If the track was dry, he would have held it. It's a douchebag move in the wet. He knew it and tried to apologize. Stoner's response was warranted even if ludicrous. Basically a racing incident that will be blown out of proportion because of the parties involved.

^^^ What he said.

The only comment I've heard so far that I didn't like was Stoner saying something to the effect of "I wish Rossi would have apologized privately without all the cameras in tow."

That's like saying "I wish Rossi wasn't Rossi." 

And what was up with the "backstage patter" between Hayden and the Pedrobot? Pedro was actually... smiling? Seems like the Puig influence might be wearing off...

I'm seeing a lot of desperation surfacing in Rossi's 'racecraft'.
He's been around long enough to know better.

The tires did look in bad shape...were they using full wets?
Do they even have 'intermediates' any more?

I want to see the *whole* race, I only saw the abridged Speed version.
I'll catch the Euro feed version maybe Monday.

Quote from: Speeddog on April 03, 2011, 04:05:33 PM
I'm seeing a lot of desperation surfacing in Rossi's 'racecraft'.
He's been around long enough to know better.

The tires did look in bad shape...were they using full wets?
Do they even have 'intermediates' any more?

I want to see the *whole* race, I only saw the abridged Speed version.
I'll catch the Euro feed version maybe Monday.

No intermediates any more.

Slicks or wets, and they were on wets

I didn't see it as desperate...foolish, but not desperate.

The guy was on a roll. When I'm on a roll I'm pretty likely to say make the beast with two backs it, keep going.

Quote from: ducpainter on April 03, 2011, 04:12:38 PM
I didn't see it as desperate...foolish, but not desperate.

Agreed.  Any unforced crash is a mistake, but not necessarily desperate.  Using Gibernau as a berm in the last corner is desperation .

My point was in the context of 'Rossi'...

Qatar - trying to close the door on Ben after he was already past, and *nearly* crashing.
Jerez - trying to pass Stoner from *way* too far back ... on lap 7 of a rain race.

He knows better than to do that stuff.
They're rookie errors.

Guys on slower bikes tend to push harder and crash more.  Nothing new there.

Quote from: Speeddog on April 03, 2011, 04:29:41 PM
My point was in the context of 'Rossi'...

Qatar - trying to close the door on Ben after he was already past, and *nearly* crashing.
Jerez - trying to pass Stoner from *way* too far back ... on lap 7 of a rain race.

He knows better than to do that stuff.
They're rookie errors.

Maybe.

He finished both races in the points...

rookies don't do that when they crash...

and he's trying to surpass Bayliss as the Ducati god of wet races.

Everybody was complaining about the lack of choice when it came to wet tires. They all looked bad at the end of the race. I think it was Simo that was saying he could feel them getting worse with every lap.

Quote from: lazylightnin717 on April 03, 2011, 04:49:29 PM
Everybody was complaining about the lack of choice when it came to wet tires. They all looked bad at the end of the race. I think it was Simo that was saying he could feel them getting worse with every lap.

It didn't rain after the race started. The track was drying.

What would choice in wets accomplish?

Different race, but I just watched the recorded Supercross race from this weekend at Cowboy Stadium here in DFW and there was a similar (but obviously different) wreck with James Stewart losing it at the end of a whoop section and crashing out Chad Reed and punting him clean off the track. Stewart remounted and finished 4th. Reed had the bike on top of him, finally got going and ended up 8th. Point is (at least to me) some shit is just caused by being on a track and racing. The other "stuff" is being a dumbass douche. Whether SMX or MotoGP everyone will have their personal view of an incident. It's either racing or you are a douche. Crap just tends to happen on slick tracks... whether it's dirt or tarmac.

Quote from: ducpainter on April 03, 2011, 05:07:38 PM
It didn't rain after the race started. The track was drying.

What would choice in wets accomplish?

If I raced I would probably have a better answer for you. But my best guess would be soft or hard wets just like slicks. Looks to me like they were wearing way too fast. A look at Haydens rear tire at the end of the race and it was completely spent.

Quote from: ducpainter on April 03, 2011, 04:36:15 PM

and he's trying to surpass Bayliss as the Ducati god of wet races.

fwiw, bayliss didn't always get it right, either... remember imola 2001? troy crashed his paul smart tribute bike in the wet race 1, fractured his collarbone and sat out race 2.

Quote from: lazylightnin717 on April 03, 2011, 05:48:44 PM
If I raced I would probably have a better answer for you. But my best guess would be soft or hard wets just like slicks. Looks to me like they were wearing way too fast. A look at Haydens rear tire at the end of the race and it was completely spent.

full wets are pencil-eraser soft. afaik, they've never offered a choice of compound.

if they thought the track was going to dry, they likely would've run a cut slick instead.

the choices are usually full wets, intermediates (like a DOT), cut slicks, slicks.

i dont' think i've seen intermediates since they went to spec tires.