Joined Feb 2007
11K Posts | 2K+
Tennessee
Joined Aug 2007
11K Posts | 3K+
Pomona NY
Yeah, yeah, yeah... and if Jesus had been born in the '40s a lot of folks would be walking around with little electric chairs
on chains around their neck. But it didn't happen.
.... Kesh, and here I was thinking Ron Jeremy was Jesus reincarnated
I mean, every time the wife see him on TV she goes'.... me, jesus he is ugly'
Joined Apr 2008
7K Posts | 3K+
Out of Nowhere
Kesh - Dunno about you but I suspect this may mark the the return of 'Rob or worse still 'Nino' in a re-born 'straight for the jugular' guise.
Joined Aug 2007
11K Posts | 3K+
Pomona NY
Joined Jul 2007
5K Posts | 1K+
unda cheese
Our Noob is not in compliance with forum rules
http://www.powerslide.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=14888&pid=308156&st=0&#entry308156
http://www.powerslide.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=14888&pid=308156&st=0&#entry308156
Joined Feb 2009
3K Posts | 2+
siebenbürgen süße heimat!
Joined Jun 2007
10K Posts | 1K+
Norah Head
Isn't it policy, that in such a case, the existing folk can pick the new name for the "incorrect" noob?
I'd like to nominate his new name be:
CSmosttalentedfastesandgoatestofalltime1
for him.
Joined Jun 2007
10K Posts | 1K+
Norah Head
NO way!! I'm like the total opposite of this guy!!
I would be saying:
Stoner had one good year and nobody forgets his greatness. If Stoner was on that Honda last year he would have never lost a race ( oh wait ........ thats correct anyway) . Stoner has ridden almost every manufacture and won and he will win the championship this year NOT on a Ducati.
How different can you get!!
Joined Feb 2008
2K Posts | 0+
home
Love that avatar: Rossi, almost out of the picture.
By the way, what is it with you lot? Ben Spies makes some off the cuff remark and you manage to turn it into a 12 page threat. Go spend some time with families or something!
I had to change the picture becuase it was against the rules. I had a better Rossi Picture this one is just temporary
Joined Oct 2006
25K Posts | 4K+
Your Mom's House
Has the season started yet?? Must be close....................Arab and Jrno have awoken from their off-season slumber.............
Joined Jun 2007
10K Posts | 1K+
Norah Head
Your winter endurance is truly admirable folks.
Luckily, the wait is almost over...
Is Not!
oh wait ....... I'm just stuck in the winter "debating mode"
Yes new season can't come too soon.
The late and great Barry Sheene said it in 2005 and that was at Phillip Island when Stoner was contesting the 250cc W/C Barry was on the channel nine commentary and he said even though Stoner crashed that stoner will be a W/C and one of the great riders!
At just 26 years of age, Casey Stoner stands at the end of the 2011 motogp season as a MotoGP World Champion who has already amassed more premier class victories than legends Kenny Roberts, Barry Sheene, Freddie Spencer, Wayne Gardner, Wayne Rainey, and Kevin Schwantz and even Eddie Lawson with 10yrs in the sport could only master 31 wins, yet Casey Stoner with only 5yrs of premier racing under his belt is rarely labelled as a developing all-time great.
In fact, it seems that Stoner's name is seldom even bandied about as a modern-era great, forever overshadowed by megastar Valentino Rossi and the emerging Jorge Lorenzo.
However, the numbers tell a different story… Even when including Stoner's winless rookie season on a satellite LCR Honda in 2006 where he was on a .... LCR unit he still managed to muster out of 16 races 1 podium and 1 pole with 119 points overall, he has scored more victories during his time in MotoGP than Rossi has over that same span 2006-2011 (33 Stoner to 26 Rossi), while at the same time Stoner also managed to notch up 15 more pole positions than Rossi (34 to 19).
A bit of backtracking and present tracking is now underway concerning the assumption that Stoner's past success could be largely credited due to some sort of machinery advantage on the red bike and the yellow and blue bike despite his revolving door of teammates' perpetual inability to come to terms with the screaming V4. Even developmental genius Rossi has struggled to tame the Desmosedici, posting dry-track qualifying times on the order of an astonishing four seconds slower than Stoner this past weekend at Silverstone.
Stoner, meanwhile at the beginning of the 2011 season, was literally the fastest man on the planet the first time he ever threw a leg over Honda's potent '11 RC212V and now again he has proved the same when he threw his leg over Honda's potent RC213V and now again he has proved the same in winter tests at Sepang!
So exactly why has Stoner rarely been given his due? There are a number of reasons but the biggest is quite likely simply because the collective MotoGP fandom would prefer not to. He's always been the underdog, but not in the lovable type of underdog you root for, rather something more in line with the fictional antagonist who you know is only being established as formidable so that the conquering hero looks all the more heroic when he finally defeats him in the end.
For an overwhelming percentage of race fans Stoner is the foil. The thorn in their sides. The obstacle in their path.
While Rossi and Lorenzo are charismatic and as quick with a smile and a quip as they are to twist the throttle, Stoner's public persona is prickly and dour. And combined with his relative youth, this comes across as more of a constant whine than a calculated means of intimidation as was the case with fellow Australian Mat Mladin during his AMA Superbike reign.
It probably doesn't help that Stoner has publicly clashed with, and openly criticized, the massively popular Rossi on multiple occasions in the past -- as sure a recipe as you can devise to become MotoGP's public enemy #1.
Rossi helped stoke that fire early on, questioning Stoner's willingness to fight and throwing a backhanded compliment his direction, calling him the best of the 'traction control generation,' as if he were some sort of racing cyborg, powerless without his electronics. However, you can only race within the rules and technology that exists during your time and the idea is to be the best of whatever era to which you belong. And if that's the traction control era, then so be it -- that's the goal for Stoner, Rossi, and the rest.
But accomplishments and sheer greatness can only be ignored to a point, and Stoner seems to be on the verge of crashing through that invisible barrier.
The Australian has rapidly taken on an aura of invincibility once reserved for the now vulnerable Rossi and, more recently, Lorenzo, who revisited his former days as a low Earth orbit astronaut while under pressure to keep pace with the escaping Aussie on Sunday.
And Stoner finally seems to have found a proper home for his talents and personality as well. Never the ideal face for the much-beloved Ducati, Stoner is now an HRC-backed force in the mould of past masters Mick Doohan, Gardner, Spencer, and Lawson, who personified the overpowering competence of the almighty Honda in a way that you didn't have to love but that still commanded your respect. (In hindsight, HRC's magnetic champs Rossi and Nicky Hayden seem almost out of place with that list, and in fact, ultimately felt unwelcome at the end of their tenures there).
To be fair, Stoner has brought some of the criticism upon himself. Despite his unequalled speed, he has frequently cracked under pressure and fallen victim to a number of embarrassing gaffes of his own design that cost him what had otherwise looked to be certain victories (and possible championships).
Entering this season, on seven separate occasions Stoner had topped every single weekend session leading up to a Grand Prix, and typically by wide, un-MotoGP-like margins. However, he converted just two of those seven ('07 Laguna and '09 Qatar) into victories. The rest go down in Stoner's personal Hall of Shame:
A quick reminder:
At the Sachsenring in 2007, Stoner held an average margin of 0.279 seconds prior to the green light, led early, but eventually faded to fifth, finishing some 31 seconds off the win.
At the epic Laguna Seca showdown in 2008, Stoner completely dominated the weekend with an average gap of 0.664, but was defeated heads-up by a brilliant Rossi, who baited Stoner into a crash with some controversially aggressive tactics.
Later that same season in San Marino, Stoner opened the race with a 0.477-second average weekend gap and was pulling away out front, only to crash from the race, losing the front.
And the trip to Valencia in 2009 was even more embarrassing for the feisty Stoner. His 0.354-second average advantage over his nearest rival meant nothing after he highsided away his hopes on the race's warm-up lap.
And then in last season's opener at Losail, Stoner had an average gap of 0.415 and was pulling away from the pack by a clip of one second per lap once he broke free at the front early in the race. However, he crashed out on lap six, losing the front of his Desmosedici.
However, Stoner looks to be back to his 2007-vintage best this year, powerful on track and stable inside his helmet. He was the innocent victim in his one major bout with misfortune this season, collected by an overambitious Rossi at Jerez, otherwise this title campaign could be fast taking shape as a Casey Stoner benefit.
