Quote Originally Posted by madvlad View Post
I'm sure Rossi is just riding this year out and now that his MotoGP team deal looks to be in the final stages, I am almost certain that he will call it at the end of the year. The new line up just keeps getting faster and faster and he's just fading now. I'm sure in apparel sales alone, Petronas made most of his salary back by now They honestly should give Morbidelli factory support or I'm sure he will be jumping ship mainly with riders like Rins contract coming to an end this year and he isn't looking like he will deliver and as good of a package that Suzuki is, I'm sure they're lurking to see if they can take someone like Franco away from Yamaha and as foolish as Yamaha are being right now, they may lose out on a great rider with Factory potential. If I was Yamaha I would look to replace Maverick with Franco, he's doing more with a 2 year old bike than MV has done in his time with the factory ride.
I agree, I think Morbidelli is a very good rider, and he has shown he can be just as fast. Barring injury, he will always be right there fighting for podiums and wins. Vinales is one of those that has that alien potential, just has issues. At this point I'm starting to think it's mainly head issues. Bike is good and fast, Fabio is showing that the package is there. I think Vinales is sort of in that Lorenzo vein. When he is dialed in perfect, he's untouchable. When things are perfectly aligned, then he gets stomped or goes backwards.

I still maintain that if Vinales would have stayed with Suzuki, he may have a championship or two to his name. The Suzuki is that good, just needs that one rider on it to make things happen. Rins and Mir show brilliance on it at times and the bike is on rails. Rins problem is consistency. I still think he's faster than Mir but he has too many problems. I really think Suzuki were custom making the bike for Vinales but he jumped ship at the notion of money, prestige and all things Factory Yamaha. And the first 5 races in 2017 seemed to prove him right, as he was dominating. Then, we all know how that story went to hell in a hand basket.

Marquez is looking rough man. Two crashes during the race and both of them on the right side. He can't buy a crash to his left. He keeps battering that right arm, and sooner rather than later, it's going to get in his head.

Rossi is Rossi, what can I say. He looks terrible but did show some big improvement. At least was in the top 10 most of the Le Mans race. Mugello is make or break for him. He's got to get a good result there and I mean no less than podium. Even a 3rd place would be a win for him at this point. Too many fast guys out there now and he just can't hang. With the talent out there, he's honestly top 8 at best on a good day. He needs to dig deep, and find something to produce results. If he could consistently place in top 5, then yeah I'd say he's made a case to stick around another year or two. But this struggling for top 10's is BS. He needs to quit.