<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Keshav @ Apr 26 2009, 11:28 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Although you can't be banned - I'm hoping maybe
wild dingos will come along and gnaw off the one finger you type with, or mayhaps a gaggle of platypusses will come along and kidnap you and make you marry one of their daughters - or whatever weird .... goes on in your neighborhood.
Or even better, Pinky will be succumb to, or be abducted and torn to pieces by some unlikely and ludicrous mythical creature of Australian folklore...a
Bunyip perhaps?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Keshav @ Apr 26 2009, 11:13 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>People have been saying that about Pedrobot - (and maybe he's taken it to heart) 'cause I'd say at Motegi he gave as well as he took. Say what you will about his personality (or lack thereof) but the guy is no quitter and he's still hungry
I've been very vocal on this forum about the fact that Dani has lost his ability to fight for a race win, and that he's too preoccupied with racing himself and the circuit, as opposed to his immediate competition. I have yet to see him prevail in a one on one battle with Valentino.
One of the main reasons I hold this view is that I avidly followed Pedrosa from his very first appearances in 125gp. It was almost as if it was too easy for him sometimes. He used to hold back behind a pack of half a dozen riders until two thirds race distance and then pull the pin - almost as if he was toying with the field for the fun of it. I used to think that this was also an element was tyre management, it was certainly very capable race management - almost Lawsonesque in fact. I recall very early on in his career Puig chastising him for holding back like this and not breaking away sooner. More importantly when he couldn't break, he wasn't afraid of duking it out with his rivals - hard aggressive riders like Perugini (a constant thorn in his side), Checchinello, Jenkner, Pogialli, Elias, and later Porto, DePuniet, Battaini, DeAngelis and of course those classic sraps with Lorenzo.
What Dani did on Sunday revealed shades of his old self..if he can beat Rossi in a dogfight as opposed to merely through performing a disappearing act at the start of the race, it'll do his confidence the world of good. Dani is at his most dangerous if he gets the holeshot, and with an empty track in front of him is perhaps the most focussed rider out there. Rossi has expressed his admiration for this, and is very aware of the threat he can pose. IMO he adapted his riding style almost instantly to the 990 - where the similarly diminutive Kato seemed to struggle. He has also transformed his wet weather riding from being practically useless, to the blindingly quick. Those initial laps he put in at Sachsenring before the crash at turn one were breathtaking.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if he he comes out fighting this year...and actually champions a few carbon fibre clashes, as opposed to simply running away at the front. He was never intimidated, and was impervious to mind games when he rode the strokers, but then that was before he faced the Doctor on a race track, and before the dark side of the force had fully taken it's hold. Like I said, he hovered around Vale like a midge(et) at Motegi on Sunday, and it now it transpires The Doctor was possibly holding back due to concerns about fuel consumption. It would seem that Vale simply raised the bar again, and swatted him away once more. Perhaps as the season progresses and his fitness returns, he won't be so easily repelled.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BarryMachine @ Apr 27 2009, 02:39 AM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Ah reminds me of Abe ....... and how we first saw him ....... now wouldn't the world have been a sad place without ever seeing him come into MGP
The Takahashi situation is nothing like Abe. Norick produced one of the most sensational Wild Card rides in history (see Catalunya thread), to secure the mentorship of Kenny Roberts, and was awarded a ride in his team - and later the Rainey run Marlboro Yamaha outfit. it had nothing to do with him being Japanese bar the fact that obviously his wild card ride was secured at Suzuka. He was a very very gifted 500cc two stroke rider, who would have arguably have gone further were it not for ending up on a stagnant satellite YZR500 in Luis Dantin's team from 1999 and the subsequent switch to the diesels with the arrival of the 'new' moto gp class. Takahashi has been groomed as a product of the HRC 'pilot' program and much like Niccolò Canepa is riding on his passport as opposed to his prospect and potential.
