Ducati Sporting Club UK > Sport > Race > Interesting stats on Valencia

[ariel]

Originally Posted by TP

According to this article based on laptimes when Rossi crashed and their relative positions in the race order it predicts that Hayden would have still won the championship by a solitary point!

Interesting also when you view it in the context that Rossi was only 11th fastest in the morning warm-up.

Did Rossi really throw it away? Or was he going to lose regardless?

Rossi might well have lost the championship even without the lowside, but I cannot go along with the idea that Rossi gave away his strong chance of winning the world championship deliberately. What could he have gained compared with what he stood to lose?
I believe that this speculation is absolute nonsense. It probably comes about on the back of hero worship for Rossi.
Let us put things into perspective, Hayden won fair and square and the young man should be congratulated rather than being described the way some of the hateful postings to a club called The Ducati SPORTING club.
have appeared recently.

[TP]

Originally Posted by ariel

Rossi might well have lost the championship even without the lowside, but I cannot go along with the idea that Rossi gave away his strong chance of winning the world championship deliberately. What could he have gained compared with what he stood to lose?
I believe that this speculation is absolute nonsense. It probably comes about on the back of hero worship for Rossi.
Let us put things into perspective, Hayden won fair and square and the young man should be congratulated rather than being described the way some of the hateful postings to a club called The Ducati SPORTING club.
have appeared recently.

Fair enough, but maybe you've taken my 'thrown away' comment a little too literally.

I'm not suggesting he did, in the other thread I said he made two mistakes and I meant mistakes. This thread isn't debating that, it's about whether or not Rossi would have clung on to his championship lead if he fell off or not.

But hey, fill your boots.

[ariel]

Originally Posted by TP

Fair enough, but maybe you've taken my 'thrown away' comment a little too literally.

I'm not suggesting he did, in the other thread I said he made two mistakes and I meant mistakes. This thread isn't debating that, it's about whether or not Rossi would have clung on to his championship lead if he fell off or not.

But hey, fill your boots.

TP I didn't think that your remarks about Hayden were in any way spiteful. I should have made it clearer that I was referring to one or two other postings that have been made since Valencia.

It's hard to say in view of the way the race was going whether or not Rossi would have won the championship had he not lost the front end.
Had Rossi been near Hayden perhaps Hayden would have upped the pace as required to maximise his points total. Who knows but it's sad that Rossi went down but that's racing

[MJS]

I think Rossi blew it at the start. He needed a top two finish to be sure of winning the championship, and I have no doubt that Hayden could have easily finished second, and if it had come to it, probably even won the race - he got the pit board saying Rossi P20 and just cruised, no point taken any chances whatsoever.

[Monty]

Originally Posted by Urban996

I think Rossi blew it at the start. He needed a top two finish to be sure of winning the championship, and I have no doubt that Hayden could have easily finished second, and if it had come to it, probably even won the race - he got the pit board saying Rossi P20 and just cruised, no point taken any chances whatsoever.

Actually I have to disagree on one point-there was no-one going to overtake Bayliss at Valencia-he loves the place, he had absolutely nothing to lose-Nicky had to finish otherwise Rossi would still have been champion. Nicky wouldn't have risked trying to overtake Bayliss even if he could have caught him which frankly I don't think he could.

John

[749er]

Originally Posted by Monty

Actually I have to disagree on one point-there was no-one going to overtake Bayliss at Valencia-he loves the place, he had absolutely nothing to lose-Nicky had to finish otherwise Rossi would still have been champion. Nicky wouldn't have risked trying to overtake Bayliss even if he could have caught him which frankly I don't think he could.

John

I think you are right here. Factor in how well Rossi and Capirossi get on and you start to wonder how far Capirossi would have gone to stop him getting by him. And then if he did, there was Bayliss......and every time Capirossi or Hayden took time out of Bayliss, he took it straight back

[KeefyB]

Hmm,the top 10 qualifyers were all in the 1.31 bracket.When Rossi lobbed it,it took him 2 laps to catch and overtake the Ilmoor.(Slowest bike out there)
He was never gonna catch the leaders in a million years.Capirossi broke the lap record to stay with Bayliss.

The race itself was pretty boring after around lap 8.There was a bit of dicing downfeild but most of the positions stayed the same.
Man was it hot there tho.Unusually warm for the time of year.Sitting in the crowded open stand I thought I would melt.I missed most of the 250 race as the heat got the better of my 9 yr old daughter.We sat under the stand sipping water.She made it to the end of the big race,bless 'er.
The time/temp displays in town afterwards said 32 deg.C.
The Spaniards go just as mad for the 125's and 250's,(Well you would,if your countrymen were world champions),but hardly get a mention here.
125 Champ Alvaro Bautista was staying at our hotel and most of the Brits did'nt recognise him.It was only when they saw a life sized cut-out of him advertising chrisps that the penny dropped.

[749er]

Originally Posted by ariel

Let us put things into perspective, Hayden won fair and square and the young man should be congratulated rather than being described the way some of the hateful postings to a club called The Ducati SPORTING club.
have appeared recently.

I think people are just disappointed that the title was won by someone who is well down the list of best wheel to wheel racers. People also like to support the underdog, which in some ways Rossi is, given his machine is arguably less capable than the Hondas and the Ducati, and that he had to fight his way from so many points back.

At Donington I saw Rossi race from 12th on the grid to second,with broken bones in his wrist and ankle. Heroic!