MOTOGP » Rossi 2008: The numbers.

Damo, please keep in mind that Stoner started waaay ahead of Rossi in the Valencia race. There is no denying that Rossi may have had a higher top speed lap during THAT race but, what about most of the other races? Fromage said that Melandri was fastest most of the time. MELANDRI! And guess what? He was riding a DUCATI! Look at the Laguna Seca race. 95% of Stoner's passes were made on the long left-bending home straight. How was he able to do it in that spot so much? More POWER! There's no question about it, Stoner's the best rider Ducati has but, let's all be honest, the Ducati is a beast of a bike and Stoner knows how to extract the positives out of it.

MOTOGP » Rossi 2008: The numbers.

In my opinion the 2008 M1 was hands down the best "overall" bike on the grid despite lacking the straight-line grunt the Ducati has. The 2007 M1 seemed alot worse than the 2008 version. At least it seems so to the naked eye. The 2007 and 2008 Ducatis have been very reliable and aggressive in the power department and that has really played into Stoners hand. Could Stoner have mustarded up a season as good as Rossi's 2007 season on a bike with all the problems Rossi had? I think not. STONER'S A FANTASTIC RIDER no doubt BUT, when things are closer to equal like this year, Rossi shines like no one else. If Stoner is going to break any of Rossi's records, it'll be after Rossi's loooong gone.

MOTOGP » Rossi 2008: The numbers.

Thanks Fromage. Keep in mind that Rossi had trouble ALL year with his bike and tires in 2007 and despite all of this, he was still Stoner's biggest rival most of the year. Someone wrote earlier that Stoner and Pedrosa couldn't overcome a 4-5kmph top speed deficit like Rossi can and I agree 100%. Stoner has more wins than Rossi over the last two years but, had Rossi's entire package work as good as Stoner's has over the last two years, I'm certain those stats wouldn't be the same. Rossi is pure class and when his bike and tires are working properly, he's a one man train that is RARELY stopped! GOOOOO ROSSI!

MOTOGP » Rossi 2008: The numbers.

Hi motomito! Good post but, even if Stoner wins more championships than Rossi, it won't be time to argue if he's better because, that would mean that he won the championships AFTER Rossi has already retired. We all have seen how hard it is for Stoner to cope with the pressure of Rossi being on the grid with a "competitive" bike. Stoner could blow all of Rossi's records away and it wouldn't mean squat if he couldn't do it to Rossi himself on the track. Rossi didn't have the chance to go head to head with Ago on the track to prove that he's better but, Stoner has a chance to prove that he is better than Rossi since Rossi is still racing. When Rossi starts up front, Stoner sweats! GOOOOO 46!!

F1 » Glock admits: It was just impossible.

Even if he did "give" the spot to Hamilton, it's no different then Massa getting a spot given to him in the last race. Only difference is, it was Massa's team mate who granted him the spot. Same difference none the less though. LEWIS HAMILTON is the 2008 Formula 1 World Champion so, you'd might as well get used to it! P.S. I was glad to see that Hamilton placed his steering wheel back on the car after he got out of it in the paddock. He was to excited and got frustrated with it. God knows he didn't need to given those guys ANY reason to penalize him after the race. Who knows, they may have somehow managed to take the Championship from him over it! LOL! Great job and great year Hamilton!

MOTOGP » Stoner wins Valencia finale.

GOOOOO ROSSI! I mean congrads and all to Stoner for winning from the front when Rossi wasn't there to challenge him. Does winning this way make him amazing? I don't think so. Could he kick my butt around any track in the world? YES! I understand that he wasn't supposed to slow down and wait for Rossi to catch him so that they could duke it out but, come on, Rossi wasn't supposed to win a race at all this year right? Look at Stoners season post Laguna. He's only saw glory when Rossi saw misfortune. O.k. maybe it's great to the 2nd best guy on the grid and the 1st guy to win when Rossi can't but, victory can't feel the same for Stoner this year seeing how he only wins when Rossi allows him to.

MOTOGP » Rossi talks twelfth to second.

I'm sure Stoner would have been 1/2 a second a lap faster than Rossi in the race at Laguna too if Rossi would have let him but, Rossi didn't let him. I think if Rossi wouldn't have got into that little bit of trouble with Toseland, he would have been ALOT closer toward the end of the race. If he would have started at the front, I'm sure he would have piled the pressure on Stoner until the end and won. Seeing how the past allows us to determine what could happen in the future, if you look at some of Stoner's past races this year, you'll see that he's not done so well with the pressure that Rossi puts on him. At any rate, good race by Stoner but, I wouldn't call it a "memorable" victory.

MOTOGP » Stoner: Wrist operation or career over.

I'm tired of hearing about this injury too. I mean, if it's causing him soooo many problems, get it worked on and be done with it! I'm no doctor but, one would think that as many times as Stoner violently crashed in 2006, the injury would had made itself evident then. Instead, it shows up almost 2 whole years after his 2006 season where he's had fewer crashes and romped to a bunch of victories last year on that same bronco-bucking Ducati. It just seems a little strange to me that it's all happening this year, which happens to be the year of the re-vitalized Rossi/Yamaha combo. At any rate, if the guy is truly injured, I hope he gets everything worked out and gets back to 100% soon.

MOTOGP » Rossi reflects on MotoGP title glory.

FINALLY the crown is back where it belongs! Rossi got it back with style too! The thing that has been sticking in my mind for awhile now is the image of Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa in Qatar on the podium after that race. Every Rossi basher, their parents and grandparents said that Rossi wouldn't win a race this year because those 3 were the future which is true but, that's the "future" the *present* is VALENTINO ROSSI and those 3 along with all of us fans need not forget that! I never doubted Rossi, although I doubted his equipment and I screamed all last year that if he got a competitive package that he would TAKE his crown back and waaaa-la, he did it! GOOOOOO KING ROSSI! Congrads!

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

VH MP, I think Rossi's very 1st victory with Yamaha was at Welkom, South Africa. If memory serves me correctly, I think he put one AWWWWWWESOME spanking on Biaggi in the closing stages of that race!