Who will be the 2009 champion and runners up?

Any one of these guys could be the one. As far as a runners up same thing.

Of Course Rossi, Stoner, Lorenzo, Hayden, and as much as I can't stand the little dork even Pedrosa has a bit of a chance if he is really really lucky. I just can't see anyone else up there doing the deed.

Mika Kallio if he gets a ride, hahah.

Otherwise I think that Yamaha's and Honda's and atleast one Ducati will be strong. As it looks right now, Yamaha guys have the advantage, but nothing is certain. I think that Dovi could be surprisingly good too.

Also, I'm expecting Kawasaki to improve a bit for next year, but not enough to get them to top 5 or anything that dramatic.

1 Rossi
2 Lorenzo
3 Stoner


Pete

1/ Vale
2/ Dani
3/ Casey

Stoner-Rossi- Lorenzo-Pedrosa-Dovi
Hayden should do well on Ducati. Id like to put CV#7 up here but suzuki needs to improve,i believe they would benefit with a 3rd bike to help develop and make it more competitive...
Sete on the Ducati ??

Ok contingency predictions.

<u>No control tire</u>

1. Stoner (by a mile)
2. Rossi

Positions 3 -7 will be Hayden, Dovi, Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Elias. It will be really tight I have no idea who will end up where.

<u>Control tire</u>

1. Rossi
2. Pedrosa
3. Stoner
4. Hayden
5. Dovi

Lorenzo doesn't adapt well. Dovi adapts better because HRC require data sharing. No way Ezy makes a control tire that suits the Duc better than the Yam. That would be career suicide.

<u>Control tire + fuel</u>

1. Pedrosa
2. Rossi
3. Stoner
4. Hayden
5. Dovi

The pneumatic Honda will blaze the field if it gets another liter. Nicky will be upset he left. Rossi won't be able to keep the Honda in his sights. Stoner loves hard tires, he goes pretty well but the Honda is too good.

[The pneumatic Honda will blaze the field if it gets another liter. Nicky will be upset he left. Rossi won't be able to keep the Honda in his sights. Stoner loves hard tires, he goes pretty well but the Honda is too good.
[/quote]

Imagine the Ducati with another liter???

I doubt the fuel matter would change that much.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (alex29 @ Sep 20 2008, 11:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>[The pneumatic Honda will blaze the field if it gets another liter. Nicky will be upset he left. Rossi won't be able to keep the Honda in his sights. Stoner loves hard tires, he goes pretty well but the Honda is too good.


Imagine the Ducati with another liter???

I think that's the engine with the least to gain. One of the desmo advantages is less internal resistnace and thereby less consuption at high revs. So the desmo engine is probably at a sweetspot with just enough fuel to have more or less full power on, while the rest are forced to concerve fuel during a race one way or the other.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (alex29 @ Sep 20 2008, 10:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>[The pneumatic Honda will blaze the field if it gets another liter. Nicky will be upset he left. Rossi won't be able to keep the Honda in his sights. Stoner loves hard tires, he goes pretty well but the Honda is too good.


Imagine the Ducati with another liter???
yeah you beat me to that one. IF they get more fuel it's on baby.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <div class='quotemain'>Imagine the Ducati with another liter???

Fuel doesn't raise revs so I don't think the Ducati will gain that much. There are only so many revs you can achieve before you start hitting materials and airflow problems. The Honda pneumatic is extremely lean off the bottom when fuel is tight. With another liter they can run wider gearing and that bike will run off into the distance.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mylexicon @ Sep 20 2008, 02:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>The pneumatic Honda will blaze the field if it gets another liter. Nicky will be upset he left. Rossi won't be able to keep the Honda in his sights. Stoner loves hard tires, he goes pretty well but the Honda is too good.

I keep hearing that the Honda is fuel hungry and if it had enough fuel it will "blaze the field" and so on. We know that Nicky is a demon on qualis, why wouldn't he have taken (more)pole in qualy when they can let the pneumo guzzle? Or pedro (I know Indy was completely up in the air and he has new everything)? Or practice for that matter just to see what it could do? Because the Honda pneumo still isn't that good. Honda threw out a bit of PR to save face and everybody jumped on it. the Honda will get better of course but Nicky will never regret leaving, even if he is .... on the duc bike.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SackWack @ Sep 20 2008, 04:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I keep hearing that the Honda is fuel hungry and if it had enough fuel it will "blaze the field" and so on. We know that Nicky is a demon on qualis, why wouldn't he have taken (more)pole in qualy when they can let the pneumo guzzle? Or pedro (I know Indy was completely up in the air and he has new everything)? Or practice for that matter just to see what it could do? Because the Honda pneumo still isn't that good. Honda threw out a bit of PR to save face and everybody jumped on it. the Honda will get better of course but Nicky will never regret leaving, even if he is .... on the duc bike.

