CarlosFerreira wrote:AndreaModa wrote:Stoner is good at extracting the maximum out of a bike that has been neutralised by electronics, I'll give him that, but as a biker myself, I respect those who've proven that they can master a bike with knackered tyres and few aids, and still set fastest laps at the end of the race. And that's Rossi.
I love how the Rossi-press always enjoyed following that line, that Stoner was only good because of the electronics. It's nothing short of the most massive amount of bollo**s I've ever heard. Ever. Reminds of the time when the British F1 press, enthralled by Hamilton's performances, put forward the theory that Alonso wasn't all that good, because he won his two F1 championships during the time when traction control was legal. Meh.
Stoner was always the rider who dialed down the electronics to the minimum, even compared to Hayden (who started life racing Harleys on dirt track), nevermind Pedrosa. The truth is Rossi, immensely talented and a complete rider that he is, is also an extrovert, flamboyant and larger-than-life character. Stoner, on the other hand, is an introvert perfectionist, and a workaholic at that. But on talent and pace alone, Stoner would run rings around everyone in the paddock, except maybe Lorenzo - and yes, that includes Rossi. And that's on worn tyres, and whatever electronics suite you care to mention.
I'll stand by this, and I am really sorry we don't have Casey around anymore to prove it. I wish Ducati made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Fortunately Marquez has some of that wild pace in him. Here's hoping the press and the small section of stupid "fans" (I refer to them as "idiots", but there you go) don't succees in driving Marc away the way they did Stoner.
Do you ride yourself Carlos? Stoner's riding style is a balls-out blast from lights to flag, a real spectacle to watch, and it's a shame we don't have it any more in MotoGP, but that style was only made possible by the electronics on the bikes. If you do, you'll know you can't just wind the throttle open on a bike leant over a 45 degrees and expect to stay on it if it doesn't have traction control, etc., and Stoner was a master at pushing that to its absolute limit. He had no fear, and developed his whole riding style on maximising the potential of the electronics, where older riders such as Rossi, and especially Capirossi, were more cautious, in their brains they were telling themselves what Stoner was doing shouldn't be possible, they were used to riding within the normal limits of the bike, and that is where Stoner was able to maximise his advantage.
You can say what you want about Stoner, but that is what his riding style was. That's not just from my own observations, it's a widely held fact. I'm not disputing his talent, he was a master at making the most of the fast apex speed, powering out of corners style which characterised the 800cc bikes and ultimately led to their end.
As for him being "forced out", he was the master of his own demise. He was the one that got pissy at Donington when the fans gave him a bit of banter, I was there! Most of us were Rossi fans and when he got a bigger cheer on the podium than Casey he got all funny about it. Since then he's always said he doesn't like the UK, so I don't know what he expected there. When he had his lactose problem, he refused to talk to the press, he wouldn't say anything and left them in the dark. From there bred speculation, what else did he expect? The press wanted to know what was wrong, that was inevitable. After that I don't think he was ever the same, always a chip on his shoulder. He held grudges over silly things and then wondered why people didn't take kindly to him. He may have been a bloody good bike rider, but he was awful at public relations, and as we see so many times these days with sportspeople, that is what counts to most armchair fans more often than not.
