please tell me i wasn't the only one watching...

[natedogg624]

wow! what an amazing race!

im referring to the Laguna USGP, amazing battle between rossi and stoner from the beginning for 10-14 laps back and forth back and forth rubbing fairings

o man, too bad stoner's backend slid out...

good for the US too especially on a main network station CBS. shows our predominate redneck racer watchers of CRAPCAR that there is more to racing than left turns and big overweight cars.

[APCh8r]

I was more excited about the lorenzo high side, that was awesome. Not as bad as his first one but same style.

[natedogg624]

yea that was cool but you really didn't think the back and forth between the two at the beginning was better...

[APCh8r]

yea that was cool but you really didn't think the back and forth between the two at the beginning was better...

oh I am not saying I didn't enjoy the battle, it was probably one of the better ones of the season. However that high side was shocking.

[EagleCock]

yes, it was a sweet race

[e-flores]

amazing race!!! Hate to say it but stoner showed his young racer side today and rossi showed why he is a seven time world champ. But I would have loved to see that one go to the line though. And that sucked for lorenzo he was holding his broken ankle right after the wreck, that can't be fun. I hope the nascrap guys were watching to see what real racing is.

[RC51 John]

It was an amazing race and the announcers didn't suck this year.

Though what's up with calling Rossi "Vali"?

[natedogg624]

announcers were ok but its still more fun listening to the eurosport tv guys do the race.

that ducati was all over the place, so im not sure that anyone with experience could handle that monster not even rossi (he was offered a ride by duc for next year, that would have been interesting) props to stoner especially with how little he is!

hope hayden goes to duc next year for sure that would be sweet, seems all the cards are lining up that way...

i think they said at the end of the race lorenzo broke his middle bone in his right/left foot.

[Disclaimer]

There any vids of the high-side (links)? - I didn't catch the highlights on Speed.

[exSRAaron]

There any vids of the high-side (links)? - I didn't catch the highlights on Speed.

me either..

[natedogg624]

here it is.

kinda bad quality, looks like he just taped his tv? but it still shows his superman flight nonetheless...plus other highlights.

i didnt watch the whole thing just enough that it showed lorenzo's wreck.

[jermattak]

awesome race, the battle was great, stoners bike was all over the place, i knew that would happen. I was screaming at the tv when he dropped it though!

[Moto-Brian]

It was an amazing race and the announcers didn't suck this year.

Though what's up with calling Rossi "Vali"?

Vale (pronounced Vali) is just a short name for Rossi. Like people calling Jason as "Jay"...

[kawi kid]

i missed it damn it

[EagleCock]

awesome race, the battle was great, stoners bike was all over the place, i knew that would happen. I was screaming at the tv when he dropped it though!

I was screaming at the TV too but I didn't know he had a 15+ second advantage over Hayden or whoever was running 3rd at the time...can't believe he dropped the bike and didn't lose position!

[NinjaNick]

That's why I missed it! It wasn't on SPEEDTV.

I had no idea it was on one of the crappy noncable stations that I never watch. This was my first race I missed this year because of that.

I did watch the AMA and WSBK though.

[Chrisoh]

I was more excited about the lorenzo high side, that was awesome. Not as bad as his first one but same style.

And that is a typical NASCAR fan comment right there.

"Did you see that Crash? That was great/awesome/best part."

[Chrisoh]

I was expecting stoner to crash early on. First 5-6 laps coming through Rainey corner you could see either both tires let go or at least one. He settled down through there later on, but first few laps he had so many saves there it wasn't funny.

Althought Speed didn't show it, Stoner Refused to shake Valentino's hand in the Podium lane so to speak. And the interview that he gave the Speed euro commentators was shocking.

I saw that Rossi was able to run 1:21s in the race and that was what gave him a chance.

[natedogg624]

i got your video right here!

listen to the beginning away from the mics if you can here it.

and here is the article to follow it, pretty much copies it verbatum.

Stoner and Rossi argue over incidents

By Steven English Monday, July 21st 2008, 01:02 GMT

Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner exchanged words in parc ferme over a number of incidents in Sunday's MotoGP round at Laguna Seca.

The pair battled for the lead for 24 of the 32 laps, passing and re-passing each other several times. Rossi spent the most time in front and was ahead when Stoner ran wide at the last corner and dropped his bike in the gravel.

That granted Rossi an easy run to his maiden victory at Laguna, while Stoner recovered to finish second but complained about Rossi's riding after the race.

A brief conversation in parc ferme when Rossi attempted to shake hands with Stoner was caught on the BBC's live television coverage:

Rossi: "Great race."

Stoner: "No, you can't race this way."

Rossi: "That's racing, Casey."

Stoner: "That's racing? Ok, we'll see."

Stoner explained his complaint, claiming that some of Rossi's overtaking moves crossed the line between aggressive and 'too much'.

"It was about two or three moves, I think everybody will have seen them," he told the BBC. "A couple of other moves were alright, nice and clean, but there were a couple I wasn't happy with.

"I've been in hard racing all my life, some very aggressive racing, but today was a little bit too much. I nearly went in the gravel so many times and I don't think it was necessary. I was so nearly on the floor it wasn't funny."

