It's official, Stoner rejoins Ducati

[FourWheelDrift]

Honda contract up, signed up with Ducati.

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/225374/1/official...

"involves becoming a 'brand ambassador' for Ducati, including an appearance at World Ducati Week from July 1-3, plus 'a selected number of MotoGP tests for the Ducati Team next year."

[obscene]

Come on Phillip Island wildcard

[LoonR1]

Fantastic. Really hope we see some wildcard rides next season ahead of a full time return.

[FourWheelDrift]

Yes, I wonder if those select tests are the type that Pirro does at Mugello, Misano and Philip Island (instead of Valencia).

[dukeboy749r]

I sincerely hope he does do some races. Other people at the front of each race can only be a good thing.

[Yazza54]

[Biker's Nemesis]

I'd love to see him back on track, as much as I'm not a fan of his there's no doubt it could only make the racing even better.

Marquez , Rossi, Lorenzo and pedrosa had better watch their backs

[3DP]

I like how everyone assumes he'll be at the front. My guess is a few wild card rides, where he gets beaten and/or beaten up by Dovi and Iannone. He then cries some more, whinges and says he's better off out of it before disappearing up his own arse into retirement again. He couldn't even stick a whole season of V8 supercars without whinging and quitting.

He can then go back to doing what he does best and just snipe at the other riders through the media, about how they should be doing it, whilst sucking on his sour grapes.

For a guy who says he doesn't like the MotoGP merrigoround, so quits, he's now lined himself up as a Ducati brand ambassador so has the maximum amount of non-racing BS expectations on him.

I think Honda have his measure and will likely lose no sleep over their decision not to bring him back or involve him in anything more than a bit of Endurance racing.

It'll be good having him back though as it's a win win - if I'm right about the above, then it'll confirm what many think about him and get the Stoner fanbois on the back foot. If I'm wrong, then we have another alien at the front to mix it up and with luck he'll come back with a better attitude after a lay off.

[dukeboy749r]

[WaferThinHam]

Or maybe Stoner is just trolling us all and trying to extract the maximum amount of money from Ducati?

[Reardy Mister]

3DP said:

I like how everyone assumes he'll be at the front. My guess is a few wild card rides, where he gets beaten and/or beaten up by Dovi and Iannone. He then cries some more, whinges and says he's better off out of it before disappearing up his own arse into retirement again. He couldn't even stick a whole season of V8 supercars without whinging and quitting.

He can then go back to doing what he does best and just snipe at the other riders through the media, about how they should be doing it, whilst sucking on his sour grapes.

For a guy who says he doesn't like the MotoGP merrigoround, so quits, he's now lined himself up as a Ducati brand ambassador so has the maximum amount of non-racing BS expectations on him.

I think Honda have his measure and will likely lose no sleep over their decision not to bring him back or involve him in anything more than a bit of Endurance racing.

It'll be good having him back though as it's a win win - if I'm right about the above, then it'll confirm what many think about him and get the Stoner fanbois on the back foot. If I'm wrong, then we have another alien at the front to mix it up and with luck he'll come back with a better attitude after a lay off.

I am rather dubious of someone who quit because he didn't like the circus, returning as a brand ambassador for Ducati, which will be the biggest circus in the paddock.

[FourWheelDrift]

Reardy Mister said:

I am rather dubious of someone who quit because he didn't like the circus, returning as a brand ambassador for Ducati, which will be the biggest circus in the paddock.

He quit because he lost the passion to race because of the diluted 2 tier class system (CRT), the travel and his new family.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/motorsport/motorsport-...

[AW111]

Reardy Mister said:

I am rather dubious of someone who quit because he didn't like the circus, returning as a brand ambassador for Ducati, which will be the biggest circus in the paddock.

One take on this is that he felt the circus was a distraction when he was racing for world championships.
Being paid good money to be a "brand ambassador", combined with some testing and a few wildcard rides, is a totally different matter.

Having said that, I hope he is back for real. Like him or hate him, he was the first of the "new generation" riders who wasn't intimidated by Rossi's mind games, and beat him repeatedly, which Rossi (and fans) appear to have never forgiven him for.

[3DP]

FourWheelDrift said:

Reardy Mister said:

I am rather dubious of someone who quit because he didn't like the circus, returning as a brand ambassador for Ducati, which will be the biggest circus in the paddock.

