Rookie Marc Marquez (Honda), at the age of 20, became the youngest rider in history to win the Premier roadracing class title by finishing third in Valencia earlier today. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) took another win, with Dani Pedrosa (Honda) finishing second, but Lorenzo falls four points short of Marquez on the year. Honda also won the Constructors title on the year.
The race was not without drama, as Yamaha had decided on a unique strategy, i.e., Lorenzo would get to the front and purposely slow the pace, hoping that a large group of riders could bunch near the front and put themselves between Lorenzo and Marquez at the finish. The strategy did not work, because ultimately the riders outside the top three were too slow to join the fray.
The teams begin testing for the 2014 season tomorrow at Valencia. For instance, we will see Nicky Hayden aboard a Honda for the first time in more than half a decade. We will provide reports on the test results next week.
For additional details, results and points, visit the official MotoGP site.
mickey, the point is that Repsol and HRC have extended Dani so much more rope than they ever gave Nicky, and it’s strictly down to time ago.
And yes, here in 2013 I would of course choose Lorenzo or Stoner over Hayden. The original discussion centered around Hayden and Pedroza, not Hayden vs Lorenzo or Stoner. See, they each have multiple MotoGP titles. Even Hayden has one, and no, over the course of a long season there is no such thing as “backing into a title.” He compiled the most points, period, and were it not for Dani’s stupid move at Estoril Nicky wouldn’t have needed Rossi’s crash in Valencia to secure the championship.
Meanwhile, eight years later, Dani still has none. The only time Nicky and Dani were ever on relatively equal footing, team pecking-order-wise, Nicky beat him. So, yes, I think it’s difficult to say how Nicky would have done had he ever been given true #1 rider status on the Repsol Honda. He earned that right following 2006, but Repsol and Puig made sure it never happened.
The only time Hayden beat Pedrosa was Pedrosa’s rookie year and even then they won an equal number of races. We can go back and forth all day ( and have lol ), I believe Honda made the best choice for Honda and always will and you don’t and never will so truce on this one. I think it is undeniable who is the better rider, Nicky’s World Championship aside.
Pedrosa may have never won a World Championship and may never, but with 25 wins and 88 podiums in premier class competition since 2006, he certainly has helped decide many championships, often in favor of his team mates. In 7 years he has finished 2 nd in the championship 3 times and 3 rd in the championship 3 times, which is pretty darn good. Without the crash and injury this year, caused by his Repsol teamate who he was in front of btw, he would have been fighting for the Championship at Valencia as well. Honda still has a lot of faith in him as he will still be riding for them next year.
Nah, my point was never that Nicky was the better rider or that Honda did or did not make the right choice in demoting him. My point was simply that Dani, being Spanish (and Puig’s little darling), has been given far more leeway than Nicky ever had, despite his championship, and because of this it’s difficult to say how Nicky would have done had he received as much preferential treatment from Repsol and HRC as Dani has. I’m certain he would have accumulated many more wins, poles and podiums; more than Dani, though, or even enough to deserve his ride?
No one can say. Since he was never given the opportunity, all one can do is speculate.
So, two full seconds behind Marquez, and slower than all the factory/semi-factory bikes, including the Ducatis. Normally Nicky is right there with Dovi. Today, on the “customer” Honda?
Not so much.
But hey, at least on Day One of winter testing it was faster than the (former) CRT sleds.
We can reminisce about Rossi, but look past him when it comes to championship influence. Lorenzo was holding up the proceedings (possibly illegally), and Rossi was still huffing and puffing. Rossi could barely fend off Crutchlow on the satellite Yamaha most of the season, never mind getting close to a Repsol Honda.
Although Dani didn’t want to play it like that, he was a good wing man to MM this year, taking plenty of points from Lorenzo along the way. I think Rossi finished ahead of MM three times this year, which was close to useless for JL.
MM deserved it, though, for staying on his bike, as well as being fantastically fast.
