The guys that figured out the points awarded for races in MotoGP appear to disagree with you on who's the best rider so far this year.
Also , do you notice most people give an advantage to Rossi when they talk about anyplace other than Laguna ? Why is that ? It's because Laguna is the only place where Nicky has more experience on the track than Rossi. So then let's put them both on a level playing field , where it's a new track that neither has more experience on than the other one, what do you think would happen ?
( and don't get me wrong , as far as I'm concerned , Rossi is the best to ever throw a leg over , and not even everybody here agrees with that )
Well , let's look at what has happend already , Here's a list of tracks and results , where either the track was a new track for everyone or redesigned , therefore making it a new track for everyone :
QATAR, 2004:
1. Gibernau
2. Edwards
3. Xaus
5. Hayden
DNF Rossi
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Turkey, 2005:
1. Melandri
2. Rossi
3. Hayden
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Shanghai, 2005: (WET)
1. Rossi
2. Jaqueus
3. Melandri
9. Hayden
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Qatar, 2005:
1. Rossi
2. Melandri
3. Hayden
-----------------
Qatar, 2006:
1. Rossi
2. Hayden
3. Capirossi
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Turkey 2006:
1. Melandri
2. Stoner
3. Hayden
4. Rossi
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Shanghai, 2006:
1. Pedrosa
2. Hayden
3. Edwards
DNF - Rossi
-----------------
Assen, 2006
1. Hayden
2. Nakano
3. Pedrosa
8. Rossi
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I think Nicky's already proved he's one of the best racers in the world , his results speak for themselves. The sad part is , Rossi being such a dominant force for so long has spoiled us on what's perceived to be a great racer. Nicky's improving and is doing good.He jumped straight from AMA to MotoGP for a reason. He IS a bad ass rider. Respect to him for that is all he gets from me.