Rossi back on the horse

[Champ]

Rossi rode a superbike spec R1 are Misano yesterday

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2010/valentino+rossi+completes+succesful+misano+outing

His 1'38.2 time was as fast as Biaggi went during FP1 at the last WSB
meeting there (although Superpole was around 3 seconds faster).

Footage here: http://www.youtube.com/user/MotoGP#p/u/0/zU1m-pC2-9U

Doesn't look like he's hanging about, does it!

Considering it's not quite 5 weeks since a pretty serious break of his
tibia, I for one am impressed. Of all the people out there, he is the
one who doesn't *need* to rush back to getting on a bike. If he rides
at Sachsenring, he'll have had less time off with this leg break than
Stoner did for a tocuh of yuppie flu.

[pablo]

yes and no. there is a thin line between gutsiness and outright
stupidity. i am aware racers are a special breed, but damn, do they
ever look back in history and see how injuries on top of injuries are
the best way to cut a career short... sure Rossi doesn't have a lot to
prove, so playing russian roulette with his leg a la Doohan is
perceived as a mandatory way to even further prove greatness. i just
find it silly.

[Champ]

On Sun, 11 Jul 2010 23:00:03 -0700 (PDT), pablo

Post by pablo
yes and no. there is a thin line between gutsiness and outright
stupidity. i am aware racers are a special breed, but damn, do they
ever look back in history and see how injuries on top of injuries are
the best way to cut a career short... sure Rossi doesn't have a lot to
prove, so playing russian roulette with his leg a la Doohan is
perceived as a mandatory way to even further prove greatness. i just
find it silly.

"Playing russian roulette"? Get over yourself.

And how did Doohan's do that? As I recall, he had the big leg injury,
got it fixed, then came back and raced?

[Julian Bond]

Post by Champ
And how did Doohan's do that? As I recall, he had the big leg injury,
got it fixed, then came back and raced?

Damn near won the championship as well in the year of the leg op.

Even though Lorenzo is accelerating away at the top, the closest
competitors are falling away. A couple of DNFs from Jorge and Rossi
could be damn close at the end of the season.

[pablo]

... A couple of DNFs from Jorge and Rossi
could be damn close at the end of the season.

Lorenzo is maturing. It is Rossi who got hurt feeling the pressure to
up his game some. I think the tables will be reversed, and chances are
Rossi will fall off again trying to catch up to Lorenzo. It is
misguided competitive nature - it will add little to the Rossi story
unless the unlikely happens, and it has the potential to quite
negatively impact the exact same legacy...

The chessboard is being set for next year. A smart competitor would
invest into that. Which means Rossi and Stoner to back off, Pedrosa to
up it up (doubtful if he can), and we shall see what else.

[Ed Light]

Rossi fell off slowing down in order not to get followed, allowing his
tire to cool.
--
Ed Light

Better World News TV Channel:
http://realnews.com

Iraq Veterans Against the War and Related:
http://ivaw.org
http://couragetoresist.org
http://antiwar.com

Send spam to the FTC at
***@uce.gov
Thanks, robots.

[Julian Bond]

Post by Ed Light
Rossi fell off slowing down in order not to get followed, allowing his
tire to cool.

- Why do the teams all have problems getting the Bridgestones up to
temperature?
- Why do they lose temperature so quickly?
- Why do the riders worry about being followed? Especially Rossi and
Stoner. Does it really matter to them that Barbera (say) is 3 places
higher on the grid?

[Champ]

On Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:45:17 -0700 (PDT), pablo

Post by pablo

... A couple of DNFs from Jorge and Rossi
could be damn close at the end of the season.

Lorenzo is maturing. It is Rossi who got hurt feeling the pressure to
up his game some.

If this were true the rest of your post might have some point. But it
isn't - he crashed after getting caught out with a cooling tyre. And
he was very unlucky to break his leg (of course, this is balanced by a
career of good luck). But, plenty of riders crash in practice - are
they "feeling the pressure to up their game"?

[Mark N]

If this were true the rest of your post might have some point.  But it
isn't - he crashed after getting caught out with a cooling tyre.  And
he was very unlucky to break his leg (of course, this is balanced by a
career of good luck).  But, plenty of riders crash in practice - are
they "feeling the pressure to up their game"?

I know one of the sentiments at Mugello was that Rossi was trying to
stake out his ground, to draw a line in the sand with Lorenzo, and was
supposedly pushing in general. If he was in that sort of frame of mind
he might have overdone it there, even if it wasn't concerning throwing
up a time on that lap.

[sturd]

Post by Mark N
I know one of the sentiments at Mugello was that Rossi was trying to
stake out his ground, to draw a line in the sand with Lorenzo, and was
supposedly pushing in general. If he was in that sort of frame of mind

Rossi is always in that frame of mind - making a mark and pushing.
That's why he's been so successful. That it has caught him out so
few times is the amazing part.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

[Mark N]

Post by Champ
Considering it's not quite 5 weeks since a pretty serious break of his
tibia, I for one am impressed. Of all the people out there, he is the
one who doesn't *need* to rush back to getting on a bike. If he rides
at Sachsenring, he'll have had less time off with this leg break than
Stoner did for a tocuh of yuppie flu.

Yes, one wonders why Rossi is doing this. Of course he IS the biggest
self-promoter in the history of the sport, and these superbike "tests"
do keep him in the spotlight, don't they? Especially with very
tantalizing lap times being reported, all by his people of course, and
who's to say what his times really are? After all the press is more than
cooperative, not really mentioning at Misano that he was running
Bridgestone tires (jeez, was that legal?) and many misreporting
Toseland's fastest race lap there, etc. Gotta milk that story.

In the end he's just funning about, taking advantage of the situation to
spend a bit of time on the WSB machine. Contemporary medicine has gotten
pretty good at dealing with this sort of injury, this isn't Mick Doohan
circa 1992. But he may well be in a rush to get back, he doesn't want to
let Jorge spend too much time in the limelight, and his contractual
situation might just be up in the air more than is assumed.

And regarding the championship, let's not forget that his motor supply
has been sitting waiting while Jorge has been using his up (and I doubt
some aging test rider miles off the pace did much to damage it), which
has revealed one of the worst things about the new rule, the benefit one
might actually get by missing races, especially early in the year when
the state of tune might get tweaked a bit the rest of the way. Of
course, if Jorge is returning and Rossi isn't, I don't suppose Yamaha
has much incentive to jeopardize Jorge's championship. But that's still
an "if"...