Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!

Did anyone else catch Mamola slagging Puig & Pedrosa just before the trophy presentation? [/quote]

Well they were all making some choice comments about Puig werent they ? what are you referring to ...about his horrible style and making enemies in the paddock ?

Alberto Puig has to be the most obnoxious individual in the paddock. Even the Spanish track side dudes struggle getting two words from him. This is where his influence on Dani is very bad. I can assure anyone who is interested, that Dani away from the track and Puig is a very relaxed and easy going fella,(remember we over here see a whole lot more of Dani than you do.)

I can eventually see big bust up taking place in a season or two when the Little Spaniard finally blows out Puig and is then seen by many as a completely different character.


On Nicky...

I just hope he does not struggle with the front end like Melandri and Elias have as after all they also left Honda to ride the Ducati. NIcky also has to get used to a new tyre brand. I am confidant though that with his amazing work ethic,he will come good and will take no more than 2 or 3 races to do so.

the point i understood was that Puig will speak to you one day & send you to Coventry the next , & does this regular....

yes Sir @Peter @Henry- they agreed with you about Pedrosa being relaxed and nice away from the Puig svengali ...

Puig has done a lot for young riders inSpain - ie Danny Webb & other Brit riders....so he cant be all bad, can he ?

Problem is it all has to go Puig's way!

Firstly, it was great to see Nicky back up front on sunday. I really like Nicky, and rate him as a rider and as a person...who couldn't be happy for him when he won the MotoGP world championship in 2006? Bloke was in tears riding around back to the paddock. He's very emotive, I like that. Same reason I cheered for him when he was throwing a right wobbler when Dani took him out at estoril in 2006 aswell!

Nicky has never looked comfy on the 800, he's all arms and legs. The new fairing honda gave him worked to some extent, but it wasnt originally designed for the bike I suppose, and I suspect the simple act of makinf the fairing wider may have given some more handling issues? Who knows. Nicky has been given a good role of helping to develop the pneumatic valve engine, but even that role was given away to Nakano (who suprisingly enough was able to see how the pneumatic honda works with the bridgestone tyres, before Dani got a chance to test...). Honda have been good to Nicky, given him job security and all that, but its time for him to move on. The 800 just dosn't work the way Nicky wants it to. Look how comfy he was at indy, sliding the bike about. The honda dosn't always work like that, thanks to how honda have developed it for dani's 250cc high corner-speed style.

The ducati is much more of a "chuck it in on its side, crack on the throttle and get it outta that goddam corner ya'll" machine Casey is pretty rough with it, and I think the desmo will be well suited to Nicky's style of riding. I really hope so, anyway. I want to see Nicky back up there...even Rossi said he enjoyed racing with Nicky, because he is hard but fair and takes it on the chin like a man (not like a child...*cough*...casey).

So here's to 2009 and the hopefull return of Nicky to the top step of the podium.

Of course, this means no miraculous comeback for Gravel Trap Gibernau

Matt

[Biker Biggles]

I like Haydon too.He reminds me of Chris Walker in many ways.Without wanting to be rude to either I think they both punch above their wieght,making up for that fraction less talent by sheer determination and grit.Haydon won a championship against the odds like that and good luck to him.Stalker lost a BSB championship despite putting everything and more into it,but thats life.
And when I say a fraction less talent,I only mean less than the very best,not that they dont have talent!

Hope he does better than Melandri...

Depending how he gets on with the new CF chassis I think he'll do much better on the Duke, it rides the way he likes. Honda made the bike fit Pedrosa and he just couldn't get on with it.

The whole series next year will be of great interest, I think there's a lot of talent coming through in what was this years rookies.

I'd like to think he'll have a much better year than this.

.

Originally Posted by Razor

Hope he does better than Melandri...

Can't do any worse now can he.