[Ducati] Assen *** SPOILER ***

[Dennis Jones]

Ken,
I agree with most of what you said below, except for the actual point of the discussion, which is that I do think that there will be many who will be of the opinion that "Rossi lost the title".  And, as it stands right now at least, I will probably be among them.  The same might be said relative to Capirossi, except that Loris has had the bad fortune of getting tangled up with his teammate that caused him to collect virtually zero points in two consecutive races.  It is possible that Capi might be the points leader right now were it not for that.  Nicky's in his 4th year of MotoGP, right?  He's been in over 50 MotoGP races.  He's won 2 and only 1 when Rossi was on the track healthy, and that was Nicky's home track.  Rossi has had misfortune this year, but despite that he has won more races this year than Nicky has in Nicky's entire career, and until proven otherwise, I would suspect that Rossi will win considerably more races this year than Nicky will.  To make a declarative statement that Rossi crashed because of feeling the pressure of competition is presumptuous, I think.  He may have crashed for any number of reasons, and we as fans don't know precisely why.  If he crashed because of pressure, it would more likely be the pressure of the points differential, which is separate and apart from feeling pressure of "competition".  Pressure of competition suggests that there are racers out there beating him this year and he's riding over the limit somehow as a result.  Rossi has won virtually every race he's finished this year in which he was not injured, punted off the track, or had a mechanical.  
 
That said, it ain't Nicky's fault that some bad luck has befallen Valentino Rossi.  Nicky's going out and doing what needs done to put himself in the best position to win this championship.  He's had some remarkable good luck along the way, having the guys who often beat him (Rossi, Capirossi, Melandri, & even Gibernau) all have misfortune along the way.  In the process, Nicky has gone out, stayed out of trouble, and finished on the podium with regularity.  Good for Nicky.  Yet, I wouldn't want to say that all that has happened this year to those guys was as a result of pressure being applied by Nicky.  I don't think that's the case at all.  It is probable that Rossi will STILL be Nicky's chief competitor for the championship before this season is over, presuming that he heals promptly from his current injuries.  I think Nicky needs to win several races with Rossi on the track this year to validate his championship (should he win it), whether we Hayden fans want to accept this or not.  He's obviously got as good a chance as anyone at Laguna.  There are a few other tracks on the schedule that he likes, and hopefully he'll ring up some additional wins at those tracks.  Just my opinion.
D.J.

________________________________

From: ducati-bounces at ducati.net on behalf of jmann60177 at sbcglobal.net
Sent: Wed 6/28/2006 11:46 PM
To: Ducati Owners Group
Subject: Re: [Ducati] Assen *** SPOILER ***



There will be no "Rossi lost the title" rhetoric to tarnish a Nick Hayden
Championship.  The kid is gracious, tenacious and very, very fast.  He has
learned not to fall and when to play his hand.  And the move he put on
Edwards, while very risky, served him well in the Brass Balls department
(much like the move he put on Melandri a couple weeks ago). This is the
maturity of a MotoGP Champion.  Rossi crashed in practice for the same
reason Rainey crashed in practice at Misano, feeling the pressure of
competition, and simply pushing too hard.  I would never try to diminish the
greatness of Rainey (or Rossi), but this is Nicky's year as much as 1993 was
Schwantz'.  A win, is a win, is a win, and if the competition implodes from
the pressure put upon them, then they are vanquished, as much as they would
be by a last corner pass in the last lap of the race for a win.

Ken Mannina