Rossi Stoner 2007-2008 CURRENT RESULTS with prior year comparison SPOILER

[gm2]

further off topic, but who cares...

IMO rossi lost in '06 rather than nicky won.  but i was damn glad nicky got it.

however you can't be in the position to win unless you put up something like 9 podiums in a season.  so i'm half contradicting myself: it was nicky alone who put himself in the position to be able to win.  he did win the championship but there was some measure of luck involved.  esp after the cobra kai leader gave dani the sweep the leg order in portugal.

rossi's "complaints" in '07 were warranted.  so were all the other michelin riders.  he was by FAR not the only michelin rider making a lot of noise.  but if you're in a position where a fart is going to get you front page paparazzi coverage (7 championships will do this..) and your tires suck AND your bike sucks, be vocal about it.  the guy just wants to win.  no one can blame him for demanding a package that will let him use his racecraft to do so.

[darylbowden]

Found on the WERA board...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DUCATI_W0QQitemZ260269037778QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260269037778

[gm2]

 

[COWBOY]

wow Rossi fans will buy anything of his.  Is his chewing gum for sale too?

LOL

[ducpainter]

wow Rossi fans will buy anything of his.  Is his chewing gum for sale too?

LOL

Rossi chews...

but gum?


seriously...

I'd really like to see Nicky on the Duc.

[Jester]

/bump

[gm2]

bump for what, 50 points? 

[darylbowden]

Since you haven't updated it in a while...

Had this research posted on TOB and didn't want to lose it.

Updated it to include the last few races.                             2008 Result              My prediction

March 9 Losail, Qatar +2.838 -- Stoner                               Stoner                         Stoner  +
March 30 Jerez, Spain +1.246                                          Pedrosa                          Pedrosa  +
April 13 Estoril, Portugal +0.175-- Rossi[/color]                    Lorenzo                        Rossi  x
May 4 Shanghai, China +3.03 -- Stoner*                             Rossi                               Stoner   x
May 18 Le Mans, France --                                                 Rossi                                Stoner  x
June 1 Mugello, Italy +3.074 -- Rossi                               Rossi                                  Rossi   +
June 8 Catalunya, Spain +0.069 -- Stoner                         Pedrosa                                Lorenzo  x
June 22 Donington Park, GB +11.768 -- Stoner                  Stoner                               Stoner  +
June 28 Assen, Holland +1.909s -- Rossi                            Stoner                             Lorenzo  x
July 13 Sachsenring, Germany                                         Stoner                             Rossi  x
July 20 Laguna Seca, USA +9.865 -- Stoner                      Rossi                                 Stoner   x
August 17 Brno, Czech Republic +7.903 -- Stoner            Rossi                                      Stoner
August 31 Misano, San Marino+4.851s -- Stoner             Rossi                                      Stoner
September 14 Indianapolis, USA                                                                                Stoner
September 28 Motegi, Japan                                                                                      Rossi
October 5 Phillip Island, Australia +6.763s -- Stoner                                                    Stoner
October 19 Sepang, Malaysia +1.701s -- Stoner                                                          Stoner
October 26 Valencia, Spain                                                                                        Lorenzo

Red = Stoner 2007 win
Yellow = Rossi 2007 win
* = won race last year but lost 2008

[darylbowden]

Oh, and btw Cowboy, I just want to remind you of the $100 AFF bet we have on the championship...

[COWBOY]

I haven't forgotten.  I haven't seen the race yet but thanks to RSS I know the results so I'll hold my comments specific to the race until I do.

The past 3 weeks goes to show though that it's not the fastest rider or bike who wins it is the fastest one that finishes.  What a waste - 7 straight poles, 3 wins, 2 podiums and 2 DNF.  To quote GM2 a few posts up "I think <insert Stoner> lost it rather than <insert Rossi> winning it....however you can't be in the position to win unless you put up something like 9 podiums in a season."  He's only 22 though so you'd think (hope) that he learns from the experience and gets better as a result.

Props to Rossi for finishing races and taking home what is almost a certain championship, but I can't help but think race fans will miss what could have been as far as the battle royal at the end of the season races. 

[darylbowden]

Props to Rossi for finishing races and taking home what is almost a certain championship, but I can't help but think race fans will miss what could have been as far as the battle royal at the end of the season races. 

Yeah, and it may still be - this is still a ways from over.

Stoner blamed it on his front end and I certainly hope this doesn't put him back where he was in 2006 when he lost confidence in the front end.  When he had the confidence, he could run with the best of the best, as soon as he lost it, he was DePunieting all over the place - which is what seems to be happening here. 

I really hope he can pull it together, but it's not looking so good at this point.

[derby]

eurosport coverage had some interesting comments about the bridgestone tire development.

basically, rossi and stoner are using a specific front tire "that works" (for them) and bridgestone has now discontinued development on the tires that everybody else has been using. they apparently figure that if stoner and rossi can get the tire to work, it's up to everybody else to get their bikes to work with the rossi/stoner tire than bridgestone trying to make a tire for everybody's bike.

it makes sense, though i did find that statement kinda funny since stoner has thrown is scooter down the last 3 races in a row.

[Speeddog]

Well, Stoner would have needed a knobby to save it at Laguna, but the other two binnings were front tire related... whether it was pilot error or bad tires we'll never know.
I think Stoner's just psyched out, needs to back off about 1% and he'll stay on the bike and make it hard on Rossi.

[gm2]

needs to back off about 1%

exactly.

i think last year one of the most amazing things he did was not let his success on that bike and what everyone in the world was saying affect his riding.  more success you have, the more the expectations go up.  this year, with the loss of form early on, then the regaining it, and then the pre-laguna rossi mindmake the beast with two backs, i think he's cracking.

[darylbowden]

ahem.