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The Other riders

Well think again. Early days, but he's strongly linked with KTM which would also re-uinite him with Mike Leitner. Plus, the Austrian marque will be looking for an experienced to develop the new bike in it's first year. I can see a one year contract then a development rider role before he's quite ready to sail off into the sunset on his new yacht.
I'd be happy enough with such an arraignment, hoping it works out as well as it did for Meladri as a 'factory' Aprilia rider.
 
I'd be happy enough with such an arraignment, hoping it works out as well as it did for Meladri as a 'factory' Aprilia rider.

To be fair 'Macio' has been of a dubious and highly questionable state of mental health since grappling with the post traumatic stress disorder from signing to Ducati.

Pedro may well slip into the realms of the 'also rans' but will yield invaluable race data. He may have to wrestle the bike but at least that won't be through a straightjacket or find himself consigned to a padded cell in the back of the truck in between races. He may even take Alberto with him and out of the Factory Honda fold forever more.
 
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I think.I should admit that I was a Brader Smith skeptic. He had "accomplished" little to nothing in Moto2, and I was a huge critic of him here when Tech .... signed him to a guaranteed GP contract while "failing" to win dildo in the lower category. I wasn't impressed by his first year in GP either. But this year he has conducted himself well. Perhaps holding off a contract was good for him. So I'll concede, maybe he was a gem in the rough.

Im reminded of Wilks telling me he was better than his results, because as he insightfully reasoned, Tech .... had a .... team in Moto2. Honestly didn't believe it, because we associate Tech3 GP as formidable. But looks like Wills was right.

Edit to add: god that was hard.
 
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I'd rather see Vinales not at Repsol Honda, which means there is a great chance he winds up there.

I'm sick of the ....... Spaniards on top flight rides just because they happen to be Spanish.

I don't see Vinales doing much of anything because you know there is no way Honda would upset the apple cart. Unless of course MM trashes their bike one time too many and finds himself on their .... list. I feel like his talent may be not be as high as some imagine simply for this reason.

Miller on the other hand I think has a lot of potential. A shame he ...... up at Silverstone. We'll see where he goes.

Money is on Petrucci as being a guy who would do better than Dovizioso if you put them both on GP15's. I do like Iannone quite a bit...kid rides with a lot of heart...but heart doesn't exactly translate into wins if you don't have the basic talent...and Dovi has done better than him overall this year.
 
Money is on Petrucci as being a guy who would do better than Dovizioso if you put them both on GP15's. I do like Iannone quite a bit...kid rides with a lot of heart...but heart doesn't exactly translate into wins if you don't have the basic talent...and Dovi has done better than him overall this year.

WHAT! Iannone has done better than Dovi over all this year! I love Dovi, he's super sweet...but come on man! He's been dumping it far more than Iannone, at least from what I recall (because I'm not creepily as literal as everyone else & too lazy to research). But, I totally think Iannone has grasped the GP15 a little better than Dovi.
 
WHAT! Iannone has done better than Dovi over all this year! I love Dovi, he's super sweet...but come on man! He's been dumping it far more than Iannone, at least from what I recall (because I'm not creepily as literal as everyone else & too lazy to research). But, I totally think Iannone has grasped the GP15 a little better than Dovi.

Dovi had 3 retirements and isn't far behind in the points.

5 podiums to Iannone's 2.

I think it's easy to get focused on Iannone because he is a more exciting rider to watch compared to Dovi, but the results overall favor Dovi more.

I don't know, I think it's a push of a matchup to be honest.

I do think Petrucci would outride both however.
 
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I'd like to see Smith on a factory bike, also Petrucci and Andrea Iannone and if and when he gets into the premier Sam Lowes.
 
I'm still not sold on Smith yet. He is decent enough, but I really question the idea of him being a top flight rider. Redding I believe is drastically oversold because of the British media's obvious interest in him. You could replace him with any number of guys and see better results.
 
I think Smith is one of those 'Solid but not exciting' riders. Even on a factory bike he'd be behind the other 3 imo.
 
I'm still not sold on Smith yet. He is decent enough, but I really question the idea of him being a top flight rider. Redding I believe is drastically oversold because of the British media's obvious interest in him. You could replace him with any number of guys and see better results.

Redding is hugely gifted and brave as .... although his size is clearly an incumbent. While Marc VDS continue to fail to understand the workings of that RCV, I don't believe this is true at all.

I can tell you that the British rider that was hugely acclaimed talent-wise, by peers, pundits and within several paddocks was Camier...and regrettably it's never happened for him.

Sam Lowes is literally riding with one arm tied behind his back on that Speed Up, and has turned a lot of heads his way because of it.
 
