MotoGP: Holland Days (Spoilers)

Maybe. Or maybe Rossi has really improved his setup, and is now closer to the front? That win was no fluke, he beat DP, MM & CC fair and square. He is still a 9-time world champion, who has won four of those titles on M1´s previous versions. And he has now tasted victory after a long dry period.

Basically the whole main grandstand got up on their feet, when Rossi took the lead on the chicane.

I wanna see #46 and #99 go head to head for the win, when both are in full fitness. That´ll be interesting.

More 2009 please.

There is an asterisk on EVERY win. Whether its someone struggling with a full fuel tank for the first laps, or cold track temps favoring one set up, or hot track temps working against edge grip, or an also-ran missing a brake marker, or any particular rider being injured, or or or ...

Question for the folks that are into stats and record keeping. When was the last time there was a podium without DP or JL on it?

Valencia 2011: Stoner, Spies, Dovi. Note all three of them have been neutralized in one way or another (retirement, injury, serving sentence at Ducati for hubris :) )

Wikipedia has finishing positions for every rider, every race, every season in recent years.

Both?

I'm pretty sure you are going back to 2009 or so, maybe even 2008. Some wet race or something.

I realize that. Just saying VR benefited greatly from JL situation and really I think the Yamaha was the bike to have. Very good chance it could have been an all Yamaha podium IF JL had been healthy and running at the front as it also would have meant Cal wouldn't have been slowed up getting by a slower JL. Cal and VR were faster than the Hondas and it's reasonable to think JL would have been faster than either of them. I'm glad we are not seeing, yet, Honda with a big advantage as I was beginning to think they might have by this time.

Actually I believe it was Valencia 2011

Yeah, by the same token we can say that if Vale didn't break his leg in 2010, Jorge would not have won the WC.

Tsk, tsk, asterisks

This is racing, whoever gets the to the flag first wins.

Like I said, I realize that. He won fair and square (with some help from JL).

One could say that, but it'd be a little far-fetched as Lorenzo was beating Rossi in the standings before Rossi broke his leg.

swimmer's point doesn't seem controversial: the Yamahas go well at Assen and Lorenzo has consistently beaten Rossi so far this season. Numbers don't lie, as Hayden once said, but they don't tell the whole story.

All well and understood. Rossi might not just have not just the setup right, but also his confidence back. I personally think the incident with Simo nd two shit years at Ducati fucked with his head, and at this level you can lose if you don't have your stuff together.

If all the yamahas and hondas blew up then a ducati would have gotten a podium....

And I'm sure all of us agree having Rossi fighting for wins is a good thing and I hope this past weekend was no fluke.

There were only 3 races before Mugello, where Rossi broke the leg, and both had finished on the podium every time, Lorenzo winning two, Rossi one of those three races. A bit early to say, who was beating who. Lorenzo was leading in points at that time, though.

Right, so Lorenzo's '10 WC wasn't a gift by any means.

Yeah 2nd and 3rd....behind Espargaro's CRT

Exactly, what he said