The Australian later expanded on his view, and also suggested that Rossi braked earlier than usual at the final corner which caused him to run wide before falling in the gravel.

"I was just trying to find a point where I could get past where I knew he wasn't going to come barreling up the inside and wipe us both out," said Stoner. "We're here to try to score points, not to end a race. Even when I ran wide in the corner I could easily have gone into the back of Valentino and both of us gone down.

"He seemed to brake a lot earlier than normal. I nearly stayed on the track and I'd completely let off the brakes just to get it round to the right of him. I'm disappointed with my mistake. I could have caught it, I suppose. He'd done it a few times in the race so I should have been expecting it, but that time I just couldn't stop quick enough. I felt like I was going to plough into the back of him so I just let the brakes off and went around."

When asked whether the outcome of the race makes him think he should be more aggressive in future, Stoner replied: "I don't know whether I should because I've had problems before. I got fined two years ago for getting slightly in the way of Dani Pedrosa on a qualifying lap. I didn't mean to but I got fined for it.

"Dani or Valentino wouldn't get fined for this, but I get fined for it. So I'm worried if I do the same display I'll have punishment put on me, so I prefer to stay away from this and ride clean, aggressive but clean. If everything's kept fair and square it's alright, but I'm wondering sometimes whether they make decisions for certain reasons.

"But, look, Valentino rode a great race and I have nothing against that, just a couple of his overtaking moves, for me, were past the point. But I spoke to him about it on the podium and we'll just get on with the next weekend."

Rossi dismissed the claims of over-aggression, telling Italia1 television: "What a great race. I'm sorry Stoner complained. I understand our fight was very aggressive, but I think he complained most of all because he ended up behind. I'm very sad that he was angry at the beginning but I think after a race like this it's normal when you arrive behind.

"I think the battle was normal, I never touched him, I never ran wide. The overtaking moves were tough but I always passed under braking, which is where I'm stronger. This is racing and every overtake was very clear for me.

"The only time he tried to pass me he touched me with the wheel on the elbow, so I should be more upset than him!"

He was also quick to deny that he braked earlier than usual at the final corner on the lap of Stoner's fall.

"No, no, no. I never make this type of thinking in my career and I become angry if he says this," said Rossi. "I'm good to overtake, not to brake before. I think he made a mistake and you need to admit when you made a mistake. I didn't brake before, for sure. I didn't even know he crashed, I saw the next lap."

Rossi added that he was genuinely quick enough to win the race and warned Stoner that he is fighting hard to win the championship.

"I was going quick and, except on the front straight where the Ducati is a bit quicker than our bike, I don't think I was slowing him down. I wanted to win, Stoner cannot think we're here to play games: we're fighting to win, this is racing.

"I've been racing for a long time and, except for these last few years, I remember races to be like this and no one ever complained. Casey is very strong, but we are fast and we are ready for the battle."

The Italian went on to describe one of the moves that Stoner wasn't happy with, where Rossi squeezed past Stoner into the Corkscrew and bounced wide over the gravel as he dropped down the hill.

"It was fun, like an old style race with some hard overtaking back to back. That move was fantastic, he braked late but I braked even later. We went a bit wide but that's a peculiar corner so it can happen. When I realised I was going on the gravel I worried a bit, but the gravel here has good grip!

"In the end, it was the most important victory this year and I think I deserved it. Anyway, he made his mistake alone."

[Chrisoh]

Stoner I feel is just mad cause he thought he had this race in the bag after his dominance of the time sheets.

I know for a fact that he has raced like this in 250s and 125s where passes are worst then anything Rossi threw at him in every race..

The passes were clean and they never touched except the corkscrew where I think rossi's save there saved both of them. Had Rossi wiped out in the dirt the bike may have taken stoner out, and if rossi stood it up to run off he would have come back on the track farther down the corkscrew right in front of Casey and probably took both out.

[EagleCock]

if stoner could touch the ground he probably wouldn't have dropped it in the dirt too

what a baby!

[rockstarhonda]

yeah, the race was sweet, I just can not believe what a shitty year the hayden is haveing. I hope the rumors about him leaving honda are true..

[Fonzie]

yeah, the race was sweet, I just can not believe what a shitty year the hayden is haveing. I hope the rumors about him leaving honda are true..

Now see......He just gave a pretty forthright interview in the Aug "SportRider", and says he's REALLY lookin' forward to the new RC212V which is pneumatic valve, as opposed to the spring valve they're using right now that was developed for Pedrosa.

He says the spring valve motor has less power in some places, but gets better fuel efficiency, which works perfect for Pedrosa's smaller stature, as he doesn't require as much hp to achieve speed. Nicky has to lean the fuel way down though sometimes just to finish the race, & said he'd rather have last year's engine back, than use this one. He also says they haven't had as good of tire selection from Michelin this year

How did Nicky finish yesterday anyways.....I didn't catch it?

[EagleCock]

nicky finished 5th

[Chrisoh]

I did hear on the CBS broadcast that word is Melandri's Ducati contract may be extended. If that is the case it doesn't look good for Hayden to stay competitive in GP.

As he would end up at Suzuki, Kawi, or satelite team.