MOTOGP » Gibernau 'very fast', but will he race?

It was on race tyres

Reported elsewhere that Melandri will stay at Duc at least to Brno, though no reason given. Makes no sense to me, Marco is totally whipped and there was a report, quickly removed, on Crash that he was ready to walk away with some shreds of mutual good will from Duc - wonder what all that was? At least this report slays the argument that the Duc is now a 'twist'n'go' thing to ride, there's no question that it's very fast but also very demanding. The persistent 'only built for Stoner' idea is stupid - Melandri's contract was worth nearly double Stoner's and an Italian factory is deliberately going to make an Italian rider look bad, throw away the maker's championship? Makes no sense.

Were they the same race tyres as Stoner used?

Could you please point out where you found this information as well. If we are going to compare times, it would be nice to compare tyres, etc. Still it was not in race conditions. So how can we really compare.

Why bother with Sete. He had his chance on the bike bring in a young rider and give him a chance. How about giving Guintoli a chance on the factory bike or even Canepa.

Oscar what are you doing posting on here. Your comments mate to much sense. Remember in 07 how Stoner was not even the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th choice of rider at Ducati, yet the bike was built for him.

i think it's been well documented that Duc do not share data between the team mates that makes me wonder what they constitute as a "Team"? it's this kind of politics that make Rossi swerve Duc when he had the opportunity to join them.

As for Gib... one swallow doesn't make a summer as a famous person once said... or a 5 lap stint around a track doesn't constitute a GP. however i would actually be interested to see if Gib could run at the sharp end in a race on the factory Duc. IMHO he wouldn't be able to, especially as he wouldn't get any help from CS side of the garage with regard to race setup.

i do feel sorry for the other 3 duc's their poor performance cant just be down to the riders??

Ben - now you're just letting facts get in the way of a good excuse for unreasoning hostility. I have yet to see any of the Stoner haters / Rossi haters advance a sensible, reasoned argument in support of their position, but the amount of bile that exudes from either camp is quite amazing. We had some really good stuff going in the extended 'Stoner Races Stoner' blog after Assen (from about p9 onwards) which was I think enjoyable and instructive for those who participated and I certainly learned some new stuff. The numpty fanboys are just irritating static.

Lexinton

So what was it last year? Did Ducati play favorites with Stoner?

Remember he was not even in the top 4 choices for Ducati towards the end 06 to take the ride. Yet from what we hear on the forums, the bike was built for Stoner. This year I would assume that Ducati would put it's efforts behind Stoner as he is the lead rider and current world championship, that would make total sense as the want to try and repeat last years efforts, and I guess they see Stoner as the best chance.

I recall comments made by Colin Edwards when he was in the Fiat team, that all focus was towards Rossi and he had to play seconds fiddle. What is so different with that V Stoner?

Your right, the Ducati isn't the best bike on the grid. That would be the Yamaha and then the Honda. It's only the awesome talent and fearlessness of Stoner that's turned it from a back marker to a winner. You really have to give the guy full credit for the level of commitment he has shown. IMHO the best rider on the grid by a country mile

ben... i don't have a problem with duc favoring CS but you should understand that "playing second fiddle" in CE's case meant that although they did share setup information (more than the current duc situation) any new parts would go to VR first, like the pneu engine for example.

what i don't get is that if duc are so desperate to get more of their machines towards the front in races it would seem to me the first thing to do is share the setup data of the one guy who is doing well with the guys that aren't doing so well. am i being too logical here??? not saying CS setup would suit the others 100% but it would be a good starting point don't you think?

They may as well advertise the ride on ebay...........Sete comeback phhh.

Lex - you may be right, I don't know about this, but if you are, then it has interesting consequences: it means that Stoner, coming into the 07 Duc team as a cheapie contract, was able to develop the thing very quickly to be a consistent race winner while Loris wasn't. I am one of those who believes that Stoner (probably) doesn't yet have the depth of experience to be able to give top-flight development feedback. Again, why would Duc team management not provide its number 1 rider - which Loris was supposed to be - with the benefit of any useful information coming from its No. 2 rider? Surely that's illogical?