Still a deficit of 21 points which won't be easy for Rossi to get back,tyres are such a big factor now.
Stoner fan and all as I am, I still wouldn't dare talk about world titles though. Not enough for Casey just to beat Rossi, he also has to beat Yamaha, Burgess and Michelin as well and it was pretty obvious that Rossi really did have an excellent set up to work with today. I reckon he could quite happily have motored past Stoner and pulled a gap as soon as he caught him but he sat with him a while and harried him instead, which was fair enough, all part of the game. Fair play to Casey all the same, kept a cool head again, done what he was capable of, didn't get flustered and brought it home with a loss of only 5 points.
But, to me more important that all of that, absolutely awesome man (sorry!
) to see Nicky back up there, the bike sliding, elbows out, head below the bubble, showing that neither is he a spent force nor was last year some sort of fluke, he's a talented boy. I think he's the one about whom you could genuinely say that he's back where he belongs!
Was also one of those rare "happy" podiums where everyone on it was absolutely delighted to be there and happy (or relieved) with what they achieved on the day,...........................................and quite rightly so!
