Ahh, the benefit of hindsight
No, Wosi, I'm not hurting at all - I'm glad to see Stoner out of there mostly in one piece. AFAIC, he did well - not perfectly, but well - in his time in motoGp and topped any statistics that can be bought to bear, and now he wants to do different things. FFS, after 23 years of his life focus being the moment the flag drops / lights go out, who wouldn't become jaded? He doesn't need to keep a motoGp-based business churning along, he is happy to have achieved the top spot at the top level for 6 years, at least in terms of winning races, which is what he was there for, he's retired a fairly happy chappy. As far as the famous Stoner-Rossi rivalry goes, he can rest content that he left valued at $15m for a season by his current employer, apparently more than five times what Rossi is valued by Yamaha next year. He can retire knowing he gave European motorcycling manufacture its best results since Agostini.
I'm sad we won't see magic on a stick through Stoner Corner any more, but that's life.
Yes, I'm playing the tease with you - at least you have an adult's ability to respond (even if it does seem at times you must be in a home for the terminally bewildered) unlike the ADD/Asperger's/drooling pre-pubescent mononeuronic rantings of Milky or Supermario - both of whose parents must be on stand-down from t'mill and monitoring use of the tenement computer at the moment.
Rossi was and is a fantastic rider - but he ain't god. Stoner was a fantastic rider, and he ain't the devil. Stoner is inextricably a part of the Rossi story - like Julius Caesar and the British Isles, Stoner came, saw, conquered and left; Rossi has survived and lives to fight another day. Trying to twist the stats so that Stoner's success is devalued is a hopeless task; think of it as, if you want, a total eclipse of the sun. Now that Stoner has gone, Rossi has an opportunity to shine again, coming up in the east and setting in the west as always. The eclipse happened, it's a matter of record, and now it's passed.
That Rossi has survived the Stoner era is a testament to his character. That Stoner has achieved enough in motoGp to want more to spend his life with his beautiful wife and child (who just HAs to be the most-publicised rugrat in motorsport history!) than to continue flogging Rossi et al. is also a testament to character - unless you have no children, even you, Wosi, would understand that.
In the immortal words of either P.T Barnum or Walt Disney: 'always leave 'em wanting more'. Stoner has done that; and I hope that Rossi will also do that,but the next couple of years will tell. Certainly, Rossi has left Ducati wanting more and Stoner left Honda wanting more and putting a pretty incredible figure on it - the highest price they have ever paid for a rider/driver. Stoner walked out on the most lucrative offer on anybody's table for 2013. The only other rider Honda have ever paid such attention to was Hailwood, of blessed memory.
Rossi has seen off Stoner: beaten but not killed. There is no statistic nor any confabulation of the circumstances that will ever change that. The sooner you can relinquish your desire to manipulate history, the happier you will be. I do hope, for your sake, that Rossi vindicates your faith in the next two or so seasons, lest you be carried away by large, friendly gentlemen in white coats while wearing a vest with sleeves that tie behind your back. However, if that does happen, just maybe Stoner can be persuaded to send you a nice fresh Barramundi for Christmas. - they are fabulous eating.
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