Twenty friggin years old. Where will he go from here? What will he do for an encore?
Silly question, I know. So long as he stays healthy he’ll rack up lots more titles.
Still, that much success, at that young age … has GOT to mess with your head.
Yeah, he’s young enough that if he stays healthy, he can stay in the game into his mid 30s, perhaps being the one to eclipse Ago and Rossi for titles. He just needs to keep his head screwed on properly.
JLo isn’t going to lay with his nose in the pillows and whimper. That dog has got some game in him. If anything, he’ll go down kicking, screaming and dragging his fingernails down the chalkboard.
re: “Still, that much success, at that young age … has GOT to mess with your head.”
that’s when dad smacks ’em up side his head.
Doesn’t MM winning the championship in his rookie year make Pedro look bad? How many years has he had to win it? It makes me wonder if Honda wouldn’t have been better off sticking with Hayden. Of course Nicky isn’t Spanish though. (Yes, I threw that in there for Norm, The Man Behind The Draperies. Really Norm, give it up).
This race was better than most, but the championship shouldn’t have been close. Whoever made the decision to try to cheat that cost MM 25 pts with a DQ should be fired. No other team got it wrong.
I’ll make a bold prediction for Motogp for 2014: a Honda or Yamaha factory bike will win. Yawn. In most races, the front two or three bikes will leave the pack behind by the 10th lap. Yawn. I’m off to WSBK for 2014. By 2015 maybe Ducati and Suzuki will have gotten it together enough to make it interesting, but I’m not holding my breath.
starmag says:
November 11, 2013 at 12:40 pm
Doesn’t MM winning the championship in his rookie year make Pedro look bad? How many years has he had to win it? It makes me wonder if Honda wouldn’t have been better off sticking with Hayden.
No, no and hell no. Geez man look at their records. Pedro is 10 times the rider Hayden is. Honda made the correct decision. Pedro IS however, snake bit when it comes to winning the title. Whenever he gets close to winning it all, something bad happens to him., but he is the best rider never to win a MotoGP World Championship ( he did win a 125 World Championship and a couple 250 World Championships) geezalou, it’s not even close. Hayden was lucky there were no aliens in 06 and that Rossi screwed the pooch and fell.
Well, I’m American so I admit to a bias, but I’d rather go with the Motogp champion with the fewest wins than the best to never win, especially if I were making the decisions at HRC.
Hey Im American too and would love to see another American kicking butt and taking names in MotoGP, but Hayden wasn’t ever going to do that, even if had kept his factory Honda ride. He wasn’t dominate the year he won, winning only 2 races ( the same number Pedrosa won that year..his rookie year btw) .Rossi won 5, Capirosi won 3, Melandri won 3, Baylis won 1, and Elias won 1 by .002 over Rossi which had Rossi won, would have made Him World Champion that year, and Rossi still would have won it if he didn’t low side in the final race.
Said it before, I think Nicky is a great guy, real stand up, positive, genuinely nice and a very talented rider, he is just not the caliber of MotoGP racer many Americans think he is.
I am a super fan of MotoGP, from back before Kenny Roberts ever climbed on a factory Yamaha road racer. When I evaluate a rider, I don’t do it as an American and certainly without an American bias. Either someone is really great, or he’s not, no matter where he came from.
Hard to say, considering he was never conferred #1 rider status during his MotoGP career. He started off (understandably) playing second fiddle to Rossi, then, even after winning a title that his own teammate nearly ruined for him, was rewarded for that championship by seeing his team devote all their energies to his teammate. He also played second fiddle at Ducati, first behind Stoner and then Rossi again. Even in 2013 it was clear that Dovi was Ducati’s prime focus.
Point being, he’s never had a title-contending bike developed around his specific needs, the way every other champion has. Despite winning the title in 2006, Honda immediately downsized his bike to suit his diminuitive teammate. The guy has been working from behind the eight ball his entire MotoGP career.
