MOTOGP » Rossi's 69th makes Indy, MotoGP history

Great job to Rossi at this race in this condition. It was truly amazing to see what he did. While I wasn't around or too young to witness Ago and other past greats, Rossi is without a doubt in my opinion the best GP/GOAT rider ever. Granted Ago has more championships overall which will probably not even be broken by the great Rossi. Rossi's feats of winning on multiple bikes and having the most wins in the class and probably more to come is worthy in itself. As a fan it would be great to see him win the next two championships but as the past few years have proved it won't be easy. Go Rossi!!!

@ Something else, I think MotoGP did itself a favour at Indianapolis.

BBC: Danica Patrick impressed with her first taste of MotoGP.

"It is pretty impressive how fast they go down that front straight, especially considering how little tyre there is underneath them," she told journalists.

"I can only be mildly trusted with a scooter. No-one rides with me because they don't trust me and I kind of understand as I didn't ride scooters until a year ago.

"That is why I am so impressed with them because it takes a certain amount of bravery and a special talent to handle a bike and to have fun with one. This stuff is obviously a whole other level to regular bikes."

Mission accomplished

waz -- to take your logic further but for CS dropping it there would have been 2 ducks on the podium in the last two races leading up too IMS making it the best... yep bull, they all handle and the yams the slowest, DP was leading till he fell off and stoner should have won the last 4 races by a country mile, he had the pace. Yam just have the best rider(no question) and one of the up and coming stars, both Honda and Ducati only have one top rider each...

Rossi is a class act. In the last few races he beat the world champion simply by piling on the pressure. Only once Rossi succumbed to pressure, when Nicky Hayden was champion. I think that says a lot about both riders.

Rossi to me became the true champ when he switched from Honda (championship winning bike) to Yamaha. Back then Yamaha was totally uncompetitive. Staying at Honda would also made him a legend. But he chose the hard way. Like Schumacher switching from Benneton to Ferrari who were without championship for 15 years. Only true greats have courage for that.

There is no rider on the grid today that can come even close to Rossi.

Just as I thought, nobody here has a clue. As for me making assumptions, I'm just joining the party toolsacks. Everything here is assumptions, and opinion. Nothing wrong with that unless you refuse to accept anybody else's. Say it with me: Hi Po Cri Sy!

Yay now you will be able to read at lest one word!

The Morgue,
As an American fortunate enough to have attended the race, I can say it was well received. Rossi is hugely popular here and Nicky, of course, is well liked . To have had the two of them smoke the rest of the field was a dream come true, and Ben Spies rode like a seasoned veteran to finish 6th, right with Dovi and Stoner.
Attendance figures were good and I hope Indy will become a regular stop on the calendar. I can't wait until next year!
On another note, it was nice to see someone finally mention Eddie Lawson among the alltime greats. For the better part of a decade he, along with Spencer, Rainey, Doohan and Schwantz provided the closest, most intense racing in the history o

f the sport. Winning 4 titles against most of the greatest riders in history speaks for itself.

Thanks Roadrage (and other Americans) for responding, I envy you for having been there
On the other hand the weather looked prety tough on the spectators too...
I read something about a spectator count of 80000, would that be realistic?
From the TV shots it looks as if you see the most on the mainstraight but there seemed to be people sitting on the other side of the oval as well. Is there a way to see most of the track or do buildings and stuff disturb the view.
What an immense complex it is, amazing.

Duke of Bebop, you are in danger of falling into the Rossi fanboy mindset, which goes as follows:

* Rossi wins = it's the rider
* Rossi loses = it's the bike

* Stoner wins = it's the bike
* Stoner loses = it's the rider

Not calling you a fanboy, just holding up a yellow card.

No denying Rossi is the best out there, but the above formulae have their effect on how certain people interpret results. Pace is not everything. I suspect Stoner fell because he is able to ride faster than the bike is capable of going, i.e. the front end will no longer stick to the ground. Valentino is very stable on the Yam and you can't tell me it's all his own skill when little Lorenzo is doing similar work.

waz have you seen the Ben Spies press conference (youtube it) from the indy tests back in july or whenever? He says at one point that there is much less to do when riding a motogp mike but you have to trust it a lot more. Also says that once you get to the top 5 riders 'there is a lot of bike' involved.

Interpret that how you will but whatever applies to Stoner also applies to Rossi and vice versa.