The pneumatic engine ran out of gas during a race

I don't think it was clever Honda PR. The problem with Honda's pneumatic engine seems to be the electronics as well. It seems like every time they make a minor change to the bike, they have to do major overhaul to the electronics.

Obviously, the old traction control was doing Nicky any favors at Assen. He reported the bike kept leaning the bottom rev ranges so much, he had no choice but to keep the throttle wide open.

I think it was hard enough to get the bike sorted for race use. Creating completely different fuel mapping for quali was probably the last thing on Honda's list.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mylexicon @ Sep 20 2008, 04:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I think it was hard enough to get the bike sorted for race use. Creating completely different fuel mapping for quali was probably the last thing on Honda's list.


For quali its kind of a no brainer as far as fuel goes, you shouldn't run out.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hayden Fan @ Sep 20 2008, 02:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Breakdown of my top 3.

2009 MotoGP World Champion: Valentino Rossi

Why he will win the title: Stoner has a new teammate who is just as fast and competitive, if not more than he is. Rossi will bounce on that, like he has done before and will take the title. He has the bike, the drive to still fight for a championship. He doesn't let others get into his head like Casey and Dani Pedrosa have. 2009 is The Doctor's last shot at a World Championship in MotoGP, and he will take it.

2009 MotoGP Championship Runner-up: Nicky Hayden.

Why he will finish runner up: He is the same rider as Casey Stoner, his teammate, but he has one thing going for him. He needs to prove to everyone, 2006 was not a fluke. He will go out and run Rossi wire to wire. He will have much of the preseason to himself with Stoner out, which will give him time with the engineers and personal with the team, as well as his bike. His consistancy that won him the 2006 title will be present, and he will not only overtake his phenom teammate, but will take runner up in the championship.

2009 MotoGP Championship 3rd Place Contender: Casey Stoner.

Why he will finish 3rd: He has the it bike, the talent, and a new teammate to push himself. But that should also hurt the timid Stoner, who showed late in 2008 that when the pressure starts, he can't keep upright. That should keep the Australian down from the top two spots on the podium at the end of next season.


Honorable Mention:

Jorge Lorenzo: He is the next MotoGP Superstar, but I feel his injury plagued 2008 could set him back. He might need time to test how far to push the bike. He has the talent and abilities to challenge his teammate Rossi for the title, but he must remain healthy and ride smart. I think he needs another season to figure himself out before he makes a real push for the top spot on the podium.

Dani Pedrosa: In a perfect world, Dani would be on a horse at the Kentucky Derby and not on the back of a Honda RC212V. I think he has the talent to win a title, but what will fail is his talent. There is enough riding ability to challenge week in and week out, but he must be on the front row to do so. Dani Pedrosa is not the perfect rider. He cannot start 7th and challenge for a win. He needs the weekend to start great to challenge, and next year with two Ducati's, four Yamaha's, and the Honda's of Elias and Pedro's possibly new teammate in Andrea Dovizoso, that is a lot of talent to get to the front.

Andrea Dovizioso: Not sure still yet with what team he will ride with, but if he is selected by HRC to run a factory Honda, he will be a top rider to challenge the likes of Rossi and Stoner. But even then, it will not be enough to take him over that. Honda has been on hard times since losing Rossi and Burgess, and they have yet to come back. And fearing that he could be another Nicky Hayden, Dovizoso is still not sold on the factory Honda seat for 2009.

Toni Elias: Yes, you are reading this right. Toni Elias on a satellite Honda a title contender? You bet. He has the talent and has a victory and podiums on a Alice Ducati to prove it. But how will Honda handle him at Gresini? I have never seen Honda rehire a rider for whom they have let go, so Elias is treading new water. Was his podiums just a bit of luck, or do they show true speed? We will have to see, but from what I have seen from Toni, do not count him out for podiums.


