Rossi and F1

http://superbikeplanet.com/2006/May/060523a.htm

Andy

 

And hardly the bombshell SBP think it is.
Rossi tried WRC with little success, and it take quite a lot more than a few
"trackdays" to become a world class driver, even if we're talking about 4
wheels.

/MBE

 

Mark N realizes:

Indeed. If you think that *next year* was worrying Rossi enough
to affect his focus and thus his results, you are living in fantasy
land. He's freakin 27!

Of course, the obverse of this is that if you think that Rossi
won't take an offer from anybody including Ferrari for '07.....


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

 

You mean like last weekend when he took a line peredicular to the
track (and the rest of the field) and punted De Puniet onto his head?
(and incidentally screwed his teammate as well)

Bruce

 

Dudes -

Rossi has aready won a few world titles and accomplished a thing or two.
Whether the F1 thing is tempting or not, I can not imagine anyone human
would be still as hungry as they were several years ago. If only the ability
to win an 8th world title (or 6th MotoGp/500 title) meant being truly great,
we shouldn't be talking about any other rider on the echelon of greatness
except Agostini and Nieto. All the others failed when the time came to prove
their true greatness, eh? If *that* is the nechmark you set, then all the
great US champions of the 80s and 90s look like Milli Vanilli all of a
sudden, one hit wonders, all of them, unable to respond to their true
challenge... Bullcrap.

Note I think that Rossi is out, vulnerable and hurt this year. For whatever
reason. It'd be the worst humiliation of the other riders if they can't take
advantage of this. Come on. No excuses. No one else has been able to
challenge the guy in over 5 years, and now that he's down and behind, if
they still can't it 'd mean that either no one else can ride a bike in this
field, or that Rossi is among one handful of the greatest riders of all
time. Which he probably is anyhow, as much as I don't like several of his
moves over the last few years.

Rossi should *not* win this year's title. A rider that is remotely around
his level should be able to prevent it at this point in time. All he'd have
to do is ride for second for the rest of the season. And I happen to think
Hayden and Melandri can. So I am the one who is willing to bet that Rossi
has already lost this year's championship. Bring on the $, and let's see. I
think he's a great rider, but I don't think he is *that* superior to the
rest of them. He is now at a severe disadvantage, and the other top dogs
will allow this to play against him. He'll be under a lot of pressure - and
he'll DNF again under pressure given this year's trend. Melandri or Hayden
is the question right now. Everything else ought to be a *huge* surprise.
Capirossi? Too on and off over the years. Pedrosa? Too green, he'll DNF
again too under pressure. This *must* be Melandri's or Hayden's season.
Rossi in a spectacular second half is the only acceptable (and at that point
legendary) alternative. If Pedrosa, Capirossi or (and this would be
*awesome* and legendary by itself) Stoner win, heck, Melandri and Hayden are
demoted to Biaggi-Gibernau-good-but-not-quite-it status henceforth.

As to F1, who gives a flying crap? Really? I don't follow it, I find it
terminally boring, just like Nascar. If Rossi has been distracted by
that -and the off season indicated perhaps it did distract him- it's not an
excuse, not a mitigating factor, nor anything. It just shows lack of focus,
which can't bode well for a F1 career, either. Rossi would have no one to
blame but himself, and take full accountability. His team infrastructure was
just as good as any year before and it'd be near-criminal negligence to have
not taken full advantage of it. I think it'd be better for Rossi's legend to
be fully focused, yet have rivals that made major breakthroughs and beat him
fair and square, rather than seeking refuge behind any hint of a lame-ass
excuse he'd only have himself to blame for anyhow.

This season's lost. A motorcycle racing legend I would not forget in my life
time could be made if he rewon the championship against a new, worthy group
of younger challengers in '07 or later.

....pablo

 

As an Italian he probably would love to win on a Ducati. To be the first one
in modern time to take the championship "home" at the same time win on three
different brands must be something hi's looking at.

/MBE

 

I have Rossi's book "The autobiography", he says he chose Yamaha because he
was fed up with the Honda culture, he says they were all about technology
and making a bike so good that it is unbeatable and not giving enough credit
to the rider whereas Yamaha were more interested in developing a bike with
the riders input, he goes on to say the Ducati culture is similar to the
Honda culture, they pride themselves on their technology to win rather than
the rider and he chose not to go with them because he wanted to be respected
as a rider and have direct input to the development of the bike. But he
also stated he would love to ride the Ducati being an Italian company and
win on it but with the culture as it is chose Yamaha, maybe attitudes have
changed now and he may reconsider, we will see.

Paul

 

You've mentioned this repeatedly and Edwards has said he has had to change
his style to 250.

As I understand it, one of the gripes with the newer tracks is that they
were designed primarily for F-1, having tighter bends and longer straights.
Although motorcyle road racing would prefer a more flowing circuit,
shouldn't this benefit the point-and-shoot style of superbike/dirt track
racing, rather then the corner speed style of 250?

 

The thing is that corner speed has always been the achilles heel of
motorcycles at the end of the day. Thus, styles that are smooth and maximize
corner speed ultimately are going to be faster around a circuit.

The point and shoot style was the product of limitations of 500cc
motorctcles at a certain point in time. Since the engine power was way ahead
of chassis and tire technology, it was faster to brutalize them off a turn.
Spectacular, but in every street racing class you'll be told that is not the
fastest way around a turn on the current generation of motorcycles.
Smoothness pays off again.

For all the talk about "Superbike style", those guys are paragons of smooth
riding these days, you don't see them sliding around as they did in the 80s
on those semi-production bikes that even had wide bars... not even close.
Superbikes are ridden mostly smoothly these days, and when they're slid off
a turn it is judiciously as one maximizes the power one applies - no one
*steers* the bike with the rear tire off almost every other turn anymore.
That has been over for a while, it seems to me (except in MX and dirttrack).

....pablo

 

Yes, you're right. I meant to say slower corners.

 

And truly, here's another take: over the top steering with the rear has been
out of style for quite a while now. The extreme is done, over, finito. This
whole stuff about "American school" - I don't see it anymore. Hayden doesn't
steer the bike with the rear any more than Rossi or Capirossi or Gibernau
do.

....pablo