Already twice this season Stoner has completed perfect weekend sweeps, taking lopsided wins at Le Mans (with an average margin of 0.309 seconds in the lead up to the race backed up by a 14+ second margin of victory) and Silverstone (an average margin of 0.461 seconds and a 15+ second margin of victory despite varied weather conditions) while never allowing another rider to see the top of the timesheets.
And he came close to turning the same trick at the opener in Qatar, leading every session by an average margin of .0342 before being pipped by Pedrosa in the warm-up. Stoner ultimately walked away with an easy victory in his first race as a factory Honda pilot.
Now with four wins in six races, Stoner holds a commanding 18-point advantage despite his zero-point tally at Jerez courtesy of rival Rossi.
Can anybody stop Stoner this year? Perhaps more importantly, can he further this year's early trend and not stop himself?
And if he does go on to claim his second premier class title (moving ahead of Schwantz and Gardner, equal to Sheene and Spencer, and level with Rossi during their head-to-head match-up) will Casey Stoner finally be considered one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time or will that still be too much to ask?
At just 26 years of age, Casey Stoner stands at the end of the 2011 motogp season as a MotoGP World Champion who has already amassed more premier class victories than legends Kenny Roberts, Barry Sheene, Freddie Spencer, Wayne Gardner, Wayne Rainey, and Kevin Schwantz and even Eddie Lawson with 10yrs in the sport could only master 31 wins, yet Casey Stoner with only 5yrs of premier racing under his belt is rarely labelled as a developing all-time great.
In fact, it seems that Stoner's name is seldom even bandied about as a modern-era great, forever overshadowed by megastar Valentino Rossi and the emerging Jorge Lorenzo.
However, the numbers tell a different story… Even when including Stoner's winless rookie season on a satellite LCR Honda in 2006 where he was on a .... LCR unit he still managed to muster out of 16 races 1 podium and 1 pole with 119 points overall, he has scored more victories during his time in MotoGP than Rossi has over that same span 2006-2011 (33 Stoner to 26 Rossi), while at the same time Stoner also managed to notch up 15 more pole positions than Rossi (34 to 19).
A bit of backtracking and present tracking is now underway concerning the assumption that Stoner's past success could be largely credited due to some sort of machinery advantage on the red bike and the yellow and blue bike despite his revolving door of teammates' perpetual inability to come to terms with the screaming V4. Even developmental genius Rossi has struggled to tame the Desmosedici, posting dry-track qualifying times on the order of an astonishing four seconds slower than Stoner this past weekend at Silverstone.
Stoner, meanwhile at the beginning of the 2011 season, was literally the fastest man on the planet the first time he ever threw a leg over Honda's potent '11 RC212V and now again he has proved the same when he threw his leg over Honda's potent RC213V and now again he has proved the same in winter tests at Sepang!
So exactly why has Stoner rarely been given his due? There are a number of reasons but the biggest is quite likely simply because the collective MotoGP fandom would prefer not to. He's always been the underdog, but not in the lovable type of underdog you root for, rather something more in line with the fictional antagonist who you know is only being established as formidable so that the conquering hero looks all the more heroic when he finally defeats him in the end.
For an overwhelming percentage of race fans Stoner is the foil. The thorn in their sides. The obstacle in their path.
While Rossi and Lorenzo are charismatic and as quick with a smile and a quip as they are to twist the throttle, Stoner's public persona is prickly and dour. And combined with his relative youth, this comes across as more of a constant whine than a calculated means of intimidation as was the case with fellow Australian Mat Mladin during his AMA Superbike reign.
It probably doesn't help that Stoner has publicly clashed with, and openly criticized, the massively popular Rossi on multiple occasions in the past -- as sure a recipe as you can devise to become MotoGP's public enemy #1.
Rossi helped stoke that fire early on, questioning Stoner's willingness to fight and throwing a backhanded compliment his direction, calling him the best of the 'traction control generation,' as if he were some sort of racing cyborg, powerless without his electronics. However, you can only race within the rules and technology that exists during your time and the idea is to be the best of whatever era to which you belong. And if that's the traction control era, then so be it -- that's the goal for Stoner, Rossi, and the rest.
