Last night’s ultra-boring Dutch TT showed just how much we really miss Valentino Rossi. As at Silverstone, Lorenzo moseyed off into the distance to leave the commentators looking for something interesting to talk about for 22 laps. Fortunately for them (and us) the entertaining scrap between Dovizioso and the mercurial RdP kept at least some interest in the race.
Ducati’s power advantage has now been completely negated as the other teams have well and truly closed the gap, Stoner was totally unable to pass Pedrosa despite being presented with plenty of opportunities to do so. If, as commennators suggest, Stoner is off to Honda next year (on a THIRD bike, possibly sponsored by Red Bull????) then Casey must be hoping that 2011 comes quickly. Pedrosa, always a fast RIDER, but never a good RACER, has started to show that he is more than just a front-runner, putting in some impressive rides to be by far and away the best of the rest. Yamaha’s handling advantage is crucifying the pack at the moment, the M1 being streets ahead when it comes to scrapping. Spies looked good early, faded in the middle stages and staged a mini-recovery near the end. Considering that he knows Assen well and is riding a bike that is substantially the same as Lorenzo’s he’d probably consider the race to be a big disappointment.
During the race the commentators mentioned an Ialian press interview where Lorenzo said that he had to learn to “race like Rossi”; in other words, make the race more interesting. He certainly does. Clearing off and winning by 5 seconds or so is a recipe for boredom and potential resentment. In much the same way as Schumacher’s domination of F1 killed all interest in the sport for many years, Lorenzo’s “banzai” approach certainly has the potential to do the same.
And Rossi to Ducati??? 15 million Euros being offered? Yamaha unable to match the offer? It just keeps boiling on.
In WSBK overnight, HUGE props to Troy Corser who scored his 43rd Superpole and BMW’s first. Two years exactly since he sat on pole last, Troy will start tonight’s race with a huge confidence boost on a track he knows and loves and on which he has alweays done well. 1930 tonight on FoxSports 2 (502)
Finally, my apologies for messing up the broadcast times for the MotoGP last night.
sanoptic says
You really think Pedrosa is not a Racer? the guy won 1 x 125cc & 2 x 250cc championships but because of his size 5’2″ & 52 kgs he hasn’t quite mastered the top class but as you say he’s doing well now.
The smaller classes were always close fought with lots of great racing much like Moto2 is now.
From a pure spectators point of view the 125 & now the Moto2 are the classes to watch with [unfortunatly] the top class becoming very predicable.
Hopefully Rossi going to Ducati & Stoner moving to Honda will bring back some interest.
Go TC & hopefully he can continue his great form from superpole into at least one win tonight.One good thing about WSBK is it’s never boring.
Phil Hall says
In the top class, Dani has shown that he can win from the front; something he does very well. But has been less than impressive when he has to fight for positions and wins, leading some of us to question his abilities in this area. But, as I said, he’s improved immensely this season. I agree that Moto2 and 125 is where you need to be if you want good racing. MotoGP is hardly the “blue riband” of motorcycle racing as it is supposed to be.