Come on you 999 owners!!!
 

We should be celebrating!!

Back to back victories for the 999, against proper 1000cc opposition, thats more than our critical 998/6 compatriates ever did!!!! :ninja::ninja:;);)

I know your only a pretend Ducati man, but i cant wait for the WSB Harley entrant :lol::lol::lol:

Several points, dont be fooled by the tencate Honda being a satellite team, Honda wanted to win badly.

As for a Ducati cup, ask Mr Fogarty about an unfair advantage of 996cc v 750cc!

Yes we might well see next year, but that is next year!

Its always great to see a Ducati win, but I'm with Vman's line of thinking....

There was only one real Honda there, sure it was a top Honda and they "wanted to win badly", but next year we'll see 2 or 3 Hondas, 2 or 3 Suzukis and 2 or 3 Yamahas that "want to win badly", and with the Jap factory's support I can't see Ducati winning next year - I'd love to be proved wrong though.

Let's just hope that there are 3 or 4 Ducati's than want to "win badly" enough will have the bike's to compete. Ducati realised this and will reduce their support to sattelite teams (or dump them completely) in order to concentrate on the factory bikes - and they need to!!

But lets enjoy the Ducati victory, our boy did a great job and should be congratulated for beating all those that he competed against. He won a very competitive series against a lot of guys who would've given their left lung to win what he has.

Good on ya fella!!!

Tim:frog:

I agree, Ducati should get Bayliss back in WSB - fantastic!!!

Based on your thoughts, I'm not sure that Hodgson could cut it either, the standards have improved, Xaus seems to have stepped his level up (but looks certain to stay in Moto GP), there are a lot of newer riders who are stepping up.

Perhaps for WSB it was a "gap year" where they sort themselves out and come back nexy year with a much higher level series.

Tim:frog:

Xaus will be in the Marlboro Ducati team next year. Bayliss and Laconi will be on Xerox(?) Ducatis in WSB and Tose will be with GSE racing.

All my opinion of course!

You see, this is my point exactly. The 996/8 win and its "what a world beater of a bike" etc etc
When the 999 wins its "oh well every one else was crap anyway"

:burn:

exactly, and you can only beat what is out there.

"unfair advantage of 996cc v 750cc!", just a a correction AndyB, using thermal efficiency as the true comparitor the 4 cylinder bikes should have been restricted to 733cc- according to a top Japanese (Honda) engineer! 4 smaller cylinders can fill more easily and rev higher therefore will produce more power. Don't forget Honda threw more money at WSB each year than Ducati have probably over the entire development cycle of the 4 valve twins-they REALLY wanted to win and only managed it once before they had to develop their own 'Ducati'.........................beaten by a small Italian factory which in it's entirety is smaller than HRC.
I think that next year will be a belter, especially now that the main factories have had a year with their IL4's in BSB to develop them.

John

Exactly Monty, so throw another 250+cc at an il4.............and the 999 still won!! (just ;))

I think we under estimate what Ducati have done are doing and will do, as they also really want to win!!

bsb/wsb
 

i think emmett let down ducati this year,if shakey was on the new bike maybe jr would have had a fight on his hands? as for wsb,honda wanted it,vermeulens a class act.jt did fantastic to win the tittle. i still think the 999 is a strong package at wsb. maybe monster mob can get a factory bike in bsb next year with a "class" rider?

Vman, so Gary McCoy, Haga, Ramboni, Chilli arn't true racers ?. Get a history lesson fella.

[Edited on 4-10-2004 by Jon]

Tyres
 

... sorry Andy but this isn't about the 999, it's about tyres IMHO.

Ducati will start with a real advantage next year if Pirelli is still the control tyre in WSB, it'll take extraordinary effort from the Japanese (other than Honda who may get some info from Ten Kate) to get on the pace effectively at each round.

In BSB the real reason Emmett had his work cut out early on in the season was because the 999 was set up for Michelins and his team had to set the thing up on Dunlops with no data at every round, sometimes getting it right and mostly wrong. When he got back to Olton for the second time they had the info and he did well.

The 999 is starting to earn its place in the Ducati family - but needs to be gloss black ;)

After watching Emmett on the ETI at Castle Combe and comparing it to his performances on the Monster Mob 999 I would say the 998 was a better bike for him
The same also applies to Frankie Chilli the 998 being a lot better chasis for him.
I'm of the opinion that if Toseland had been running a works 998 with the latest spec engines his reults would be no worse than they were and could even have been better.
As for Hodgson I would like to see him retain a top ride, he is still one of the few riders that could quallify a WCM 500 alongside Doohan on the front row of a GP grid.

bsb/wsb
 

hit nail on the head? "did well".we went to olton & felt "let down" by emmett.he will allways "do well" but at bsb with one MAIN ducati, i pay my £ to see a ducati having ago,fighting,...bit like jt on the factory bike that had pirelli on it but the year before had lovley michelins on it?

You have a memory of a gold fish

Sorry, what was the question again?:puzzled:

At the end of the day when all is said and done, you can certainly tell that the majority of comments are from Brits.
Friggin' typical.

Get with it, like AndyB said and celebrate y'miserable bunch o'rant rant rant

See you in the bar Andy:sing: