@Realist
how can you say he wont!!
remember rossi did finish ahead of bradl many times and also ahead of crutchlow in the last season!
then why cant dovi?

How can any teammate be faster then Hayden? He has been on Ducati for sooooooooo long now...I understand that tehy need to seel bikes in the US, but cannot they find a better PR with racing skills?

@ brs

Simple, Dovi isn't Rossi. Despite how people may feel about Rossi (..and to each their own), looking at it objectively, they are not the same caliber of rider.

@ Fish

Good question, but Hayden is a good reference point for determining if the actual bike is developing or not.

He's dreaming and doesn't want to wake up! He is not going to be happy at all when Cal repeatedly beats him handily this year -- and Dovi will know he is the better of the two riders.

I really like Dovi, but he will never be competitive until he has learnt to let the front slide & push & catch it as Casey had to do. This is what Rossi was not prepared (or unable) to do.

@ fact.......OK I'll bite I'll remind you that the previous Ducati rider quit and went back to Honda.

Back to the thread...I rate Dovi as a rider. I also rate him as a person, continually shafted by his employers and keeps his chin up. Constantly having to adapt to new bikes and succeeding. And so far already ahead of Nicky. Mixed feelings on that, I like them both.

Anyone know if the new stuff is what Rossi and JB never had time to evaluate? Gobby said that there's tons of it lying around.

Lets hope both Dovi and Nicky get the same bike and updates at the same time, that certainly wasn't the case last year and the year before, Nicky was constantly waiting to get the new parts given to Rossi

OK I'll bite I'll remind you that the previous Ducati rider quit and went back to Honda...Codger.

Agreed,but he did leave after 23 victories and a World Championship.Just a little difference.

But lets not go back down that road again shall we?

Lets see how Dovi gets on this season before putting the boot in!

I think it's cool to see Ducati actually using these tests and developing the bike, and I'm hoping they can bridge the gap a little bit more in the Jerez test. It seems that getting Pirro as a tester is already paying off.

Same with the CRTs in using the tests, but I think they could use another couple of weekends to sort out the electronics, but that's another story...in contrast, we all know Honda and Yamaha could have stopped after the first test and gone racing--nothing wrong with that, but it's not an interesting story, until the racing starts.

Now my question is about Pramac--if the factory team is making gains, and it appears that way, how much of this will be shared with Pramac--both in parts and setup. Anyway, can't wait for the next round of testing!

@99....The smiley face was put in to stop anybody from taking it seriously. Didn't work though.
You are right about Casey's achievements, although most was on a different bike.

Didn't get the putting the boot in comment. Why are you planning to put the boot in? And into who?

I'm expecting Dovi to score more points this year than Nicky, I'm also expecting him to score more points than Rossi did last year. We'll see.