[L8 Braker]

Welcome to race day folks, and a beautiful day is is...A nice breeze blows through the paddock as the riders don their leathers...Tensions are high in the Fiat Yamaha team, though, as their two premier riders, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo are just 38 points apart...With two races left, this could be the deciding race that decides who will be the 2009 MotoGP champion...

All the other rider are just an afterthought, it's all about these two...Who's it going to be?...The young Spaniard, or the seasoned Italian champion?

 

[L8 Braker]

The race is on SpeedTV Sunday the 25th at 6pm!!

 

[teedubyaw]

Man, that is a beautiful track.

 

[L8 Braker]

What does Rossi need to place to secure the championship?...Top 5, I think...

Anyone else think Rossi might go a little "easy" for this race??

 

[TELLY]

He just has to place before Lorenzo. And I think he will be going balls out to secure it with a victory in pure rossi style. He prolly already has a celebration ready haha.

This track is cool as hell though.

 

[Optimus Leo]

My money is on Stoner. He is on fire these last races.

 

[L8 Braker]

He just has to place before Lorenzo. And I think he will be going balls out to secure it with a victory in pure rossi style.

I don't know...Last race, I believe that Rossi could've caught Stoner...But he knew Zo had gone down, and thus didn't need to push it...In doing so, he created a gap in points that almost GUARANTEES him another championship...

Another reason he's the GOAT...Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em

Now, having said all that, I see him winning the crown, and going balls out in the last race of the year, absolutely destroying everyone else on the grid....

 

[Razzy]

I don't know...Last race, I believe that Rossi could've caught Stoner...But he knew Zo had gone down, and thus didn't need to push it...In doing so, he created a gap in points that almost GUARANTEES him another championship...

Another reason he's the GOAT...Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em

Now, having said all that, I see him winning the crown, and going balls out in the last race of the year, absolutely destroying everyone else on the grid....

:beer:cheers

Rossi is taking it!

 

[PhilB]

I'm voting for Stoner to be on fire again.

Rossi doesn't even have to beat Lorenzo; he just has to be not more than two places behind him to seal the championship. So I'm guessing Rossi will play it on the safe side and not risk crashing out on this one, and if he gets the adequate result then he's free in the last race to go all out for fun.

PhilB

 

[binx_19]

lorenzo will crash again. stoner will win and rossi will ride backwards for the whole race.

 

[binx_19]

I'm voting for Stoner to be on fire again.

Rossi doesn't even have to beat Lorenzo; he just has to be not more than two places behind him to seal the championship. So I'm guessing Rossi will play it on the safe side and not risk crashing out on this one, and if he gets the adequate result then he's free in the last race to go all out for fun.

PhilB

actually rossi only needs to score 12 points to guarentee victory, even if lorenzo wins. that would put him 25 points up going into the last race of the season and rossi has more race wins, and with attrition for most races, even if he crashes in the final, he could still slowly finish the race and get 1 point.

 

[L8 Braker]

 

[Optimus Leo]

I don't know...Last race, I believe that Rossi could've caught Stoner...But he knew Zo had gone down, and thus didn't need to push it...In doing so, he created a gap in points that almost GUARANTEES him another championship...

Another reason he's the GOAT...Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em

Now, having said all that, I see him winning the crown, and going balls out in the last race of the year, absolutely destroying everyone else on the grid....

I think differently. I think between Rossi-Stoner there is a great rivalry...and no matter their positions on the championship, both of them really want to finish ahead of the other, no matter what.

In Phillip Island Stoner was faster, period. Rossi is not perfect, he is not always going to be up front. It is not like "Oh he didn't win the race, he was holding back". That shit gets old quick, all Rossi fans always say that when he doesn't finishes on 1st place. Stoner was faster and beat him fair and square. Rossi tried, but couldn't get past him. Both of them were giving their 100% (And maybe even more! Who knows?) That's racing! The Stoner/Ducati combo is a powerhouse, they are insanely fast. He just showed everyone that even though the months of "recovery", he is still one of the fastest riders in the grid.

I see it in some soccer rivalries...the so called "super classics" (Real Madrid vs Barcelona, Brazil vs Argentina, Inter vs Milan, etc). It doesn't matter if one team is in the 1st place and the other on the last place in the positions table...when both face each other, they go all out. It is a personal thing between the two.

