PICS: Toseland's Donington crash.

Hope his hand is allright. He seemed to be holding it after the fall. Piano playing and motorcycle racing are not easy bedfellows.

perhaps he needs to stop doing all the other stuff for a while and just concentrate on MOTOGP, seems to be spread a bit thin with all his outside race commitments????

Yep, forget the Richard Clayderman stuff & concentrate on the racing more!
This weekend for JT was a disaster from the start just forget it now & focus on Assen next week.

oh bu*g*r

just remember last laguna seca and Hopkins & Hayden crash.
too much piano, just play on it when you'll reach each of the podiums that should be nice individual bonus!
and seriously, Kubica year ago almost lost his life in Montreal and this year won, so this year you've crashed but next year it can be just better

oh dear I've just seen the quote "i let everybody down" over the JT crash pic header on the home page.

listen to me JT you put far too much pressure on yourself from the get go with 'podium talk'. psyching yourself up is one thing, but in front of a worldwide audience is another. so now you feel you owe them i guess.

well don't start messing with your head by beating yourself up. this is racing and **** happens. sometimes big **** happens. you've had a string of offs and so far have bruised only your pride (hopefully). you live to race another day so start there. dump the emotional baggage and concentrate on racing and doing the best you can without overstepping the the mark.

i think he'll go really well at assen. focused. and try not to read your official site forum.....talk about pressure! LOL Guess i can't go back there without being handbagged to death!

JT as a fan your racing didn't let me down, however you d7cking about on the piano at the most important weekend of your career(your words) I find odd. I pretty sure the top three wouldn't even think about it.....

Come to the cabaret old son, life is a cabaret!!!...

Caris Wilson,

I would hardly call Hodgson a failure - It wasnt that long ago the Brits were going crazy for him at Brands and then when he went to gps he was the next big thing.

Toseland is out of his depth bigstyle. The british make me sick - Toseland is now the next big thing etc etc Get real.

The eurosport commentary on him being a braveheart etc etc was just comical - He should have pulled into the pits and had done with it.

Ben Spies turns up, has never clapped eyes on the place, never mind been in conditions like that, or on the tyres, or spent much time on the bike and sticks it 8th.

Enough said!

74,

Toseland qualified second for his first MotoGP - six places higher than Spies.
Toseland finished sixth in his first MotoGP - eight places higher than Spies.

Sure Spies did well, didn't know the track and bike etc, but put it in perspective. I hoped he could take a top ten, especially with Toseland and Hopkins out.

You moan about Brits overhyping Toseland then do exactly the same thing when talking about Spies.

After he fell Toseland could have just stomped off and driven home, or he could at least carry on for the sponsors and fans.

JT did come 6th in his first MotoGP and even after todays **** up stands 6th in the championship ahead of many riders with substantial motogp experience (just checked on motogp web)

Spies did great but is it a flash in the pan or something more. For me too soon to say tho he seems promising.


RIP Dajiro

hodgson only won WSB because edwards and bayliss went to moto gp. i'll give him his due though - like ellison, corser, pitt, byrne, mcwilliams and a fair few others, when he did go to gp's he was on an absolute dog of a machine and had no chance of making an impression...

as for toseland, it's a well known fact you can only do one of the following on the first corner of a race:

A) win the race,

or

B) lose the race.

(bonus points for corrct answers)

i'm a big fan of JT, but he's a racer, not a musician and should stop f@rting about with his band and countless appearances and concentrate on the racing (that thing the nice frnch people pay him to do...)

Whatever.. The man crashed in T1 trying to make up some ground after poor qualifying. It happens.

Regarding all his other activities, Toseland is doing a lot to bring fans to MotoGP. It's not his job, but he is still doing it. Plus, he gets a lot of press for himself and his sponsors that Nakano, Elias, West, and others are not getting or doing anything for. He's not on the podium, and is doing what he can to increase ticket sales, viewership, and sponsorship.

Give the guy a break. You people act like it was a mistake for him to join the grid when it very clearly was NOT.

JT has some sorry fans.

well said fan of the sport... JT also has some excellent fans. I was up at redgate today. all the british fans knew what was going on and cheered the guy every lap.

they know the pressure he was under. they know it's a glitch, they know he will return the wiser, plus they know that in the standings he is beating many long-tern MotoGP bookends...

JT's comments range from brave rhetoric ..I have let everyone down, I am a fighter, my turn will come, etc, to pathetic whining: "The british weather ruined my weekend and stopped me getting the best set up". Your ride showed some character JT .. but the british weather didn't stop stoner, rossi, pedrosa, lorenzo ... even westy from finding the best setup for he weekend did it?? Learn from this weekend. There was a reason jurnalists couldn't get near Mick Doohan from Friday till after race on Sunday - he maintains his focus. As do Rossi, Stoner and all the other top guys

I ask all of you that made negative comments about JT, What do you do to release tension, relax or to help you focus on what you need to do or want to do...What I am saying that Piano playing and using his band to promote as said above, it's called marketing and surely Yamaha would have made some restrictions if they felt it would hinder his results and all the sponsors too...Now it is real simple he made a mistake and wanted to carry on like any other true champion would. It's a new world for him and he's trying to make a statement, Lorenzo got a rude awakening, Dovi, and De Angeles to so give the man some credit and let him do his thing and race the way he wants too....

hi james i came down to donington to watch u ride yesterday im proud of u u tryed your best out there and thats all your fans want u to do . hope u didnt hurt yourself to much and ill be watching again next week but from my sofa all the best hope to watch u again soon x

Feel sorry for JT, he isn't the first and won't be the last to try too hard at his home GP. Yes, his comments showed his acute disappointment and frustration - give the bloke a break. At the same time, how about cutting others, like Stoner, a break too when they express their frustration and disappointment - the Stoner-hater brigade would be all over him if he'd made those comments. Even to do 'fun' racing you can't avoid getting psyched up - these guys must be like piano wire to go do their thing. When you can do as well on the track, feel free to criticise.

74 - How is Toseland out of his depth exactly ? He made a few mistakes over the weekend, these things happen.
He is, Donington apart, doing very well thank you very much and i'm sure will be on the podium soon, i am also a big fan of Ben Spies, although i'm a Brit i love a trier and that lad has it all.
He'll go well in GP's next season ( he'll be top ten @ Laguna and Indy too now he's had a weekend of qaulifying/ racing to get some base settings for his style. )
I must agree with others on one thing, James should knock the Piano playing on the head on race weekends so he can focus 100% on qualifying and the race......

Seems to be some confusion over Toseland's piano playing this weekend.

He played with his band on Thursday at the day of champions. That was it as far as I'm aware.

The footage the BBC showed in the pre-race build-up (of him playing in the paddock) was from a previous round and NOT Donington.

Toseland had a bad weekend. It happens.