin. 7 times to a win infact. Look up 2009 season, the one where SB was a bit more of a level playing field. As far as not getting a wiff of Spies, well that's because they hardly raced eachother, while Spies was winning SBK titles, Hayes was winning FX titles. )

Jumkie said:

You two crack me up. And I know most of it is tongue and cheek and pulling on chains, but I'll play along boys.



Suzuki GP, ruining careers for years.



Riddle me this Pete & JohnnyK, name me the rider who never lost to his teammate in standings while in GP on either a Suzuki or Kawasaki? If Jesus himself rode those bikes, I doubt he could have miracled that bike to look good. Suzuki today, with several years of development cannot manage to get very experienced and talented riders ,either young or old to finish most races; and those that do, never in the top 5. Look up Suzuki GP's DNF stats, most all of them are not mechanicals. Why do you suppose that is? Its not rocket science boys, the bike is .... (or as Pete says ".....").

Who are you a fan of? Ask yourself this question, the rider you most admire, would that person look like a genius on a Suzuki or Kawasaki. Injuries, that's what those bike produced best. ...., at the moment we have a high profile rider citing a injury impeding his results (and he's riding the best bike on the grid), now multiply that inury by 10. Then with that injury, said rider must then attempt to compete on the same .... machine that caused the injury to begin with? Ah man, that's a winning combination for confidence, eh.

(btw JK, your post is factually incorrect, the current AMA SB champ did infact between Mladin. Look it up.)

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Remember Nicky's last win? Stupid question Do you remember why he won that day? CV was running 1st most of the race. He probabaly would have won if not for a malfunctioning fuel pump dropped him down the order. I believe talent always shines through. How many years and how many races did Hopper run in the motogp class.

Not one race can you point out that Hopper did something special. I know he had a .... bike but the guy never did anything special. Look at Verme. He did more on that bike at Laguna that Hopper did his entire career. That race showed me that the Suzuki on that day was good enough to win at that track. Hopper had the same bike that day on a track that he knew better than most of the field and all his pathetic arse could manage was 6th place.

I'm not basing my judgement on that singular race I look back on his entire career and not one moments stands out.



When did hayes beat mladin?

Jumkie said:

BTW, JK, your post is factually incorrect, the current AMA SB champ did infact beat Mladin. 7 times to a win infact. Look up 2009 season, the one where SB was a bit more of a level playing field. As far as not getting a wiff of Spies, well that's because they hardly raced eachother, while Spies was winning SBK titles, Hayes was winning FX titles. )

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I'll give you that one but you know you're reaching