Americans making excuses already...

[Toast]

for Nicky Hayden.

http://www.motorcycledaily.com/10january07_slide.htm

[Motu]

Of course he's going to have a hard time this year - he's stuck between the old school and the new school.''The Old Man'' of MotoGP Valentino Rossi is a long way from being over the hill,he's going to fight real hard to reclaim his title.And if that was a learning year for Pedrosa this year will be something else to see.But Hayden is the guy who developed the 800,all the other Honda riders have to ride Haydens bike....he knows more about it at the beginning of the year than they will halfway through.I reckon he'll be good to watch this year.

[Toast]

Yep, Hayden won't go down without a fight, though the safe money would be on him going down.

[madkeenandy]

three words: Caparossi... Ducati... Winning...

[Les]

My pick/2 cents worth:

1st Pedrosa
2nd Rossi
3rd Capirossi

...or any combination of the above just to cover the bases.

But then again, Hayden did show awesome class last season and was the most deserving of the title especially sisnce he sort of had to "fight back".

[Deano]

From reading that it ain't Nicky himself making any excuses so

[gav]

Sounds like bollocks to me, if its all about ex 250 guys, how come a four time world 250 champ finds himself racing a big gixxer?

[Crasherfromwayback]

Sounds like bollocks to me, if its all about ex 250 guys, how come a four time world 250 champ finds himself racing a big gixxer?

Cause he's obviously a total arsehole to work with, and Honda basically told any of the 'satilite' teams if they hired him, they'd not get Honda engines!

Yamaha were sick of his shit....Ducati are sorted, and so are Suzuki (as far as GP goes).

But I still reckon that Rossi (ex 250 champ too) will be just as at home on the 250 like 800's as anyone else.

Outside pick....Hopkins. He's so used to riding a so far under powered Suzuki that he's used to having to carry huge corner speed (and lean angle).....if the Suzuki goes as well during the season as it has pre season.....he's worth a bet!

Casy Stoner.....as Doohan said...it's easier to get a fast guy to stop crashing, than it is to make a slow guy that doesn't crash fast!

Rossi
Hopkins
Stoner/Cappirossi .....

[Crasherfromwayback]

From reading that it ain't Nicky himself making any excuses so

And it was bloody great to see Nicky riding the last round with a fucked shoulder...making no mention of it too....the right man won the '06' title!

Great for the sport.....

[gav]

If the Suzuki are the real deal, then Chris Vermuellan could be a dark horse. I'm sure he'll finish in front of Hopkins.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Yeah he's good alright. I've read in a couple of articles people 'in the know' reckon he's very similar to the great 'Eddie Lawson' as far as data goes....Chris says what the bikes doing, and the printout mirrors it!

Pretty impressive to be calm enough at that level/speed to store information about what the fucking bikes doing......I'd be shitting myself simply trying to hang on to it!