im a stoner fan..and im not going to spit venom on whos­ the best and whos @#$%..or whos funny and whos dull..my­ only concern is watching talented riders and awsome­ bikes! i hope casey wins of course but i dont feel the­ need to slate a fellow bike fan just because his rider­ has has beaten my rider..i left all that behind at­ primary school! get a grip bike fans.

When anybody wins as many premier races as Rossi, then­ let's talk about Stoner, Lorenzo and­ Pedrosa.

Until then watch Rossi and enjoy it! He's­ the best period.

Does anything ever happen in MotoGP apart from the­ actual races?? This story is VERY old, do some work­ eurosport journo's!!!

kavieros75 and EKG and Eagle Rob,
You Stoner goons.­ Use your brain. Who do you boys think you are ? Your­ uninformed comments only show your ignorance and­ foolishness, not to mention your arrogance. You clowns­ need to do everyone a favor and move yourselves to­ another forum ( Casey's own website forum would­ seem to be the obvious choice ). At least that way your­ high-minded views could be enjoyed by other Stoner­ puppets. Have a nice day, mates.

Gareth. You don't get it. Rossi and his fans are­ so 'over the top' it makes some people hate­ them. He and his fans are the Man U of the Motorbike­ world. Just because he stands on a rostrum dressed as­ robin hood with his bow and arrow, does not mean I have­ to like him. Yes he is good on a bike, even great on a­ bike, but trust me his personality is not liked by­ everybody. But worse than Rossi and his 'acting up­ to the crowd @#$%' are his many blinkered and over­ the top fans that follow him everywhere in their caps­ and T-Shirts. In fact I bet half his fans don't­ even like yellow!!!! If you like Rossi then great. But­ if anybody dare to not like him just accept it.

Although I agree with some comments about Rossi not­ being perfect I still think he is the GOAT. None of­ these young riders will ever be as good as Rossi,­ although I conceed that they are very good. Everybody­ who has watched Rossi over the years can definatly say­ that his skill, determination, dominance, and his out­ and out 1 on 1 racing skills are second to none- no one­ will repeat his feats of greatness which have­ captivated a generation of new riders (lorenzo, stoner,­ pedrosa) who have directly learnt from him. He helped­ to continue to set up honda bikes when he was there to­ make the then 990 bike one of the most sorted machines­ ever used in the top flight. He moved to Yamaha with­ his crew cheif and has made a once @#$% bike into the­ new number 1 machine, which Lorenzo has also benefited­ from. He has made yamaha the most sort after rides in­ motogp now. I think Lorenzo will be the next great­ thing when Rossi is done with the sport but until then­ I still rate the KING of two wheels more so than ever­ being that he can still win when the tables have now­ turned against him- no longer the young hungary rider­ terrorising the sport.

Well put Jason E, i'd just like to add, some should­ remember that Rossi has always had pretty good bikes­ too and now that he has a speedy team mate on the same­ kit he no longer looks so unbeatable, but a point about­ those that fall now and again, well that can so easily­ be down to people like Jorge pushing beyond the bikes­ limits because all he knows is fast wins and on­ occaisions stuff the risks is his train of thought,­ Kevin Schwantz was like that, although his bike never­ really was the best out there but he fell off a lot­ whilst trying to push, all the above makes it easy to­ pick out those who never get in the top 3 such as­ Edwards because they are slow and thats why they­ don't crash much, theres a few exceptions to this­ rule but it holds up most of the time. Wonder what­ Bayliss could have done the season after he won the­ last race in Spain, jumped on a Duke and made them all­ look a bit second rate.

Those who are comparing Rossi and Lorenzo should know­ that Lorenzo is at a greater stage now than Rossi was­ at his age. Lorenzo has already won 2 250 world­ championships whilst Rossi only won one and it was at­ 22 when Rossi won his first 500 world championship and­ Lorenzo could win his first premier class world­ championship at the same age, although the only reason­ he will be unable to dominate it is because he has a­ lot more competition than Rossi has ever had with­ Stoner, Pedrosa and Rossi himself now.

