Comments on: Can Anyone Beat Stoner in 2012? (News)

By: RBen

RBen — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:10:59 +0000

WHAT EVER..

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:33:58 +0000

I thought early reports were that there would be no difference between the factory vs. satellite bikes for the Honda? It may well be that things are more equal early in the season, although I would expect this to change at some point during the year.

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By: Pete

Pete — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:49:22 +0000

He’ll do exactly the same on the Thou. And Stoner uses far less in the way of electronic aids than anyone else out there.

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By: Ray

Ray — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:18:58 +0000

Even the sun shins on a dogs butt every once in a while. He had one good race result and on good qualifying result. The rest of his season was a nightmare with crashes more than race finished.

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By: motobell

motobell — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:25:31 +0000

I am a Rossi fan too but redit where it is due.. this season has shown clearly stoner’s superior edge on the whole field being able to ride the desmosedici and win on it despite all the issues..thank god he was not on honda the last few years.. does anyone have doubt that he would at least won a few races if he was on the very same ducati?

That said, 2012 he is odds on favorite although I expect pedrosa to challenge him more h=give it is do or die year. Jorge is a fighter and will be the other challenge.. everyone else can fight for second tier status.. even though I would love for spied to join it is too much to ask.

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By: chris

chris — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 18:22:10 +0000

what do you mean he sucked on a 990, i think he got a pole and a close second on a true satellite bike, no one has done that for years

By: John

John — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:04:23 +0000

Reports are that Gresini will be a true satellite team next year, not a factory team masquerading as a satellite team like it was this year for Super Sic. That will make it a lot harder for Bautista to be competitive.

Regarding the Stoner-sucks-as-a-development-rider argument, I’m not sure why anyone cares. The object of racing is obviously to come across the finish line first, not to perfect a bike to hand off to your successor next year.

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By: Philip

Philip — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:52:43 +0000

I think Honda will again be fastest. I’d like to throw Bautista’s name into the mix. He was very fast and becamce more consistent on the Suzuki as the season went on. The last time the Gresini team had a great loss in Daijiro Kato, a relatively middle of the pack Spaniard named Sete Gibernau was able to challenge Rossi for several years. If Bautista does well and gets more support from Honda I think he is the type of aggressive rider that could play mind games with Stoner and possibly force mistakes as Rossi did to Casey in 2008. Casey and Honda are the rightful favorites, but I don’t think he thinks it’s going to be a cakewalk so we shouldn’t either.

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By: man relish

man relish — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:12:51 +0000

lets hope not….would love to see another riveting season of only stoner out front with no competition

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By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 02:08:24 +0000

Stoner may be able to win a title without the best motorcycle, but I’ve yet to see him do it. The Ducati he won the championship on was on steroids compared to the other bikes that year, and the Honda was was on steroids squared this year.

I’m not taking away from Stoner’s riding ability. I definitely rate him as one of the two top riders. For me it is a toss up whether he or Lorenzo is the top guy right now, but Stoners two championships came on bikes that dominated with top end speed. More impressive to me was his non championship years with Ducati when he had lesser bikes and was often competitive anyway.

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