VLJ..and why do you think that was? Do you think there was some kind of conspiracy to keep him off the podium?
Obviously no one had enough faith in him to make him # 1 rider, or develop a bike around him…. yet everyone to a person, at Honda and at Ducati, admires him as a person.
Mickey, as a super fan, do you know if any other rider besides Pedro has been given 7 years slack on a top-tier factory ride without a championship?
Starmag, none that I can recall. Like I said things have not gone well for him when the title was within reach. Injuries each year thwarted success. Still since 2007 he has finished runner up in the championship three times and 3 rd in the championship three times, against terrific completion including three multi time champions Rossi, Stoner and Lorenzo and now with the phenom Marquez.
I believe his chances of winning a World Championship in MotoGP are very slim in the future, but who could you place on the seat of his Honda at this point that could do better?
Thinking back Kozinski had 5 years of top rides in MotoGP without a title.
Capirosi had lime 10 years without a championship, it just depends on what you call a top tier ride. If you are talking only Honda or Yamaha, then no.
“VLJ..and why do you think that was?”
Pretty simple: Valentino Rossi (on two different teams), Casey Stoner, and the wrong passport. When he was at Honda he had to play second fiddle to an in-his-prime Rossi, as would every other living creature who ever trod terra firma. Once Rossi was gone, he won a world title and still was forced to defer to favored son (of primary sponsor Repsol) Dani Pedrosa. Next he had to play second fiddle at Ducati, first to the well established Casey Stoner, then Rossi again. Finally, Ducati bestowed favord son status on fellow Italian Andrea Dovisioso.
The only top-tier bike he could have won on was the Honda, and Honda rewarded him for his championship season by crapping all over him in lieu of a guy who still hasn’t rewarded their faith in him even after seven more years in the saddle.
Pedrosa will never win a title in the Big Show. He’s a checker, end of story.
another year to support Schwantz’s prediction that Dani will never win a premier championship, to the dismay of Alberto.
mickey, why do I think that is? Quite simple: Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, and sponsorship politics favoring proper-nationality favorite sons.
He was second fiddle behind Valentino Rossi in Rossi’s (and his own) prime. Sorry, but every rider in the history of terra firma was going to play second fiddle behind circa early 2000s Valentino Rossi. Next, he played second fiddle to Dani Pedrosa despite being a reining MotoGP champion, something Dani hasn’t truly come close to being despite Honda’s and Repsol’s steadfast efforts to make it so. Then he had to play behind Casey Stoner, Ducati’s shining star. Again, of course he had to play the role of dutiful teammate there, as he also had to do again when Ducati signed Rossi. Finally, Ducati replaced one Italian star with another, and Nicky was again relegated to backup status.
He won a world championship against an in-his-prime Valentino Rossi, with Repsol favorite son Dani Pedrosa as his teammate. The guy clearly proved his mettle. He’s simply had the misfortune of being saddled with the wrong passport, in addition to being paired with two of the greatest riders ever to twist a throttle.
Wrong passport? You are beginning to sound like Norm. I guarantee you Honda or Yamaha or Ducati or anyone else doesn’t care what nationality the guy that wins the World Championship for them has. They are interested in one thing and one thing only. Winning. They spend billions in that pursuit and they are not going to care where a guy was born as long as he has the skill to get the job done. Having the wrong passport didn’t stop Roberts, or Spencer, or Rainey, or Lawson from becoming multiple time world champions. Champions find a way to win. If Hayden had been the real deal, someone would have put him first in line and put him on a competitive bike. He backed into a World Championship, and in your head you know that, and everybody in the racing world knows that, which is why he is always number 2 in the stable. I guess rather than accept the facts, it’s just easier to make excuses.
They didn’t play fair with Hayden, they didn’t play fair with Spies waaa waa waaa. If an American doesn’t win, it’s because everything is stacked against him.
I get so tired of excuses.
