I've not watched any WRC rallies since the summer intercession, and have missed basically all the motoGP races in the same time-period.

Could anyone be kind enough to get me up to speed on the two series so that i'm not clueless come season's end?

Sorry about the topic title, I moved that one to what I felt was a more appropriate board, and decided to make use of what would have been nothing more than a placeholder thread

not a big WRC fan myself but moto gp i can help with
sadly moto gp has gone "tyre war" this yr as i would love to see Rossi Vs Stoner, but michelen have got to pull there socks up. nice to see a differnet rider have success tho
BSB & WSBK have good racing atm and is worth a watch (if you can ofc)
hope that helps

MotoGP, basically, Stoner has wiped the floor with everyone, and Rossi is looking a shadow of his former self.

i think the tyres are making rossi look like a shadow of his former self.
about time michelin stepped up to the plate and took the fight to bridgestone or else next season is going to be even more embarassing for the michelin runners.
Tango

Tyre's is always a good excuse, you aren't performing well, must be the tyres.

It's like the old "the only reason Stoner is doing well is because he is riding a Ducati", which of course is a crock of shit.

most factory teams are looking at bridgestones and dropping the michelens if thats not enough proof for you.
and i watched stoner in BSB 125cc yrs ago and wish him all the best but im a spectator in the sport and want to see it all fair for the best show possible
"the only reason Stoner is doing well is because he is riding a Ducati" ROFL they havent got a championship winning bike YET :P

the straight line speed of the ducati is immense though - that does wonders on certain tracks

I'm not doubting stoners ability though

Just have to lol at his name though

Bottomline, he isn't the only lad ridding a Duke

MotoGP has become very boring recently, the bikes are taking a much bigger role and its in danger of becoming F1 on 2 wheels. It is true that Stoner is on stunning form, but when Rossi is struggling to get into the top 5 you know something is wrong. The biggest cock up was going to 800cc engines and having traction control. Basically its boring and theres practically no excitement, even in the middle of the pack.

If you remember previous years Rossi dominated, but he had to fight for it closely and never romped away easily. Stoner this year is perfection, but you can't help but wonder what kind of results he would get on a Yamaha.

WRC is the thing to watch at the moment, this year is a classic. Gronholm and Loeb are fighting it out for the championship and their cars are closely matched, Gronholm recently beat Loeb by 0.3.

Rossi was just as dominant on the Honda. It was only when he got bored and switched to Yamaha that he started to struggle. I've read at least a few comments from riders who have spent some time following Rossi and they all say it looks like he's working very hard, that the bike looks ridiculously hard to ride.

This is actually just the first year that Bridgestone has had the better tire than Michelin. In the past, Michelin always dominated, quite the opposite of F1. It was only last year that Bridgestone showed a massive improvement, almost on par with the Michelins, and now they're the tire to have.

Also, traction control was introduced long ago with the 990cc bikes, not the 800cc ones. I'm also pretty sure that at least the first season of the 990, maybe the second as well, did not allow TC.

stoner is doing a great job and he has getting the same as mick doohan's dominant form, but Rossi entertained the crowds more with his start 16ish and finish 1st with the fastest lap on the last lap over take.
i do hope it gets sorted for next year with Melandri/Stoner on dukes and Rossi and the suzuki's hungury for success
goodluck to toseland too

p.s check out bradley smith in 125cc too as he got a repsol works bike for next year after his rookie year

Toseland will need luck, personally I think he is slightly over-rated, however, I REALLY want to be cheering on a brit in MotoGP next year, so hopefully I will be proven wrong.
He (Toseland) seems to be a very setup dependent rider, unlike someone like Bayliss who can ride around a poor setup, JT just seems to go to pot if the setup isn't perfect, so this makes him a little inconsistant at times when he could do with being consistant.
IMO, WSBK is going to be a close run finish, Haga is now pushing hard, and if JT doesn't pull his finger out, he will lose the title.

I also think he may struggle with going to a satelitte team, although they will have more backing from the factory next year, I can't help but think his setup dependency will be compounded by the team..........