Honda boots Lorenzo

Rins will be poached within that timeframe.

 

Casey Stoner didn't seem to need anything, except for maybe a glass of milk.

 

Huh?

Stoner is the poster boy of leaving Ducati because of non-delivery of what was needed....

 

Yes and no?

When Honda made the offer to him he sat down with his team and told them he was not going unless they went with them. His dream was to ride for Repsol Honda but he wasn't going to leave without his team.

You then have instances like when Ducati rolled out the carbon fiber "frame" in 2009 (I think?) for testing. Stoner begged them to let him finish the season on it, they refused.

 

I was just trying to make a joke. But implicit in the joke was that unlike Jorge, who "needed" a modified gas tank before he could become relevant on the Duc, Stoner seemed to be able to take whatever they gave him and ride the piss out of it, winning races and living amongst the aliens.

 

Yea Stoner and Marquez seem to be the only two guys I can think of that have proven they are good at riding around problems. Espargo at KTM seems to have a bit of this in him too.

 

Mind you he won A championship on the Duc, and that was during the switch of engines and tires. Everyone talks like he won every race on the Ducati.

 

He was the only one who *could* win a race on that pile...

 

No, just 23 of the 24 Ducati wins from 2007-2010.

 

That's one more than anyone else on that brand since MotoGP started.

 

This, plus Stoner has more wins on the Ducati than Dovi has over his entire GP career.

 

Well if Dovi just had any killer instinct...

 

What do you reckon are the chances that Yamaha takes a Quarter for Vinales?

Maverick came out smoking when he joined Yamaha. After the first two races, he seemed like the second coming.

...and hasn’t hit on much of a lick of shit ever since.

Supposedly this new #12 was supposed to revitalize him. It didn’t.

But yet the young QuarterO has been very competitive, snagging 2 Poles and a Podium, in his first season....on the same (if not a somewhat less supported) bike than Vinny is on.

If I was Factory Yamaha, I would grab up QuarterO. Unless maybe he is actually contracted to Yamaha (rather than Petronas), and they already have him under wraps...and they plan on him getting more experience on the satellite team them taking Rossi’s seat when he retires.

 

What's in it for Yamaha? Viñales is not gonna go to Petronas, which means Yamaha would lose him. If they leave things as they are, they can have both.

 

What has Vinales done over the past two season to warrant him having that seat?

Even he knows he’s been sucking hind tit, hence the “reborn Maverick with #12”. The problem is that the reborn Maverick still qualifies shitty and struggles to finish mid pack.

 

Does he have a teammate regularly embarrassing him on the same bike for the past couple of years? If yes, go for it. If no, push him towards another factory at your own peril.

 

Rossi finishes higher most of the time, which is why he has finished higher than Vinales in the championship every year. But I wouldn’t say he is “embarrassing” him per se.

It’s more that he is being embarrassed too regularly by over half the field, including guys on satellite bikes (even satellite Yamahas).

I don’t see Vinales as an “alien”, therefore I don’t see an issue with pushing him to another factory. I think Morbidelli, QuarterO, Zarco, Asparagus, Crutchlow, and maybe a couple others could provide better results and spend more time at the front on that Factory Yamaha.

BTW - I have no idea what kind of contract any of those other riders have, I was just mentioning names of guys that have or could do better than him if given the same opportunity.

 

At this point it sure seems like Quartararo has a higher ceiling.
MV has had shit starts for a long while, finally gets a good one going and gets Douche misseled off the track.
Will be interesting to see how he does after this (start wise anyway)

 

Hell, at this rate. Why bother? The bike is clearly damn good and with Rins and Mir. The future looks bright. If they get another 10–12 HP over the winter and it doesn’t screw with the chassis too bad, they’ll be in good shape to fight for the top step every weekend.

That said, they’ll have sat teams knocking down the door to pay them. Cough Tech3 Cough.