I agree with­ Kaveiros in that Rossi isn't a god and he makes­ mistakes like everybody else. He's just a good­ motorbike rider as good as Lorenzo and Stoner. Rossi­ had Biaggi and Gibernau but they were easily broken­ however Stoner and Lorenzo haven't been broken,­ Stoner is still winning although he's ill which­ limits his ability at the moment and Lorenzo can give­ as much as Rossi can.

I think some guys are missing the point here: It's­ totally stupid to argue about the riders' crashes.­ Rossi, Stoner, Lorenzo, Pedrosa... they have all had­ their unexpected crashes, wether they were result of­ extreme pushing or the result of extreme momentary­ stupidity!!! After all... it's racing!
But this­ also shows that -nomatter what a great rider Rossi is-­ he is no "God". And I cannot oversee some­ facts:
- Last year in Laguna Seca... he surely should­ have gotten a penalty for getting out of the track,­ falling on to Stoner and re-gaining the 1st position.­ But... "he is Rossi"!
- A few of his wins in­ the premier class have been the result of some­ UNBELIEVABLE luck!
- He too had shown us some­ "ugly, miserable faces" when things were not­ going perfect for him. But noooooooooo..... he was not­ whining... because "he is Rossi".
- And­ yes... he had all the help a rider could get when he­ first came to the premier class (Jeremy Burgess and­ Mick Doohan). While on the other hand... he doesn't­ seem so willing to "help" any of his teamates­ -with the exception perhaps of his friend (but never a­ threat) Edwards.
So... Everyone can have his personal­ likings, but regarding Rossi as a "God" and­ everyone else as "2nd class riders" is no­ good for anyone.

Lorenzo bow to pressure? Come off it. Jorge is as good­ a rider as Rossi was at his age, and makes the same­ mistakes. Like pushing too @#$% cold tyres, trying­ desperately to take pole when anywhere on the front row­ will do. Lorenzo did not crash at Laguna because of­ pressure on his shoulders. Infact it was a Bridgestone­ tyre that had a slow puncture that caught him out. He­ was not the only rider to have problems with­ Bridgestone tyres throughout the weekend. Rossi too, he­ was frustrated by the lack of options and had two tyres­ fail and lose their moulding during free practice. So,­ point of fact, Rossi plays less mind games on Lorenzo­ as in his own words "He don't care what I­ say". Infact, the rivalry between them is born out­ of a small friendship. Rossi accounts Lorenzo as one of­ the only riders he feels comfortable chatting with­ outside of racing. As for set ups, last season Rossi­ and Burgess helped Lorenzo and his pit crew with rear­ suspension and tyre choices. Lorenzo, like Rossi is­ learning quickly. Rossi has Doohan and Burgess to help­ him where he needed it, and so to, Lorenzo can learn­ from Burgess and Rossi. It's a win, win situation­ for all of us.

Come on guys, keep it clean. We are being treated to­ one of the most competitive championships for a long­ time with 4 great world champions battling for the­ title. Like i said before, every rider has a bad spell.­ But undoubtably Rossi is the king and forever will be,­ no one will ever recreate what he has done in all the­ major championships. The next generation of Stoner,­ pedrosa and Lorenzo have all learned from Rossi and­ would not be half as good without him. I have seen­ similar traits in all of their riding skills which have­ come directly from Rossi, thus giving us 3 great­ superstars for the future rather than the usual one­ dominant figure ie Doohan, Rossi. Will these guys still­ be battling with the young one when they reach their­ 30s?? We'll just have to see.

