Melandri nearly quit MotoGP

Eurosport - Thu, 13 Nov 15:52:00 2008

Marco Melandri has admitted he considered walking away from MotoGP during a disappointing 2008 season.

2008 Valencian GP Ducati Melandri - 0

The Italian failed to get to grips with the Factory Ducati, and was completely outclassed by his team-mate Casey Stoner, who finished the season with 280 points to Melandri's 51.

The 26-year-old former 250cc world champion has now left for Kawasaki and hopes he has put the worst season of his career behind him.

"It's been a learning year due to disappointments, but I really can't complain because in June I'd predicted the end of a life stage," he said.

"I seriously risked giving up during the bad times in my career and throwing it all in.

"It's not that this year I didn't try my best; on the contrary, I tried everything I could to start every race as if I was going to win," he said.

"But when everything goes wrong and it's meant to be, there's nothing you can do to change fate."

Eurosport

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  1. good luck marco, i'm a fan [of you not of kawasaki] i remember how good you were on a customer HONDA, bit of a clue there to where your 2009 ride should be, ask "tiger tony" ellias- REPSOL ROSS

    From rrcarsofgosport, on Mon 17 Nov 7:03PM

  2. good luck marco, i'm a fan [of you not of kawasaki] i remember how good you were on a customer HONDA, bit of a clue there to where your 2009 ride should be, ask "tiger tony" ellias- REPSOL ROSS

    From rrcarsofgosport, on Mon 17 Nov 7:03PM

  3. Pity that Ducati didn't suit Marco. Maybe it was just the details, but at such high levels of competition, even the most trivial things count. But to be honest... I am not sure how Marco will do on a Kawasaki.
    Kawasaki is perhaps the only manufacturer so far that hasn't shown any sign of real progress in the MotoGP.

    From kaveiros75, on Mon 17 Nov 11:10AM

  4. give marco a tech 3 and see how he goes then

    From Angry Briton, on Thu 13 Nov 8:47PM

  5. X racer you are so true its not even funny, i can't remember where it was, but Sylvain Guintoli was dead last in qualifying and he was 2 seconds off pole, the funny thing was the pole lap time was just over 100 seconds, so he wasn't even 2% off the pace but he still looked slow, 2% is nothing but it goes to show how close these guys relay are.

    From bungle_2k, on Thu 13 Nov 1:03PM

  6. Lets hope Kawasaki give him a good bike next year so he can get back to riding fast and winning races.

    From GEORGE, on Thu 13 Nov 1:00PM

  7. In F1 the slow guys are fast and the fast guys are really fast.

    From X RACER, on Thu 13 Nov 1:24AM

  8. Marco is Quality rider as are all the MOTOGP boys. The corner speed would scare the life out of me. Put this bad season behind you mate and think it could have been worse. Poor old Randy kept falling off. Its tough for you guys at the top!!!!!

    From Robert H, on Wed 12 Nov 6:50PM

  9. Here's to a successful 2009 season Marco - don't worry, you don't become a bad rider overnight. Obviously the Ducati didn't suit you so onwards and upwards!

    From Holty, on Wed 12 Nov 6:35PM

  10. Think positive Marco, things can only get better, you would be missed

    From the bear, on Wed 12 Nov 5:49PM
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