[Ducati] ***SPOILER SPOOILER***

[D888SPOLTD at aol.com]

Oh I'm not being nationalistic about Nicky.  In fact, I was upset when he got 
teh Honda call as I rather thought it should ahve gone to Edwards.  Then, 
it's taken him several years to move up, but, he was steadily improving.  This 
when historically, Honda/HRC swaps riders when they don't get fairly immediate 
results.  It was surprising.  For his aprt, Nicky has turned me around and I've 
watched him mature as a rider taking points as opposed to losing it all with 
a dangerous move when the race dictates.

I'm more in the camp of "anyone but Rossi" merely because I want to see 
tighter racing and others challenging for the championship, and I've gotten that in 
spades this year. I like Pedrosa, Melandri, Edwards, nice to see KRJR back in 
form finally getting a proper bike, and of course Cappi.  If I have one 
favortism it's for the Ducati. It'll be very entertaining with Elias aboard next 
year.

As for Nicky and Pedrosa on different bikes, maybe so.  If true, I suspect 
the number one equipment isn't going to the rider most people would expect given 
HRC's published vision for their riders and who they see as Number One, the 
one they are pinning their hopes on beating Rossi.

But then, someone on this list not too long ago accused me of wearing 
blinders in regards to US riders and implied I didn't know shite about racing in 
general.  

Cheers,
W



In a message dated 10/17/2006 3:21:49 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
thebrowns at domaccess.com writes:
Please don't nuke me for my opinion, but I think HAyden had a lucky break 
with the big fall early this season.  Of course it is nice for all the Americans 
on the list to see a countryman in the lead, but I can't say I am surprised 
that he was caught.  If anything, I'm surprised it took so long.

Stuart