smima, so far you've quoted 3 mistakes from Rossi­ from a career lasting more years than Lorenzo and­ Stoner combined!!! Oh and he got beat at Mugello,­ nothing to do with the conditions there then? How many­ times did Lorenzo chuck it down the road last year or­ even in 125/250s? How many races has he missed or had­ to run slowly in due to injury caused by avoidable­ crashes? Who crashed when pushing too hard despite­ having the fastest lap in qualifying because he­ couldn't take the pressure from Rossi at Lagina? ­ How many times did Stoner drop it under pressure last­ year!! How many races has Pedrosa run since coming to­ MotoGP with sometimes severe injuries? What's the­ common factor? They all have to run harder and push­ beyond the limits to keep up with Rossi let alone beat­ him!!!! When the day comes and any one of the­ youngsters can beat him consistantly, year after year­ then maybe your argument will have some credence but­ until then all you are is a Rossi basher without the­ intellect, whit or ability to justify your­ hatred/dislike for a true master of his craft!!!!!

smima, what makes Rossi a clown? His celebrations when­ he wins? His formerly wild curly hair? Or is it his­ 100 GP wins and titles in 125/250/500/MotoGP? Is it­ the fact that every rival he has had has fallen by the­ wayside? I can never understand this unnatural dislike­ of a person who's only 'crime' is to be­ very good at their job and provide millions around the­ world entertainment!!! I could destroy your entire­ last post piecemeal but the good people on here will be­ able to do that for themselves as intelligent people­ usually can when dealing with an idiot!!!

smima1966. Who crashed whilst on a sighting lap at­ mugello this year?

Eagle Rob, if you bothered to check facts you'd­ know that the World Superbike Championship has been won­ on more occassions by a Brit (7) than by an Aussie­ (5)!!! In GPs the Brits have the edge there too!!!! ­ As for Sheene settling in Australia, that was mainly­ due to his need to live in warmer climbs due to all the­ injuries he had. Just remember that Australia was­ built on the deportation of the scum of the UK, says a­ lot really!!!

geekweakglasses, you must have some sort of dementia.­ this is lorenzo's second year in motogp and he­ already shows the clown how to set up a bike. as for­ falling, who was the only rider to fall off his bike a­ couple of races ago? the clown of course. who fell on­ the first lap while simply needing to finish behind­ nicky to clinch the title? the clown of course. Rossi­ will no longer need to stick his fingers up his a@€$ss­ for lorenzo, pedrosa and stoner will do that for him.­ lol at your miserable life.

@ Brian S... you just seem to be mumbling what the­ other Rossi's puppets mummble, and don't take­ any real fact into consideration. Fortunately there ARE­ some Rossi's fans with brains and respect, and they­ all can see what's obvious.
I too cannot find any­ wrong with Stoner's willing to win. When Rossi­ shows the same behavior and determination, he is a­ "hero", a "fighter", a "true­ racer", a "God". And some time ago, when­ things were not going so well for him, he too was not­ the nicest person in the world. He even lost the 2006­ title in the last race due to his own mistake and lack­ of concetration. Oh... I forgot... we shouldn't­ mention or even remember these things, because... he is­ Rossi! Right?
Rossi is of much similar character to­ Stoner, that's why he is a multi-champion. He was­ just luckier in his first steps in the premier class,­ since he didn't have such a hard competition. And­ he had the whole Mick Doohan's crew supporting­ him!!! (even Alex Criville won a championship when he­ got Mick Doohan's crew!!!)

Jason E and the rest of the Stoner sympathizers,
Get­ a clue. The boy simply can not handle finishing in any­ place other than first. He thinks anything less makes­ him a loser and unsuccesful. So he runs off at the­ mouth making excuses and blaming others to make himself­ feel like he's worth something. Poor kid. He is a­ victim of a foolish belief system and apparently was­ never taught how to be graceful and appreciative when­ you don't finish in first place. Not a very good­ attitude to carry through life, eh ? G'day, mates.

He was winning when his illness began though. It­ started in Catalunya, which was right after his victory­ at Mugello so I doubt it occurred as he was failing as­ he wasn't. He was well in with a chance of the­ title as he was level on points and he's still well­ in with a chance of a title. He's not a has been. ­ He's a lot different than Biaggi and Gibernau,­ he's a lot younger than when Rossi was beating them­ and Biaggi and Gibernau never beat Rossi to a title,­ Stoner has. He's just ill simple as.