Who thinks Rossi will retire at the end of 2012?

Mr Squiggle said:

Ant West has done sweet FA and would do less than sweet FA on a Ducati.



Sissus is a talented kid but is a long way off of being competitive in MGP at present.



Having a "colonial" ride for them wont necessarily solve any of their issues either - they need to spend money on fixing the bike before they can attract another talented rider. Ducati have lost all credibility and trust with any potential star of the future....who wants to ride for them at present? Answer...NO ONE.

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Mr Squiggle said:

Ant West has done sweet FA and would do less than sweet FA on a Ducati. Thats pretty much what I aluded to but, Wests Sweet FA would be better than Rossi's Sweet FA.



Sissus is a talented kid but is a long way off of being competitive in MGP at present. But he is a driven fella and will get there.



Having a "colonial" ride for them wont necessarily solve any of their issues either - they need to spend money on fixing the bike before they can attract another talented rider. Ducati have lost all credibility and trust with any potential star of the future....who wants to ride for them at present? Answer...NO ONE. Arthur Sissus would ......... hence why he is an option.

But also Nicky rides for them ...... and is greatful for the ride ......... likely any of the CRT guys would too ....... RdP? Lauren would look good in some Duc. gear ..... and with Rdp they get a free "colonial chic" Its not all as bad for Duc as 95 million boppers are making out .......... I actually think the next recruit will get a bargain .....

Even Biaggi would be a good choice for a year. Talk about rubbing the salt into Rossi's wound! all Biagi would need to do would be go one better than Rossi and Duc. have won too.

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BarryMachine said:

Thats pretty much what I aluded to but, Wests Sweet FA would be better than Rossi's Sweet FA.

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povol said:

I think Suzuki and Kawasaki failed for the same reason. Lack of commitment to the sport. they neither one wanted to spend money to run at the front. They were there in name only. I have no doubt that either of them could be competitive if they committed to doing so.

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Gaz said:

James Ellsion



If he will ride for Bird, he will ride for anyone

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J4rn0 said:

Are they stupid, that they thought they could beat Honda and Yamaha without committing adequate resources?

The truth is that when you compete in MotoGP you can win or lose, and you can find that out only by trying (with the exception of forums where you can know everything without ever having tried).

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BarryMachine said:

Thats why I come on here, in my mind I am a legend!!!

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Mr Squiggle said:

Yeah we know hehe

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Just received this message when I went to post my reply.........





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You probably get that all the time Baz

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Mr Squiggle said:

You obviously missed this bit Gaz....potential star of the future

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gui22a said:

You all really don't know what are you talking about. Maybe a lack of memory or interesting in a not so long ago history. It's just insane how unfair some of you are.



Ducati can't and will never try to challenge Honda or Yamanha in their own game. They've repeated that many times (their own words, not mine).



Sometimes it seems people think Ducati is a God like company. It's almost impossible for such small company without know-how in V's engine, Inline engines, aluminum chassis, twin spars, whatever, they can't follow the paths of Honda or Yamaha with their budget. They know it, but people in general do not. And that is the reason Ducati always took its own way. They risk. They try to innovate. It's their only chance to beat the giants. It's obvious that it's very hard to come out, but eventually it can work, like it did in 2007. Yes, that time Ducati's own way of doing things plus bridgestone tires plus Stoner payed dividends. The GP7, although people changed their opinion, was the best bike in the grid, no matter Casey's skills. No rider on this planet can ever win a title in the ultra competitive MotoGP field without some advantages of his machine. Take this year as an example. Honda is a very good bike, the difference to the Yamaha is very small, but they aren't the best anymore. And what a difference that make, huh? Jorge is the winner in the Casey's land, Qatar. Now you can imagine the rest of the championship. In 2007, Ducati started to write their own softwares, replaced the default ECU and some stuff. Ducati had the edge in electronics to control a much more powerful engine (remember Rossi complaining about too much electronic aids? maybe some of you won't recall), what for that time was the best thing on the grid. The best machinery + a rider like Stoner it's all they needed to win a title.



Anyway, some guys need to think better about what they are saying about Ducati. Yes, their bike is crap today compared to Yamaha or Honda, but for a company the size of Ducati, the Desmosedici project winning a title in 2007 was a very, very brave conquest. In that time they were very smart, and who negates it is mad.



Forget about Ducati being a japanese bike. It won't happen. Never. That's insane, they can't do that. Maybe with a massive injection of money and a decade of work they can start to compete with the giants on their own game, but it won't happen overnight. Actually I doubt it will happen a day.



Ducati will continue in MotoGP, but from now on they will continuing trying to find a different path that can catch Honda or Yamaha, and I believe someday it'll work again. Unless, of course, Audi (Volks) buys the company and from there I don't know what to expect.

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gtspec said:

Ducati was not best bike on grid... just look at Capirossis results.

Ill concede they had a tyre advantage but best electronics????? Thats just bs that rossi complained about, belittling stoners talent. Casey prob uses the least TC out of the whole motogp field. Capirossi, hayden and dovizioso have all said stoners throttle control is special.

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J4rn0 said:

That's easy... In 2007 we all thought Ducati had the best traction control because we saw how it behaved perfectly with those tires, -- at the time we did not know that a good part of that 'electronics package' was simulated by Stoner's right wrist.



So, now that we know, we could say that any bike ridden by Stoner behaves "as if" it had the best traction control.

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J4rn0 said:

That's easy... In 2007 we all thought Ducati had the best traction control because we saw how it behaved perfectly with those tires, -- at the time we did not know that a good part of that 'electronics package' was simulated by Stoner's right wrist.



So, now that we know, we could say that any bike ridden by Stoner behaves "as if" it had the best traction control.

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Badfish said:

I'm liking Redding throw him on the ducati .Does Rossi have option on getting out off his contract? Either way it's going to end badly for both parties.

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spooky said:

Does anyone not think that perhaps Casey took to the Ducati so well because he wasn't institutionalised? Look at Melandri/Rossi etc, all came from years and years on Jap machinery then had to try and adapt and well, couldn't. I know Casey was on a Honda in 2006 but that doesn't really count, he spent more time on his arse that year than on the track. Maybe getting someone fresh onto the bike might help them, that or they'll have to wait for another freak of nature.

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BarryMachine said:

Well even if it was moderately true it would have a miniscule effect when compared to the main reason ........... Melandri and Rossi are completely missing a whole set of skills that Stoner has and that he has proved to be very adept at. ie. adjusting to oddities of grip balance. That he got during several years of dirt track racing.

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