Hawkrider

Congrats to Nicky!

http://www.motogp.com/en/motogp/moto...id=3&section=2

mikstr

What a season! I am happy for Nicky for he worked his tail off for it, it is nice to see him finally "bring home the bacon" after four years of trying. You have to give kudos to Rossi too though (once again!), he fought the whole way and were it not for some serious bad luck (especially early on in the season) well... It should make for some good racing next year too
Gotta raise your hat to Troy Bayliss too. Brought in as a replacement rider for hte injured Gibernau, he steals the show and runs away with the race win.

captainchaos

I thought it was over for Nicky last race when Pedrosa took him out. Unreal...And Troy Bayliss...incredible. I remember when I saw him come to Daytona for the first time and he took pole on his first try and was smoking everybody until he crashed out.

marmaladedad

And here I was, hoping CEii would be headed back to WSBK to take on Bayliss in a rematch of the 2001 and 2002 seasons...

Hayden did a superb job of remaining consistent, keeping it up and finishing each race this whole season.

kevink2

Way to go Nicky! Bayliss is God! One of the best seasons ever.

L8RGYZ

Yeah, gotta love Bayliss! Just deserts after spending '05 riding the sub-par Ducati of last year. Just imagine what he might have done on this year's machine. That's racing though... can't feel sorry for him... after all he did win WSBK.

What's he doing next year?

I heard Nicky say he's giving up the 69 plate for #1 next year.

kevink2

The Baylisstic one is signed for World Superbike for two more years...wonder if Ducati is worried they signed the wrong guy up for next years MotoGP team (i.e. Stoner)!

Wonder what's going to happen to Sete Gibernau...haven't heard anything about him for next year. Maybe Rossi was right when he predicted a few years back that Sete would never win another GP.

RCVTR

Yeah Troy said he's happy where he is. How could he not be after his MotoGP experience.

That is amazing. I think it must have a lot to do with Ducati traction control making the two bikes equally rideable. It wasn't even on tires from the same manufacturer!

I'll never forget seeing Colin Edwards beat him on the big turnaround day that led to the '02 WSB championship, at Laguna.

Hat's off to Nicky! He had a great, consistent season and proved absolutely that he is one of the best in the field. I think he even had Rossi trying. Did he force him to make a mistake?

No disputing Valentino's superiority, though. what was it? two blown engines, two crashes and a broken hand in practice? And he still could have won the championship with a second place finish.

But it is sooo good to see Nicky win the crown. He deserves it!

And hat's off to Ducati! I'd love to see Loris win it for the Italians. too bad the Ducatis can't get around some tracks, like Laguna.

marmaladedad

Anyone get a clear shot of what happened right at the start of the race, with Nicky almost bumping Vale? It didn't seem like much, just a little friendly tap. I was really hoping for the Valencia race to rival that of the '02 WSBK final race between Bayliss and CEii - THAT was awesome.

kevink2

I think Vale was feeling a little heat... also remember at Laguna he destroyed his rear tire first, then putted around, his bike overheated, and then he trolled around for a few more laps after his engine went south.

I was kind of surprised when I watched the Valencia race a second time to see Rossi drift over a bit at the start as Nicky was hard on the gas. Blocking after a botched start? Nah, couldn't be.... Nick didn't have many places to go and had to get off the gas a bit before braking for the first turn.

I agree the Bayliss/Edwards duel was one of the best races I've ever seen.

marmaladedad

I was hoping they didn't touch brake levers like what happened in the huge crash that took out Gibernau, Capirossi, and several other riders at, I think, the Catalunya GP.

captainchaos

NOTHING will EVER rival the '02 WSBK final race...

RCVTR

I was on the fence between turns 1 and 2 for that race. They were coming by at 190+ and dropping off the throttle as they went by. Awesome.

I watched this year's MotoGP race from the same place. I looked at my son and said "take out your ear plugs, it's awesome." He smiled and said "I already did!"

Too cool!

marmaladedad

Amazing that your kid could hear you with all that noise!

kevink2

Even I couldn't take it with my loud-music-damaged ears at Laguna! Wow!

BTW Interesting number crunching in this article for the Valencia race :
http://www.crash.net/news_View~t~For...~id~139685.htm

RCVTR

Yeah, if you get behind the exhaust pipe when they're on the gas it'll ruin you. Almost too much with ear plugs. But they were chopping the throttle right as they went by. It was bearable, but still way intense.

Nicky rode a beautiful, patient, mature race for the win that day.

Jim TT