Sooooo.....stoner complaining of the same issues as Rossi is just two more blokes who don't know shit about what makes a good bike .....
The thing is a pile......Hayden does better than Vale, (as did Stoner) and even does better/likes what has been acheived with JB and Rossi's input over the complete pile of crap that it was last year.
Rossi, like any rider knows what he needs to do well.........Ducati missed the mark with every rider that has ridden for them, including Stoner, and on current trend would appear to be either quite happy running around with the Sattelites at best, or pulling out altogether........unless they really want to listen to people who have had valid input to more than one manufacturer........and that is not down to just the pilot.....it's the whole team that got dragged across.
Whether Rossi has lost his drive or not...........he, and that team, know their stuff.It is Ducati's fault, and was long before Rossi, JB and co ever got there.........Who gives a toss about stupid fan-boi back and forths.
Both Stoner and Rossi had the same complaints. Stoner kept it in-house a lot longer than Rossi, though in the end was nearly as vocal of his complaints as the Italian....I have the Stoner articles here if you want me to scan them.
Rossi being the media hussy that he is, is choosing to bring the shortcomings to a fore sooner rather than later.
It may be to make himself look good........or, as some think, he may also hate the thought of going out playing the note he currently is.
The bike has always been a pile of crap, save for the one year where Stoner made it look good.
......and to drag in WSBK, the rules before Ducati were 750cc for the class...forget the minimum weight reg now.............then because Duck couldn't make a twin to do that, the rules were changed to allow them entry at a level where they stood half a chance, then because it was only just competitive at that weight, and sometimes not, they changed the rules for Duck again.
Is that what should happen here, so as to allow the might of Duck to truly shine forth and put the Japanese in the place they so rightly should be ?
re Stoner and arm pump,.......
you're not on your pat malone thereMD.........I run in state enduro races, and get the ol' arm pump myself. I am not saying he didn't have it.....especially toward the end when he dramatically dropped off in lap times.Having said that, from lap three to 10-ish, he ran some mid to high 55's. Struggle to see how arm pump could be overcome to that extent for 8-odd laps.
Still think the tyres went away at the end more than it did for the other two. Whether they would have caught him sans arm pump is open for debate.
Having said all that, if he ran, which he may well now do, more than a handful of laps at a time in testing, he may have known about it earlier and been able to plan for it better, or book in for the old slice and dice sooner.
My bet is he cuts more laps in free practise 1 and 2 at Jerez.
Tied in to his suffering is the fact that the Honda must have the issues he raises, and be quite the handful to wrestle around at the lap times he is capable of.
Hope they, unlike Ducati, listen.
...........lest they hasten his desire to go home and race cars instead.
re Pedrosa and his starts.
I was waiting for the flag to come out for a ride through in liu of a jumped start.In fact, until the replay I was convinced ( and yelling at race direction through the TV !!) that this had to be the case........ 7th to second in a couple of hundred meters !!??............amazing !
.......maybe it's got something to do with being 1' 6" and weighing 243 grams........
