#obviously the narrative arc does kinda drop off a cliff edge after 2009 but u can't get everything

[batsplat]

last haul for now I promise

another photo from qatar 2007..... as I said above, casey's line on this whole thing is that valentino congratulated him but like in a patronising way because he didn't think casey would be an actual threat. my take is that casey doesn't quite get how valentino could both have sincerely welcomed the fresh challenge casey provided but also wanted to absolutely destroy him. very different types of guy, it always comes back to that really. anyway idk it's a sweet photo

also shanghai 2007, I didn't include this in the first two hauls partly because I'd already used it in this web weave (? is that what it is) and given how early in 2007 it is, it's more like... accidentally evocative. but I do still like it as a photo, just has nice colours y'know

still in shanghai. such a fun vibe to that year idk, all this vibrant innocence to casey as that surly little fucker finally has a lot of reasons to smile... (the public did not agree, with the drastic collapse in racing quality and casey's success causing a sharp downturn in viewership.) he was successful kinda out of nowhere, I genuinely don't think there's a good parallel this century in terms of how unexpectedly good he was in his first championship winning season. but also how he simply did not falter at any stage, like yes the mental side is easier if you're that fast but he really didn't slip up at all... and then you've got valentino, regrouping after the shock of the prior season, all his off-track drama, clearly still sizing up this tasty new challenge and running hot and cold with casey as he tries to figure him out... the groundwork for the drama of 2008 is laid in how silly silly good casey was in 2007

casey congratulating valentino after mugello 2007, y'know, a rare race that year valentino actually won

speaking of silly good. again, I really don't think casey's belief that valentino initially dismissed him stands up to scrutiny, but if there were any remaining doubts... in many ways casey's most impressive victory - and the closest the two of them had to a proper slugfest pre-laguna 2008, which obviously makes it all the more remarkable that casey won. at that circuit, no less, on a day when you really couldn't point to the tyre difference helping casey, at a place where valentino has had so many fantastic wins before and since... again, lays the groundwork for 2008, starting valentino's realisation that the old tactics simply aren't going to cut it against casey

motegi 2007 of matchpoint race fame. presumably by this point the relationship was already a fair bit chillier (or, from casey's end anyway, I don't think valentino's feelings massively changed towards casey during that time period per se - it's just that bit didn't really matter to him)

and here's phillip island 2007, casey arriving to his home race for the first time as a champion. vibes are enthusiastic

from the post-race presser, better vibes. I do like vale's leathers/bike/helmet combo that race

sepang 2007, valentino smiling despite being mid. another casey win incoming, last of the season

qatar 2008, with casey the defending champion!! and valentino's new haircut, to show things are serious now. I find early 2008 kinda conceptually funny because there's all this inter-alien drama but none of it involves valentino, very out of character. like, jorge's got the dani handshake drama, jorge's massively pissing off casey... okay there's a common factor in both of those things, but crucially valentino's keeping out of it. just working on himself y'know, keeping his head down, not stirring up any shit. spent half a season lulling everyone into a false sense of security before going berserk

a similar but crucially slightly distinct photo to the one already included above of valentino getting sprayed in the face by casey at shanghai 2008. stunning bits of scholarship going on here

here!! look!! a zoomed out version of the laguna handshake. extremely valentino that he tried again after the parc fermé rejection, you'd think he'd gotten the hint. to me this post-race theatre is really key to how casey ended up interpreting this entire event in his head - like I think it's one thing to be roughed up in a race, but it does add something if you just vividly remember about an hour's worth of repeated humiliations right after it. having to calm himself down to the extent he even could accept the handshake, making slightly critical comments about valentino and probably already knowing there'd be backlash, being so furious and aggrieved and embarrassed and not really able to show it... rough time

motegi 2008 once again... look at the nice arm around valentino. the spacing in these is funny, what can you say. still a decent shout for valentino's personal favourite title I reckon, idk if anyone's asked him recently but I'd imagine he'd say this or 2004 (the objectively correct answers)

phillip island 2008. nice weekend apart from valentino bagging himself a neck injury in qualifying

and these from sepang, valencia 2008 respectively and... idk when the one on the right is from, beyond being from 2008 going by valentino's hat. there's enough context clues that I probably could figure it out but you have to draw the line somewhere and Not do that

catalunya 2009, always taken by the extreme contrast of vibes on that podium. personally I'd check how casey's doing but anyhow

and phillip island 2009, one of those races where everyone on the podium could broadly be pretty happy with their day. less happy is jorge, licking his wounds off screen, but ah well

followed immediately by sepang 2009, same podium finishers if in a slightly rejigged order. casey following his 2009 absence with a second place, win, win, crash on warm-up lap... I will never forget u

just so you know bc I don’t think enough people tell you this but every time I check your blog (a bit compulsively at this point? your compilations and opinions are very enlightening on the general psychology of those crazy motherfuckers and also the uhhhhhhhh other part) and see that you answered another ask I honestly break into the hugest grin and settle down at the next given opportunity to read the newest batssay (batsplat essay) like it’s an academic paper (it is to us sports scholars, I believe)… please never feel the need to cut short your thoughts on any subject. the longer the better! connect all the dots, bat! we are listening!!

