The goat retires | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

The goat retires

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Priller said:
Agostini was also on factory machinery while most of the competition were privateers running out of the back of a van on a shoestring budget. Different era indeed.
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Mmmmmmmm
Sort of...
Ago had factory bikes
So did Mike Duff, Yvonne DuHamel, Hailwood, Bill Ivey... the list goes on.
The issue was how much money the factory was prepared to spend.
Ago got factory bikes, a van and travel monies. MV wanted to win.
The Yamaha guys got a bike on loan... MAYBE.
Yamaha and Honda riders were more like what we now call a privateer

I think the tipping point was Kim Newcombe.
Kim was a TRUE privateer. Came out of no where, on a home made bike... and beat the big boys , in the big game.
If you don't know Kim, he raced a bike that he built in a shed, with an modified outboard boat motor for power (a Konig, a REALLY COOL motor), and, sadly, posthumously took 2nd place in 1973 GP points.
Truly an embarrassment for the factories, and the factories started to spend money, till we got to where we are today, where you've got a farts chance in a wind storm if you don't have cubic dollars to spend.
Pre mid 70's a privateer COULD win, after Newcome factories spending literally priced privateers out of the game.

Read Michelle Duff's "Make Haste Slowly" or George Jonas's ""A Passion Observed" (With one of the best motorcycle racing quotes ever, when Frank Mrazek says 'Factory riders eat steak, privateers eat sausage")

... and then the same thing happened to amateur racing. Money ruins everything.
The fans in the stands got faster, and arguably better, racing, but it screws the competitors as it makes it possible to "BUY" a championship
 
Lightcycle said:
Talking about Jerez 2020 race when he broke his arm trying to scythe his way through the feel after falling down the order.


Marc Marquez Jerez 2020 Highside

He said that that the initial injury wasn't the main issue, it was trying to race 5 days later, which aggravated the original injury. The big problem was the infections and additional surgeries as a result of the second weekend. If he had allowed his original injuries to heal, he probably would have recovered a lot sooner.



Racers never go back to "fearless" mode after a serious injury. Rossi was never the same again after he broke his leg, which incidentally was his first major injury. Same with Lorenzo, he displayed PTSD every time it rained.
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Pretty common for every racer / rider. Once you have a major injury you never go that fast again, assuming you didnt get brain damage. The physio I went through after breaking my back + a ton of other bones goes through my head every time I twist the throttle.
 
Dr.Manhattan said:
Pretty common for every racer / rider. Once you have a major injury you never go that fast again, assuming you didnt get brain damage. The physio I went through after breaking my back + a ton of other bones goes through my head every time I twist the throttle.
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https://imgur.com/OG1axR3
 
bitzz said:
Mmmmmmmm
Sort of...
Ago had factory bikes
So did Mike Duff, Yvonne DuHamel, Hailwood, Bill Ivey... the list goes on.
The issue was how much money the factory was prepared to spend.
Ago got factory bikes, a van and travel monies. MV wanted to win.
The Yamaha guys got a bike on loan... MAYBE.
Yamaha and Honda riders were more like what we now call a privateer
Click to expand...
To be fair, I did say 'most', but once Honda bailed, '68 to '72 were cakewalks for Agostini. He won nearly every race in both the 350 and 500 classes. While he was obviously massively talented and still likely the best rider on the grid, his machinery advantage was far greater than Rossi ever had on even his best Honda or Yamaha. Granted, there were fewer races, but doubling up on the classes negates that disadvantage, and winning almost everything for four years on the trot will do a lot for one's win totals...

bitzz said:
Pre mid 70's a privateer COULD win, after Newcome factories spending literally priced privateers out of the game.

Read Michelle Duff's "Make Haste Slowly" or George Jonas's ""A Passion Observed" (With one of the best motorcycle racing quotes ever, when Frank Mrazek says 'Factory riders eat steak, privateers eat sausage")

... and then the same thing happened to amateur racing. Money ruins everything.
The fans in the stands got faster, and arguably better, racing, but it screws the competitors as it makes it possible to "BUY" a championship
Click to expand...
On a more contemporary level, to me the last gasp of anyone showing some level of competition on a non-factory bike was the Team KR effort, who tried valiantly to make a go of it, but were always a season or two behind on development...
 
Rossi's form really plumetted after his Covid diagnosis. I wonder if it's still an issue for him. Of course, it could just be coincidence, and age deterioration happens to everyone.

His stats in 2020 (granted when he finished), while arguably not factory worthy, were decent.
 
Priller said:
While he was obviously massively talented and still likely the best rider on the grid, his machinery advantage was far greater than Rossi ever had on even his best Honda or Yamaha.
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Maybe when Rossi was on a Honda or Yamaha, but remember when they put him on the dog Ducati? I don't if even Ago could win on that POS.
 
I read Duff's MHS but I don't recall him ever sounding like things were easy. More sleeping in the back of a Bedford than plush RV with icey cold AC.
 
Dr.Manhattan said:
Pretty common for every racer / rider. Once you have a major injury you never go that fast again, assuming you didnt get brain damage. The physio I went through after breaking my back + a ton of other bones goes through my head every time I twist the throttle.
Click to expand...
Doohan won 5 world championships after what should have been an amputated leg in 92. He struggled in 93 but to be expected with the amount of damage to his leg.
 
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