I don't see how watcing the GOAT and Lorenzo battling harder than pretty much anyone ever could possibly be boring. The rest of MotoGP might as well go home, and just have those two in the races! Until Stoner returns, and then there will be three people in the race.
+1, How boring would it be if Jorge went to Ducati, couldn't ride it, Stoner was on and off with illness and the Hondas of Dani and Dovi continued to be just off the pace?
At least with someone like Jorge with Rossi on the Yamahas there will always be 1 rider posing a threat each weekend. Put Toseland on it and I doubt we'd see the same level of competition.
And it's not like other riders or other bikes are especially bad either! Yet Rossi, Stoner and Lorenzo usually disappear - although they often drag one extra person with them that varies each race; at the next race that extra rider might be nowhere once again which is very strange.
Personally I wouldn't go that far, as I find the whole of F1 more appealing than the whole of MotoGP. But I would agree that the last three laps of a MotoGP are nearly always better than the last three laps of an F1 race. But I'm an F1 fanboy, and can see past the apparent lack of on-track action.
But I'm a MotoGP fanboy, and I say your first sentence is bollocks.
Rossi alone has more charisma than the whole F1 paddock. You can kinda sense that motorcycle racers are just a little... off, compared to most car racers. :nut:
Valid points. But I'm still bored. Lorenzo can obviously match Rossi's pace, but still Rossi always seems to be more in control of the situation. I believe it will remain the same in 2010. Lorenzo being in some other team could at least give a technical advantage (yes, highly unlikely).
Dry conditions -- rider must enter and exit pits with the same bike
Wet conditions -- rider may exit pits with a second bike but it must have different tires
This does not exclude them from coming into the pits, jacking the bike up, and changing tires on the same bike, it just takes longer than it does on a car and usually isn't necessary (by design, being 45 minute sprints). IIRC, when Rossi was having tire issues in one race (partial delamination!), they changed Rossi's front tire when he pitted. It turned out the problem was with his rear tire, so he just rode it back in and took the DNF.
Yes he did. He came in, pointed to the front tyre. The mechanics took a good look at it but couldn't see anything wrong, so they sent him out again. Turned out to be a problem with the rear. From memory, it had a big hole in it where there should have been rubber.
I've only just skimmed this thread but i'm sure someone above already said this. {edit} lol, yeah it was Forbin two posts up
And i'm not sure it was the title decider ? could be wrong though.
But anyway, just because Rossi did this doesn't mean he's a wuss or lacks commitment, i think he's done more than enough in his career to prove he's got balls as big as his house.
He didn't pit for the fun of it... he had serious tyre issues, I'm not sure anyone would ride a bike at nearly 200mph with a tyre that's ready to say goodnight. In 2006 and 2007 Rossi was riding that bike well over its limits, look at where the rest of the Yamahas were finishing up.
Rossi has never missed a moto gp in his entire career, he rode with a broken wrist if I remember rightly at Assen a couple of years back. He struggled on to try pick up a point or two to keep the championship alive... so comparing his level of commitment to an F1 driver is a bit silly is it not?
F1 is by far a lot safer than MotoGP, when something goes wrong with the car you've got a high chance of getting out with no injuries. Something goes wrong on a motogp bike, you need a lot of luck that you have a nice landing.
Unfortunately, the sad truth is that in motorsport there is a positive correlation between excitement and danger/risk, which is why Motogp/WSBK/BSB is more exciting than F1. Off track politics have had to substitute good racing in F1 to keep people from falling asleep entirely.
Is this the point we start posting all the vids of Ayrton Senna driving like a complete arse ?
Recently i can't help feeling a bit short changed when he doesn't do something daft after each win, maybe he's been told to stop it ?.
Hmmm MotoGP's not the same when you don't have a man dressed as a chicken sitting on the back of your bike on the parade lap