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Que?

What the fk are you mumbling on about doohanfan?

You need someone to have a look Pal.

Not just Dovi, doofan

What about Hayden? He was often 3 or 4 tenths back of Casey, and on occasion qualified, and finished in front of him during the 2010 season.

Taking that into account, and the Ducati test times, you have to concede the chances of Stoner on this current Ducati being close to the front are slim.

nostro

As much as i hate to say this, i agree jlo didnt ride just for points. He rode conservatively...as in he was satisfied to finish second rather than fight and maybe crash battling for first. He would assess the situation and if there was a chance for a win, he would try, but he wouldnt try too hard to create a chance. That is just smar. Why would anyone risk crashing for the entertainment of the fans when finishing second would ensure the worl title. No one will know though because after misano jorge didnt have to win anymore races to win title. If misano hadnt happened who knows how hard they would have battled. Dani had to take risks which jorge didnt. Thats the reality. IMHO jorge looked concerned before misano, and played it smart after. When riding at 95% gets you the title, why increase the risk? Winning the title is the ultimate goal not gaining the praise of the armchair expert.

stoner vs hayden

Stoner in the races he rode in 2009  often had a fastest lap more than a second faster than hayden.  Nicky got it down to just below a second for a few races before stoner's absence , and was close at PI on stoner's return but still mostly near a second off him elsewhere, although closer than I remembered in qualifying  for the last race where stoner had the DNS.
 I don't think either of us need to look up melandri's times in comparison to stoner's in 2008.

Sure nicky was closer to stoner in 2010, on a bike not developed by or for stoner, but I have never claimed that bike was championship capable for anyone.

My points in the post to which you replied were not what you replied to, some might say not atypically for you.

The first was that when ducati were backing stoner in 2008 and 2009 the bike didn't suit others and he was very significantly faster than his team-mates. It is my personal belief that Stoner's way was the only way for those bikes.

My second point in reply to an argument of yours was that 4 wins in 2009 and 3 wins in 2010, downward trend or not,  were better than no wins subsequently, which does not necessarily relate to how much faster stoner was than hayden in 2010.

I understood why ducati decided to go the way they did in 2010 (a decision made in 2009 obviously before stoner's success or lack thereof in 2010 was known), and so I think did stoner, but the fact is that it didn't work, and even valentino couldn't do anything within the 2 years he was there going in a different direction. I don't dispute that ducati may well need to change something as major as the engine configuration, or even that it may be impossible for them to be competitive with honda and yamaha given the current technical rules/level of technology. Going back to the old design is also probably not on given both the engine number  limitation and current paucity of stoners.  

lets be realistic lads

Rossi will be competitive this year against jorge, dani, and marquez. Crutchlow , Bautista, bradl, Dovi(and the rest of the ducatis) will not be battling with rossi, but rather battling to see who can finish first behind him. Rossi wont dominate anymore but he can fight....and you never know. His legacy lives on though...he invented a riding style that EVERYONE( including STONER) copied. The leg-out-while-braking made its first official appearance at jerez 05....now everyone does it...rossi himself said a couple of years ago( jokingly of course) that he would like royalties everytime someone uses that technique. Roberts/sheene are credited with the knee down technique, but only rossi started the leg out under braking trick