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Stompmyduke

"Dovi (who now thinks 3rd place is his by right)."

When did he tell you that then..... Come on, that's a bit of a statement to make with no foundation whatsoever

How much the Hondas have improved is pretty well imeasurable, if they have improved at all from last season.

Dovi has not had regular podiums. He was generally around 4th or 5th last year, couple of podiums maybe. This year he has had three podiums, one at Le Mans following the exit of Pedrosa, the drive through of Simoncelli and a slower than usual Lorenzo who hurt his hand in the warm-up crash. Another at Siverstone without Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Simoncelli and another at Assen again without Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Simoncelli. These podiums can't be taken as a true indication of his pace. Put those riders back in those races and 'ON PACE' he is generally behind them. And don't forget Rossi who is a faster rider than Dovi but he's not in the mix yet.

Pedrosa was getting regular 1st and 2nd places mid season last year until his crash, so the bike was already performing well last year in his hands. He was on the podium with one 1st this year in the first three races, same for Lorenzo. So not much has changed really, he and Dovi have achieved roughly the same finishes as last year which doesn't seem to indicate that the bike has made a leap forward.

It's a good bike obviously and Stoner has added to its potential to be a winner as they now have 2 riders who can regularly podium and win. Whether that indicates a leap forward in the bike's performance is debatable. Yamaha have had 2 wins also this year and podiums.

Without meaning it as a pop at Rossi, the Ducati's weakness is possibly more exposed this year as he won't/can't or whatever, ride it like Stoner did to get it higher up the results.

When all six potential winners are actually finishing races, then is the time to judge Dovi against his performances last year.
 

er, excuse me

If anyone would mind checking actually FACTS and RESULTS you would see the Dovi actually had MORE podiums at this point (after 7 races) last year (4) than he does this year (3). And 2 of the 4 came last year before Rossi was out. Bultoboy, Dovi had 7 podiums last year which is bit more the a couple and definitely not a maybe. And in case your forgot, Dovi was already ahead of both Jorge and Simo when they crashed at Silverstone this year.

whemy

very well put and i dont think they will miss jb, he doesnt seem to have done much while at ducati.

Patience

The Ducati will come good. Its just going to take a bit of time. And as the Ducati comes good we can all watch as Stoner leads Honda down the wrong path and turns the Honda into another also ran as he did with the Ducati.

Hugelean

"it took Stoner until race 13 to look like winning a race"

Where do you get that from, it's not what Rossi said.

In his second year on the CF bike, he was way ahead in the first race but didn't win due to crashing, not because he was riding around down the order way off the pace needed to win. I think there followed a couple of races with not so good results but within a few races the bike was on the podium and close to a win in some. Certainly not until race 13.

In his first year on the CF bike he won first time out and had some podiums in the first few races and maybe one more win until the tyre gamble at Donington put them both last in the race.

He rode his balls off on that bike and achieved results no-one else could. He made it look better than it was and that is becoming ever more evident now.

The only thing exposing Ducati's weakness is the man who made it look better than it was is no longer on it. It has nothing to do with Honda improving. Honda are filling the top places as they have 3 bloody fast riders and one nearly as fast on 4 factory bikes. Yamaha have 2 factory bikes and have two bloody fast riders, both with a win each so far. Aoyama proved it is not just down to the bike as he hardly set the world alight when he rode Pedrosa's. Stoner switched from Ducati and went straight to the top of the timesheets. Aoyama went from another Honda so a better result was not an unreasonable expectation on Pedrosa'a bike.

Rossi is playing politics again, deflecting attention from the truth. He cannot get results on this bike and it must be hurting.

I've no doubt it will be sorted at some stage, but when and at what cost. Ducati road bikes may cost a bit more in future....