That is exactly the way I read it. Yamaha leadership insulted him so he quit them. Of course it wasn't that much of a leap for him, knowing that Rossi was coming back in some way. Ben has demonstrated himself to be a pretty strong character and supremely confident. Such an insult by a faceless management type was incredulous. I mean, it's not like Ben wasn't trying. Seemed like he crashed in at least one session every round he attempted,,, and sometimes twice!
Which makes it hard for me to believe he was really getting his best from his team. It wasn't even surprising when his bike broke...
I remember Nicky saying it was hard to get Honda to adjust the handle bars when he was there. I would assume he has no such problems at Ducati. That may be a factor in why Ben decided to go there, Junior team or not. On the other hand it seems that they weren't listening to Rossi's suggestions.
I think there may be some truth to that, but I also think the Audi deal put the brakes on ALL development until the deal could be finished and approved, which took many months. Ben has said that the bike they are bringing to Sepang in February should be all new. Time will tell.
I am a big Spies fan and was disappointed with his results last year. I witnessed all of the bad luck, mechanicals, and mistakes. The bottom line is that he completely failed at what previous racers have said is Rule #1: "First Beat Your Teammate". Lorenzo destroyed him in all aspects of measure. Lorenzo also beat his teammate Rossi. Lorenzo may not be as outwardly aggressive as Mladin, but he may be mentally tougher. Oh how I would have loved to see Lorenzo and Stoner on the same team!
Ducati nailed it in -07, but they're going downhill ever since, and not able to turn the ship. Now it's factory prototypes trying not to be ashamed by CRT's, really a sad joke. Much as I'd like to see Nicky, Ben and others do well, its kinda hard to believe, that the big picture is all of a sudden changing.
No kidding! I'd like to see what he is capable of when things go his way. Lets hope for better luck this season, and a Duc that isn't a dog.
So you don't believe Audi is the knight in shining armor? I beleive you're right. And as dissapointing as it is to me, I believe this is likely Nicky's last year on a factory bike.
Yeah but that's pretty hard to do when you have THAT much bad luck. I mean really so much bad luck that people were betting on what's going to go wrong next. Did he make some mistakes yes, that one race he started leading he got excited and binned it. In the other stuff though that's just not the same as him not trying, that's just what the hell type of stuff. Cards were not stacked in his favor at all and I would say 80% of last season was not his fault at all. Hopefully Audi will turn some stuff around and they'll get back to being competitive. We'll see.
Lorenzo has never beat Rossi. Lorenzo took the title in 2010, but Rossi was out many races because of a broken leg. Back in 2010, Rossi and Lorenzo had some epic battles tough... Japan, Spain... Which Rossi won. Lorenzo might beat Rossi in 2013, but i seriously doubt it. 9 titles... he's no joke.
Fan Boi detected, Lorenzo and Predro are going to Destroy Rossi next year. By the end of the year MM will be beating him too.
Lorenzo is the only threat to Rossi. Pedro will be busy chasing that alien status ( failing ).... And MM, most likely will self destruct...