Malaysia race spoiler!!!!!!

Great race, terrible for my tipping competition results though.

I really didn't think Cap and the Duke could pull it off twice in a row,
those "Stones" must be coming on song. Despite Rossi's best effort he
just couldn't compete in the end and Checa nearly nailed second spot.

WTF was Biaggi doing this weekend????? But if Biaggi was a let down
Gibs was yet another disaster, hard to see exactly what caused the
crash, either he was sooo hot he lost it or Nakano banged him and they
tumbled but yet another DNF for Gibs, I dunno if I should feel sorry for
him or disappointed in him.

Rossi finally gets his inevitable crown, 7th championship in a row, well
done I guess but really this year he only had it to lose sure as hell no
one was going to take it from him.

That begs another question, discounting Rossi who is the other star of
Moto GP this year??? My opinion, no one!!! Gibs is Mr Crash, Biaggi Mr
totally inconsistent, Hayden Mr Possibly at times, Capirossi Mr leaving
it a bit late and the rest well who knows. There have been a few heroes
from race to race this year but really no one stands out as been the guy
to challenge Rossi next year.

Honda may well get rid of Max but lets face it he will probably finish
2nd this year and consistently finishes 3rd in the world champs, who can
they really say will perform better over a season, Hayden is showing
more consistent good form but still down in the points, Melandri would
be a good bet next year me thinks but I doubt any of them will be Rossi
beaters next year and in that case if Honda want to finish 2nd again
then go for Max or Gibs. Yes Gibs even though for whatever reason I
dislike him and secretly cheer when he DNF's he's still a damn good
racer and this year has really not represented his ability, maybe the
end of season and him sitting down and chilling out will revive him and
I think next year HE will be the man to beat, well to beat for 2nd as
Rossi no doubt will win next year too.

Paul

 

Can Capirossi and Ducati challenge for the championship next year?

Cheers,

Ross-c

 

Funny thing that. One of those pretty fast guys who can get solid top 10
finishes, qualify within a second of pole and pick up one or two
podiums.

And probably out of a job next year.

 

So how many "real" titles did Hailwood, Agostini and Read win? Or Biaggi
for that matter.

 

In the classic era there was some crossover between 250 and 350 And MV
ran pretty similar bikes in 350 and 500. Once we get into two strokes
there wasn't much technology crossover but rather what we got was people
running 251 in 350 and 351 in 500. If anything the biggest linkage
between the classes was in the 90s when we had 500-4, 250-2 and 125-1
With almost all of them using reed valve designs with very similar
cylinder designs. And Aprilia using a disk valve where the 125 and 250
cylinders were very similar.

These things go in phases though. In the mid 90s, the 500 class got
boring with Doohan winning everything and a limited field behind him
stretching back to half a dozen people on rented or leased factory
knockoffs who had no hope at all. While that was happening, 250 was in a
golden era of a pack of young fast riders all with a hope of winning on
machines that were quite a handful from several factories. Since MotoGP
has turned up, 250 doesn't feel the same. It's either been dominated by
a single rider or it's been twisted by only a pair of bikes being truly
competitive. So perhaps if it's a support championship now it's because
it's just not exciting enough and not good enough entertainment.

So to go back to the start. Yes, I think Harada, Capirossi, Biaggi,
Vale, Jacques, (Kato) have every right to be proud of winning 250
championships (well maybe not Loris, heh!) because they all had good
competition and they were damn hard to win. I really can't bring myself
to denigrate their achievements because it was "only a support
championship".

Next stop. Arguments as to why 125 is important in it's own right and
not just a feeder. This ones going to be harder. ;-)