Yooperbikemike's 2013 MotoGP Thread

But if the perception among the many (like around here) is that Hayden outroad Rossi on the Duc, does that not count for anything? Rossi may have beat Hayden in the points, but if everyone thinks the opposite is true... does anyone go back to look up season points for positions 6 through 9?

Of course with his massive salary, Rossi should have performed a lot better, so in that respect Hayden may have been the better investment of the two. But he didn't outride Rossi on that bike.

You must drive an audi...

Audi did not buy the MotoGP team, they bought the brand, don't know why. Maybe so they can drop it like beemer dropped Husky.

Le mans efforts don't count here. The way i see it, they are going to dump their motoGP team, after the deal with Dorna ends...2014 or 2016... Yes they are now saying, that they want to gather their own data before making changes. Audi please... Which has better data: Motorcycle company that has raced years in WSBK/MGP ?? Or a car company that has never built a bike ??

I have an idea... Ducati should dig up the drawings of the 2007 bike, rebuild it and then gather some data... didn't that bike still have steel trellis "frame" ?

No, Hayden did not out ride Rossi. Rossi did poorly, but did better than Hayden( not by much ). Hayden started many races better than Rossi, but Hayden seem to allways fade before the end. Rossi was more consistent and did not fade, Rossi did better.

Yes, Hayden often out qualified Rossi, but Rossi went forward during the race, Hayden went backwards.

Wow alot of guys drinking that Rossi KoolAid....

At least the Rossi koolaid is just koolaid... The Nicky/Ben koolaid seem to have some acid mixed in there...

I don't think there is any Ben koolaid left.

Jesus Juice.

The steel trellis frame was crap. Stoner begged Ducati to give him the carbon frame as soon as he tested it, it was so much better.

Ducati don't need a 2007 bike, they need 2007 circumstances: a custom-built tire, Honda and Yamaha aiming at the wrong target (agility instead of fuel efficiency), and the mercurial talent of Casey Stoner. None of those factors are currently available to them. that's their problem.

As the man most in the know around here do you think Audi is in MotoGP for only a short time?

What I understand is that Marlboro are losing patience with Ducati. I think Audi would be perfectly happy to continue with Marlboro picking up such a large part of the bills. However, if they had to pay for it out of their own pockets, that might be another thing altogether.

Audi's intention is to continue, as far as I am aware, and they intend to stay in if they can. They also have a contract with Dorna which will keep them in until 2017 or '18. They could leave, but it would cost them.

Is there a commitment to fixing the bike, to make it competitive, or is that just corporate talk?

There's a commitment to fix the bike.

Yeah, I ran out last year.

There is what people might think, and then there is what you can put on your resume.

The people in the paddock don't need to look at anyone's resume. They know.

I was curious and graphed all of the races from 2012 that both Rossi and Hayden finished. Of course racing only counts if you finish.

So, the lower the graph, the better.

From those 13 races Rossi finished ahead of Nicky in 8 races. And Nicky ahead of The Doctor in 5 races.

You could have used yellow on the Rossi graph.. :)

For a good part of last year Rossi wasn't really pushing 100% I think. He'd seen the bike's a turd, can't get on the rostrum, and knew he wasn't gonna stay, so to try stubbornly and risk crashing and injuring yourself probably didn't seem like a wise thing to do.

Btw, Hayden is lucky to be alive and well after that bizarre crash and flight @ Aragon.