thank youuuuu this is so sweet, I know this ask is a little older but trust whenever I get something kind in my inbox I very much read and appreciate it and it very much makes my day. and I love the term batssay. a lot

so I thought it'd be fun to do a follow up post to the casey/jorge/valentino one where I just dumped a bunch of photos with a wee bit of context... for the culture, y'know. and I'm doing this with just casey/valentino, mostly for 2007-09 but with one 2005 photo chucked in as. build-up. for flavour

we know from the #archives that the two of them did have like. a reasonably warm dynamic pre-casey's motogp debut. they'd talked... also at least one race where casey shows up to valentino's podium and chats to vale's crew chief and fellow aussie jb... I think about it often. what did it all mean

casey's first win!!! qatar 2007, very first race with ducati. he'd gotten very close to a win before - in his third ever premier class race at turkey, lost at the final chicane. casey's goals going into that first season with ducat had just been winning a few races... he notes that valentino congratulates him warmly, but reckons it's just because valentino didn't take him seriously as a threat, which. I don't think that quite stacks up with supplementary evidence from the time, but we'll allow it

one of my fave photos for a reason, idc it's sweet. I was trying to figure out when this photo was from through like, normal means of reverse image search, but then instead I had a horrifying moment of 'oh yeah I'm pretty sure I remember that specific presser backdrop is at mugello that year' and. I was right. which. god. anyway yeah mugello 2007 pre-event presser. by this point casey was 21 points clear in the championship standings

more mugello 2007!!! look at casey constantly sipping from his lil cup. this will have been after qualifying, where casey snagged pole. I'd forgotten valentino actually makes front row in qualifying because he makes a typically horrendous start. I'd also forgotten that this race is like. proper good. one of the best that year. slows down eventually but the first ten or so laps are some of the most exciting of the entire alien era

catalunya 2007, which unfortunately I also dated solely through the presser backdrop. idk I just like the vibes of this photo. anyway!! this race is ofc the one where casey won an all timer late race duel against valentino (+ dani). it is after this race that valentino said casey was, and I quote "riding like a god". a seminal moment

the championship is already extremely over by the time they get to estoril, but casey still needs to formally wrap it up: this is his first match point race. depicted here is valentino getting one of his few Ws that season. an account of this event: “valentino was playing table football in the yamaha hospitality and somebody spotted casey outside. so they invited him for a challenge. it was all good fun”

motegi 2007. valentino had managed to put off the inevitable the race before and temporarily stopped casey from sealing the title, taking his last win of the season (cool duel with dani in that one). but motegi... well honestly it's just a bit of a flop all round, nobody's bike is working the way they want it to, casey seals the title with his worst result all season of a sixth place (the horror) and in his autobiography he was kinda like 'well I was very happy but also. meh race' (I paraphrase). but really, who cares, he had his title

bit of a time skip!! after both of them have put their sketch early 2008's behind them, the pair of them had a proper fun fight at catalunya for p2. a continuation of the battle the year before with valentino once again coming from lower down the field, this time he gets the better of casey. still, things are finally looking up at ducati... and the post-catalunya test might be enough to put casey right back in title contention. the above photo is from donington, where casey confirms the progress ducati made by winning his first race of the season after the opener in qatar

still donington, both of them watching each other etc etc. valentino is in a much better place than the year before, given both casey's rough start to the season and how they're both now on the same tyres. but it's not a good sign if casey's hitting his stride... at assen, valentino makes his one mistake of the year and crashes on the first lap, remounting to finish eleventh (he still beats casey's teammate melandri). this puts dani in the championship lead - and with casey's second win in a row, he is now very much closing in

look at them chatting here!! cute imo. this is casey's third win in a row, at the rainy sachsenring. dani crashes out from a few miles in the lead - while casey had stayed sensible and brings it home for a pretty straightforward victory. valentino needed to fight his way through from further down the field and in the end he loses too much time to put any serious pressure on casey, but it's still damage limitation and he retakes the championship lead from dani (who will miss the next race due to an injury sustained in the crash). and yet, momentum really is firmly on casey's side now... and the rest of the calendar does looks like pretty casey-friendly territory. next up, they're headed to a race track where casey had won very comfortably the year before. would he seal his fourth consecutive win at laguna?

