[Ducati] Assen *** SPOILER ***

[D888SPOLTD at aol.com]

So what you're saying D.J. is that all those other races where Nicky  
finished AHEAD of Rossi, when Rossi WASN'T injured, don't count?  Since  Rossi had 
one injury and performed less than his usual stellar self means that  anyone who 
beats him merely does so because of Rossi's "bad luck?"  Sorry,  that's 
ridiculous!
 
Winning championships isn't just about winning races, it's about  consistency 
and actually finishing races.  This year the good Doctor has  seen his 
opponents step up the caliber of challenge he's had to face and in  responding to 
that challenge, he's made mistakes.  That is racing and if  Nick wins the 
championship there'll be no need for any asterisk denoting a win  merely because 
Rossi had "Bad Luck"!
 
By comparison, it wasn't bad luck that caused Edwards to crash.  It  was 
Edwards in a hard fought battle where both he and Nicky were out on the  fringes 
of control, each losing it several times. Eventually Edwards pushed that  
little bit too far at the wrong time and paid for it and Nicky won. No  apologies, 
that's racing.
 
Cheers,
W
 
 
In a message dated 6/29/2006 7:31:34 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
dbjones at compudok.com writes:

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.