Hayden has as much talent as Stoner?? What drugs are you on..

Lets get some facts staright right now.
In 6 seasons in the Honda Factory team Nicky won only 3 races. Now this is a team that has won more Races/Championships then any othher team in History and Hayden could only win 3.
The 06 title was won cos Valentino lost it under pressure, not Hayden winning cos of his ability.
Now i like Nicky i always have i think he is the nicest guy in the paddock, and never has anything bad to say about anyone even that Little Prick Pedrosa, but Hayden isnt in the same league as Stoner and thats a fact. I think it was your own Eddie Lawson who said when it was a rumour that Hayden could go to Ducati, said that he wish him well but he aint no Stoner.

In Stoner first year in Motogp he took Pole in his first race, on a 3rd string Honda i might add then nearly won his second race.. In 07 he handed Capi his ..., and gave the Best ever a nice little touch up of 125 points to win the tittle. In 08 it was supposed to be Melandri who would show this little upstart up on the Red Bike, but we now know how good Melandri is.
Next year i beleive the GP09 will be something very special and if the powers that be dont .... ers around with Certain Aspects, and let the championship to be fought out between the 2 best in the world we could see another 07 with 10 wins for Stoner, who knows it wont be that easy.
As for Hayden i think he will do better then Melandri did, but he wont be in the top 5 in the standings.

My predictions are
Stoner
Rossi
Pedrosa/Lorenzo

Who will be championship runner up you ask?? My answer is... who cares.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (stoner27 @ Sep 20 2008, 05:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>In Stoner first year in Motogp he took Pole in his first race, on a 3rd string Honda i might add then nearly won his second race.

Stoner took pole at Jerez It was Qatar his second race where he took pole. He didn't almost win the race, he took off like a shot and turned his soft tires into charcoal briquettes. Nicky and Valentino battled briefly before Valentino took the win. Stoner was 7.5 seconds out.

Stoner is an amazing racer but like Hayden his talent lies in his raw speed. To his credit, Stoner has demonstrated far more race craft than Nicky and that's why Stoner should probably be more highly rated, but we really don't know what's going to happen next year.

I do agree that Hayden finishing in front of Stoner would be a very very tall order.................unless MotoGP undergoes some revolutionary changes. The one rumor Stoner can't seem to dispel is that he can't ride a big bike without TC.

I don't subscribe to it, but it's never been tested before.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SackWack @ Sep 20 2008, 04:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>For quali its kind of a no brainer as far as fuel goes, you shouldn't run out.

Sack, I really really want to agree that the Honda is crap and it won't succeed but I don't think that is the case. At Indy the pneumatic engine was pulling away from Vale with ease.

Remember when Hayden first raced it at PI in 2007. It was rumored/reported that he had no traction control b/c Honda couldn't get it to work. Long and short, changing the fuel mapping and ignition requires lots of other changes because it interferes with the ignition timing inputs from TC.

Let's see what happens. Hayden is still coming to grips with the bike. It looked good at Indy, plus Nicky likes just about every circuit left on the calendar. If he feels comfortable enough to turn off TC and run the bike at max power we may find out whether or not the bike can qualify. Motegi is next, if there are any developments in the pipeline for the pneumatic engine, they should make an appearance in a few days.

Rossi
Pedrosa
Stoner

Lorenzo won't be winning any championships until Rossi leaves and becomes number one at yamaha then i feel he has the potential to put Pedros and Stoner both to the sword

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Goldwing @ Sep 20 2008, 10:49 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Come on Sun, you disappoint me a little. Lighten up a bit. Sure the line up hasn’t been decided yet but do you really think that it will affect the out come of the top three places. Surely you found Haden Fans post interesting and isn’t that what it’s all about. With your great sense of humor and your knowledge of the sport you could make a valuable contribution here. OK so you don’t think Rossi is going to take it next year, so tell us who you think it will be and tell us why. Maybe you’re having a .... day today so make a prediction some other time. Only don’t do it in the middle of next season though.


Rising Sun this post was aimed at you and I sincerely apologize to you as clearly I mistook Son of Doohan for you. I further apologize that I could possibly have believed that you wrote that post. They say that the older you get the more you have to rely on memory for ..., the problem is that the older you get the faster you loose your memory. Maybe eyes are affected too.