[Ducati] ant west & others

[Peter Bonner]

Whatta crock of shite there Phil,

you know that those of us in the know, all revere YOU and all the rest of
the OZ crowd for racing AND Ducati History Preservation!

You are of course are my own personal racing hero, being only slightly older
than the Rock of Gibralter yet holding off Dave Chrone in the rain at Mid
Ohio. Then of course Craven, doin his best and certainly better than mine,
altho at least Craven didn't have to build a bike from a frame with no
wheels etc and race with no practice laps nor sleep like I did.

But a real problem in USA is lousy press. Cycle News, which is mainly a dirt
bike magazine, doesn't even know who is writing their articles (they list M.
Scott in their table of contents, then R.A. Abrams as the writer on the page
where the article appears, and the (whoever) non writer was, they apparently
didn't even watch the race because according to them in the second sentence
of the second paragraph, the only passes were on the brakes or because of
the draft at Catalunya. Guess they weren't watching the race starting two
turns after the end of the straight with 8 laps to go.

Casey indeed passed Rossi with both on the gas in the turns, and this
maneuver was repeated by both parties. Indeed Stoner's performance was
reminiscent of when I was in the stands at Mugello in 06 watching Capirossi
and Rossi. I am a bit slow to jump on bandwagons (didn't really climb on
Hayden's until the last race of the season when Hayden, second in the
championship, bluffed Rossi into committing a fool's error, and won the
championship as he closed in on race leader/eventual winner Bayliss who is
from OZ). But after Catalunya, I admit to getting a foot ready to take a
stride in Stoner's direction. Certainly Stoner's exposure to the wisdom of
Capirossi, the team feeling from Ducati, and riding the best bike available
has drastically changed the fellow who set a record of 17 crashes last year.

Mlladin of course, has only one competitor, Spies, because only Yoshi Suzi
can win races (since Ducati bailed), and if Mladin moved up to the big time,
he would just be another statistic in the pack. But Mladin is smart enough
to know he has the ride that will carry him to a prosperous existence, and
others could not accomplish what he has done with the same package, or when
they do, like Hayden, they move up to the big boy class. So whenever it is
AMA superbike on the track for race or practice, I will be happy to help out
at Ducati Island. Too bad we don't get the 250 and 125 gp package here in
USA Of course it is not expected, since even when local tv covers the event,
local newspapers don't. In that regard, the USA totally sucks, compared to
places like OZ. Will Chris Vermulein ever win a race in the Dry? Will John
Hophead? Not bloody likely until they get the sort of advantage Stoner
enjoys now. For everyone but Rossi, the bike is important. Long live (and
Race!) Rossi. Love watching that guy ride on inferior bikes, yet still come
up with the goods.

Will OZ ever have a great one like Hailwood, Agostini or Rossi?  Probably
long before the USA, we've never even had as much as a Mick Doohan.

Peter

Road and Race Forever!!!!


>>>>Message: 1
Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2007 04:53:59 -0700 (PDT)
From: phil hitchcock <beveltracker at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Ducati] ant west & others
To: ducati list <ducati at ducati.net>
Message-ID: <52051.44042.qm at web51906.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

we have not mentioned anything about an aussie
trifecta in uk because all you for'ners might get
upset even more with us winning most of the major
races this year. imagine stoner - chris v - then ant 1
2 3 in the moto gp.
 remember ants last wet race in uk - 1st in only his
second supersport race after LAPPING the current world
champ in the class.he then blitzes the next round in
the dry just to prove he is not only a wet weather
rider. same day bayliss wins the SBK race &
roberts/atcho 1/2 in the superstock race.
the last 5 wet international races all won by aussies
from one of the dryest places on earth.
isn't the man you all love to hate going ok in usa???
saw mladin win a couple of races on foxtel on a track
with no sign of airfence anywhere - what's the deal
with that???
i better not mention crumpy & adams in speedway + chad
reed in supercross.
HEY YOU BROUGHT IT UP THIS TIME.