now with my sincere apologies to casey stoner, every photo that came out of laguna 2008 is objectively pretty funny. I have limited myself to a mere two podium photos, but lbr there's a full collection. casey had already rejected valentino's handshake in parc fermé - which some might have taken as a social cue to give him some space. whereas valentino, local dickhead, just will not stop yapping at casey on the podium. this is quite possibly as genuinely delighted as he gets after a race, and it's simply a beautiful contrast with casey who is not quite rude enough to actually tell valentino to shut the fuck up - but may be fantasising about pushing valentino off the podium. this, to me. is art

gather around body language experts, we need to have a conversation. this is at the pre-event presser of the race immediately after laguna, aka brno. by this point, casey's less than flattering remarks about valentino's riding at laguna had already been distributed near and far... everyone's been talking about them, people have Opinions. the captions for these photos are all something along the lines of 'stoner extends olive branch to rossi to apologise for his post-race comments after losing laguna'. now, I don't know if he literally is apologising in these actual photos - though of course he did publicly walk back his comments, saying all riders can react badly to losses and that he'd overreacted when he'd said he'd lost respect for valentino. he has since walked back his walking back, doubling down on his criticisms of valentino's comportment at laguna

still, for all the talk that the feud properly started after laguna, it's kind of fun to have the presser immediately after it showing... well, it does look like casey is actively engaging valentino in conversation, right? whether he's apologising or not - this isn't just valentino yapping at him, if anything it's the reverse. laguna had been right before the summer break, so casey had been given a month to cool off... and also be viciously criticised by the press. brutal, isn't it? it's not just the loss that sucks, it's also being excoriated by the press and fans for having the audacity to get mad over it. is all of this just him being forced into pretending to play nice to get the press to leave him alone? were there any genuine regrets over his laguna comments? what ARE the vibes between them like at this time? what story do these photos tell us

casey went on to crash out of this race from the lead, the first time he had done so in the premier class and his first dnf with ducati after their one and a half seasons together. when he crashed, he'd had a fairly comfortable lead over valentino - though valentino was steadily closing in, and the commentators were already rubbing their hands in anticipation of another laguna

the next race is at misano - and casey is struggling with an old hand injury, see the bandages in the photo. the previous year had been the first time valentino had gotten the chance to race at this circuit, so close to his home... but he'd suffered a mechanical dnf, not his first or last in a frustrating season. this year, everything is different - and casey once again crashes out of the lead as valentino takes victory in front of his worshipful home fans

another trip to america, this time for indy: their first time racing at the track. after the double whammy of brno and misano, casey's title charge is essentially over... but you never know, right? indy kinda gives off the vibe of being a good casey track

in the end, the race is extremely wet and very, very windy and is eventually red-flagged. because of how many laps they still have to go, it is initially unclear whether they would restart... at which point first valentino (who was leading), then casey (in fourth) go to dorna ceo ezpeleta to tell him they have less than zero interest in going out in that weather again. a beautiful moment of solidarity - long live the power of unionising, capable of overcoming even the bitterest of feuds. blast the internationale over the footage, I've seen enough. the race is called off and valentino wins his fourth consecutive race

by the time they get to phillip island, valentino has already won the title, courtesy of his fifth consecutive win at motegi - the same circuit casey had won the title at the year before and the home race of valentino's old enemies at honda. a couple of nice photos of jorge congratulating his teammate and casey spraying vale with champagne here. casey, known phillip island goat, would of course finally end valentino's win streak at that circuit, which is where the photos are from. idk they're fun to me, like this is still not that long after laguna. I'm aware being able to chat normally with your coworkers and share a smile with them isn't normally that high a bar, but canonically valentino has been known to completely blank some of his rivals. it's not like casey is particularly cold towards valentino either, eh

case in point. this is from sepang 2008. #TheEstablishment does not want you to know casey and valentino canonically still regularly yapped in pressers post laguna. they won't silence me. sepang was valentino's last win of this season, after a good scrap with dani - and the season is rounded off with a casey victory at valencia

jerez 2009, where valentino gets past casey with a block pass at the final corner on his way to victory. unlike in 2005, he actually manages to not barrel into his rival. this is just a fantastic photo... I don't even have much to say about it. a+ vibes

a lot of the photos from this season were already included in the jorge/valentino/casey post, which reflects how casey wasn't consistently a factor in the same way the other two were. this one's from assen, the race right after catalunya when all three of them were tied on 106 points. very good side eye here, excellent job casey. unfortunately, casey is now in mystery illness territory - and he can't really compete with the two frontrunners in this stretch of the season

this is the first race after casey's return to competition - valentino goes up to casey after qualifying at estoril to congratulate him for his front row grid position. casey would win an early race scrap with valentino in the race itself, eventually finishing second behind jorge and swiftly silencing all the people who had declared him mentally weak and done for in his absence. a race that brought back suspense to that year's championship

phillip island 2009, another important moment in the canon where I've limited myself to just the one photo. casey wins just his second race back - and he also hugs vale pretty warmly in parc fermé. jorge was kind enough to crash in the opening lap, meaning valentino can very much be pleased with a second place here

and at sepang, valentino seals the title, while casey wins another race. casey ended up crashing in the warm-up lap of valencia, apparently due to an issue with the tyre warming? just kinda... the general vibe of his 2009, really. valentino closes off the season with another podium at his least favourite track, while dani takes the win

anyway after that they spent three years getting into increasingly. dumb arguments. like. so dumb. by the end of 2012 you feel you're killing your brain cells by even engaging with this stuff. it's beyond undignified. there's zero competitive justification, but they just couldn't shut up about each other. that being said, they're still capable of doing a small talk with each other even during the dark years, so that's something. maybe one day they'll finally be able to get that dinner and talk about all the good times