He quit because he lost the passion to race because of the diluted 2 tier class system (CRT), the travel and his new family.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/motorsport/motorsport-...

...and then spent a year in a second Tier Aussie V8 series with no success, before quitting whilst complaining about both sponsor and media commitments and also saying in another article that wanted to get away from competition.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/motor-sport/fo...

I'm pretty sure both the level of competition and the media/sponsor circus will be far higher if a brand ambassador, with him expected to trot out the corporate Ducati line about how wonderful an Indian Market Monster 400 is etc!


On a more constructive note, I would have thought Ducati may have courted him for their WSB effort - big name, talent etc might have seen them take the WSB crown in 2016? He'd have a good chance of winning the series and regaining his passion, with less media commitments too. I wonder whether it was Ducati's preference for him to be in MotoGP, or him not wanting to be in WSB?

[Steve Bass]

3DP said:

...and then spent a year in a second Tier Aussie V8 series with no success, before quitting whilst complaining about both sponsor and media commitments and also saying in another article that wanted to get away from competition.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/motor-sport/fo...

I'm pretty sure both the level of competition and the media/sponsor circus will be far higher if a brand ambassador, with him expected to trot out the corporate Ducati line about how wonderful an Indian Market Monster 400 is etc!

100%

He moans. About everything. it's what/who he is. But he seems incapable of seperating the fun from the not so fun in his line of work. Amazing rider but a typical whinging, moaning Aussie.

3DP said:

On a more constructive note, I would have thought Ducati may have courted him for their WSB effort - big name, talent etc might have seen them take the WSB crown in 2016? He'd have a good chance of winning the series and regaining his passion, with less media commitments too. I wonder whether it was Ducati's preference for him to be in MotoGP, or him not wanting to be in WSB?

And have CS show what a steaming pile of chod the 1199RS really is??
Even Ducati haven't figured out how to massage the rules to get it to win. Casey is good, but not THAT good

[FourWheelDrift]

Steve Bass said:

And have CS show what a steaming pile of chod the 1199RS really is??
Even Ducati haven't figured out how to massage the rules to get it to win. Casey is good, but not THAT good

I guess you didn't follow World Superbikes this year.

Chaz Davies - 5x Wins, 7x 2nd and 6x 3rd to finish 2nd in the Championship spliting the 2 dominant Kawasakis of Rea and Sykes.

[Steve Bass]

woowahwoo said:

Steve Bass said:

And have CS show what a steaming pile of chod the 1199RS really is??
Even Ducati haven't figured out how to massage the rules to get it to win. Casey is good, but not THAT good

Davies won five races this year. If Giugliano wasn't injured and could cut his 'style' back a notch, then I think he would have been up amongst the other factory bikes, too.

If this, maybe that, coulda, woulda, shoulda...

If a Ducati doesn't take the Championship, it's a pile of shyte. No other metric is worth consideration. They're not there for the wooden spoon.

[3DP]

FourWheelDrift said:

Steve Bass said:

And have CS show what a steaming pile of chod the 1199RS really is??
Even Ducati haven't figured out how to massage the rules to get it to win. Casey is good, but not THAT good

I guess you didn't follow World Superbikes this year.

Chaz Davies - 5x Wins, 7x 2nd and 6x 3rd to finish 2nd in the Championship spliting the 2 dominant Kawasakis of Rea and Sykes.

Agreed - you have to think that with a rider like Stoner on the Ducati last year, they'd have had a really good chance of winning the championship.

2016 will be interesting if the new ZX10R doesn't hit the ground running and the new R1 comes into form, but still, Stoner has to be the best chance Ducati has for a WSB title in 2016.

[Steve Bass]

dukeboy749r said:

You can roll your eyes but prove Pete wrong.
His antics are there in plain sight. Make no mistake, he's a phenomenal rider, but don't go blind to his foibles either

[AW111]

Steve Bass said:

If this, maybe that, coulda, woulda, shoulda...

If a Ducati doesn't take the Championship, it's a pile of shyte. No other metric is worth consideration. They're not there for the wooden spoon.

Since only one make can win the championship, by your definition every other bike in the field is a piece of st...

Even the brand that beats the winning make in 5 races, and takes 2nd ahead of the winner's sister bike?





ps A joke from my childhood, just for you :

"How do you know when a planeload of poms arrives in Australia?"
"The whining sound continues after the engines are shut down"