And you can back up your guarantee with what?
DORNA and Repsol most certainly DO care what your passport says, or did you happen to miss the fact that all three title winners this year are Spaniards, and that often times all three podium finishes in multiple classes were Spaniards. Further, if all Honda cares about is winning championships and they’re not interested in a rider’s nationality, then why did they demote their MotoGP championship-winning rider in 2006 in favor of a young Spaniard who has somehow retained his factory seat for another eight years despite having three teammates win titles while he has yet to deliver one himself?
Seriously, wake up and smell the paella.
Hmmm did anyone tell Stoner he wasn’t a Spaniard?
Anything lime this going on in America? Is it a wonder Spanish riders are dominating?
” It is not only the Spanish riders who take advantage of the quality of the tracks, four of which appear on the MotoGP calendar, many foreign riders make the exodus to Spain to develop their craft, a point highlighted by Buckmaster in his critique of the ACU, “I would say we have very good structure in Spain with the tracks, with the Spanish championship, they take a lot of care to bring riders. Many also foreigners they go to race there. We have good weather. This is also important.”
“But the Spanish federation, the Catalan federation, they take a lot of care of these young kids which maybe now they are eight, nine, ten-years-old and maybe in ten years we see them racing here,” said Dani, “I think this is the key, basically. Spain believes in motorcycling.”
Read more: http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-racing-news-moto-gp/the-secret-behind-spains-racing-talent/17948.html#ixzz2kSBw1JK9
Repsol sells gasoline in Australia. They aren’t doing business in the United States.
Again, why did Honda demote their reigning MotoGP champion in favor of a young Spaniard who wasn’t a MotoGP champion? And why have Repsol and Honda continued to give Dani a plumb factory ride despite eight titleless seasons (and now 2014, too), when three of his teammates managed to win titles on bikes designed specifically for little Dani? Do you seriously think he would be given that much rope if he wasn’t Spanish?
Come on. You’re much smarter than that.
Come on.
It’s pretty simple really why Hayden was dropped in favor of Pedrosa. Pedrosa is a better rider. Anyone with an unbiased eye could/ can clearly see that.
So lets say VLJ is in charge at Honda Racing…I assume you are going to drop Pedrosa because he has not won a Championship…who are you going to give his ride to?
mickey, it was a simple question: Would Repsol and Honda ever give a non-Spaniard NINE seasons on their plum MotoGP ride without a single championship to his name, even as three of his teammates won titles?
We both know the answer is a resounding no.
Dani is still there strictly due to his passport, Alberto Puig, and the fact that Honda has been unable to lure Lorenzo to Big Red. If Pedroza was anything but Spanish he would have been moved to an LCR or Gresini ride a long time ago.
mickey, again, would Respol and Honda ever give a non-Spaniard their plum MotoGP for NINE seasons without winning a title, particularly when three different teammates of said non-Spaniard won titles on the same bike?
We both know the answer is a resounding no. If Dani was anything but Spanish (and backed by Alberto Puig), Repsol Honda would have demoted him to one of their satellite teams a long time ago.
As to who would they sign to replace him? Lorenzo is the guy they’ve been pursuing, but they’ve been unable to lure him away from Yamaha. The thing is, if Dani wasn’t Spanish then Honda would have simply rolled the dice on someone else by now, regardless.
Well I put you in charge, so name who VLJ would give the seat to.
If I’m in charge at HRC I back up a Brinks truck to the doors of Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner, and I don’t leave until I have one of them inked to a long-term deal. Stoner can be had. That guy is not going to stay retired. Kiss his ass enough, promise him whatever he needs to mollify his ego, and he’ll eventually come back. Lorenzo would be a tougher nut to crack, obviously, but I’d dangle the “you can make history!” angle at him…along with the aforementioned buttload of $$.
