2011 MotoGP Jerez

I'm pretty sure Casey's line was a jokey reference to something Valentino said in his (outspoken) pre-season discussion of Casey and Jorge - he certainly had a big smile when Valentino came into the pits to apologise and took it in good spirits. I *think* - could be wrong - that Vale had used that in reference to Casey's front-end crashes in the last few years, and so was getting him back a little for that (although obviously not too much, given that the first time Vale had the same problem Casey comes out of it worst!).

Crazy races. If he hadn't fallen off, Karel Abraham could've had a podium, ditto Cal, ditto MANY others! A ton of great Brit performances too.

What a hilarious race - not often that MotoGP give more thrills and spills than Moto2, which itself was a cracker. How about Kallio getting rear-ended, somehow saving what looked unsaveable, then giving a long hard look back over his shoulder - all during a typically packed mad scramble through a corner! hehehe

Rossi screwed up in a very big way. The marshalls were idiots. Stoner's anger is completely justifiable and now just watch him rip on that Honda, Rossi has unleashed the dragon with this one. I don't think Stoner will allow Rossi to finish ahead of him for the rest of the season & Lorenzo won't get a look in for a few races either.

Disastrous MotoGP race, and the most cautious of the frontrunners won in the end. It was an amazing race until the crash on lap 7. Stupid move by Rossi, he went in too hot and too ambitious and ruined not only his race, but also Stoner's, who was at no fault. And he duly went to apologize to Stoner to the Honda garage, who as usual was being his bitchy best. I still don't understand what was the point of saying "Your ambition outweighs your talent" to Valentino Rossi. Really, Stoner? You say that to a 7 time champion, and more importantly a guy who admits his mistake, walks over to your garage to apologize. Cheap shot from Stoner.

Marc Marquez actually showed way much more maturity and integrity when Jules Cluzel came to apologize after crashing into him, a similar incident and at the same corner. He took it well and shook hands with Cluzel without taking cheap shots.

Stoner needs to learn something called sportsmanship. Racing incidents happen, it was clearly not intentional, and when someone realizes their mistake and comes to apologize, you don't be a little biatch about it all. Answer on the track in the next race, not by taking stupid cheap shots.

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Originally Posted by patnicholls

I'm pretty sure Casey's line was a jokey reference to something Valentino said in his (outspoken) pre-season discussion of Casey and Jorge - he certainly had a big smile when Valentino came into the pits to apologise and took it in good spirits. I *think* - could be wrong - that Vale had used that in reference to Casey's front-end crashes in the last few years, and so was getting him back a little for that (although obviously not too much, given that the first time Vale had the same problem Casey comes out of it worst!).

Crazy races. If he hadn't fallen off, Karel Abraham could've had a podium, ditto Cal, ditto MANY others! A ton of great Brit performances too.

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I read what Rossi said about Casey and Jorge, and no, there was nothing about "ambition outweighing talent". From what I remember, Rossi talked about how Casey and Lorenzo hate him, and Stoner is prone to making mistakes, and Jorge is not exciting as a rider etc. As for those two hating him, it's clear, because both Lorenzo and Casey have shown to act like little whiners after races. Stoner refusing Rossi's handshake after Laguna Seca 2008, Lorenzo acting like a prude when Rossi went to congratulate him last year at Malaysia and Valencia, not acknowledging Rossi congratulating him, and now Casey being his unsportsman-like best when Rossi clearly raised his hand, accepted his mistake, and went to apologize to Stoner and his team. Classless.

There is a certain decency and class you have to show before you're considered a great champion, and Stoner certainly hasn't shown it. Agreed, Rossi's move was stupid and way too ambitious, but worse racing incidents have happened, and at worse times of the season and riders have been able to shake it off without trying to be ironic and saying moronic things. Having said that, Rossi himself hasn't been an angel but his way of retaliating is to mess with the riders on the track.

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Originally Posted by N4D13

I believe that Rossi gave Stoner the middle finger during the race -that's what I read in El País anyway-, so I'd hardly have expected Stoner to put a happy face about it.

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How can that be? Never saw it. The only one time Rossi was ahead of Stoner was at the first corner where his bike gave way, and then Rossi got up and rejoined and Stoner didn't. This everybody saw, where was the finger? I think that paper or website is printing blatant lies.

this is what he should have said
your ambition to win on a Ducati outweigh your talent to ride that pice of sh*t

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Originally Posted by X-ecutioner

How can that be? Never saw it. The only one time Rossi was ahead of Stoner was at the first corner where his bike gave way, and then Rossi got up and rejoined and Stoner didn't. This everybody saw, where was the finger? I think that paper or website is printing blatant lies.

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From what I read somewhere (can't remember where) Stoner was waving at Rossi when he passed after the accident, which is when Rossi gave him the finger.

Crazy race, but you could see it coming with a lot of them. Spies in particular was far too quick, in as much as he didn't need to push that much to gap Dani. Gutted for Marco though, would have loved to have seen him come home on the top step.

I also wouldn't say that Casey was classless, IMO you're well over the line with that remark because Stoner is one of the gents in MotoGP. I far prefer Rossi as a character and a rider, but when it comes to manners the bloke can be a cock.

Wowee, what a sensational race! There really was action at every corner, even with such a tiny field.

Lorenzo rode a particularly masterful race. Paced himself and kept out of trouble. Pedrosa did the same, slow to start and did a good job of getting strong points. Was happy to see Hayden rewarded with a podium, even if it was somewhat fortunate. I was really stoked to see Colin Edwards set for his first podium in a while only for his bike to stop. Very disappointing. Was very happy with Hiroshi though, he's the consumate professional and he so nearly snuck a podium finish. All of Spies, Crutchlow and Abraham rode very well and it was disappointing that small mistakes caught them out.
And then of course there was 'that' incident. It was clearly all Rossi's fault and Stoner was an innocent bystander but it was just an (significant) error of judgement, no malice in it that I could see. As Stoner described it, a racing incident. I guess the thing that annoyed me most was that it was only about 7 weeks ago that Rossi criticised Stoners cunning and racecraft, then, in the second race of the year, he rode like a complete rookie trying to win the race on the 8th lap of a 27 lap race. Need to be calmer than that Vale. Also, about the 'apology', how serious was Casey supposed to take it when Valentino didn't even have the courtesy to take his helmet off and speak to him face-to-face? And his "ambition greater than your talent" quip is very much an Australianism, much in the vein of "eyes too big for your stomach" and it was for nothing more than this particular incident.

I only got to see the final handful of laps of the Moto2 race after wasting my time seeing my footy team get flogged. Anyway, Iannone really seemed to be riding beautifully smoothly and Luthi is continuing to impress after his surprising strength last season. I'm just not sure if Tomas has that extra edge to take him to the title. And I read somewhere here that it was Mika Kallio who had that amazing save - that was just miraculous! And then he eyeballed the guy behind him as they went around the corner! Exciting stuff!

Rossi is obviously a great, the GOAT – however, he does exert an unhealthy imfluence on MotoGP as a whole. He is basically the sports ‘gravy train’. Unfortunately, his fans and followers won’t accept he does anything wrong. It was a way over optimistic move. Imagine if it had been somebody else taking Rossi out of the race.....I would imagine there would have been a ride through penalty.

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Originally Posted by AndyRAC

Imagine if it had been somebody else taking Rossi out of the race.....I would imagine there would have been a ride through penalty.

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Yup. The Rossi-worship is incredibly frustrating. The move was incredibly risky, and didn't turn out well. It's a shame Stoner was the one who suffered from it, really.