Welkom - SPOILER!!!

Zeeman · 04-18-2004, 12:45 PM

What a race!!! I think Rossi has pretty much proven his point, there will be some very angry people at HRC head office.

The race itself was rivetting, the RC211V is obviously more powerful, and definately has the handling, Rossi is just a better rider. This is going to be an awesome season. As for Biaggi, I think he needs to take notes so that he can see just how well he can race when he focuses. He was well within touch until the last few corners.

Kinda dissapointed in nicky and Colin, was hoping they would be up where the action was, but hopefully, next race...

Z...

deez · 04-18-2004, 3:58 PM

So much for the Yamaha being competetive. So much for proving the M1 on Race distance. He did it!!!!!!!!!!!

bwhip · 04-18-2004, 4:02 PM

Holy crap! Rossi is unbelievable - once he gets passed and falls into second, you just know he's going to find a way to overtake the leader. I thought it would take longer for him to dial in the Yamaha, but the guy is a freak!

Rios929 · 04-18-2004, 4:06 PM

Best Race EVER!!!!!!

Rossi is my hero.

CBRVFR · 04-18-2004, 4:09 PM

Un. ****ing. Believable.

I was wrong about this guy. I knew he was a great rider, the best out there, but for him to win on that bike at this stage of the season... 10 laps after the tires were so gone..

I didn't think he'd win until a rain race, or at Montreal.

Blows my mind. I missed watching Hailwood. Rossi's career is as historic.

ccwilli3 · 04-18-2004, 4:31 PM

holy crap is right! I only saw the last 10 minutes of the race, but wow!

Where do they go next? I can't wait till they get to a track everyone knows. Rossi will be on point, no doubt, we'll see how the yamaha horsepower holds up at a bigger track.

Wow, rossi truely is a miracle worker! (as if we didn't all know this!)

deez · 04-18-2004, 5:01 PM

I don't think has won In South Africa thus far, it's not his track, sounds deadly for his competitors this season

929flyer · 04-18-2004, 5:45 PM

What else can be said about Rossi? I guess just watch him and continue to be amazed.

Hayden and Edwards, they need to 'find' a way. Get better at set-up, dig deeper, hang it further out, I don't know I'm not a guru. It was obvious though where the mental game is for Rossi and Biaggi. Their pace was amazing. Even Sete at least hung in for awhile, but eventually got left in the dust. I want to see Americans on top of the podium. Let's get it on American riders!

I'm even ready to cheer for a Suzuki if one of them can do it! That's how bad it's getting!!!!!!

Red Rider · 04-18-2004, 6:02 PM

Wow! Great race! I can't believe how close they were getting to each other without taking someone out.

Talk about swappin' paint...

Proto · 04-18-2004, 6:13 PM

Was Rossi's Yamaha the only one with the "Big Bang" firing order? Certainly the other Yams were dropped off, but the Hondas even got dropped by the leading two.

At the altitude I wonder wonder if the Yamaha suffered more of a handicap than the Honda. I'm guessing that the H puts out a fair bit more horsepower, and that some of it is normally tuned out for better tractability. So with high altitude maybe they could dial more of it back in than the opposition. So I'm thinkin at sea level palying field may get a bit more even.

Fantastic race. Rossi is indeed a riding god.

deez · 04-18-2004, 7:31 PM

Proto, I think the M1 down the straight has been very competitive with the Honda. Coming out of the corners, holding speed, onto a straight has been where the RC211v has its' strength. Throw Rossi into the mix, and all the statistics seem to fall by the wayside. I hope the oldschoolers (Schwantz, Rainey, etc.) start to really give him some credit now, he deserves it. 1st man since Sheene to win 4 openers, 1st GP rider to win back to back races on different machinery, I mean those are just some kind of stat, but it's about time his doubters give him just a little more credit, he is one of the best of all time. I can't wait until he smashes all of Doohan's records and starts going after Agostini's records.

ccwilli3 · 04-18-2004, 8:00 PM

a fitting quote from crash.net:

Quote:

To put Rossi's effort into perspective the three other Yamaha's (9th, 10th and 11th) were an average of 40-seconds behind the Italian today. Despite the technology, MotoGP, it seems, is still a riders sport.

CyBeR929 · 04-18-2004, 8:18 PM

Stunning.....I knew Rossi was the best rider, but I didn't know he was _that_ much better. I also am suprised at how well Biaggi hung in there. If you ask me though....Rossi sandbaged about 7 or 8 laps from the end when Biaggi easily passed him on the brakes. Biaggi then had another major run-wide and Rossi didn't pass. I think he set Biaggi up...let his tires cool, then made the pass with a couple laps left and put his head down. Truely amazing....and truely amazing that there was about 30 seconds between 1st and 4th. Really suprised Edwards was that far down in the order, but it was good to see good things out of Barros....a little too late in the race, but good to see him moving up.

MotoGP

TCD · 04-18-2004, 9:32 PM

It looked to me that Rossi had to outbreak Max in just about every corner just to keep pace. They both appeared to brake in unison but Rossi was a couple of bike lenghs ahead. I think that the Yamaha still needs work and it was all Rossi today. Great race!

roadrunner954 · 04-18-2004, 9:39 PM

oldgoat · 04-18-2004, 10:34 PM

Unbelievable!!!!!!! We'll see on the faster tracks if the Yamaha can keep up. I sure hope so.!!!! Great race

risc32 · 04-18-2004, 11:19 PM

The entire race i was wincing every time Val ran it in hard on the brakes."please,please let rossi stick it!!" I was willing him the finish line. I got the feeling that the M1 is way less forgiving, more agile, and that a momentary lapse on rossi's part would have done him in. but, he's got the most talent physically and mentally. He is his only competition.

