If Stoner won the championship....

That I'd agree with. Although it's a little odd that the bike seems to
work better for the new guy than their #1 guy who's been there from
the beginning. And you can't give Ducati credit for what Bridgestone
is doing, although they do deserve the credit for deciding to make
that move after the 2004 season. I thought it was a very good decision
at the time, and probably not as risky as some thought. Although it
was something of an open consession that they didn't think they could
beat Honda and Yamaha straight up, on the same tires.

 

Yet more evidence that we are two countries separated by a common
language. Of course it was an attempt at humour (admittedly a poor
attempt - I blame posting after being at my local beer festival). How
any one could take it as an attack on their countries political system
is beyond me.

Cheers,

 

It's called an opinion for a reason, but despite his 125/250 success, I
still don't see Capirossi as consistent enough for a MGP championship. We've
gone around on this one before, but that's my opinion. Hopkins and Stoner
have yet to show the needed consistency as well, at least from a podium
level standpoint. For Nokano, I just don't see it. The body of work
(success) doesn't seem to be there over the long haul.

You're right; who knows. It could be that once you (Capirossi) give yourself
a finite point of retirement you begin to mail it in, bit by bit.

Mark, I say this in all sense of being reasonable: you have complained that
I am too literal, but when you refer to Elias as a midget in a reference
where he had culpability in a racing incident, you want me _not_ to read
between the lines.

However, look what you've gone and done. Adding weight to the bikes to
minimize smaller riders' advantage only serves to accentuate any lack of
physical strength, which in turn means the smaller riders may have even less
strength to control the bike.

I think a bigger problem is that there is no AMA prototype class. You can
argue that it's obsolete to race 125s and 250s, but when Dorna and the FIM
eventually figure out the formulas and mandate 4 stroke development
classes, will the AMA jump on the bandwagon?

See my above comments on added weight.

You're right, Mark. I know almost nothing about you, so I have to evaluate
you on what you have provided in this forum.


I will guarantee you I'm not some politically-correct bleeding

Too bad you couldn't have seen me numerous times flying in the Charles du
Gaulle airport, feeling "Euro-ed out" and wishing I could just turn around
and catch the next flight back to the east coast. Or times when the French
teams would leave the hotel after a race and we would stay after for a few
days until we traveled to the next race and the hotel operator would shut
off the heat. All too frequent ice cold showers in some small town school
after races. Washing clothes in the sink and having to let them drip dry so
you could wear them again, occasionally damp, the next day. The former US
airbase at Sembach in Germany was a haven for us. I'm not knocking the
French or Germans; for all I know, that's how all foreigners were treated,
Euro or not. I'm not looking for pity; those were the more or less accepted
routines. Club Med it wasn't.

 

There already is a small rider penalty in the form of minimum weight.
Relative to their own size, the bike is a greater % of total weight.
Generally, I'm not enamored with adding weight to "even things up", but your
suggestion of dynamic weight is an interesting one.

Although it will never happen, the issue could be eliminated by making the
bikes generally harder to ride, like the 500s without traction control.

 

Noise restrictions aren't the problem at Laguna, once they designate one
of their 5 "noise" events for a race weekend, it doesn't matter how many
classes are run that are above the noise limit. The AMA classes are all
above the regular noise limit at Laguna, which is 92db.

As for the reasons that the 125cc & 250cc classes don't come to Laguna
is that it saves the teams in those classes the cost of coming to the
states. I also believe that the AMA pushed to be part of the weekend for
the exposure and the fact that up till this year, it was the only date
the AMA could be a part of. That changed and Laguna will host another
weekend of AMA races this year in September which will be the final
round on the AMA schedule. We'll see what the future holds and whether
the AMA continue to be a part of the MotoGP weekend.

I loved it when the full GP circus came in to race at Laguna in the late
80's and early 90's. Of course there weren't any 4 strokes involved then
with the MotoGP class. I do miss the morning wake up of the smell of
two-stroke racing out on a corner. It'll be interesting to see if the
somewhat near future holds foor-strokes for all classes.

--
Mick aka MotoMania
motomick at sbcgobal dot net

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving
safely in a pretty and well preserved body -- but rather to skid in
broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
-- WOW, WHAT A RIDE!!" - Author : Unknown

 

And when it wasn't a Bridgestone track? That's what I mean about his
consistency.

 

Yes, they're losing. Aww diddums

 

Good thing I wasn't talking about the premier class

It should continue for a while as long as Stoner keeps his head. It'd be
especially funny if the "greatest rider of all time" continues to crack up
mentally.....

 

Good thing I'm not a "septic".

Rossi is certainly high in the crybaby stakes at the moment

 

Is he? I think saying he'd need a gun to beat Stoner is a pretty low key
statement coming from a multi champion. Can you give us a link to a single
excuse Rossi is making? Because I haven't seen excuses. Nor one. Nothing
about my bike ain't working, nor about my tires ain't any good. One thing
about Rossi is... that's not what he does or has done. Like ever. He's
pretty gracious. Of course, he can afford to be.

....pablo

 

....apart from all that hypocritical whining about Elias' "dangerous"
riding....

 

Come on, every rider will have hard feelings about hard moves, and Elias
rides *hard*. You all it whining, I think he meant it as criticism, which he
is entitled to. It wasn't an excuse from where I was, perhaps your vintage
point is different

 

Aus

 

Austin?

 

Try going much farther south-westerly

 

Jeez Champ, with a moniker like Tex, he'd almost have to be from Queensland
and speaking of "Texans," I heard 'yer boi Blair is finally stepping down,
any word yet on who Bush is going to appoint to replace him?

 

Texas, a bigass place mostly full of nothing, remind you of anything?
(Heh, actually, it's a 'Merkan state chock full of Mexicans!)

Too bad I thought Gonzales, or Wolfowitz might've applied, hopefully they'll
be looking for work soon too, though if I had my way they'd(boss and friends
too) be busy for the next 30 years at the iron bar hotel..

Cycle turning? That remains to be seen, but one can only hope...

 

Where I come from, "Mexicans" are Victorians, because they're
from "south of the border".

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

Ayup, been there once myself, well, the airport in Brisbane anyway, but from
what I've heard it's a pretty decent place, the Coral Sea, Barrier Reef and
all that, trouble is, it's said to be full of 'Stralians! Heh, sorta' like
Texas and all them Texicans I guess...

 

T3 mentions:

Gotta get back for more dirt biking in the Kimberlies someday.
Aussies aren't all bad, least not the ones that aren't crocs. I could
take you to a nice bar in Exmouth if you could figure out how to
get there without running over a 'roo. Don't eat the eggs at Manilya
roadhouse on the way.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.