MOTOGP » Stoner stoned in Brno

moto - off topic a bit but you might like it re the Donington thing (which I'm sure would have embarassed all fair-minded British bike racing fans such as yourself), as an example of how a self-confident Aussie would have handled it: years ago a bloke called Jim Richards won our premier race - 1000ks of improved sedan racing (a bit like superbikes in spec) in a Nissan GTR (godzilla). The crowd booed him because he wasn't driving one of the two popular V8 cars (Ford or Holden). He looked down from the dias, took the microphone for the victory speech, and said - I quote - 'you blokes are a bunch of ****holes'. Cue mass embarassed shuffling.... JR was an NZ'er, actually, but it was a classic.

Oscar i,m sure many brit fans were seriously embararessed at Donnington for the poor behaviour of some ****heads ,just as you and i were at the Bathurst podium.That said Casey was a discrace and un-Australian at Laguna and he if anyone know, has a lot of catching up to do in the respect department.World champ or not

Clint - I think it was pretty obvious that Stoner knew he'd embarassed himself at Laguna and I thought Rossi was very gracious in his statements. Stoner has at least eaten humble pie publicly and he'll be a stronger and wiser person for the experience. As anyone who has done any racing knows, it is incredibly mentally demanding and it takes someone with Rossi's depth of character to handle it well - hell, Doohan used to bite the heads off reporters whether he was winning or not. That said, at least Stoner is giving us the sort of balls-out racing with Rossi that we haven't had too much of for some years: surely it's the on-track stuff we really watch the races for?

Oscar dont get me wrong i agree that the racing will improve and i think it was big of Casey to appoligise.We all do a dummy spit at times but the refusal to shake the guys hand got under my skin.And that is what upset me as an aussie.

Clint - it was a low moment for all we Aussies, I agree, and if Stoner fails to show that he's learned from that and matured a bit I'll be joining those who say 'get your act together'. But it happens to lots of people in the white heat of post-race emotion, it happened to Rossi (the Rossi-Gibernau back-turning episode) and actually I don't remember Rossi apologising for it later, but the Rossi we see today is as close to a role-model for everybody in the sport as we could ask. I think it's fair to cringe, to ask and expect more of Stoner, but also to let him have the benefit of the doubt as a 'first offender'. Rossi has and he was the one directly affected..

Oscar well said .only human hey ,i will cut him some slack then

Clint - if he doesn't deserve it, I'll be joining the chorus for sure. I have a bit of confidence in him - when I watch the post-race stuff I see someone who is terribly nervous about talking and very, very wound up and still doing 200 kph mentally and for all the world it's like Rossi was when he was younger - and he had the struggle of talking English as well to contend with. Nowadays he does every motorcyclist proud - we all I think gain stature as 'decent people' from his media performances in the eyes of the non-motorcycling world. Imagine what it would be like if Fogarty or Biaggi were WC...

Clint - I seem to be hogging this thread and I apologise for that but I'm enjoying the exchange of views. Don't know if you've ever done any racing (and moto has, I'd love to hear his take on it) but I did a little and I found that the level of mental discipline required was intense: at the end of a race it amazed me that I could get a lighter to my cigarette accurately, I was that charged/drained - and I was just a mid-field runner at club level. The idea of facing the world press and stringing words together a few minutes after a race for the WC is incomprehensible to me: that Rossi can do it with such fluent grace is a wonder.

Oscar i got my first bike at 12 an xr75 k3 my folks would not let me race so used to race my mate on his yz 80 c at a track down the road my mate tim was an australian champion and had a superior bike but i persisted and learnt the track like the back of my hand and eventually had his measure . it took lots of spills and skin but i got it in the end.the adrenalin never ends i still get it when i ride fast now.it is no comparism to GP i know that but at 46 i have some regrets.and not racing is one of them.I always followed honda riders due to it being my first of many bikes and hence became a rossi fan and when he jumped on a yami i had to move too.i now own a r-46

Clint - sounds like you have done competitive work on a bike - I only ever raced cars for a little while - and you know about the adrenalin rush and that strange sort of 'dead calm', slightly numb feeling when you finish a really hard run. I try to imagine what it would be like to be someone who is fairly shy anyway, who has worked towards a world top ride for years on the other side of the world since the onset of puberty and who suddenly hits it and is expected to be a suave, cool, together person at the end of a balls-out race against a legend - and mate, I just can't even begin to guess whether I could count backwards from 10, let alone have my **** together after a race like Laguna