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Duc600, the GP07 practically rode itself, and your take on another Aussie is equally insightful, Maladin 'only' had Hayden & Spies as competition (one on a Honda the other on a Suzuki, both of which later went on to be World Champs and GP race winners) and raced against contemporaries who also were successful in Wsbk and GP like Bostrom and Hopkins, and one could argue Mladin raced during the last competitive AMA series given multiple factory efforts; but other than that your argument is almost water tight.
Mladin chose not to compete extensively at the International level because he quickly figured out (during his short stint) that unless you're on a winning machine...well, you won't win. Mladin was a prick, and it seems he didn't want to circulate on .... packages. Given he wasn't Spanish, he wasn't going to be gifted the benefit of the doubt, and would have to labor to earn that factory seat, that is if you believe once Dorna took over GP that it was built to become a meritocracy. Which leads me to Stoner. I think you will find plenty of members here are well enough versed in 125/250/500s. Casey was picked up as was Pedrosa, because they were scouted on talent by Albert Puig, that's why they were numbered consecutively, #26, #27. Both showed that scouting was based on solid grounds as both had success in the lower classes. But they didn't compete on equal footing, as u put it, Stoner was "blessed" onto an inferior 250 while Pedrosa had the cream of the crop. And even then the championship was a duel. When they were promoted to GP, Stoner was a runner-up in what was a very competitive 250 field. Again Stoner was "blessed" onto a 2nd tier bike while Pedrosa went to the cream of the crop. Stoner still gave that a go, and if u look back to 06, you'll see Stoner was very fast with INFERIOR tires, as the tires Pedrosa got is well documented to have been superior. Then when Ducati looked for a rider in 07, they offered the job to 3 others before Stoner. He was "blessed" to be 4th in line. Ducati having settled for their fourth pick were delighted that they put a little known device that allowed them to remote control the bike (in the space where the extra fuel reservoir was attached).
Mladin chose not to compete extensively at the International level because he quickly figured out (during his short stint) that unless you're on a winning machine...well, you won't win. Mladin was a prick, and it seems he didn't want to circulate on .... packages. Given he wasn't Spanish, he wasn't going to be gifted the benefit of the doubt, and would have to labor to earn that factory seat, that is if you believe once Dorna took over GP that it was built to become a meritocracy. Which leads me to Stoner. I think you will find plenty of members here are well enough versed in 125/250/500s. Casey was picked up as was Pedrosa, because they were scouted on talent by Albert Puig, that's why they were numbered consecutively, #26, #27. Both showed that scouting was based on solid grounds as both had success in the lower classes. But they didn't compete on equal footing, as u put it, Stoner was "blessed" onto an inferior 250 while Pedrosa had the cream of the crop. And even then the championship was a duel. When they were promoted to GP, Stoner was a runner-up in what was a very competitive 250 field. Again Stoner was "blessed" onto a 2nd tier bike while Pedrosa went to the cream of the crop. Stoner still gave that a go, and if u look back to 06, you'll see Stoner was very fast with INFERIOR tires, as the tires Pedrosa got is well documented to have been superior. Then when Ducati looked for a rider in 07, they offered the job to 3 others before Stoner. He was "blessed" to be 4th in line. Ducati having settled for their fourth pick were delighted that they put a little known device that allowed them to remote control the bike (in the space where the extra fuel reservoir was attached).
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