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

"Doohan began the 1993 championship well below full fitness. He had a restricted range of movement in his lower right leg which created difficulties when using the rear brake on his machine. However, Doohan's results improved after a hand-operated rear braking system was fitted to his Rothmans Honda. He bounced back to form in the fifth round of the series in Austria, qualifying second and setting a lap record on the way to finishing second in the race. "

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

Oh and talking personalities: What about Federer? Sampras? Schumacher? Bradman? (cricketer if you didn't know), Phelps? they are/were hardly movie stars, but incredibly interesting people. I think Stoner and Pedrosa fall into this category. Such intense mindsets and kind of alien to me. I find it fascinating that people with completely different personalities can achieve such equally great things.

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

I think you are completely wrong. "Doohan began the 1992 series in superb form, winning the first round in Japan by 28.298-seconds at Suzuka in wet weather. He also won the following three races in Japan, Australia, Malaysia, and Spain. Doohan raced to his fifth win in 1992 in the seventh round of the series at Hockenheim in Germany, and at that stage he led the world championship by 53 points. In qualifying for the eighth round of the series, the Dutch Grand Prix at Assen, Doohan crashed and broke his right leg. He missed four races while recovering from the injury, and Rainey clinched the title in the final round in South Africa with 140 points to Doohan's 136." mickdoohan . com.au

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

I totally agree with that one Saran, I think the next 2 years will be 2 of the best ever. Apart from Laguna, my fav bit of racing this year was in Qatar about mid-race when Rossi, Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Stoner and Dovi were all wheel-to-wheel. All those guys are gonna be on factory rides next year and hopefully competitive. If all goes well people may look back on these coming years as Rossi's most challenging victories ever. More importantly though, with 4 or 5 other riders that strong, hopefully there will be at least 2 being competitive in any given race.

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

Saran, so you were following the 500cc championship from '90-'94? I certainly wasn't and it would appear than Doohan couldn't beat Rainey. But then dig a bit deeper and you find that Doohan, Rainey, Schwantz were all veeery close in those years. Doohan was just unlucky to have crashed. So was Rainey. End result is that Doohan has 5 champs and Rainey has 3. Both raced each other at their peak and won a similar amount of races against each other. When you consider that all racers give their all at each GP (at least the great ones do), who can really say who was better than who? It's just twists of fate that gave us the stats.

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

If it's a reasonable argument that the competition will be easier when Rossi leaves, then it's also logical that Stoner will win at a higher rate in those years. If he maintains his current win rate and then increases it when Rossi leaves then it's entirely possible than he might get more wins than Rossi. BUT, it certainly wouldn't mean that he would be better than Rossi. I guess my point is that if someone is a great rider, then they are a great rider and who is better than who is up to the beholder. It's like saying Jenna Jameson would be a better **** than Tera Patrick... it's just personal opinion.

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

Just some more stats on Stoner: Out of all of the riders that have had to race against Rossi, Stoner has won the most races: 14: Stoner 13: Biaggi (some not against Rossi) 9: Gibernau and Capirossi 8: KR jr IMO if Stoner doesn't seriously injure himself and he continues racing for another 6 years in his current form he will have a better record than Eddie Lawson! (EL: 127 races, 31 wins, 4 championships). Wayne Gardener himself said that the toughest person he ever had to race against was Lawson, and WG raced against Rainey, Doohan, Schwantz, Mamola and others from that period. cont...

MOTOGP » Rossi takes red flagged Indy win.

Yep, I also apologise for my tardiness in expressing my appreciation for a fine race run by all. Sleep is kind of a vital function that refuses to be ignored. Sorry to disappoint all the Stoner-targeting Daleks. Awesome to see Hayden on the podium, happy to see nobody crash...looks like a decent track but hard to say how good it is without a dry race. Nothing else to say really.

MOTOGP » Indianapolis - Race results.

Yay Stoner! fanboy to the rescue! He did do pretty well though I thought. I was just hoping he didn't crash again since the championship is over and Pedrosa is nowhere. And where was Melandri? 18th. In the past he has been a great wet-weather rider, but now he is so broken...or uninteresed. Probably both. But ride of the day to Hayden! It was awesome to see him get the top spot by a US rider this year at his home GP, with a busted foot! Great race all round, and how did nobody fall?? Unbelievable.

MOTOGP » Indianapolis - Qualifying times.

Ooooooh nooooo, not another one of these races. Gonna be a snore fest with either Rossi or Stoner finishing 10sec ahead of anybody else. How can there be 3seconds a LAP difference between the fastest and slowest in a field made up of only the very best!!! Something is wrong with MotoGP and it isn't the riders! I hope I'm wrong about the race. And who said Hayden was useless?