If Nicky Hayden fails too...

[CaptainRaiden]

The same way as Melandri did on the Duc last year, then who do you think would be the next candidate to try his luck on that second Desmosedici, trying with all his might to figure out what magic potion does Casey Stoner put in his fuel tank before every weekend?

A couple of names come to mind:

Mika Kallio: He already performed better on the satellite machine than Hayden on the factory GP9 on a few occassions, in fact on all the tracks bar Mugello. He also has more points than Hayden right now, and plus with his ice racing background, probably he'll be better suited to the Ducati's weird characteristics.

Marco Simoncelli (2011): After doing his apprenticeship with Gresini in 2010, probably he could be that "Italian rider on Italian machine" Ducati have been looking for, or maybe not.

Probably I'm jumping the gun too soon. I mean hey, poor Hayden is still new to that bike, and so it's only fair to give him some more time. But I see a Melandri story repeating.

[NinjaMaster]

Still lots of the season left for Hayden to improve but it's a struggle to see it happen to a satisfactory level.
Simoncelli would be the standout rider style-wise for mine (as well as obviously talent too). One from left field could be Randy de Puniet. He strikes me as a similarly agressive rider to Stoner which I think the Desmosedici seems to favour.
The other option, of course, is that the red bullet needs a significant re-design that more people can ride it fast, but without it losing it's race winning speed. Good luck to 'em.

[ShiftingGears]

The top riders can adapt to any bike. If Ducati want another rider who can tame that bike, they're going to have to pick a rider like Rossi, Lorenzo or maybe Pedrosa.

[The Phantom]

I reckon RdP could be interesting on the Duc too. He and Stoner both crash incessantly when the front end isn't just right, and both are insanely fast when it is right.

But otherwise, Rossi is the only guy who I reckon might be able to do it (and I guess he'd need JB).

Or Anthony Gobert :s mokin:

de P on the Desmosedici :s mokin: :up:

[gco0307]

Have to be honest and say that Randy dePuniet comes to mind for me as well and yep, for some of the reasons mentioned.

Front End - he also struggled with the Michelin front-end and earnedt he nickname Randy DePuntit but this year has not crashed. Difference - Bridgestone fronts

Speed - there has never been (well, not IMO) and discussion about RdP lacking speed, the guy is blindingly fast but he had interspersed this with a number of crashes (front end). It is the crashing that people saw and remember.

Consistency - he always has been consistently quick and generally when he finished he was a consistent midpack rider. Now with the Bridgestone front end he has the consistent speed, stopped crashing and is a consistent finisher and is behind only Melandri as the highest non-factory rider in the title.

Aggression - he has struck me as being an aggressive rider and not a smooth rider as such. By this he strikes me more as a 'scruff of teh neck' rider is his approach.

Now, when I look at the above there are remarked similarities with Stoner and whilst I was impressed by RdP over the last few years, I am now mightily impressed and think that he has far more talent than many in the paddock.





Garry

[The Phantom]

And he's fastest so far at Assen... definitely a dark horse. There's never been anything wrong with the speed of the LCR Honda, as Stoner's 2006 results will attest...

Ducati took a risk on signing Stoner. Who's going to put RdP on their bike??? I'd like to see him on an M1 :cool:


Edit: Roby44 was right!!! :)