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WSB: Rossi wanted Superbike ride

8 times MotoGP champ was keen to get ride in ultra-competitive series

Posted: 5 November 2008
by Visordown News

VISORDOWN can reveal that Valentino Rossi was looking to get a ride at the final round of the WSB Championship at the new Portimao circuit in Portugal.

Rossi, who cleaned up in this year's MotoGP championship, was after a slice of some old-school competition in the production-based series. And possibly the lure of competing against former arch rival Max Biaggi was too great to resist.

Recently, the top-flight Superbike series has gained fans due to its close-knit racing and last-lap leader changes. The last time the lead changed in the last lap of a MotoGP race was in 2006.

But Rossi won't be making a full-time switch to WSB, he's tied to Yamaha MotoGP but there are rumours Colin Edwards may make a move back to the series next season.


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Discuss this story

You can't blame him for wanting a 'race'. At least he would get one in WSB!!


Posted: 06/11/2008 03:05


DFH
Rossi vs Bayliss...... I pay to see that.
Posted: 06/11/2008 06:30

Rossi v's Bayliss....we already had that
Posted: 06/11/2008 08:04


DFH
Last time Bayliss won & Rossi crashed... would'nt you want to see the rematch on Superbikes?
Posted: 06/11/2008 08:17

i would love to see that, in fact i would pay good money to see that

rossi in amongst those nutjobs brilliant


Posted: 06/11/2008 08:22

mrdrink wrote (see)
Rossi v's Bayliss....we already had that


Yeah but given that the two bikes were miles apart last season it wasnt great. Give em both this seasons 800's and we'll have a much better time.


Posted: 06/11/2008 09:39

Why the hell did they not give him a ride!!!!

I would have subscribed to pay-per-view to see Rossi vs WSB.


Posted: 06/11/2008 18:19

Prince_Hakim wrote (see)

Why the hell did they not give him a ride!!!!

I would have subscribed to pay-per-view to see Rossi vs WSB.


Me too,Maybe they did not want him to expose the other riders as mere normals
Posted: 06/11/2008 18:22

Prince_Hakim wrote (see)

Why the hell did they not give him a ride!!!!

I would have subscribed to pay-per-view to see Rossi vs WSB.


because the only bike he could have ridden  was the yamaha, and haga and corser were involved in their own battle for second place in the championship
Posted: 06/11/2008 18:44

Haga was shit or bust that last round. He'll do well on the Duke. But Ben Spies is looking quick too. Should be fun as he's a bit good. Gotta be lined up for Moto GP yam ride in 2010. Maybe with JT on Tech 3 as i reckon Edwards would let his fellow Texan take his ride.
Posted: 06/11/2008 19:07

He could have had a bash on me C90
Posted: 06/11/2008 19:12

did Bayliss have 2 or 3 seasons on a GP bike? a good GP bike (2 infact). His win in at Valencia will go down in history books as something special but when he was full time he wasnt on Rossi's radar. But i agree, i would have paid to see the race. i think Bayliss would still have walked it
Posted: 06/11/2008 20:04


DFH
Troys first MotoGP year was also Ducatis first year. He scored 2 or 3 podiums from memory. To put that in perspective Dovi scored 1 podium in this, his first year in MotoGP on a bike that had already had a years development & settings information behind it ( plus was the product of a racing department with many years experience in MotoGP). The man who beat Bayliss to the '07 WSBK title has made an impact in MotoGP more with his piano playing than results. Ducatis inexperience (in MotoGP) resulted in the following years bike being a bit of a dog, Troys results took a dive.... but were still light years better than Marco's efforts this year. I may well be a bit one eyed... but if Troy was on the '06 bike rather than Gibbers then I think he would have won the title, not Hayden. Its interesting that Troy took Tardozzi & his superbike team to crew the 2006 race, that leads me to think that there was a power struggle within Ducati regarding keeping or dumping Troy at the end of his second season- and the nay sayers won. Since Troy returned to WSBK he has won 2 titles, and outperformed all the MotoGP refugees that have turned up in WSBK.. Barros Biaggi, Checa. So we never saw the best of Troy in MotoGP. A shame really. Was Bayliss good enough to beat Rossi day in, day out? Dunno ... and I don't care really. The struggle would have been interesting though As it stands Ducati won the last of the 990 GP races with the oldest first time GP winner in history & won the first 800 race with the youngest... and they are both Aussies.
Posted: 06/11/2008 22:56

Just worth pointing out that the first time Bayliss had used bridgestone tyres was the opening Friday practice at Valencia that weekend!
Posted: 06/11/2008 23:14

Now he has voiced his opinion maybe Yamaha will give him a 'wildcard' ride earlier in the superbike season???
Posted: 07/11/2008 00:09

The race in the season is the most viable, as if he crashed and gained an injury, then he would have an reasonable amount of time to recover.

I would love to see Rossi in a WSB Race. However, I cant see it happening, due to  risk of injury and risking his MotoGP title chances.

How many spare bikes do WSB teams carry? I would have though, that the Yamaha Italia team would have one fully spec'd up bike. Coarser and Haga would want to have that if it all went tits up with theirs, so it may have also be financial reason that Rossi couldn't ride in the last round.

WSB bike must be 100k, maybe more?? 

  


Posted: 07/11/2008 15:41

GIVE ROSSI A WSB YAMAHA R1 AND LET THE DOCTOR SET IT UP FOR SPIES AND SYKES. THEN WE'LL SEE SOME GOOD OLD RACING FROM YAMAHA.
Posted: 11/11/2008 16:58

DFH wrote (see)

To put that in perspective Dovi scored 1 podium in this, his first year in MotoGP on a bike that had already had a years development & settings information behind it ( plus was the product of a racing department with many years experience in MotoGP).

Like when Bayliss moved to Honda in '05, a bike with 3 years development (mostly from Rossi) which required finese and precision to get the best out of it and he was where? Barros beat him easily that year, iirc, they dumped him before the end of the year..... plus, the bike Dovi was riding this year was basically Pedrosa & Haydens from last year, with that shit spring valve lump in it. Both Pedrosa & hayden openly slated it.

Yes, he returned to win 2 WSBK titles which was undoubtedly a great achievement, but, they are converted road bikes and are easier to get the most out of them which suites him because he also has a ragged, sledge hammer riding style, same as the other Aussie......


Posted: 12/11/2008 13:25

JD41 wrote (see)
DFH wrote (see)

To put that in perspective Dovi scored 1 podium in this, his first year in MotoGP on a bike that had already had a years development & settings information behind it ( plus was the product of a racing department with many years experience in MotoGP).

Like when Bayliss moved to Honda in '05, a bike with 3 years development (mostly from Rossi) which required finese and precision to get the best out of it and he was where? Barros beat him easily that year, iirc, they dumped him before the end of the year..... plus, the bike Dovi was riding this year was basically Pedrosa & Haydens from last year, with that shit spring valve lump in it. Both Pedrosa & hayden openly slated it.

Yes, he returned to win 2 WSBK titles which was undoubtedly a great achievement, but, they are converted road bikes and are easier to get the most out of them which suites him because he also has a ragged, sledge hammer riding style, same as the other Aussie......


And bayliss jumped on a 990 Duke at the final race of 2007 and wiped the floor with the lott of them.

EDIT: Just seen that you'd mentioned about Bayliss earlier in the thread.


Posted: 12/11/2008 15:20

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