My first choice would be Lorenzo. Poaching him from Yamaha would have the added benefit of addition by subtraction. Yamaha loses their top rider, and imagine a Marquez/Lorenzo pairing. At this stage in their careers, that would be rather epic. Otherwise, a Marquez/Stoner pairing would be almost equally epic.
Either guy. Pick one. Make it happen.
What, not Hayden? Here’s your chance to right the wrong perpetrated by Honda before, and now that you have the ability to put an American in the seat of a factory Honda you don’t do it? Tsk tsk
What a Spaniard ? ( even if he is a more talented rider than Hayden)
Seems to me you are making the exact same decisions Honda made in 07. Imagine that.
As to your other choice…
What, a guy with the wrong passport? One that’s NOT a Spaniard?
Man, life is rough when you have to make such decisions eh? LOL
re: “Well I put you in charge”
belay his last…!!! Cap’n has the con. I decree dan is to remain where he is. transfer order RESCINDED.
furthermore, we will cease and desist from “entertaining” other. back to your posts. all of you.
Man, these double posts….
My apologies.
re: “Yes, I threw that in there for Norm, The Man Behind The Draperies. Really Norm, give it up”
hater alert…!!!
Not at all, you’re quite a character. Just trying to get your feet back on the ground after your trip to the Emerald City.
re: “you’re quite a character”
at the age of 18 I went off to evil character school. at the age of 25 I took up tap dancing. i’m a quadruple threat… motorcyclist, singer, dancer, character, etc.
I never said anything about evil, but your honesty is like a breath of fresh air. Or maybe in this case like a poke with a pitchfork.
re: “Whoever made the decision to try to cheat that cost MM 25 pts with a DQ should be fired.”
can’t fire the owner of the business. the best you can hope for is a buyout or hostile takeover and then operation under new management.
You’re saying CEO Ito made that decision? No way. HRC boss Nakamoto? Maybe but I doubt it. Someone in MM’s garage? Most likely. Pedro didn’t try it.
the answer is:
D. all of the above
follow the money trail. like investigating a homicide the first question a good detective asks is, who stands to benefit…? (thereby establishing motive).
hint: think “Jedi Council”, not singular individual.
I’m now sorry I posted that as a question. Silly me, Honda (a 75 billion dollar company) has never developed a way to hold it’s employees accountable. Right. It was everybody’s fault. Oh well to all those millions wasted. Yoda needs to put down the pipe once in a while.
I have to say I thought Lorenzo would be penalized the way he forced Pedrosa off the track when he tried to pass him after being over-taken (they traded positions a lot in the early part of the race). He knocked Pedrosa back 3 places, surely they aren’t going to allow that kind of overtaking?
Let’s see what rules they change this off-season to let someone compete. You remember when they hit tom Brady and made the Brady Rule? Thanks to the Marquez Rule he won a Championship. Wouldn’t have happened without a rule change for him.
re: “Thanks to the Marquez Rule he won a Championship. Wouldn’t have happened without a rule change for him.”
and there it was… the early machinations of the Great and Powerful Oz were right in front of our faces all along.
(booming voice over loud speaker)
PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN…!!!
but hasn’t this happened before? Promote a young phenom spaniard to the best bike on the grid to ensure a championship? I think it happened in 2006 when Pedrosa was a rookie? The rest of the grid didn’t follow the script at that time? Maybe we should give Marquez a little bit of credit for also being a step ahead of the rest at this.
The rule change was…. that they let him race a factory machine? Seems like a good rule change
re: “Seems like a good rule change”
Carmelo’s accountant the owners of Comunitat Valenciana sure seem to think so.
btw, what happened to the all economic doom and gloom in Spain and that nobody can afford to go see the races…?
what did all these unemployed people do…? hop the fences…? sell out crowd. see, people WILL come off the dime for what they value.
re: “Looking forward to seeing how Hayden does back on the Honda.”
don’t touch that dial. 2014 has officially begun. with the awards banquet done, he and the usual suspects will be recording laps bright and early tomorrow and continuing over the next 3 days. back at it.
