It's not even halfway through the season yet and there's intense speculation on where everyone's gonna be for 2013! Yamaha were smart to retain Lorenzo asap as he's one of the top riders and they knew Honda would be after him. Spies, WTF?! I'm a big Spies fan since WSB 2009 but he'd better pull his finger out coz Dovi and Cal want his seat. I hope he turns it around big time so he stays put. Pedrosa, sure he's one of the aliens but will he ever better Lorenzo for the title? He's only being retained year in and year out coz he's Spanish with a Spanish title sponsor in Repsol. I wonder if Marquez will push him as a team mate? Stoner sure made him look slow last year. Give his seat to Crutchlow! Crutchlow is really pulling it out of the bag this year, just look at his Silverstone ride! Don't really want him going to Ducati as the bike's not a winner. Either factory Yamaha or HRC I hope. I don't think HRC will want Dovi back so he will be after Spies' seat aswell. What the hell was Herve thinking when he signed Smith for next year on the M1?! Smith isn't even a front runner yet in Moto2. Rossi: As much as I loved to watch him race before he signed for Ducati, I've a feeling we've already seen his best riding. However, put him on a Yam or Honda next year and I believe he could win a few races still. Ducati want him to stay but Rossi is only interested in winning, on the Duke that is not possible. Hayden: If he gets dropped, where would he go? Satellite Ducati/Honda/Yamaha ride? If Rossi jumps ship and Crutchlow signs elsewhere, Hayden might stay put. I hope he gets a decent ride as that Duke is crap. Can you imagine if Rossi and Hayden could challenge for wins right now - would be so much more interesting to watch. It seems sad that WSB and Moto2 are more exciting to watch these days. I believe Bradl and Bautista will be consistent top 5 or 6 threats next year on the Hondas. Love Bradl's elbow-down style! I don't believe Bautista has signed for 2013 yet... I believe Scott Redding could muscle that Duke around with his aggressive style, being 6'1" and 75kg probably makes him one of the biggest in the paddock? Still only 19 years old - expect big things from him once he goes to MotoGp!
That makes a lot of sense Marky-p Can't understand the Smith deal sounds like a bit of pressure from a brit direction and a lot of panic.
Bradley should be on a crt bike not a gp bike. I think its just too much for him. i also think scott redding could do well on a duke as smooth is not his style.
There's no doubt that Bradley can ride, he has done as well or better than most of his 125 contempories but that Tech 3 chassis is doing him no favours. A change to Suter or Kalex would show him in an equal light to the competition.
More rossi-yamaha rumours at silverstone last weekend. even though jorge has signed i still wouldnt rule it out as its only rossi that will bring a title sponsor back to yamaha that they so desperatly need.
I was at silverstone, mostly in various hospitality units, the Yamaha/Rossi thig is a dead duck, started by his yellow brigade, the likelyhood at the minute is that he will stay at Ducati, its his ONLY factory option, at Gresini or Tech 3 he would be on sattelite machinery and wouldnt get paid well, nor would he be able to bring his crew and his hangers on/lickers. Spies is Ducati or bust, but thats only an option if Hayden turns down his contract offer, which i cant see him doing, Nicky is in the form of his life, outperforming 'the goat' on lesser machinery...my bet for Spies is BMW WSBK. Marquez and Pedrosa at Repsol, HRC (not repsol as some lickers think) want those two and despite licker rumourmungering the rookie rule wasnt just abolished for honda, theres other moving up this year. As for Bradley, he has a clause in his contract with Performance related stuff, and he wont have hit them, not entirely his fault as the Tech 3 Moto2 bike is a nail. Redding will move up, its practically already a done deal. iannone will probably move up to CRT with one of the new Honda Proddy racers....
How is Nicky outperforming Rossi? Rossi's leading him by 9 points. Pos. Rider Bike Nation Points 1 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha SPA 140 2 Casey STONER Honda AUS 115 3 Dani PEDROSA Honda SPA 101 4 Cal CRUTCHLOW Yamaha GBR 66 5 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Yamaha ITA 60 6 Valentino ROSSI Ducati ITA 58 7 Alvaro BAUTISTA Honda SPA 58 8 Stefan BRADL Honda GER 51 9 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati USA 49 10 Hector BARBERA Ducati SPA 37 11 Ben SPIES Yamaha USA 35 12 Aleix ESPARGARO ART SPA 20 13 Randy DE PUNIET ART FRA 11 14 Michele PIRRO FTR ITA 9 15 James ELLISON ART GBR 7 16 Mattia PASINI ART ITA 6 17 Karel ABRAHAM Ducati CZE 4 18 Colin EDWARDS Suter USA 4 19 Danilo PETRUCCI Ioda ITA 4 20 Yonny HERNANDEZ BQR COL 4 21 Ivan SILVA BQR SPA 1
Points on the board is all that matters really, but Hayden often out qualifies and puts in better times than Rossi... Has Hayden crashed out to reflect less points? Either way Hayden shouldn't be anywhere near Rossi on matching machinery...
I'd also like to see Marquez, Redding and Iannone do some fairing bashing in the premier class. Maybe they'll all move up next year???
What we need is a much bigger factory, satellite and CRT grid (with faster CRT machinery). What we need is Aprilia, BMW, Kawasaki & Suzuki.....and an end to the global financial crisis
Imagine a Moto2 sized grid with all the major factories and minimal electronics. Probably won't happen in my lifetime.
interesting stuff craig but why have ducati offered hayden another contract if they have offered cal a 2 year deal and want to keep valentino ?
But the main premise of Moto2 is the control engine, so that wouldn't happen unfortunately. They just need a way of making it cheap enough to attract more teams & manufacturers back to the GP class
They know full well that cal wont go there, its a barganing tool to keep VR, Cal will be on a factory yam next year, mark my words....
I wonder if limiting the electronics would help. I'm sure millions of £'s goes into developing these complex systems
Ducati are quite crafty like that. They thought that by getting Bayliss to make out he was coming out of retirement would make Haga pull his finger out. Didn't work
