MotoGP Laguna (there will be spoilers, so be smart before clicking)

[gm2]

in my mind the corkscrew pass is in a different category.  that was hairball.  ...no roadracer attempts a pass that includes the dirt unless things just went wrong.  obviously he overshot that one and they were both lucky to stay up, even if they only barely came together.. which did look like exactly the case on tv.

he overshot it, exactly like stoner overshot 2 and 11.  had he been under rossi on either of those occasions, they would have come together and maybe/probably gone down (as in carlos checa vs. max n earlier this year).  but anyway, does anyone even watch wsbk?  this shit happens on damn near every single corner.

stoner is complaining about several other moves however.  all the others were "just racing".. it's just that no one, those guys included, have seen very much of that lately.

[COWBOY]

I agree the rest of the passes were just racing.  Corkscrew/gravel pass was the only reckless move IMO.

[gm2]

I agree the rest of the passes were just racing.  Corkscrew/gravel pass was the only reckless move IMO.

...wait, did we just agree??   =)
 

[jswledhed]

Both of them made some questionable moves.

That said, had the roles been reversed on the Corkscrew, there would have been a worldwide outcry and every motoryccle forum out there would have locked up under all the Stoner has no business being in MotoGP! posts.

I do wonder if Stoner learned anything from this.  He was given several very good lessons.  First, Rossi's not going to move aside and let him by.  This isn't golf and the faster party doesn't play through.  Second, he can't outbrake Rossi.  Which, really, who can?  He's going to need a different strategy.  Finally, he learned that waiting on Rossi to make a mistake is a futile effort.

Will these lessons sink in over the summer break?

[COWBOY]

...wait, did we just agree??   =)
 

 

[sbrguy]

well the way i see it is you can pass or you can pass agressively, now some people like that a person uses intimidation of wrecking to pass a person, now if you like that type of gamesmanship, fine but when someone else does that to you you can't complain at all, is someone wrecks you for being too agressive you have nothing to say no matter how many times you did it and didn't crash.

i think rossi is a great rider but its clear that the guy took risks passing, and like other said, when it works he's great, if he wrecks hes and idiot.

the question really is if you are are the person that subscribes to "win at any cost, winning is all that matters, nothing else and nobody else matters" or whether you think there should be unwritten rules of competition on what should and should not be done.  if you go with the first then you can't complain no matter what when your team loses fallling to the same or worse tactics, bc you just threw out the unwritten code of sportmanship.

i think rossi knew that he had a slower bike and had to take risks it was the only way he was going to win, yes he is a great rider but he had to cut the corners probabaly closer than he wanted.  

i think stoner is a prima donna and a bit immature and will complain about not getting attention, he is only 22 years old so that is expected. rossi is a bit older so he has matured a bit with age which is expected as far as the whining or not.

i think if stoner wants to get respect,what he will have to do is race during this season and at one point basically run rossi off the track or out of a race and go on to win the race and say "hey its racing" when rossi thinks the tactic was bad.  then he will probably get more respect on the track from rossi and the others, but he will have to take that risk of wrecking to get his respect.

as far as not shaking a hand, i don't care about that, if i dont' like someone i dont' have to shake their hand, simple as that. and neither would you, if you really thought what a person does is low class who cares what people think is right, you are probably saying "hey you are lucky i didn't just punch the guy instead".  like if some drunk driver hits you on the road you arent' going to shake their hand when they say "hey statistically drunk drivers get in accidents today its you, hey its just a risk of driving you should have known that, no hard feelings".

[darylbowden]

I agree the rest of the passes were just racing.  Corkscrew/gravel pass was the only reckless move IMO.

Make that 3 of us that agree.  Rossi would never intentionally go into the gravel, just like Stoner didn't mean to go into it in T11.  Mistakes happen and fortunately they're both great riders, so they were able to keep it up.

We'll have to disagree about Stoner whining, but at the very least he made himself look like an asshole.

As for the role reversal, I can only speak for myself, but I wouldn't be upset about that pass - it's racing and it happens.  When Elias won in Portugal '06, he put some pretty hairball moves on Rossi, but I was up out of my seat cheering cause those last few laps were the best thing I'd seen all year.

I don't want to watch a parade of vehicles ride around for an hour without attempting to make some close passes - if I did, I'd watch F1.

[gm2]

Both of them made some questionable moves.

