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Posted by T3 on October 29, 2006, 9:08 pm
> 2006 has been run, and here are ten (plus) guys who made it special:
>
> 10) Tie: Neil Hodgson - He came to America to show us how they do it in
> BSB and WSB and MotoGP, and after a year of learning the tracks in America
> he did just that, taking 4ths and 5ths like clockwork, and even getting on
> the box several times toward the end, once he had his traction control.
> Unfortunately, now that he has the stain of associating too closely with
> Americans on his hands, he seems to be finding it difficult to land work
> out in the real world...
Word is he really wants to stay here..
> Carlos Checa - Another Spaniard, GP's Mr. Mediocre makes every year
> special, this one fighting to 15th in points on a Dunlop-shod Yamaha, for
> once learning how the other half feels on stuff that doesn't quite work.
> Not to worry, he'll be back on a Michelin-shod Honda next year...
Yeah, I was thinkin' he'd be in BSB next year..
>
> Toni Elias - Yet another Spaniard, this one with a very notable
> accomplishment, having fought back and beaten Rossi at Estoril on the last
> lap, which in the end helped give Hayden the championship. He started the
> year off well, ended up ninth in points and will be back, so we'll see if
> this is the start of something... mediocre...
We'll see..
>
> Sete Gibernau - What, another Spaniard?? Sete moved on to Ducati and in
> the process stretched his winless streak to 36 races and his podiumless
> streak to 24. Then he had the year end with the guy signed to replace him
> taking him out at Estoril and ending his season early, and then watching
> his replacement Bayliss, winless in three prior seasons in GP, jump on his
> bike take the win at Valencia - could the frustration and humiliation cut
> any deeper? (Well, perhaps so, if one had actually picked him to win the
> championship) Unlike with the other Spaniards, it may all humanely end
> now, for both him and us...
Say good night Sete..
>
> 8) Casey Stoner - Added a lot of excitement to MotoGP and was amazingly
> fast at times. In the end the results didn't quite match the flash, 8th in
> points, no wins, only one podium, and seven DNFs, including the last three
> rounds. Now he moves up to a coveted top factory seat, so you have to say
> he's been big news.
Corse better hire a few paint and body guys..
> 7) Valentino Rossi - His championship started much the way it ended,
> hitting the dirt and climbing back on to salvage a few points, and too few
> in the end. In between were human-level problems for EuroGod, from the
> chatter not really discovered in testing to the motor and tire failures to
> the crash and injury at Assen and finally the bad start and crash today
> when it all should have gone his way from pole. That after his bike was
> fixed he only managed to win one of the last seven races and crashed out
> today says it all about his year, as did his playing it safe and ending up
> losing to Elias at Estoril. And it's not like all of Europe and Japan
> weren't helping him (not to mention a small piece of Texas). But he did
> come back from far down to make it very interesting, so you have to at
> least give him that. Still, easily the worst year of his career, and he
> has to take at least some of the blame for that. And it won't get any
> easier next year.
Quite possibly the beginning of the end..
>
> 6) Dani Pedrosa - Well, of course he was handed the best bike on the grid,
> but he did win a couple races, he did finish in the top five in points,
> and he was the biggest (figuratively) new face in MotoGP, a guy who will
> seriously factor next year and probably for years to come (and he actually
> managed to suppress his ego and play the team role today!). Or perhaps
> not, if they start building bikes spec'ed for normal-sized ex-SB racers
> and revise the rules to equalize rider weight. His gross error in Portugal
> was partially erased today, when he rode shotgun for Hayden to the title.
> But only partially, as that remains the biggest fuckup in GP in a very
> long time, perhaps ever, although now it certainly won't be recorded that
> way by those who write the histories...
Maybe in Euro, but I kinda doubt too many will ever forget here..
>
> 5) Kenny Roberts, Jr. - The old champ showed he can still do the business,
> given half-decent equipment, and ended up an outstanding 6th in the
> championship with a pair of podiums and almost a win. The decent half of
> the bike was a lease-spec Honda motor and downstream Michelins, and the
> rest was a chassis developed by an underfunded team with only one rider
> and a very limited testing budget. Really an amazing job when you consider
> it fairly, a very big story.
Yeah, but he's about done now..
>
> 4) Loris Capirossi - Really a great season overall, winning three times,
> taking third in the championship, not crashing out or causing any
> controversy all year. Well, other than his contact with Gibernau that
> caused the biggest incident of the year, but that really just showed his
> guttiness, riding through the pain at the following rounds. Given that he
> only finished 23 points behind Hayden, that may have cost him dearly. Now
> if Bridgestone can only close the gap on Michelin just a bit more, he may
> yet get that premier class championship to add to his others. He's already
> my darkhorse favorite.
Only if Duc has a decent 800 out of the box, if not, maybe not, Capi prolly
doesn't have that many seasons left..
>
> 3) Ben Spies - Not only did he beat Mladin for the AMA SB championship,
> but he beat him soundly, winning 10 of the first 14 races before injuring
> his hand and then cruising home, and that on the same bike and without
> Mladin's veteran team. A huge step up for a guy who now looks like the
> best young rider outside MotoGP. So how long will that remain the case? At
> least two years, it appears.
Absolutely!
>
> 2) Troy Bayliss - Won the WSB championship in dominant fashion, winning
> eight races in a row early in the season. Then winning the Valencia MotoGP
> race to top it off, showing, along with Hayden, that Superbike guys CAN
> win in GP, they just need a level playing field with all the favored
> 125/250 homies. Right now all those brilliant GP team managers who have
> signed guys like Gibernau and Barros and Checa and Stoner can say in
> unison, "Oops". The Old Man who Can...
Great to see him do so well, what a swan song, huh?
>
> 1) Nicky Hayden - Of course he's the Rider of the Year, having taken the
> championship from Rossi after struggling all year with that Brno
> development mule, his teammate on a better bike and precious few parts
> coming down the pipeline from HRC. But all of that didn't break him, the
> FIM and Dorna refusing to penalize Rossi at PI didn't break him, and
> Pedrosa knocking him off at Estoril and costing him the points lead didn't
> break him. Sure, it took lots of problems on Rossi's side to make it
> happen, but in the end it was Rossi who broke and not Hayden - someone
> finally made Rossi look human after all. Doesn't matter that he only won
> two races along the way, as HRC said early in the year, it wasn't a bike
> capable of winning. And it certainly doesn't matter that he didn't crash
> out all year or take out anyone - remember when that actually was the mark
> of a champion? Making Rossi look human in front of all these guys could
> completely restack the psychology deck in MotoGP. And a year that started
> out all about 250 promos ended up today being all about ex-SB guys - it's
> all good...
Winners never quit and quitters never win, a win is great, but consistency
wins titles.
Just like ex-dirt trackers before him Nicky brings the title back to where
it belongs, I got over big-time @14/1 and you're right, it was all good,
very good indeed!
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