Well I'm surprised not to see more discussion on this......

it was on the nine network tv news this morning...Rossi to Ducati in '04 for
$15million!! with Bayliss taking his spot in the Honda team.

Mighty interesting for next year - unheard of for number 1 rider on the
number 1 machine to leave for new pastures even withstanding the excellent
debut for Duke this year!!

I can't see this happening. Rossi is critical of tabacco advertising and
Ducati are sponsored by Marlboro. Besides, then Bayliss would kick his
butt.

Jeff


"Mordwid" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3f6a3f0d$0$14957$(E-Mail Removed) u...
> Well I'm surprised not to see more discussion on this......
>
> it was on the nine network tv news this morning...Rossi to Ducati in '04
for
> $15million!! with Bayliss taking his spot in the Honda team.
>
> Mighty interesting for next year - unheard of for number 1 rider on the
> number 1 machine to leave for new pastures even withstanding the excellent
> debut for Duke this year!!
>
>

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/motogp/8085/

This is probably where the rumour started and if it is then News
Limited pulled it a long way from what is printed there.

However, that said, I wouldn't mind betting it will happen...

Cheers


"Jeff Westwood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I can't see this happening. Rossi is critical of tabacco advertising and
>Ducati are sponsored by Marlboro. Besides, then Bayliss would kick his
>butt.
>
>Jeff
>
>
>"Mordwid" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:3f6a3f0d$0$14957$(E-Mail Removed). au...
>> Well I'm surprised not to see more discussion on this......
>>
>> it was on the nine network tv news this morning...Rossi to Ducati in '04
>for
>> $15million!! with Bayliss taking his spot in the Honda team.
>>
>> Mighty interesting for next year - unheard of for number 1 rider on the
>> number 1 machine to leave for new pastures even withstanding the excellent
>> debut for Duke this year!!
>>
>>
>

Kevin Gleeson
Imagine It
West Hobart
Tasmania Australia
www.imagine-it.com.au

Mordwid <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>Well I'm surprised not to see more discussion on this......
>
>it was on the nine network tv news this morning...Rossi to Ducati in '04 for
>$15million!! with Bayliss taking his spot in the Honda team.
>
>Mighty interesting for next year - unheard of for number 1 rider on the
>number 1 machine to leave for new pastures even withstanding the excellent
>debut for Duke this year!!

We need confirmation. There's nothing yet on the US sites, MotoGP or the
Aus sites. And the Ducati site is currently down for maintenance.

If it's real, I guess we'll know soon enough.

--
Julian Bond Email&MSM: (E-Mail Removed)
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Julian Bond wrote:
> Mordwid <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> Well I'm surprised not to see more discussion on this......
>>
>> it was on the nine network tv news this morning...Rossi to Ducati in
>> '04 for $15million!! with Bayliss taking his spot in the Honda team.
>>
>> Mighty interesting for next year - unheard of for number 1 rider on
>> the number 1 machine to leave for new pastures even withstanding the
>> excellent debut for Duke this year!!
>
> We need confirmation. There's nothing yet on the US sites, MotoGP or
> the
> Aus sites. And the Ducati site is currently down for maintenance.
>
> If it's real, I guess we'll know soon enough.

Don't sweat Julian.. I suspect it is just some creative journalism...

The possible original 'source' might be here 3rd to last paragraph..

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/motogp/8085/

--
Stevo
(pull the PIN to reply by e-mail)

There are a lot of rumors about Rossi because he was supposed to sigh at
Estoril and he didn't, but I doubt Honda is interested by Bayliss with
Hayden already in their hands.


"Mordwid" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3f6a3f0d$0$14957$(E-Mail Removed) u...
> Well I'm surprised not to see more discussion on this......
>
> it was on the nine network tv news this morning...Rossi to Ducati in '04
for
> $15million!! with Bayliss taking his spot in the Honda team.
>
> Mighty interesting for next year - unheard of for number 1 rider on the
> number 1 machine to leave for new pastures even withstanding the excellent
> debut for Duke this year!!
>
>

On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 09:25:58 +1000, "Mordwid" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>unheard of for number 1 rider on the
>number 1 machine to leave for new pastures

Unheard of? What about when Lawson took his #1 plate from Yamaha to
Honda in 89?

"Mark N" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Kv2dnc7F3dMNgvaiU-(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Champ" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 09:25:58 +1000, "Mordwid" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >unheard of for number 1 rider on the
> > >number 1 machine to leave for new pastures
>
> > Unheard of? What about when Lawson took his #1 plate from Yamaha to
> > Honda in 89?
>
> The Yamaha at the time wasn't really the number one machine - Honda had
won
> in '87 and Lawson won it for them in '89. The best comparison here really
is
> Schumacher going to Ferrari, where the number one guy took the huge
Marlboro
> money and a bit of a risk on a name marquee that didn't have the best
> machine at the moment. And like Schumacher, Rossi would certainly be
taking
> some risk.
>
> The Noyes article makes some good points about the cases of Gibernau and
> Barros - "Barros had won three races in fourteen years until he got on the
> RC211V and then he won two out of his four starts. Then he got on an M1
and
> became invisible again. Sete Gibernau had won one race in ten years but on
> the RC211V he has won four of eleven and seems credible as a title
> challenger." His point being that the machine makes the man now, and Rossi
> might not be able to overcome that. But he doesn't seem to consider that
> maybe the machine has made the man in the case of Rossi already, as Val
has
> never been on anything that wasn't the very best machine in the class
> (except perhaps early '00, when he was new to 500 and wasn't winning
> anything anyway). Honda has limited the quality of the other riders on the
> same machine as Rossi, just as they had done with Doohan, and the
> performances of Ukawa this year are evidence of that. But this year he's
> struggled with Sete, and who's to say that Sete suddenly has found
something
> after all these years in GP?
>


Yes, it makes for great speculation BUT the bottom line is money. I doubt
that Ducati can afford Rossi, what they've done so far is remarkable, I just
don't think they have the bucks that it's going to take to land his
Rossiness, that and the cigarette thing will be a show stopper. No matter
how much animosity he may have for Honda(remember when he walked out of
contract negotiations last time) and yes, being Italian, he probably really
wants to ride the Duc but it always comes down to money. Ducati is in the
"big times" now, if they really want the best,they'll have to dig really
deep to afford the best and make no mistake Rossi is the best, period...

T3

Mark N <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>But he doesn't seem to consider that
>maybe the machine has made the man in the case of Rossi already

You could argue quite persuasively that the man made the machine as
well.

>just as they had done with Doohan,

As you could with Doohan.

In both cases, they're work on developing the machine has resulted in
something so relatively user friendly that lesser riders can get awfully
close them. But despite everything, Rossi (with Burgess) still have a
stack of points in hand.

--
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T3 <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>Ducati is in the
>"big times" now, if they really want the best,they'll have to dig really
>deep to afford the best and make no mistake Rossi is the best, period...

I don't think it's a question of how deep Ducati's pockets are, but
rather how deep Marlboro's are.

--
Julian Bond Email&MSM: (E-Mail Removed)
Webmaster: http://www.ecademy.com/
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