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In my humble opinion, in a hypothetical situation where all being equal, then I think the machinery has the edge .. But as Ed said, in the real World its a combination of both Rider and Machine.
But there is the exception... Mike Hailwood.. Hailwood was known to be hopeless at setting up a bike and relied on his God given talent to ride round problems.. Teams couldn't rely on him to develop chassis's, but they could rely on him to put a bad handling bike on the podium.
What's a damn shame for us racing fans, is that we were denied seeing Stoner and marquez battling it out on the same Works Hondas .. Now that would have been amazing..
Stoner is one of the greatest riders not to be given the recognition he deserves.. Maybe its a personality thing or just down to timing.. Its hard to stand out in an era when Rossi was at his prime, on custom made rubber and a bike that was properly sorted.
I don't think you can use Moto2 as an example of "Even Stevens", as apart from the engine and electrics, the chassis are different.. It's even more important to have the best chassis on the grid in Moto2, because everything else on the bike is equal with your competition.
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