The irony with De Angelis and Hayden is that Hayden did the same thing to Capirossi at the same turn the following year. That said, Hayden has had worse luck than most with riders crashing into him.
Nicky recommended they get the guy with the fruity helmet. Nicky shows 'em how it's done. :eek1 <object width="420" height="315"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/4mu4QhI5zq0?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/4mu4QhI5zq0?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
Marquez and Rossi have both taken 1 win out of first seven races. But what will these numbers be, when the season is finished?? I take it from my hat, that Rossi takes two more victories (Sepang and Phillip Island?) and Marquez one more, so 3-2 for Rossi. The young Spaniard still has a realistic shot at the title, and Mugello taught him a bitter lesson, so finishing on the podium every time will be even more important for him, than actually winning races. For Rossi to have a real chance, the whole ´Spanish Armada´ would have to fail spectacularly, all three of them, and that´s not likely, so he can just have a go at it in every round.
Well, each of the Spaniards would need two non-points finishes or dnfs, at races Rossi did well at. It is not likely but it is perfectly possible. Would not need to be spectacular either. On an unrelated note: interesting stuff from Matt Oxley on "Honda tracks" etc here at Motor Sport Magazine.
FYI, the oddsmakers currently rank Rossi's chances of winning the MotoGP championship at 50:1. - Mark
If you are quoting from oddschecker, those are the best odds available. And it's the most popular bet on anybody for the title, making up 28 per cent of the traffic. (No idea over what period.) Most sites have Rossi mid 30s. Poorest are 25s. Marquez at 4:1 is doing nearly as much business as Rossi at 50. Only three of 20 sites will offer anything at all on Pedrosa, with the best being 16:13.
Tech 3 needs to cancel that contract with Smith. That bad decision to sign him so early to a 2 year is really driving the bulk of the problems in rider signings for next season. He's not making the cut. Put one of the Espagaro's on the bike and see it go.
Some interesting speculation here about Edwards potential plans for 2014. http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresults/MotoGP/2013/July/jul0413-honda-power-for-edwards/
I hate the off-week. (BTW -- Martin Heath is selling a limited edition of this ^^^ print! See http://www.martinheathphoto.com/)
Can Rossi beat a healthy Lorenzo? With 11 races to go, I think he will, but Lorenzo should take the lion's share. A strong Rossi could be Lorenzo's best friend and Pedrosa's worst enemy. Cal could also be the spoiler again in another race or two. Pedrosa's best chance to win a championship comes in the most challenging season in a long while. It would be cool if he won, but I think Lorenzo will win the championship.
It will be interesting to see how the crash situation plays out this year. We've already seen even Lorenzo go down hard without provocation. We've had Bautista take out Rossi, and in the next race he just missed Rossi but took out himself. Crutchlow has crashed all by himself in a race, as has Marquez. Marquez has narrowly missed taking out Pedrosa, and certainly chose valour over discretion at Jerez with that last-corner move on Lorenzo. Crutchlow was inches from upsetting Marquez and himself when Marquez brake-checked him on the last lap at Assen. Did I miss anything? My hazy memories of prior seasons where there were this many able to run near the front, tell me that we can expect sharp reversals of fortune.