Chain · 04-19-2004, 12:20 AM

I've been toying with the idea of a track bike as of late. Not really shopping, but deliberating I guess you could call it. Anyway, a friend of mine who is the sales manager at a dealership keeps steering me away from more expensive I4s and toward a clean, usey SV. "At the track, hardware is the least important piece of the puzzle," he keeps telling me.

I guess Rossi just proved that to be a truism.

Postscript: It's nice to see Honda riders continue to embrace Rossi despite that he jumped ship. True fans of the man, you guys are.

BlueToy · 04-19-2004, 2:18 AM

it was a sweet race for sure!

the battle for 1-2 qwas awesome, rossi was having to work that yam heaps harder to keep pace with biaggi, going in harder under brakes, he bloody did it though, my hat's off to him for sticking it up all the sceptics, he is the best rider out there at the moment, it's not the dominant bike.

I Hate Biachi as much as the next guy, but he seems to have become more likeable, he was even decent enough to shake hands with Rossi after the win- I've never seen him do that before, also he didnt' bitch about his bike, he just said Rossi was stronger in certain parts of the track, I think he has finally accepted that Rossi is an awesome rider, Biaggi will kerb his temper this season and get down to some good riding IMO.

I was half expecting Biaggi to get out in front for a couple of laps and then bin it, but he hung in there and kept his cool, well done to both of them I say! but especially Rossi.

enough dribbling from me though...

Cheers

Ben.

deez · 04-19-2004, 5:08 AM

Keep in mind, if you don't know much about the guy...

He likes a bike that is very hard to ride. He said the NSR was a real bitch, but he liked a 1/2 way out of control bike that is very difficult to push. When he won the last 500GP championship, he had the faster bike but it was still a bitch to push. So in other words he thrives under those kinds of conditions, when the bike is just that close to fuggin up. Once on the RC211v, he complained that it was too easy to ride, too forgiving, on and on, and he actually wished he could have kept riding the two stroke.

ratter · 04-19-2004, 5:11 AM

to Rossi

What an excelent race!

I had to stay up fairly late to watch it but it was worth it

I had goose bumps the last couple of laps, I really thought the Honda would pull some distance on him if Biagi could stay on it.

Don't think I've ever seen a block pass, motor cross style in road racing either.

Rossi Is a legend

But looking at the speed of the honda, I don't think it's going to be easy for yamaha when they get to some bigger tracks

Zeeman · 04-19-2004, 7:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ratter

But looking at the speed of the honda, I don't think it's going to be easy for yamaha when they get to some bigger tracks

Exactly why this could possibly be one of the best race seasons in a long time...

I think it is quit epossible that the first 4 positions will be decided in the last race of the season. Well, as a race fan, this is the best hope of such a season to date...

Z...

Jungleboy · 04-19-2004, 8:13 AM

Yeah it was a fantastic race! for Rossi and Biaggi, I think that was the hardest that I have ever seen Rossi ride and for Biaggi to be right there with him was also good! I was Happy for them both, I was a bit worried that Biaggi may have faltered once he passed Rossi and made a mistake due to the presure of having Rossi hot on his heels, although Rossi passed him with a brilliant move it was due to Rossi's brilliance and no fault of Biaggi's.. Anyway good to see such fierce rivalry at the pointy end of the field!

SuperDave · 04-19-2004, 8:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TCD

It looked to me that Rossi had to outbreak Max in just about every corner just to keep pace. They both appeared to brake in unison but Rossi was a couple of bike lenghs ahead. I think that the Yamaha still needs work and it was all Rossi today. Great race!

Yea, that was my take on it as well. Biaggi's bike could have passed Rossi easily in the straights but that would have had him too hot entering the corners. It was a chess match wonderfully played by Rossi. I don't know if Rossi will dominate, I think this an emotional conquest that had him hanging everything out. Could he do this on a consistant basis? I don't think so but we'll see. You could tell how drained he was after the race. I was pulling for Rossi the whole time, well, since Nicky and Colin were way out of it. It's going to be an exciting season.

ccwilli3 · 04-19-2004, 9:34 AM

Rossi will be the most sought after man in GP racing come the 2006 GP season! You know kwak, zook, ducati, aprilia, they all have to be sitting around saying to themselves, "look what he did on that yamaha, what could he do on our bike?"

with the rest of the M1s being no shows, they may as well have stayed in the paddock, you can tell that was ALL ROSSI!

QuikMike · 04-19-2004, 10:20 AM

I am as glad as the next man that Rossi won, but I will say that max is gonna give him trouble all year...especially at the high hp tracks like Sepang...my take all winter long has been that the Yammie needs more hp...I think it's "only" putting down ~220hp...whilst the Honda is putting down ~240...anyways, kudos to Max for pushing Rossi to the limit....

what the hell happened to Colin and Nicky???

they both were running 4th and 5th for a good portion of the race and then Barros caught both of them and finished 4th! how the hell does that happen? pretty disappointing showing if you ask me...hope they can show up a Jerez...

there should not ever be any questions about Rossi now...the guy flat-out showed what he can do.....

showmethebombs · 04-19-2004, 10:28 AM

Rossi is the man...still. I was upset with the way that the Honda/Rossi relationship went down. It was hard, because I am a huge Honda fan, and I am a huge Rossi fan. But, I guess (what was said earlier *echo mode*) GP is a riders event. Rossi poked Honda in the eye. It's pretty lame how Honda didn't give Rossi as much credit as he deserved, and didn't try a bit harder to keep him in the game. I would have liked to see more tightness in the pack...but hey. Rossi is the man...still.