Hayden wins!

 http://www.motogp.com/en/motogp/motogp_news.htm?menu=news&news_id 311

I would guess that website must get mostly British and Spanish visitors,
so this makes a lot of sense, given their natural bent. Hopefully
they'll throw those folks into a real tizzy next time by asking, "Who
was the most undeserving GP champion in the last 30 years, Nicky Hayden
or Kenny Roberts, Jr.?" That one will end up in the supreme court for
sure...

 On Mon, 02 Apr 2007 20:49:57 -0700, Mark N


I'm certainly not dissappointed by Hayden's performances this
season...


Oh c'mon.  There's Uncini, and Lucchinelli, and Creville...
--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk

 Champ wrote:

Well, that's another way to put it, and perhaps more honest...


So the definition is anyone who won only one championship? If so, you
missed Gardner and Schwantz...

 On Tue, 03 Apr 2007 07:29:23 -0700, Mark N


Hey, ah'm jus messin witchoo...


No, I left them in deliberately, both were very "deserving" in my
view.  To be honest, I wasn't paying enough attention to GPs in 81 and
82, but I had a vague memory that Roberts was beat by machine problems
and food poisoning in one of those years.  <Googles>  ah, it was 1981,
and Lucchinell.  Reading the report on
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2004/Nov/041104b.htm , it seems that
Uncini definitely earnt his 82 championship, so I retract him from my
list.  But, it's a meaningless discussion anyway - "A game is defined
by it's system of rules", so if you finish the season with the most
points, then you 'deserve' it by the only definition that counts.
--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk

 
I can't even open the original link ...?

But no matter what paraoind fantasies anyone has about the hatred
Hayden supposedly receives in Europe... as far as undeserving
champions... I for one, don't think there's ever been one in
motorcycles. They got the job done, period. Some with consistency,
some taking a lot of risk. But no one just handed it to them - if the
favorites fail for whatever reason, you still have to come up with
more points than the others, and that's never easy.

But resident masters of statistics should know that Hayden won his
title with 2 victories the year he won a crown. Roberts with 4.
Lucchinelli and Uncini with 5. Criville with 6. The question is how
tough was the field when the riders won the championship, how intense
the competition, how superior the bike. There I'd guess Criville gets
the break, he may have won the easiest title. Hayden's was contested,
as the nerves and emotions in the last 2 races showed. And I recall
Lucchinelli's title season as very intense. For some reason, I was
surprised to find Uncini had won just as many races as Lucchinelli,
since in my memory the perception was different.

But there's nothing like an undeserving champion in MotoGP, in my
opinion.

And Repsol Honda seem to agree. Despite rumors (in this forum) to the
contrary, Hayden's salary this year is of at least Euro3.5M vs
Pedrosa's E1.9M (see
http://www.eleconomista.es/empresas-finanzas/noticias/179343/03/07/Pedrosa-frente-a-Rossi-En-ganancias-el-italiano-le-saca-30-millones-de-dolares.html ),
but of course it is a Spanish magazine and they lie. Pedrosa makes
more in endorsements, it is speculated, though. Yeah, they sooo hate
poor Hayden in Spain. And it pays Hayden handsomely. Remind me how
much he was making in AMA? He's was pulling 2 million Euro a season
prior to being champion.