Rossi toying with Lorenzo

Lorenzo has said afterwards that he was not pleased with the way Rossi battled him. On the other hand Rossi complimented Lorenzo for the fight he put up. No surprises here...

 

It was all about next year. Some of the passes that Rossi made were very, very dangerous. Unless you've really got something to prove, you don't make those passes. However, he made his point: if he wished, he could pass Lorenzo at any time he wanted. Bets on whether or not Lorenzo has used his "fast motors" and Rossi has not? (MotoGP rules: you only get a certain number of engines, and the factories have made some motors stronger than others).

Art

 

Just went back and looked at the passes on the MotoGP video section, and , and I've got to tell you that Lorenzo is the one who was playing with fire. After the passes, Rossi didn't back off, so the next corner he had the inside line, and was at least even with Lorenzo, so he had the "right of way" if there is such a thing in racing. Maybe I'm wrong when I said that he was done, may have another couple of years in him. Next year should be interesting, it seems that Casey has developed the Ducati, so he might have a competitive bike to ride against Casey next year.

Art

 

Great battle for third.

Hopefully we'll see battles like that between Ducati and Yamaha next year.

 

I wonder how Rossi will take it the day someone plays equally hard with him, forces him out of track etc., while something is really at stake for him...?

His behaviors and manners are not that different from those typical of bullies at school and work... Being charming and funny doesn't change that; only makes it worse.

 

Amazing last few laps of the race. Some of the best racing I have ever seen.

Problem is that Stoner developed the bike to suit his riding style, which seems to be different from everyone else, considering how little success his team mates seem to have had. The beauty is that Rossi seems to be able to adapt to anything and make it a front runner.

Rossi is not close to being done.

Rossi can fight as aggressively as anybody else, but he is fair, as he was in this battle with Lorenzo. He is up for any challenge brought unto him. Rossi has far more experience than Lorenzo, and has seen it all, and experienced it all. I think it was quite stupid of Lorenzo to engage with him, seeing that he really didn't need to finish ahead of Rossi. It all came down to making a statement, and Rossi made the statement.

A bully? Are you saying that Rossi is far stronger than Lorenzo, and was picking on his weaker opponent? Well, if you have an opponent who is challenging you, don't you want to come out on top? I know I do. I don't think "bully" is quite the proper term.

 

Just for everyone's information, the only rider with a mathematical chance at the title over Lorenzo is Pedrosa, and he is recovering from a badly broken collarbone two days ago. If he is not on the entry list for Malaysia, the title is Jorge's.

Rumor today from Motogpmatters.com is that Rossi has decided to end his season after Sepang this weekend. Having shoulder surgery sooner rather than later to be in the best shape for 2011. A couple of weeks ago it was hinted he might skip the last two races (and wouldn't be allowed by Yamaha to test the Ducati Monday after Valencia anyway). Looks possible now he might skip Phillip Island too.

The other part of that rumor is that Rossi received feedback from Yamaha brass that racing their new world champion that hard is not acceptable, and this disrespect to the most successful Yamaha rider ever was enough to convince him there was no way they were going to let him test the Ducati until January.

Why contracts run until the end of the calendar year and not the last Sunday of the season is a mystery to me.

 

Makes sense that he gets that shoulder attended to ASAP. Why risk hurting it more, or injuring something else for nothing? The team is treating him like crap, there's no reason for him to be there any longer.

I am a little shocked at how Yamaha is currently treating Rossi. I am not impressed at all. He completely turned that team around when he joined them, and won them a WC right out of the box. What do they expect, Rossi to lay down when Lorenzo challenges him? That's not what multiple WCs are made of.

I might have to sell my FZ-1 and get me a Duc Streetfighter!

 

Now your talk'n

 

He is a throw back to my time. His riding was similar to the way we rode. Go back and look at some Wide World of Sports video of the superbike wars in the 70s, and you'll see similar riding styles. Or look at some of earlier video of Roberts, and his passes, most of which are a lot more aggressive than what we see now.

Goes back to my comments earlier: The riders have become a lot more civilized over the years, and I'm not sure if that is good thing. Some of the things we did then would be deeply frowned upon in today's world, I suspect.

Art

 

I remember a couple of years ago at Qatar in Toseland's first race in MotoGP he put a hard pass with contact on somebody (DePuniet?). The commentators were basically saying he wouldn't last long doing things like that. Ironically if he had shown more of that aggressiveness he might have lasted more than two years in the premiere series.

 

I'd hate to see the day if MotoGP turns into modern day F1.

