<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Tom @ Sep 18 2008, 09:09 AM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Naturally there are varying degrees of speculation when it comes to understanding the motives of any riders opportunities, but in the last 15 years it seems that
KRJR, Nicky Hayden, John Hopkins, Scott Russell and
Mike Hale all made their way to motogp
at the hands of their marketability, while
Edwards would seem to have done so on merit.
Do you realize these highlighted men won either a world title or an AMA road racing title, some both? Is that the best you got to say these are "token" riders promoted for "marketing" purpose? And why did you put in that list, Mike Hale? Do you expect me to believe he was promoted for "marketing" purposes and therefore a "token" American? Tom you do this all the time, and I have called you on it.
You pretend to know something about these American racers, but you don't know ..... Here you try to throw in his name to say he was undeserving and lump him into a very successful list. But it seems you are ignorant to the fact that Mike Hale had a very successful dirt track career. This is why he was later picked up by King Kenny Roberts (who may have an eye for these things, or are you ignorant regarding the titles his riders under his direction have won). When he made the transition to road racing from dirt, he came runner up in two AMA classes, Formula Extreme and Superbike. So don't try to say this is not a worth while accomplishment. Hell, in the MotoGP grid today we have several runners up to the 250 class, one of which became world champ last year. You look up stats aimlessly, but for sure you were not aware that Hale was immediately injured in WSBK and never fully recovered. This is why he went to Nascar.
So all of your list are actually deserving and were promoted in their own right. And funny thing is, if you are going to make a case that Mike Hale, the least recognized of your list, was promoted to the world stage of motorcycle racing, why would they promote somebody most people don't know to try to market anything?
And of that list, the only one according to you is Edwards that got in by merit? Wow, do you see why debating you is so frustrating? You got nothing. 4 of the 5 men you just listed have all won multiple road racing titles and were promoted to MotoGP (Mike Hale won AMA titles in dirt track, but still was runner up in two classes of road racing in the AMA), and of these you only pick Edwards as deserving? So according to you then, all but Edwards are "token" racers who got their for "marketing"? Damn dude, why do I waste my time...
How the hell do you come up with this .... in your head. If you ask most people, I think you will find that once a rider actually wins a world title, the question whether they are deserving is answered. So just there, you can take off your list KRJR (MotoGP), Hayden (MotoGP), Scott Russell (WSBK), & Edwards (WSBK). To answer the question, are they "deserving" as oppose to "token" promotions, well it would be a good idea if they actually won a title some were right? Guess what, Hopkins did. So who is left as your case for "token" Americans promoted for "marketing" purpose? Are you going to say Mike Hale? Well then, by that standard, perhaps Dovi & Stoner didn't deserve to be promoted either, since like Mike Hale, they were "only" runner up.
Do you see how stupid you sound?
(don't answer, I already know)
