17 or so bikes on the grid won't make for exciting­ racing I'm afraid, nor will Rossi and Stoner­ clearing off into the distance again like last season.

i think that 2009 sesson will be just as bad as last­ sesson

As for safety, ofcourse, we don't want a rider­ killed at any point of a season. But, the past has­ shown us that rider error cannot be taken out of the­ equation. Look at WSB, Yasutomo Nagai lost his life at­ the esses at Assen. But, rider error was to blame. With­ a case like Katoh's, both some degree of rider­ error and track design were blamed. In any sport,­ danger is present. A few years ago the Bridgestone tyre­ exploded on the start like at Mugello and sent Nakano­ flying down the track at a little under 200MPH. Who­ could have predicted that? In the same race,­ Tamada's rear Bridgestone exploded. Personally, the­ riders sign up to race bikes that exceded 200MPH, that­ if crashed could cause serious injuries, or life­ threatening injuries. They know the risks, as do we...­ Bring back the 990cc bikes, or better still, birng back­ the pure 500 two strokes..WHy not allow 600 two strokes­ instead...then Motogp could claim to have the best­ riders...Personally, I doubt they do.

I also remember Shinichi Itoh on an NSR500 V4 using­ fuel injection slip between Schwantz and Barros, taking­ pole and breaking the 200MPH barrier in both race and­ qaulifying. During the Doohan years, the 500 two­ strokes were made user friendly, because the likes of­ Biaggi couldn't ride them. The downfall was, they­ became slower and heavier. The last seasons of two­ strokes, the fastest bike on the grid ran at­ 189MPH....The shame was, had Honda kept pushing forward­ and gone all out, the two strokes would never have­ died....Also, I wanna see Rossi ride the Isle of Man,­ or Knockhill, what about Cadwell park? I wonder, would­ he even get close to the BSB boys?

The problem is, most TV channels are hooked on Rossi­ and the leader. No matter if he's ten seconds ahead­ of the pack, they still follow him round and round for­ too many laps. Whilst behind them, battling for 4th­ through to 9th is a group of hard riders of lesser­ bikes. Like in Australia, the battle was for 4th spot­ and it brought excitement. This season we can look­ forward to Toni Elias elbowing Rossi again, like he did­ a few seasons back in Turkey, Alex De Angeles pushing­ harder and showing what he was like in the 250 class,­ fast and aggressive. For the most part, the best races­ I've ever seen so far were back in 1988 and 1989­ when Rainey, Schwantz, Lawson, Gardner and Sarron took­ the stage and battled hard in every race. Since then,­ the only highlight has been Rossi Vs Gibernau...And­ without any bias, on a few occasions, Rossi enjoyed­ being beaten. Because, even though his arch rival­ crossed the line first, it was a battle he loved­ fighting in. That was what made those races so good,­ because Gibernau gave as good as he got with lots of­ hard over taking, late breaking and knee/elbow bashing.­ Problem is, Stoner would rather back off and complain­ than fight for it. Pedrosa sinply hasn't got what­ it takes, Lorenzo could be a challenge and a hard­ battle for Rossi if only he could stay on and Dovisioso­ is alreayd known for his whining and complaining about­ hard riding around him. Please none, he and his team­ lodged no less than 5 complaints about Toseland last­ year!

did Rossi say he wanted to race in wsb to get back to­ barging, i think not, he wants to race and to win, he­ would be happy winning wsb races by 10 seconds, and who­ is there to stop him, will a group of very good riders­ who grace thier stage well be able to beat the G.O.A.T.­ over a season, i hope to find this out before Vale­ finally retires, he is the best, how can anyone doubt­ it

I think that the problem with MotoGP theses days, is­ that the bikes have way too many things to adjust and­ find the right settings for. I guess traction control­ is one, but there are many more, such as tyre­ pressures, multitude of suspension adjustments, seating­ position (specially if ur not a 4"10 pedrobot on a­ Honda), engine mapping, slipper clutch adjustment, and­ many more. God knows how they try to get them set-up in­ such little track time.

Superbikes have limits on what­ can changed; and as there are many similar spec­ superbikes racing in the different series around the­ world, riders have better baseline settings, fewer­ choices to try, and the difference is more balls than­ brains.

As to Glen M's suggestion of different­ tracks, I'd love to see MotoGP try Mount Panorama­ at Bathurst NSW Australia. I loved watching the­ H2r750's (and TZ750s) break 190 MPH on Conrod­ straight in the mid'70s. And back then the tyres­ were nothing like as good as today.

oh dear m.smith, can you not recognise junk mail? That­ was probably posted on 1,000 sites just to get you to­ join up mate... Jeez a dit of desparation there after a­ word from a "female" on a bike site! hehe...

dear diaihenry 10 i am a very tall man and have­ bikes,like to go all over the wold!!!!!
but can not­ find you on ---tallhub co m--- help

dear diaihenry 10 i am a very tall man and have­ bikes,like to go all over the wold!!!!!
but can not­ find you on ---tallhub co m--- help

WSB produces fine racing, as does BSB. The trouble is­ the best riders are in MotoGP. You can watch good­ football in the vauxhall conference league but most­ people prefer the premiership.

He is obviously slanted in the WSB camp. Towards the­ end he uses the term 'we' when referring to­ WSB. Very professional that.

Invalid comment, almost every time I try and post I get­ this message. I would not mind if I had something bad­ to say or was swearing. I even change the text but it’s­ the same (Invalid comment) why

What Carter is saying here is an opinion shared by A­ LOT of people, so saying it's purely because­ Eurosport has lost the TV rights is a bit daft!

gah, invalid comment. Anyone else getting this?­ Eurosport getting worried about use calling out their­ writers on their slanted articles?

i disagree with this article.what made him think motogp­ is boring?maybe he doesn't watch f1.the truth­ is,motogp is far better than f1.even wsbk is better­ than f1.nothing is not interesting in motogp.no boring­ races,season,battles unlike f1.

t

Only Spa is a current F1 circuit. The old Hockenheim­ and Suzuka are not.

I think what Glen M is saying is­ that the modern F1 circuits that are used are too wide­ , flat and have no character and i have to agree. As­ for danger, if we really want MotoGP to be safe we­ might as well just watch the riders asleep in bed.­ Danger is exciting. Sure, deaths are a tragedy and Kato­ will always be remembered as a great rider and human­ being and he died doing what he loved most.
I love­ motorbikes and I hate the fact that so called fans, not­ the riders or their families, want bike sport to be so­ safe it’s boring. Long live the TT and Irish­ road races.

i dont agree, i think the wsb is far from the standard­ of the motogp, when i went to brands hatch for the wsb­ it was boring and seemed slow, unlike when i went to le­ mans for the moto gp it was thrilling and enjoyable,­ moto gp will survive.