I have grown to love MotoGP, now more than F1, because of the passing. There's nothing more exciting to watch in all of motorsports than what we saw on the last few laps in this last race between Rossi and Lorenzo. I was literally on the edge of my seat, and left breathless for much of those last few laps.

 

Although I will say, I love my FZ1 - it's an awesome bike!

 

It was great to see actual racing for a change.
Shame on Yamaha for discouraging racing, just because they are teammates.

I think Rossi is old-school in the way he races...he rides WAY safer than the greats from the 2-stroke 500cc era raced.
MotoGP is getting too much like modern F1, I yearn for the scary-fast machines you'd have to be nuts to climb aboard. Maybe if they take off TC when they go back to 1000cc we'll be in for some fun stuff.

If Burgess goes with Rossi to Ducati, they'll make it into a winner. Remember how much of a dog the M1 was before they got a hold of it.

 

I think they run til the end of the year for sponsorship/promotional duties.
As far as the battle, Lorenzo needs to review film from phillip island last year where he took himself and almost Hayden out at the start with his ritual kamikazee starts on cold tires. These guys all TRY to dish it but can't take it. These young guys are too spoiled...

 

Burgess and crew are following Rossi to Ducati.

 

http://www.gpone.com/index.php/en/audio/2052-pernat-rossi-uno-schiaffo-a-lorenzo.html
Monday, 04 October 2010 22:11 by Alice Margaria


Carlo Pernat always has an opinion to share, and so of course he had something to say about the Rossi-Lorenzo battle at Motegi.

“Well, what can you say about Sunday's race – the Italian manager said – Valentino is still the man to beat. Valentino's victory has a very particular feel to it. It isn't a win, because he didn't win the race, but he did beat Lorenzo today. And this is different to the race in Barcelona, where you could say that Lorenzo wasn't expecting it. This time he was expecting to beat Valentino in the head to head fight, also because he believed in his head that he was stronger. And the outcome will have some repercussions."

I didn't really like the fact that Lorenzo went to Lin Jarvis to complain. This wasn't a nice thing because it is something that could be said face to face, or at the next GP. I wasn't happy with Lorenzo because his is a person I admire a lot, but in my opinion he is a little like a Biaggi clone. I'll just put that out there. It looks like the return of Valentino against Biaggi. Valentino dominated Biaggi, and it will probably be more difficult for him to dominant Jorge, but that is the situation we are in. Next year will be a lot of fun with a rivalry like this."

"Now Valentino has to think about his shoulder, even if it was "strangely" not a problem for him today. He says that this circuit was a little bit unique, but everyone has some doubts about that. Valentino showed that he is still the king of the jungle. He might fall asleep every now and then, but today I think he delivered a hard psychological blow to Lorenzo. It has nothing to do with the championship, which Jorge will win, but it is something that will carry over into next season."

 

Is Rossi's Burgess the same Burgess that was Freddy Spencer's mechanic when he won two championships (250 + 500) in one year for Honda?

 

That was Kanemoto. Burgess worked with Doohan to win 5 titles.

 

We are both right, according to Wiki:

Jeremy Burgess (born 1953 in Adelaide Hills), is an Australian motorcycle racing chief engineer, having worked with three world champions: Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi.[1] He was also a mechanic on Freddie Spencer's team when Spencer won the 500cc World title in 1985. Burgess learned his GP skills from the legendary American crew chiefs, George Vukmanovich and Erv Kanemoto for whom he worked in his early years.

Winning machines prepared by Burgess range from the Suzukis of Randy Mamola to the Hondas of Ron Haslam, Freddie Spencer, Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi to the Yamaha of Valentino Rossi. Since July 1980, these riders have won 157 GP/MotoGP races (as at 2nd November 2009) and a total of fourteen World Championships on motorcycles that "JB" has either prepared himself or whose preparation he has overseen as crew chief. Burgess's machinery have achieved over 280 podium finishes.

 

Pedrosa isn't riding in Malaysia, the title is now Lorenzo's. If Rossi has decided that this will be the end of his season and has surgery ealry next week, this is Lorenzo's last chance to beat him on equal bikes.

Yamaha shouldn't, and probably couldn't have team orders at this race on Sunday. Both riders are highly motivated to beat each other and end their multi-year rivalry at Yamaha by winning the last battle.

 

If you can, watch today's race. It's on at 5:00 P.M. eastern on Speed channel if you have no other way of catching it.

 

Guess he failed

Well done on him winning the championship, and well done for Rossi winning a race again!!!