So, what would you guess? Eight tenths off of the leader? Under five tenths? More than a full second?
I’ll predict eight tenths. I’m thinking that his best lap will be right around the same as Dovi’s, but Nicky’s comments afterward will be along the lines of how the Honda turns better and is more fun to ride, and that it will probably suffer less of a drop-off over race distance. Then he’ll add that although it was a very positive test overall, he knows that he and his team have their work cut out for them in order to close the gap to the front, and they’re looking forward to the challenge.
Same ol’, same ol’, in other words.
hey, they don’t call ’em the best PR man in the game for nothing…!? LOL
Depends on how much Honda has really hamstrung the production racer. Look, Hayden was neck-and-neck with Dovi this season (and Rossi last) so he has some fight and speed left in him. Not to mention more precious liquid gold come race time. I think he’ll be quite interesting to watch. I’m betting he’ll be fastest on the rental Hondas at the test. 8/10ths down this early in the 2014 season? I’d be happy with that.
I agree. Hayden can ride, given the right bike. Maybe not well enough to hang with the top 3, but if the bike is fast enough, he could slot in with Rossi, Crutchlow…guys like that.
I almost forgot, Crutchlow will be on the Ducati. Scratch him from my earlier comment.
“If the bike is fast enough….”
Which it will not be, by design. It’s a “customer” bike. Honda can’t have their factory bikes losing to satellite efforts. I have little doubt that Hayden is fast enough to hang with all but the top three or four guys, but riding the Ducati and now this satellite Honda, we’re never going to see it happen.
No, brinskee and mickey are correct: Hayden will likely be the fastest of the non-factory riders, but not as fast as the Repsol/LCR/Gresini Hondas, nor as fast as the factory/Tech 3 Yamahas, which means young Nicky will again be fighting another Sisyphean battle for eighth place on any given weekend in 2014. That is, assuming the factory Ducatis don’t improve. If the red bikes finally manage to rejoin the party, that would drop Nicky all the way out of the top ten, barring race-attrition.
I think you are still going to have the same group up front… Marquez, Lorenzo, Pedrosa,, the same group slightly behind Rossi, Bautista, Bradl, next group will be Crutchlow, Dovisioso, Hayden, Smith..and then the rest and the CRTs. Honda might move Hayden to the front of his group. The real loser will be Crutchlow who will crash his brains out trying to get back to wear he was used to riding ( top 5 or 6) and it will be a battle between he and Dovi as the best Ducati rider as appparently 9 th or 10 th is as good as it gets on this Ducati without someone crashing out ahead of them.
I don’t know..why all this speculation? ..let’s just ask Norm what the script says …lol
re: “let’s just ask Norm what the script says …lol”
that is a correct answer. you sir have wisdom beyond your years. 🙂
I expect Hayden to bump up a tier from his past level assuming the Ducati doesn’t become competitive (could happen).
In other news, I heard on the race telecast that the Colin Edwards would be back on a Yamaha next year (not Tech 3). What about that?
It’ll be a Forward bike, though, not a factory ride, or even Tech 3-spec.
M-1 motor in the FTR chassis. Even if Colin was back on Tech-3, I think he would have the same results as he did in 2010, consistently off the top 10.
Like Nicky, I think he will have more fun riding something that resembles prototype.
Dani Pedrosa, you just won the MVP trophy for MotoGP season 2013, what are you gonna do now…?
IM GOING TO DISNEY WORLD…!!!
Congratulations to Marquez, he earned his title.
I thought the most interesting thing was Lorenzo’s “aggressive” (or maybe dirty) riding. After criticizing Marquez all year it seems Jorge decided bumping into other riders isn’t a bad thing after all. I wonder if the FIM will put points on Jorge’s license?
