Will JT hold it together? - Spoiler Warning

I am struggling to understand why so amny people are writing JT off?? He had agood rookie season in MotoGP where, IMO, if your not on a factory machine you will only ever be a top 5 finisher.

JT has had some good rides and some not so good rides. PI was a stand out race of the season for JT IMO! He had done testing there IIRC, so knew the track. Surely for '09 he has seen all the tracks now so can only build on this years progress.

Good luck to him.

And on the subject of this "he passed me unfairly" business, suck it up! This is big boy racing now. The 125's/250's have their fair share of bumping and AFAIK, they dont bitch about it! It makes for good racing IMO which is what we ALL want to see surely??!!

[rictus01]

If I'm not mistaken he had a win (or 2 beating Bayliss no less) on that very track in WSB and has ridden there several times since, has he not, so still learning the track is he ? and as to the second string engine, I remember the start of the session and the interview he gave about it taking 2 or 3 races to get the latest factory part, how many have they had now ?
Oh and the bit about it making the same power just being a bit more juicy or were they just trying to make it look closer than it ever was ?

as to the titanic battle with Rossi, FFS the guy had a monster crash not 24 hr's earlier, 140 mph or something like that, of course he was building threw out the race, if the only time JT can mix it is in those circumstances then it'll be a while before we see that again.

I'd be delighted to be proved wrong, alas I think all I'll see is people rushing to his defence with a one excuse after another as time goes by, there are very few truely inspired rides and I don't think he'll ever be one of those, if fortune favours him and misfortune befalls others he may well achieve some good results as a "steady Eddy" but at best it's a long shot.

Cheers Mark.

I think next year will be the make or break year for JT in motoGP. Single tyre manufacturer + a season on the M1 on the GP calendar means that next year will be his best shot. I don't think he will win the championship, but I would hope that he will get a fair few podiums and maybe a win. That might sound a little optimistic but hey!

Some other food for thought is look how Bayliss went in his venture into motogp. However, I wouldn't put Bayliss in the 'also ran' rider class.

Erm how far behind Jorge was he again? A second maybe not even that far. He used up a lot of tyre racing Rossi and so in the end lost out. IMO PI shows that when he knows the track and has at least a decent setup what he can do.

Those who write him off I have no idea what you are talking about tbh. I cant see anything that shows him to be not good enough. Even on an off day he gets at least a reasonable result. I cant think of one time he was down at the back of the field (other than Donnington which was different...).

Originally Posted by lukemillar

I think next year will be the make or break year for JT in motoGP. Single tyre manufacturer + a season on the M1 on the GP calendar means that next year will be his best shot. I don't think he will win the championship, but I would hope that he will get a fair few podiums and maybe a win. That might sound a little optimistic but hey!

Some other food for thought is look how Bayliss went in his venture into motogp. However, I wouldn't put Bayliss in the 'also ran' rider class.

Yep you got it.

Originally Posted by rictus01

If I'm not mistaken he had a win (or 2 beating Bayliss no less) on that very track in WSB and has ridden there several times since, has he not, so still learning the track is he ? and as to the second string engine, I remember the start of the session and the interview he gave about it taking 2 or 3 races to get the latest factory part, how many have they had now ?
Oh and the bit about it making the same power just being a bit more juicy or were they just trying to make it look closer than it ever was ?

as to the titanic battle with Rossi, FFS the guy had a monster crash not 24 hr's earlier, 140 mph or something like that, of course he was building threw out the race, if the only time JT can mix it is in those circumstances then it'll be a while before we see that again.

I'd be delighted to be proved wrong, alas I think all I'll see is people rushing to his defence with a one excuse after another as time goes by, there are very few truely inspired rides and I don't think he'll ever be one of those, if fortune favours him and misfortune befalls others he may well achieve some good results as a "steady Eddy" but at best it's a long shot.

Cheers Mark.

I'm not sure who said he'd never seen Phillip Island before, but you can't deny the fact that never having ridden a circuit before is a handicap when you arrive.

Also, all this "if he was good enough he'd excel whatever bike he's on" stuff (not said by you particularly) is crazy.
You don't beat a rider like Rossi, or Stoner, or Hayden, or Pedrosa, or Lorenzo, if they have a better bike than yours. They're just too good. There would be some questions asked at Yamaha if Tech3 riders beat them in a fair fight wouldn't there? Tech3 is a customer team, the differences between the bikes might well be small, but the reason riders like Rossi and co. are all where they are is that they extract every last fraction of available performance.
Rossi couldn't beat himself on a Tech3, it's a tad unreasonable to expect JT to. Rossi certainly isn't a rider who is at the front whatever the bike is like, the fact is that riders like that do not exist.

Originally Posted by cuffy

At the end of day we want a world champion not someone who tried sooo hard and looked good in the process.
Edwards showed that the Yam can get a podium finish.
Will the British public be happy with a "middle place man" ???

Did you miss the bit where he won 2 world championships?

Originally Posted by rictus01

If I'm not mistaken he had a win (or 2 beating Bayliss no less) on that very track in WSB and has ridden there several times since, has he not, so still learning the track is he ? and as to the second string engine, I remember the start of the session and the interview he gave about it taking 2 or 3 races to get the latest factory part, how many have they had now ?
Oh and the bit about it making the same power just being a bit more juicy or were they just trying to make it look closer than it ever was ?

as to the titanic battle with Rossi, FFS the guy had a monster crash not 24 hr's earlier, 140 mph or something like that, of course he was building threw out the race, if the only time JT can mix it is in those circumstances then it'll be a while before we see that again.

I'd be delighted to be proved wrong, alas I think all I'll see is people rushing to his defence with a one excuse after another as time goes by, there are very few truely inspired rides and I don't think he'll ever be one of those, if fortune favours him and misfortune befalls others he may well achieve some good results as a "steady Eddy" but at best it's a long shot.

Cheers Mark.

Remember that Stoner was nowhere 2 years ago. Change of bike and he wins the championship.

I'm no JT leg humper, and I think that next year you may well be proved right. But to say that now is stupid quite frankly.

Originally Posted by Flamin_Squirrel

Did you miss the bit where he won 2 world championships?

I think he was reffering to JT's efforts in MotoGP.

I dont get why people want to knock JT down. MotoGP is no cakewalk. I think and i hope next year JT silences his critics.

JT is a very talented rider, he deserves to be in MotoGP more than any other UK rider for a long time now.

He is not learning the track, he is learning to ride a MotoGP bike around that track. Just because it has two wheels doesn't mean it is the same as his 998, 999, and Fireblade were around Philip Island.

He had a good race, maybe his best race to date this year. He battled well with Rossi, but the fact is Rossi was way back on the track and came forward. Yes he overtook Rossi a few times, but most of the time he was holding Rossi up.

Originally Posted by mynameis

Quote from Rossi on MCN website: “With me Toseland was fair and it was a great battle. He rides like a devil, he rides like his life is depending on it. He wants to keep his position, that’s for sure but he was very fair with me."

Bear in mind that Rossi is the cleverist PR man about, he will praise anybody to there own nations press but that doesn't mean that is his true feelings.

he held up Lorenzo too and he was on the same tyres.

I expect nothing from Toseland except effort and he showed that. To say he is poor because he can never win a race or championship is simply not realistic. He is out there doing the biz and that is enough for me.

now, let me think.

hmmm. who was the guy with the teeth that in his first season seemed to finish one race in three cos he kept losing the front. think it was with one of the satellite honda teams....

if memory serves he now rides a big red motorcycle. at least i think its red, y'see you only ever really see it at the start of the race before it clears of into the distance...

now what was his name.... pothead... or something...