<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BarryMachine @ Jul 14 2008, 04:07 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Well if they are strung out in a procession single file yes thats a parade ......
the suggested, here, converse to that is everybody moving along side by side ...... thats a march
whoopdeedoo! so you like marches ...... I don't ....... I much prefer watching one damn good rider doing his thing.
Shuffling for places and overtaking merely detracts from a good fast ride to me ...... the sport has historically allways had standout riders, who generally pul away from the pack.
I think what urks me about the whole "march" senario is that it only seems to be the fans of those who are not running away with it that seem to complain. I duly note that the cries have become louder and louder as Rossi's edge is being chipped away. Its stupid because Rossi himself's best ever rides were runaways ( which at the time are hailed as "the allmighty gave them a lesson" etc..
Ignoring the bizarre comparison of a race with overtaking to a march - how
did you make that link in
your head?
I think that the reason that many spectators, not just Rossi fans, feel that the "race" involves less "racing" these days may well have less to do with a lone rider runaway on occasions and have more to do with the processional aspects.
Sachsenring was wet - normally this throws up some "less good" bikes in higher finishing positions (tick) and some interesting battles (no tick). Even a wet race seemed to end up as being damned processional with most of the final placings having been decided by about lap five as per the rest of the dry races this season.
I watched the 125s and, whilst the nature of the bikes probably suits this track much better than the 800s, the final placings were far from certain 5 laps from the end. That to me is racing.
Also consider WSB and BSB where the final positions are usually fluid until the final few laps. 800s seem to get it all shaken out after less than 10 laps and then the gaps just grow.
I was a fan of Doohan and still enjoyed many of the races when he pissed off into the middle distance because the rest of the field was not static. Obviously I also enjoyed some of the Rossi runaways too, but I think that having both a run-away win and a static field behind that winner does lead to boring races. Run-away wins are indeed part and parcel of racing, but I prefer to have other types in the mix as well. Last years best two races IMO were Catalunya and Assen. Both very different, with different winners, but neither run-aways.
As I have said before, get rid of the fuel limit (artificial and little or no development advantage to road bikes as they reckon only 0.25 of a litre more would completely remove the need for the software to limit fuel consumption), get rid of the gearing per corner (also meaningless on a road bike) and revert to direct control throttles. This would reduce the need for all bikes to be dependent on following an identical line and
may improve the racing. If not, bring back 990s.
BTW, although I am a Rossi fan I have noticed michaelm, who is a Stoner fan, complaining about similar issues.
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