Ciao998

boooo-hooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mcjunky

Yeah, but I think a better comparison would be head to head racing
I don't think little Nicky's gonna light the world on fire being 2nd fiddle on the duc..... maybe I'll be wrong but I think the fire is out
I'm hoping Melandri and Hopper can get the ball rollin for Kaw, god knows they need it!!! I think Kaw is gonna run 3 riders deep next year as well.

xrdotimcr

Not expecting Hayden to be a title contender next year, I just expect him to do much better than Melandri has done. Like it has been previously said, a 4th or 5th place finish.

wsurc51

Unless you claim to be more educated than ducati regarding Hayden's talents, I would say you are wrong. I doubt ducati would offer a ride that they didn't think would be worth their time. Although, maybe they should have asked you.

Buckwheat

Hayden at Ducati. I thought he should have signed that deal during the year he won the title (that offer was on the table then).

I also think that Melandri is a consistent top 6 finisher...don't understand why the Duc never worked for him... except by taking that gnat's ass edge of control away from him.

Hayden will prove or disprove, in my opinion, whether or not Stoner is just stupid enough to ride a remote control bike at 12/10's. What I'm trying to say is that the Duc works best in the hands of idiots who don't know when they're riding completely over their heads. I don't think Nicky will be consistently as fast as Stoner on that bike.

eric

That was my point. I can understand the bitterness in WSBK but in MotoGP I don't think they've forced rule changes to benefit themselves.

Mostly I was giving Jason shit.

GixxerPete

x1000

GixxerPete

No the rules are not the problem. There is no favoritism/nepotism stacking the cards in Ducati's favor. Ducati came out with the best package last year for the new 800cc bikes, no doubt about it. What's annoying is the idiots who don't think the bike had much, if anything to do with it, and it's all Stoner and his sudden unexplained influx of mad skillz.

But it's all good... this season is proving who the GOAT truly is, and who the next Gibernau is.

richardlpalmer

Good post, bro. Glad to see this has moved from "rumor" to getting done.

For me he doesn't have to even win on the thing. All he needs to do is do well on it for the move to be a success. Because other than Stoner no one is doing anything with it.

I will say though, that if Hayden does very well on it (podiums and/or wins) that will, for me anyway, tend to lessen my last couple years opinion that it was all bike. What I mean by that is I've had a very low opinion of Stoner's ability and a tremendous respect/awe for the package Ducati created. I'd not attributed most of the success to Stoner's riding. But if Hayden comes in and does very well I'll probably have to eat crow a bit and realize the bike just suits a particular type of riding style more dramatically than any other.

I've noticed it more and more. Stoner definitely has more of a dirt tracker style to his riding. He likes to have the machine moving around under him, etc. Melandri isn't that kind of rider -- he's the smooth guy. Hayden did very well on the 990s but as they've been refined he's not kept up. If he gets on the bucking bronco of the Duc and makes a run for it I'll eat a bunch of my words and suck it up.

The Ducati just might require the right kind of rider to make it a world beater...



(HRC pissed me off when they dissed Rossi and the hatred continued with how they've treated Hayden -- seems like the better a rider does the more they validate the bike and treat the rider like crap.)

When I read the above quote I couldn't believe what I read. They didn't even say, "...who have lost a valuable rider", they said, "who have lost a valuable marketing asset". Seriously?

Haus

I'd have to agree. I'm not a Stoner fan, but if he were a bull rider it looks like he's the one rider that can actually hold onto the one bull that kicks everyone else off. Its cool watching him ride it, that damn thing hops all over the fk'n place. When it comes down to being a really good racer though, well Rossi just bitch slapped him two races in a row by fk'ing with his head. Stoners much like pedrosa, they're okay until someone fights back then its like waaaaaaaaaa.

That bike + hayden's style makes sense. I hope it equates into his aggressiveness coming back.

wheezl

mcjunky

Yeah, a rider has never been picked up more for marketing a product in a area......let's say like the U.S. where Hayden is loved, over there chance of winning a title................. have they?
Do you think Hayden will see a podium in '09 on the Duc? My guess is no

liv4thekill

Um the 848 & 1098 are selling like meth and free pussy in Lakewood. Ducati doesn't need Nicky. I think the Duc will either prove he's still champion-caliber, or it'll have the exact opposite effect a la Melandri and show he's past it.

num1husker

hhmmm I wonder what Stoner thinks of that?

Just a thought.

richardlpalmer

Yup. I'm just trying to prepare myself for being *gulp* wrong about Stoner.

I still don't think he's as capable as he's made out to be, but that's a different topic. Awesome track rider when in front? Absolutely. Awesome racer when having to dice it up with the boys? Meh, not so much...

