It may still be the pre-season, but the banter regarding MotoGP on Twitter is certainly getting us ready for the start of the 2012 MotoGP Championship. Sending out a simple infographic this morning with the message, “this picture says it all,” HRC’s official Twitter account posted some interesting statistics that compared Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner to Ducati Corse’s Valentino Rossi.
Breaking down Stoner’s win percentage over the past five years, the results of course paint an interesting picture. Of course the image “didn’t say it all” as the reaction on Twitter is about what you’d expect from a world widely divided by international boundaries. This of course lead to the image’s immediate removal, but alas nothing truly dies in the digital age.
In case you aren’t already aware, Valentino Rossi is a nine-time World Champion, and also happens to be the favorite son the of MotoGP Championship. Casey Stoner on the other hand…well, the Australian has at best a tumultuous relationship with the public. Naturally, backlash ensued, and HRC finally removed the graphic from its Twitter account.
Asserting that it was all in good fun and simply pointing out some statistics about the last five years, HRC surely was trying to bolster Stoner’s record, and remove the Repsol Honda rider from the “Most Underrated” list in MotoGP — a hard thing to do, even on the heels of a World Championship.
Is Casey a force to be reckoned with in MotoGP? Absolutely. Has a new dawn of riders entered MotoGP? Certainly. Has Rossi’s complete domination of premier-class racing been challenged by riders like Stoner, Lorenzo, and Pedrosa? Only a fool would say no. Does Rossi still have a rabid pack of fans inside and outside of the MotoGP paddock? You bet.
Commenting on HRC’s graphic, Rossi’s response to the matter was interesting. “eh eh,very easy compare the numbers between me and Stoner from 2006,when I won already 5 champs and 53 races mgp,” tweeted Rossi. Here’s the question though, do past laurels count for anything on race day? While we already have our favorite response so far, leave yours in the comments.
Source: Twitter (Original Post Removed)
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