So the GOAT* turns 40 this week

Stopping at round three was more likely due to the fact that the remainder of the races saw Rossi kick Lorenzo's ass, except at Assen where Rossi crashed out on the first lap, rejoined and wasn't able to work his way through everyone.
But that's also where Nicky ran out of gas on the last lap, costing him third. Yet Nicky still beat Lorenzo by 8+ seconds.

 

I'm just glad he's still around and somewhat competitive. He's like the bridge linking the new crop of riders to the past . I mean he's pretty much outlasted everyone, there's no one else left from that "by-gone" era. Kind of like LaRocco was in MX (maybe you could say Chad Reed now).

Who was the last one to have hung it up? Capirossi?

 

Anyone think MM will be racing at 40? If he is, his GOAT status would be unquestionable at that point.

 

Pshh that wasn’t remotely emotional. You wanna see emotional? Start a lightweight pro race thread!

 

...or vintage.







But there's a good chance some entertainment will come out of it for the gallery's enjoyment.

 

No hyphen in bygone.

Barros is still racing; at least last year anyway. National series, but still had it.

 

I guess you could say the same thing about Bayliss then too.

 

So, now age is a factor in GOAT considerations?

Just trying to log all of the criteria here.

 

Age shouldn't be a factor but it sure helps you pad the total numbers.

 

Think Rossi would ever step down to race in a lower tier series like Baylis, Barros, Elias etc etc have? I'm thinking probably no, at least not on 2 wheels anyway.

 

It's just a real shame we don't have any head-to-head results between Ago, Rossi, and Marquez, to help us decide.

 

Now that would be boring...

 

Good call. I just watched some ASBK races (including the new Bend track) and he's got a couple years on Barros. Wonder if Rossi will be racing (anywhere) when he's 47 or 49.

 

That will be taken care of by the time he's 30.

Troy Bayliss retired. He came out of retirement to race Australian superbikes. I wouldn't call that stepping down. That's more like his version of doing track days.

 

Tomayto/Tomahhto ..... whatever you want to call it.

 

He will want to be Italian Superbike Champion, cos you know it means more than his 125 and 250 World Championships.

 

Curious, what if Marc equals Rossi's numbers, or is just a bit lower? What then?

 

Curious? Like you don't already know. Dick.

 

one thing really separated Rossi from MM93 is that Rossi doesn't crash much, and had a few bad breaks, but nothing lingering.

A shoulder could be bad, look at BS11