FatMatt

Did you think that Stoner was going to be the GOAT? HA HA HA HA HA! Thas sum funny chit there!!!!!

The GOAT is on his way to winning ANOTHER championship!!!! VIVA Rossi!!!!!

GixxerPete

This would imply that the Ducati is a wild snarling beast, and only Stoner can tame it, meaning he's a WAY better rider than anyone else on the grid? I say BULL FUCKING SHIT to that. He's good, but he's NOT the best rider out there. His past record would show that. Which would mean he just magically turned from a good rider to way better than everyone else in one off-season? Which coincidentally was the year the ride-it-for-you Ducati came out? Hardly.

The Ducati is harder to ride than a 990? Harder to ride than a 500 two stroke with a light switch power band and zero electronics? NO FUCKING WAY! What it is is a bike that requires absolute trust from the rider... trust to just pin it everywhere and let the electronics do the rest. Trust to ignore all your instincts as a rider and let a computer ride for you. I would hardly call that "skill".

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: put them all on identical, NON electronically controlled bikes, and it's a way different story. Better yet, put everyone on the old 500 smokers with zero sissy aids and see how well Stoner does. He won't be winning, let alone dominating, guaranfuckingteed.

westerner

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: put them all on identical, NON electronically controlled bikes, and it's a way different story. Better yet, put everyone on the old 500 smokers with zero sissy aids and see how well Stoner does. He won't be winning, let alone dominating, guaranfuckingteed.[/quote]


I'll agree with that in part. When the IROC car racing series started
It spelled the end of my interest in auto racing. Now its the same with NASCAR. It all depends on politics and blind luck to win a race. Boring.
It does give the race announcers time to talk about a racers personal life as the pack drives around the track bumper to bumper, boring.

Getting rid of all the electronics on the bikes will show who has the riding skills. Opening up machine specs will show who can build the best machine to get the job done. I'm not sure that's the right way to say that. My brain is still locked from the evil game thread.
I get tired of hearing all the crap about racers personal lives. My interest is more about the machine and who can ride it, not which rider has the most personal problems. They do that to the olympics too. I dont like it, I guess thats just me.

Joe.

richardlpalmer

No, never thought he was the GOAT. But I've been vocally critical of his ability being the cause of his wins over the bike's technical dominance (see Pete's quote below for a sample -- although I've not been quite so vehement about it). I'm just willing to be wrong about how much I've been critical of. Don't know if others will be able to do that though.

I don't think the Duc is a wild snarling beast on par with the early gen 990s or 500 2 smokers. But I would say outside of the Americans (and a few others) most riders on the grid aren't use to that type of riding style.

Rossi has been able to win on every bike so let's take him out of the equation. The other riders, not so much. I'm not disagreeing about Ducati's top speed/electronics performance advantage. But the bike is clearly different in terms of how it looks on the track (when ridden hard) than the Japanese bikes.

I'm just saying that for whatever reason, it looks like Stoner is a very good fit for the Duc and how it needs to be ridden. The other riders Ducati has tried have done very poorly (worse than when they were on other makes) which tends to validate that idea.

So with Hayden's background and generally how he seems to like to ride, if he all of a sudden does well on the Duc I will have to think even more that Stoner just suits the bike and can get more out of it than others.

nocontrol74

The only problem I have with this theory is that every team has the ability to build a bike with the same capabilities as the Duc. Either they chose not to or there is a good deal of difference in the skills of the various riders. Comparing the 800 era to the 500 smoker era is a red herring and immaterial to the discussion. Were there not riders in the 500 or the 990 eras who were able to win when others couldn't? Of course there were.

Sentimentality for the good old days of 500's aside, what matters now is who can win on the current generation, and for better or worse, right now that is Stoner, Pedrobot and Rossi...

Haus

Well so far yes only stoner can tame it. What's your point? I didn't say he was the best ever because of it, but he is good and very entertaining to watch....and watch crash for that matter. Watching Rossi school him is quite entertaining and thats compounded greatly by stoners bitchy 'tude, he acts like Danica Patrick

PeteN95

It occurs to me that if Nicky does go to Ducati, there will be a new definition of "Red-neck"!?!

GixxerPete

It's hardly a red herring. People are implying that the Ducati is a wild beast, difficult to ride, and thus Stoner is the only one with mad skillz enough to tame the wild beast. I say this is laughable. No way no how is a 4 stroke 800cc bike with a mile-wide powerband (in comparison) traction control and all kinds of electronic aids anywhere near as hard to ride as a 500, or even a 990. Those bikes required very skilled riders with precise throttle control to get the max acceleration without spinning too much and high siding. That level of throttle control and skill is moot in the traction-control era.