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 REPSOL ROSS, 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 REPSOL ROSS, 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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