That said, had the roles been reversed on the Corkscrew, there would have been a worldwide outcry and every motoryccle forum out there would have locked up under all the Stoner has no business being in MotoGP! posts.

if it happened exactly like it did but in reverse, nonsense.  rossi nearly paid dearly for overshooting that corner.  it's not like he decided to take a rossi-only superstar shortcut.

I do wonder if Stoner learned anything from this.  He was given several very good lessons.  First, Rossi's not going to move aside and let him by.  This isn't golf and the faster party doesn't play through.  Second, he can't outbrake Rossi.  Which, really, who can?  He's going to need a different strategy.  Finally, he learned that waiting on Rossi to make a mistake is a futile effort.

all these points are exactly why the 'pundits' feel about rossi the way they do.

i think stoner is clearly one of the best riders in the world.  maybe #2.  but he aint valentino...

[mikeb]

Make that 3 of us that agree.  

I agree as well.  With the exception being it wasn't a stupid pass.....it was a botched pass.  There is a slight difference.  But I agree it was the only questionable pass of the day.

I'm not buying too much into the post race stuff.  It's fun to call someone a pansy but I don't think Rossi is in Stoner's head at all.  I'd say the opposite.  Casey's riding well, the Duc is fast, and Rossi knew he had to up his game to win.  He took chances knowing he needs the points.  So I'd say Stoner is still the guy everyone is watching......

[arai_speed]

Since when is MotoGP following  Fastrack Riders 6 ft passing rule?  

[gm2]

ya know, even though these 2 guys got their passes yanked and were kicked off the property moments later, i'm thinking it was probably worth it...

[Grampa]

hey....Tom Cruise was there....waaaaay cool.




















 

[sh]

omg, really?  rossi even called them over to hold his bike! ... injustice!

it was a cool moment.  rossi kissed the track that saved his  .

[COWBOY]

if it happened exactly like it did but in reverse, nonsense.  rossi nearly paid dearly for overshooting that corner.  it's not like he decided to take a rossi-only superstar shortcut.


all these points are exactly why the 'pundits' feel about rossi the way they do.

i think stoner is clearly one of the best riders in the world.  maybe #2.  but he aint valentino...

You can't be serious.  Forget being victim to a reckless move --  all it takes for Rossi to drive close to 200 pages of forum haterade is to lose.

If the roles were reversed there is no doubt in any but the fanatics minds that the Rossi nation would be out loud and large...  "Stoners always been reckless, Stoner should be penalized, Stoner should be banned, Stoner is a Nazi, Stoner is a Communist, Stoner is a closet ...." 

Being the first to blog or post on a forum about the injustices Rossi faces is part of the responsibility of being a Rossi fanboy.  if you don't you first lose your Tuscan sun. fail again the moon is taken.  do it 3 times and your keyboard loses it 4 and 6 keys.

[darylbowden]

Being pissed about a reckless move is one thing.  Whining about the special treatment of other riders is another.  Still not in his head though.

From Julian Ryder's column:

Rossi's moment at the Corkscrew and a pass on Casey at turn five being the most memorable. The race was decided by what Casey first said was 'completely my mistake.' Later he was said he thought the mistake happened because Valentino braked a little early for Turn 11. That was at the post-race press conference; immediately after the race Casey had refused Rossi's hand in parc ferme and offered the opinion that some of the passes had been beyond aggressive.

It has been shown several times that if things get personal then Valentino tends to come out on top. This has been demonstrated to both Mr Biaggi and Mr Gibernau. The Doctor does not waste ammunition on those opponents who are not a threat to him. Noises emanating from the Fiat Yamaha camp indicate that Rossi is very angry indeed at the suggestion that he rides dirty. Jerry Burgess,a fellow Aussie, opined that it's a good job Casey wasn't racing in the 1980s against Lawson, Schwantz, et al--and especially Luca Cadalora.

So, on the weekend he announced that he will race for two more years with Yamaha he goes to his Summer holiday with a 25-point lead over the opposition and a new-found anger. The gloves are off.

When I say "in his head" I don't mean that he'll forget how to ride, I just think (much like you do according to an earlier post) that he may push it too far next time they're battling and end up binning it.  He's not gonna forget Laguna and he's not gonna forget how pissed he was afterwards and anger is often times a bad thing when you're racing - just ask Biaggi.