 

[TELLY]

I think differently. I think between Rossi-Stoner there is a great rivalry...and no matter their positions on the championship, both of them really want to finish ahead of the other, no matter what.

In Phillip Island Stoner was faster, period. Rossi is not perfect, he is not always going to be up front. It is not like "Oh he didn't win the race, he was holding back". That shit gets old quick, all Rossi fans always say that when he doesn't finishes on 1st place. Stoner was faster and beat him fair and square. Rossi tried, but couldn't get past him. Both of them were giving their 100% (And maybe even more! Who knows?) That's racing! The Stoner/Ducati combo is a powerhouse, they are insanely fast. He just showed everyone that even though the months of "recovery", he is still one of the fastest riders in the grid.

I see it in some soccer rivalries...the so called "super classics" (Real Madrid vs Barcelona, Brazil vs Argentina, Inter vs Milan, etc). It doesn't matter if one team is in the 1st place and the other on the last place in the positions table...when both face each other, they go all out. It is a personal thing between the two.

i totally agree. Im a huge rossi fan but i dont give that he held back stuff. i think rossi was giving it his all last weekend, Its just stoner was faster. I think PI is to stoner as Mugello was to rossi. I dont think anyone can beat him there.

We'll see this weekend. I still think rossi will go all out and try to win the WCS with a win. He'll have a huge celebration to go with it. You can bet on it.

 

[TTsixxer]

What does Rossi need to place to secure the championship?...Top 5, I think...

Anyone else think Rossi might go a little "easy" for this race??

Rossi ALWAYS races to win. Remember the 2005 season?

 

[OldSchlPunk]

i totally agree. Im a huge rossi fan but i dont give that he held back stuff. i think rossi was giving it his all last weekend, Its just stoner was faster.

To a point. Rossi admitted post-race that a lap or so after Lorenzo went down, he decided that it wasn't worth the risk of crashing to try to run down Stoner. Rossi's a very smart racer and is ALWAYS thinking about the b***** picture. In last week's picture, that meant guaranteeing 20 points to his lead versus the possibility of throwing them away for a possible extra 5 points.

This is probably the main reason Rossi is the GOAT! A lot of guys over the years are fast, many don't have that killer instinct to work on their strategy (for the race or the season) constantly during the race.

 

[PhilB]

To a point. Rossi admitted post-race that a lap or so after Lorenzo went down, he decided that it wasn't worth the risk of crashing to try to run down Stoner. Rossi's a very smart racer and is ALWAYS thinking about the b***** picture. In last week's picture, that meant guaranteeing 20 points to his lead versus the possibility of throwing them away for a possible extra 5 points.

This is probably the main reason Rossi is the GOAT! A lot of guys over the years are fast, many don't have that killer instinct to work on their strategy (for the race or the season) constantly during the race.

Yes. This is part of what makes Rossi great (and why he's nicknamed "The Doctor"); he's brilliant. He doesn't just go as fast as he can and hope it works. He is always thinking about strategy, thinking several moves ahead, about what he's going to do, about what the other riders are going to do, about how his moves will affect them and theirs him, about how to shake their confidence, or block their moves, and so on. He doesn't *just* outride them, he out-thinks them. That's why his rivals often get goaded into mistakes and lose their confidence -- he gets in their heads and screws with their plans and thinking. Yes, he wants to win every race, every time. But he's too smart to lose sight of the big picture, to throw away a championship on a personal issue.

PhilB

 

[Optimus Leo]

Rossi's declarations after Phillip Island:

This was one of the most fun and definitely one of the most important second places of my career! We were on the limit for the whole race and there were some amazing slides, it was 'old-style' racing. To have a race like this in the sunshine at Phillip Island is an incredible emotion and I really enjoyed myself. Of course I wanted to win but I had to use my head a bit and once I'd seen that Lorenzo was out, I knew that if I made a mistake it would be a big disaster! Anyway I tried in places but Stoner was a bit faster than me. I didn't give up until the end but Casey really deserved this win; I want to give him my congratulations. We leave with twenty important points and now the championship lead is big and we can try to finish it in Malaysia, where we will have the first 'match point'."

 

[L8 Braker]

 

[L8 Braker]