Goose
Great race! Lorenzo and Pedrosa rode like they were possessed. The kid ran a good and smart race.he definitely deserves the title. On the podium every race but the one he crashed and the one he was black flagged. Lorenzo does indeed deserve the utmost respect for the grit and determination, and unbelievable talent he showed this season.
Congrats to Marquez, he will be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come. Wise choice Honda.
As incredible as Marquez’s performance was this season, I think I’m even more impressed by Lorenzo’s championship grit and determination. In the pantheon of unsuccessful title defenses, his was about as noble as it gets.
This series really needs Rossi to become a consistent threat next year not just for the podium but also for race wins, otherwise 2014 looks to be more of the same. Rossi appears to be the only guy capable of breaking up the constant parade to the podium by the Three Tenors, so hopefully he can find something. Unfortunately, he’s given us no reason to believe that he can overcome his own teammmate, never mind the Repsol Honda guys, and ditching JB is almost certainly not the answer. In fact, next year may see even less jockying at the front, what with Crutchlow (the only other podium threat besides Rossi this season) consigning himself to highly-paid moto-purgatory.
Perhaps Marquez’s little brother might occasionally find his way to the front, otherwise next year looks to be nothing but a two-horse race. If either Lorenzo or Marquez run into difficulties, 2014 could easily become one long forgone conclusion.
Come on, Valentino, find the motivation to make things interesting next year.
Damn, if I had the patience to write such a well worded post, I would but I don’t. I agree with everything you’ve said. My dog thought I was crazy, whilst I shouted at the TV as JLo kept taking the lead back. Every dog has his day in the sun, Rossi best go lay on the porch as it’s time for the young pups howl.
re: “re: “As incredible as Marquez’s performance was this season, I think I’m even more impressed by Lorenzo’s championship grit and determination.”
rock, paper, scissors. rock beats scissors and scripts beat grit and determination.
Nah, Lorenzo twice breaking his collarbone to hand Marquez the championship wasn’t scripted. His crashes were simply bad luck, and a normal component of racing; they weren’t the result of some nefarious Ezpeleta-penned master plan.
re: “Nah, Lorenzo twice breaking his collarbone to hand Marquez the championship wasn’t scripted”
correct. in the original script, the “marquez ascension” was written to be just a sub-plot, it then got promoted to 1st position when the main protagonists took diggers.
but make no mistake, everything regarding the sub-plot was a construct from soup to nuts. this didn’t change when it became the main plot. it’s not like any of the bullet points/ “youngest ever” headline targets became invalid…? they just carried over to the re-write.
Perhaps, but a phoenix-like soaring to the top of the mountain for Valentino Cashregister would have been far more beneficial to the MotoGP coffers than the ascension of yet another young Spaniard. If there truly was a script, Rossi winning the championship (or at least fighting right down to the wire for it) as the prodigal son returning home to Yamaha would have played out in Jim Nance-syrupy fashion in 2013.
re: “ditching JB is almost certainly not the answer.”
correct, saving money is the answer. after blowing their load on creating a seamless box (something yam originally said they didn’t HAVE the money for), the shortfall was always going to have to be made up somewhere. burgess and his salary are the fall guy. no free lunch.
I’ll have to disagree with you, Norm. (Shamar1, right?) I’m a huge Rossi fan but I think he’s just grasping at straws with the crew chief swap. What Rossi wants, Rossi gets. I don’t think it was money as much as it is the hope that something new will breathe new life into his results. It’s the tell-tale sign we’re witnessing Rossi’s final chapter in MotoGP.
Yeah I’d agree with MonsterJ sorry Norm G; I dont think Rossi, even now not being close to top dog, has any issues with being able to garner money for the cause…..
What a race. What a season. Congratulations to a superb championship for Marquez and a stunning title defense attempt by Lorenzo. Next season is going to be incredible. Here’s to a safe winter break for all the racers.
Looking forward to seeing how Hayden does back on the Honda. Also what was the final decision by Race Direction for Lorenzo with his mix up with Pedrosa?
Yes.