No doubt, but that's easier said than done eg he wasn't able to do that at Brno (9th to Rossi's 2nd) or Malaysia (4th to Rossi's 1st). And today, he got lucky because he was waaaay behind when the rains came and he somehow managed to come out of the pit exchange only one spot behind Valentino. Rossi's made up 30 points in the last 3 races, and there are 3 races left... That said, on the season, Rossi has avg'd only 2.5 points more per race finished than Hayden, so you're right - it's Nicky's to lose. But if anybody can make up that deficit, it's Rossi.
Rossi made up another 9 pts on Hayden today in Japan, finishing second to Capirossi while Hayden finished 5th (he got a pointed gifted to him from Nakano who crashed out ahead of him on the final lap). So Rossi is now at -12 pts from the 1st-place Hayden with two races to go. Capirossi's win moved him past the ailing Pedrosa (who finished 7th) in the championship standings to 4th, at -31 pts. Melandri finished third and is still in third at -27. Next race is in 3 weeks at Estoril.
Hayden must be feeling the pressure. Let's hope for him and his chances that he won't make a big mistake (0 score) as they come back in Europe.
Well, he's definitely riding as if he's trying to avoid any big mistakes, but I'm afraid his conservatism could cost him the championship. That's 39 points Rossi has gained on him in the last 4 races. With that in mind, Hayden's 12 point lead looks miniscule.
http://sports.alice.it/it/cmc/motori/200640/cmc_101580.html Click the link and scroll down and press play on the video. It's a rare video of Valentino Rossi racing his mini-bike at 12 years old. You could already tell he would be a legend!
Rossi is on the pole for tomorrow's Portuguese GP. Hayden qualified third, so he's also on the front row, with Rossi's teammate Colin Edwards splitting them in second. You don't hear too much about 'team orders' in MotoGP, but Edwards has said he'll help Rossi if he can. Ought to be an interesting race, that's for sure.
I guess I really meant 'teamwork', and not necessarily team orders. And I'm pretty confident that teamwork doesn't include crashing both of your team's bikes out while attempting to pass your teammate. What a disaster for Hayden today. Only good thing for him was that Rossi did not win, losing by .002 seconds to Tony Elias. Quite an exciting 3-way finish. Now Rossi enters the final race of the season with an 8-point lead on Hayden.
As much as I'm a fan of Rossi I just had to feel deeply sorry for Hayden yesterday and especially being taken out by your team-mate. Hayden was absolutely raging and I would have been too. Makes for an exciting final race.
I'm a Rossi fan, too, but I have to say my respect and sympathy for Nicky Hayden went way up after this unfortunate incident. You could see just how much it meant to him with his understandable swearing and yelling and beating of the ground right after the crash. But after Pedrosa came to apologize to him later, Hayden has apparently put it behind him and says simply that Pedrosa can make it all up if he can finish 2nd (to Hayden's 1st) in the final race, a result which would give the title to Hayden. After all, the two are slated to be teammates again next season, so it would make no sense to let things fester.
An incredible end to the season today as the unthinkable happened, and Rossi made the crucial mistake, falling in lap 5 and opening the door for Hayden to win the championship. Have to note that at the time Rossi fell, he was in 7th and Hayden in 2nd so Hayden was leading the points race anyway. So it's not like Hayden was handed the title. Still, everybody on earth expected Rossi to bide his time as he always does and work his way up to at least 3rd and keep his grip on the championship he'd held for 5 years. But it was not to be. Even though he got back up and stayed in the race, he could only get back to 13th place, and Hayden won. Amazing.
If one goes back a few pages, he would find me crying about the fact that there is not a single French guy in the championship. With three of them this year, I can tell that I'm more than satisfied (Kawazaki : De Puniet, Jacque ; Tech3 : Guintoli ). Actually, it exceeds the level of interest the country seems to have for the sport as opposed to Italy or Spain. Let's hope it will bring its coverage back on a national network...and well, I do hope for some nice results ; besides the purely nartional aspect, it would help me to get into the championship much more. I hope I can say the same about F1 in a not too distant future...
Certainly not on a constant basis. This said, it was still refreshing for the sport to see someone else win the title last year...
If they get decent results that is... Anyway, Rossi did not wait too long before going back to winning ways...
I'll have to agree that Rossi is three steps ahead of Hayden. Instead of bitching about the bike this year, Hayden should adapt. Look at the magic the doctor created when he jumped from a winner in Honda to another winner that 'HE' created in Yamaha.
Rossi playahate's to his nearest rival every single season; this year it's Pedrosa. You read it here. Buonanotte. The Ducati's are gonna give some serious competitiveness on a straight circuit but did you give any notice to how close Rossi was to Stoner in the 1st race even tho' Stoner was on the faster bike? Basically, Rossi is king of MotoGP and kicks Schumacher arse.