He certainly achieved an amazing feat. As for the near coming together, it was exactly that, near. No contact and no likelihood of it as both riders knew the score and trusted each other implicitly.

My 2p's worth.
Rossi rode the wheels off the Yamaha-because he can, he has the talent that no-one else seems to have at this level. But watch Honda give Max another 20BHP-because they can, by simply adjusting the ECU on the bike-Honda hate to lose, especially to the team who 'stole' their rider. There is a structure amongst the Japanese manufacturers that Honda is top and so they will have the best riders, and no other manufacturer will poach their riders-well Yamaha did-interesting times.
The overtake, close, but hey that's racing, no contact so no problem. I personally thought that the ban on Tamada was harsh-if they applied those rules to the 125 class they would have to execute Roberto Loccatelli!:lol:, and about half of the others.
Bayliss-the bike is only 1 month old guys, and they are still setting it up, they got Capi's more dialled in for him but Troy was riding round BIG problems-it'll come good.
I think this will be the best GP season we have seen for a very long time.
That was a lot for 2p-you get your money's worth with me!:lol:

For those that suggested that I was talking uninformed rubbish I suggest you read Michael Scott's colum in todays MCN. Of course you could also suggest he knows nothing about GPs either

Don't forget the Bank Holiday Monday rounds Rocker.

They fall on the Bank Holidays that I/m working as well. Oh the joy of working in public transport. At least I'm off for the May day run to Hastings

Michael Scott is missing the point - he's saying the MotoGP season isnt going to be exciting because of the result at Welkom.....

Not true, that race was as exciting as they come, and both the Hondas and the Yamaha have room to improve - so the racing will always be close this year.

But dont dispair - he'll be off to F1 after 2005.....then Biaggi will still be on his Honda and he'll be winning every round, and then you'll all have the same thing to moan about...

So Michael Scott is wrong then. Of course what we he know after many years working in and writing about GPs?
Are you saying that by 2006 that there will be nobody coming through the ranks that will be good enough to challenge Biaggi? If so the MotoGP really is in a bad way.
Once again (and for the last time I hope) there is no need for you Rossi fans to get dso defensive as I an NOT saying that he is not skillful in fact I am saying that it his dominance that is the problem.
If you thought that race was the most exciting ever then you cant have been at Siverstone in 1979. Of course those were the days when 5 or 6 different riders could have won the championship and battles occured at every round not just the odd few. thank God we still have the 250 & 125 classes
BTW I am not moaning but just expressing a point of view. I assume that this is permissible on this board.

I was pleased that Rossi took the first race,I thought his overtake a fair one,if Max was on the ball he would have stuffed it up the inside of Rossi as he ran wide.
I think racing is as much about psychology as machinery and in that respect Rossi's beaten them all,all he had to do is beat Max once on what Max knows is an inferior machine and he will crush Biaggi's spirit,from which it may be difficult for him to get over .
I doubt he'll win the next race though as a humiliation like that will get HRC pulling out all the stops to beat him.
What will be interesting,though and no-ones mentioned this yet,is that Rossi is a very gifted development rider which Max et al (except maybe Edwards) are not,I expect the Yamaha to get very much better as the season continues and the honda will just get more parts ,or more powerful ,or something,but they wont have that development experience and expertise that has shaped the RCV up until now,so may probably lose their way as they fiddle with all the different parameters.
This is shaping up as the most interesting GP season in ages,roll on Donington!

Dave G You say that the Yamaha will just get better whilst honda will loose their way. You say that Rossi is far superior to Biaggi. How does this add up to the most interesting season for ages. Even if every round is like the first it is still only a 2 horse race for the championship
I have just checked the heading for this board as I thought I had logged into the Rossi Fan Club Message Board by mistake;)
Could the fact that I dared to disagree with some of his diciples be the reason that my avatar no longer seems to appear on my postings?

[Edited on 22-4-2004 by Rocker]

Whatever happens lets hope Rossi wants to win on 3 makes of bike when he's won on the Yamaha and come to Ducati :sing: