Goodbye Valentino...

[WinVT]

Will be sad to see him go. Good job Ducati! jk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfiZHqsVXyQ

Ah thank you for posting that. I miss the rossi/yamaha days. i'm not confident that ducati can build a competitive machine. sucks that he will most likely end his career on a duc. shoulda stayed with yamaha.

[Woodsy]

I'm actually not so sure about that. Nicky Hayden has reportedly been saying that his Ducati is the best it's ever been, and his results haven't been too bad. Sure, he's not on podium pace, but aside from the last race he's been doing okay (but yes, of course there's still room for improvement). And I read recently that Rossi took Hayden's settings and realized that he simply needs to adapt his riding style to the bike instead of expecting it to be just like his Yamaha, and that yielded an improvement in his results at the last race.

I don't think this is over yet. It could turn out to be a pretty interesting season just watching Rossi, Hayden, and Ducati.

(I'd love to know what Stoner could accomplish with the GP12...)

--mark

I would consider any bike that can not crack the top five despite having some of the best talent in the sport in the saddle to be fundamentally uncompetitive. I hear what they are saying but the results speak for themselves. Stoner is one of the only people in the world who could actually ride this bike and he RAN away from it the minute he could. Ducati's realistic competition in this field may just be the CRT bikes

[Drewgrace]

I think it's just a rumor so far:

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/May/120508a.htm

[Drewgrace]

I think it's just a rumor.....so far
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/May/120508a.htm

[Jason P.]

got to love VALE! whoever he signs with next cant be as worse as the Duc now. lets hope he jumps ship and get back into fighting form!

[PhilB]

I would consider any bike that can not crack the top five despite having some of the best talent in the sport in the saddle to be fundamentally uncompetitive. I hear what they are saying but the results speak for themselves. Stoner is one of the only people in the world who could actually ride this bike and he RAN away from it the minute he could. Ducati's realistic competition in this field may just be the CRT bikes

got to love VALE! whoever he signs with next cant be as worse as the Duc now. lets hope he jumps ship and get back into fighting form!

Come on, people, let's try not to be dumb. Look at the actual times and results. The factory Duc is not keeping up with the factory Hondas and Yamahas, agreed. But it's about 1 second back, not 10 seconds back. It's currently competitive with the top satellite bikes -- Tech3 and Gresini, ahead of the place-filler satellites and way ahead of the CRTs. The ONLY teams that would be a clear step up from the Duc are the two other factory teams. Everything else is equal to or worse than. Sheesh.

PhilB

[KawiSmurf]

Come on, people, let's try not to be dumb. Look at the actual times and results. The factory Duc is not keeping up with the factory Hondas and Yamahas, agreed. But it's about 1 second back, not 10 seconds back.

Doesn't matter...if you're not competing to win the race...or even a podium, for that matter...then you're not really competitive now, are you?. And the Ducs simply haven't been. They haven't even seen the podium in the last 16 races...and they've got more DNFs (5) than podiums (2) since Rossi joined the team.

Considering that in 2010, the year before the "big swaps," Rossi had 2 wins and 10 podiums (he even missed four races), and Stoner on the Ducati had 3 wins and 9 podiums, this is about as bad as a fall from grace for both Rossi and Ducati as there can be.

[PhilB]

Doesn't matter...if you're not competing to win the race...or even a podium, for that matter...then you're not really competitive now, are you?. And the Ducs simply haven't been. They haven't even seen the podium in the last 16 races...and they've got more DNFs (5) than podiums (2) since Rossi joined the team.

Considering that in 2010, the year before the "big swaps," Rossi had 2 wins and 10 podiums (he even missed four races), and Stoner on the Ducati had 3 wins and 9 podiums, this is about as bad as a fall from grace for both Rossi and Ducati as there can be.

I wasn't saying the Duc effort was going well. But in the context of this discussion, which is about what Rossi may do next, there are people who are making the absurd claim that he will, or should, switch to a satellite or CRT bike to become more competitive again, which is just dumb.

As I said above, IF the Duc can be fixed to become competitive, then it makes sense for Rossi to stick with it. If it cannot, then there is NO competitive option left for Rossi, and he will probably leave. Switching to an even worse bike would be dumb, and Rossi isn't dumb.

PhilB

[kb1]

I wasn't saying the Duc effort was going well. But in the context of this discussion, which is about what Rossi may do next, there are people who are making the absurd claim that he will, or should, switch to a satellite or CRT bike to become more competitive again, which is just dumb.

As I said above, IF the Duc can be fixed to become competitive, then it makes sense for Rossi to stick with it. If it cannot, then there is NO competitive option left for Rossi, and he will probably leave. Switching to an even worse bike would be dumb, and Rossi isn't dumb.

PhilB

Agreed 100% here...