An incredible statistic

[darylbowden]

[gm2]

only half the races in the four-stroke era.

slacker.

[ducpainter]

yeah...

he sucks.

[Pakhan]

only 50%? Pfft! 

[Spidey]

It's the tires.

[lin]

Last time I was in school.. 50% was an F.

So.. Rossi = FAIL   

If only we could all fail so spectacularly in life.

[pennyrobber]

Middle Manager: Johnson, did you finish the proposal?

Johnson: Nope. Just wrote half of it and sent it in.

Middle Manager: Great work Johnson! You might just be our best employee ever.

[Rob Hilding]

Just as a comparison-

Michael Schumacher for the 2002 thru 2006 (his last year, so far anyway) in F1
had a .436 winning percentage.

That IMO, make Rossi's stats even more impressive as Michael had an arguable advantage in equipment

[Jester]

That IMO, make Rossi's stats even more impressive as Michael had an arguable advantage in equipment

Rossi had the arguable advantage in equipment with Honda for a solid stretch too.  Even Burgess has been quoted saying Rossi "managed" many of those victories, so the racing looked a lot closer than it really was.  That is the reason he went to Yamaha obviously, and now has claimed 3 more championships with very good, but not always the best machinery, and his his dominance has been up and down as his package has waivered.  Guess that goes for erectile disfunction too.   

[NAKD1]

Rossi had the arguable advantage in equipment with Honda for a solid stretch too.  Even Burgess has been quoted saying Rossi "managed" many of those victories, so the racing looked a lot closer than it really was.  That is the reason he went to Yamaha obviously, and now has claimed 3 more championships with very good, but not always the best machinery, and his his dominance has been up and down as his package has waivered.  Guess that goes for erectile disfunction too.   

People just don't get it,.. Rossi can make any machine look good.

[gm2]

i know this has been talked about a million times.. daryl and i talked about it this morning.. but look at where toseland is focusing in this photo.  then look at rossi.



i see him do this on every corner and i still can't believe it.

[Triple J]

It's weird. He seems to be looking at the curbing right beside him! I have a bunch of photos showing the same thing as well.

Amazing how some of the fastest guys don't have "correct" form...like Bayliss for example.

[Rob Hilding]

i know this has been talked about a million times.. daryl and i talked about it this morning.. but look at where toseland is focusing in this photo.  then look at rossi.



i see him do this on every corner and i still can't believe it.

And he's not even wearing the helmet with his face on the top  (thus enabling him to look thru the corner without turning his head - if you gotta explain 'em they're prolly not worth posting)

Rossi is in a class of his own

[NAKD1]

It's weird. He seems to be looking at the curbing right beside him! I have a bunch of photos showing the same thing as well.

Amazing how some of the fastest guys don't have "correct" form...like Bayliss for example.

If they are the best, then they have the right form.

[Speeddog]

The only explanation I can come up with is he does the visual cues the opposite of (nearly?) everyone else.
It seems he looks at the ground to judge his lean angle, and uses his peripheral vision to judge where he is on the track, and where he needs to go.

I've no idea how he does it without crashing within 2 or 3 turns of getting on track.

I recall seeing a quote from or a link to an interview where he sort of explains it.

As far as 'form' goes, there's variations on body position that seem to be equally effective among the top riders.
But Rossi is the only one that I've seen that looks that direction in the corners.
Obviously it works for him, but I wouldn't even try it at more than 5/10ths on a track, and *definitely* wouldn't try it on the street.