But accomplishments and sheer greatness can only be ignored to a point, and Stoner seems to be on the verge of crashing through that invisible barrier.
The Australian has rapidly taken on an aura of invincibility once reserved for the now vulnerable Rossi and, more recently, Lorenzo, who revisited his former days as a low Earth orbit astronaut while under pressure to keep pace with the escaping Aussie on Sunday.
And Stoner finally seems to have found a proper home for his talents and personality as well. Never the ideal face for the much-beloved Ducati, Stoner is now an HRC-backed force in the mould of past masters Mick Doohan, Gardner, Spencer, and Lawson, who personified the overpowering competence of the almighty Honda in a way that you didn't have to love but that still commanded your respect. (In hindsight, HRC's magnetic champs Rossi and Nicky Hayden seem almost out of place with that list, and in fact, ultimately felt unwelcome at the end of their tenures there).
To be fair, Stoner has brought some of the criticism upon himself. Despite his unequalled speed, he has frequently cracked under pressure and fallen victim to a number of embarrassing gaffes of his own design that cost him what had otherwise looked to be certain victories (and possible championships).
Entering this season, on seven separate occasions Stoner had topped every single weekend session leading up to a Grand Prix, and typically by wide, un-MotoGP-like margins. However, he converted just two of those seven ('07 Laguna and '09 Qatar) into victories. The rest go down in Stoner's personal Hall of Shame:
A quick reminder:
At the Sachsenring in 2007, Stoner held an average margin of 0.279 seconds prior to the green light, led early, but eventually faded to fifth, finishing some 31 seconds off the win.
At the epic Laguna Seca showdown in 2008, Stoner completely dominated the weekend with an average gap of 0.664, but was defeated heads-up by a brilliant Rossi, who baited Stoner into a crash with some controversially aggressive tactics.
Later that same season in San Marino, Stoner opened the race with a 0.477-second average weekend gap and was pulling away out front, only to crash from the race, losing the front.
And the trip to Valencia in 2009 was even more embarrassing for the feisty Stoner. His 0.354-second average advantage over his nearest rival meant nothing after he highsided away his hopes on the race's warm-up lap.
And then in last season's opener at Losail, Stoner had an average gap of 0.415 and was pulling away from the pack by a clip of one second per lap once he broke free at the front early in the race. However, he crashed out on lap six, losing the front of his Desmosedici.
However, Stoner looks to be back to his 2007-vintage best this year, powerful on track and stable inside his helmet. He was the innocent victim in his one major bout with misfortune this season, collected by an overambitious Rossi at Jerez, otherwise this title campaign could be fast taking shape as a Casey Stoner benefit.
Already twice this season Stoner has completed perfect weekend sweeps, taking lopsided wins at Le Mans (with an average margin of 0.309 seconds in the lead up to the race backed up by a 14+ second margin of victory) and Silverstone (an average margin of 0.461 seconds and a 15+ second margin of victory despite varied weather conditions) while never allowing another rider to see the top of the timesheets.
And he came close to turning the same trick at the opener in Qatar, leading every session by an average margin of .0342 before being pipped by Pedrosa in the warm-up. Stoner ultimately walked away with an easy victory in his first race as a factory Honda pilot.
Now with four wins in six races, Stoner holds a commanding 18-point advantage despite his zero-point tally at Jerez courtesy of rival Rossi.
Can anybody stop Stoner this year? Perhaps more importantly, can he further this year's early trend and not stop himself?
And if he does go on to claim his second premier class title (moving ahead of Schwantz and Gardner, equal to Sheene and Spencer, and level with Rossi during their head-to-head match-up) will Casey Stoner finally be considered one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time or will that still be too much to ask?
Attachments
Adendum>>>
He has claimed his second premier class title (moving ahead of Schwantz and Gardner, equal to Sheene and Spencer, and level with Rossi during their head-to-head match-up)
Will Casey Stoner finally be considered one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time or will that still be too much to ask...I think He Will after the 2012 season when he will win his 3rd title!
He has claimed his second premier class title (moving ahead of Schwantz and Gardner, equal to Sheene and Spencer, and level with Rossi during their head-to-head match-up)
Will Casey Stoner finally be considered one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time or will that still be too much to ask...I think He Will after the 2012 season when he will win his 3rd title!