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He may not be that exciting now, but I think if he gets a more competitive bike? Just a thought?

True, but I still stand by my statement. It's taken an awfully long time for him to get up to speed by his own admission (18 months), and he also admits he's been lucky to have been given that long a chance. How many riders have been spat out of teams after not performing in their rookie season?

He's doing a great job on that Tech3 don't get me wrong, I'm just saying that I think even on a factory factory bike he wouldn't be a consistent trouble to JL, MM and VR.
 
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Redding is hugely gifted and brave as .... although his size is clearly an incumbent. While Marc VDS continue to fail to understand the workings of that RCV, I don't believe this is true at all.

I can tell you that the British rider that was hugely acclaimed talent-wise, by peers, pundits and within several paddocks was Camier...and regrettably it's never happened for him.

Sam Lowes is literally riding with one arm tied behind his back on that Speed Up, and has turned a lot of heads his way because of it.

I personally believe this is a lot of the issue. I know Scott's data engineer used to work at Tech3 and briefly told me the Honda is a whole new level of complexity.
 


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True, but I still stand by my statement. It's taken an awfully long time for him to get up to speed by his own admission (18 months), and he also admits he's been lucky to have been given that long a chance. How many riders have been spat out of teams after not performing in their rookie season?



He's doing a great job on that Tech3 don't get me wrong, I'm just saying that I think even on a factory factory bike he wouldn't be a consistent trouble to JL, MM and VR.


He is def racking points more than some of the other riders. I guess I'm just hopeful for the little bugger. I think he has the passion. Although I agree I don't think he would be able to keep up with JL, MM & VR.
 
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Redding is hugely gifted and brave as .... although his size is clearly an incumbent. While Marc VDS continue to fail to understand the workings of that RCV, I don't believe this is true at all.

I can tell you that the British rider that was hugely acclaimed talent-wise, by peers, pundits and within several paddocks was Camier...and regrettably it's never happened for him.

Sam Lowes is literally riding with one arm tied behind his back on that Speed Up, and has turned a lot of heads his way because of it.

Ok, I've misread Redding then. I don't know what it is about him that seems to annoy me. Didn't realize what he actually weighs. If he loses 20lbs perhaps that would be the solution because it'd get him right to where VR is on the scales. Both are the same height. It's certainly a testament then to his ability to be riding at a weight disadvantage, and to have gotten a podium.

Lowes sounds intriguing. I really need that video pass since I'm missing out on the Moto3 and Moto2 stuff. Didn't realize he won the Supersport championship, that's something.
 
He is def racking points more than some of the other riders. I guess I'm just hopeful for the little bugger. I think he has the passion. Although I agree I don't think he would be able to keep up with JL, MM & VR.

Yeah see that's the thing.

Smith would be at best able to play the Pedrosa against VR, MM, and JL. I really can't see him keeping up with any of them in dry weather conditions.

Then again who the .... knows, it's fortune telling at it's best with some of these guys. There's the possibility they would be out there winning races if they were on the Honda or Yamaha factory bikes.
 
Ok, I've misread Redding then. I don't know what it is about him that seems to annoy me. Didn't realize what he actually weighs. If he loses 20lbs perhaps that would be the solution because it'd get him right to where VR is on the scales. Both are the same height. It's certainly a testament then to his ability to be riding at a weight disadvantage, and to have gotten a podium.

Lowes sounds intriguing. I really need that video pass since I'm missing out on the Moto3 and Moto2 stuff. Didn't realize he won the Supersport championship, that's something.

how the .... could redding lose any weight? he's a twig when he's not in his leathers! their skinny-ness is so similar!

so ....... weird. i will say, that redding probably has more of a physique than rossi.

but i fell in love with that ...... when i saw him at the bar after indy, his girlfriend is beat though.
 
He may not be that exciting now, but I think if he gets a more competitive bike? Just a thought?
Im not sure what is meant by "exciting", Dovi is said not to be "exciting" but I rate him highly, and he is not shy to scrap for positions.

Crazy Joe scrapped with Marquez in Moto2, in the occasion they could given the parity of the machines, which did make that exciting. Unfortunately in GP Marquez has an absolutely better machine, so we don't see those scraps (bar Mugello). I agree with you Sparrow, we could be see Smith have a bit of a revelation. Though Lotus and 22 make great points, that it took Smith quite a long time to get up to speed, even by his own admission.

I mentioned this back when Iannone was promoted, that it would have been good for GP fans if he had taken Pedrosas seat. Because Andrea Iannone would have taken it to Marquez. So far Marc has been fairly free from scrapping with a teammate, bar his torpedo of Dani. Iannone next to Marquez on equal footing....now that would be exciting!
 
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