| Author | Message | ||
     Jaimec |
Not ALL the information. Just the one saying he was spotted at Yamaha HQ. | ||
| Jaimec |
More "Silly Season" stuff. Expect an announcement regarding Rossi on the 15th. Rumor has it Dovi is in talks with Ten Kate to partner Leon Haslam in World Superbikes. No mention of Johnny Rea, which seems to confirm his moving to MotoGP on a satellite Honda. It also looks like Ben Spies will partner Marco Melandri on the BMW Italia squad next year, too. Just when we thought things had already settled down... | ||
| Trojan |
Expect an announcement regarding Rossi on the 15th. I hear that he will be taking Monster Energy sponsorship with him to the factory Yamaha team, which may leave Tech 3 sponsorless for next season (especially of they lose crutchlow, who is also a Monster supported rider). That may impact on just who Poncheral can afford to sign alongside Bradley Smith for 2013. Rumor has it Dovi is in talks with Ten Kate to partner Leon Haslam in World Superbikes. No mention of Johnny Rea, which seems to confirm his moving to MotoGP on a satellite Honda. Poor old Dovi continues to be the invisible man in the paddock, despite his good results on both Honda and now Yamaha. I don't know if he would be any more successful in getting a good ride WSB really either, as the established riders there look to be in line for the best seats in the house. With 2 less BMW's on the grid next year (and Spies pretty definite for the seat alongside Melandri) I think Dovi may struggle to convince anyone that he is a better bet than Haslam or Rea in WSB yet. I have heard rumours that there may be as few as 20 bikes on the grid in WSB next year, and Aprilia may not run their factory team either  Johnny Rea is in discussions with pretty much everyone in MotogP and WSB for a ride next year! He is rumoured to be in line for the Gresini seat in place of Bautista. Personally I think Johnny will stay at Ten Kate for another year yet, but you never know at the moment  There will also probably be a slew of riders looking tomove up from WSS either to WSB or Moto2 next year. Sam Lowes and Jules Cluzel to name just two, so good seats will be very hard to come by. | ||
| Jaimec |
If Monster becomes the official sponsor of the Yamaha Factory Team, where does that leave Lorenzo and his Rockstar sponsorship?? | ||
| Bads1 |
Jaime, Back in April Coke was in talks with Monster to purchase. Not sure what happened but it didn't go through. However the rumors of Rossi talking to Coke may have some truth. Monster is distributed by Coke. Monster was distributed by Anheuser-Busch. So maybe Coke has something to do with it. I now have to call Coke to get my orders for Monster at my bar. But it also makes sense that they sponsor the factory teams just as they do in all the series. | ||
| Gaesati |
Re: CRT and the dumbing down of motogp. I vaguely remember a year when 2 young Australians came to Europe bought a custom frame and a Honda CB450. Ported it, Bored it and then came second in the 500 cc class to Agostini and the MV. Racing may have been a better, more accessible sport in those days. | ||
| Trojan |
Back in April Coke was in talks with Monster to purchase. That was misrepresented in the press. The actual deal was apparently just for Coke to distribute Monster energy products not to take over the company. If Monster becomes the official sponsor of the Yamaha Factory Team, where does that leave Lorenzo and his Rockstar sponsorship?? Lorenzo would probably have to give up his personal sponsor if it clashed with team sponsorship. Dovi had to do the same this year as he was always supported by Red Bull until he went to Tech 3. Re: CRT and the dumbing down of motogp. I vaguely remember a year when 2 young Australians came to Europe bought a custom frame and a Honda CB450. Ported it, Bored it and then came second in the 500 cc class to Agostini and the MV. CRT doesn't actually dumb down MotoGP as muc as the factories would have us believe, but it can never work so long as there are factory prototypes racing in the same championship. You either have to have ALL CRT grids or none at all really. The racing would undoubtedly improve hugely if the grids were all CRT (or all factory of course), as the gap in performance between the teams would be so much smaller. All this stuff from Stoner and others about not wating to race in a CRT class is rubbish. The best riders would still rise to the top just as they do in Moto2 and Moto3, and the racing would be much more exciting and better to watch. The relatively small differences in technical details would make no difference at all to spectators. | ||
| Trojan |
IT's OFFICIAL AT LAST!!! YAMAHA FACTORY RACING PRESS STATEMENT Friday 10th August, 2012 - Gerno di Lesmo (Italy) It is with great pleasure that Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd confirms the signing of Valentino Rossi to ride for the Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Team for 2013 and 2014. Valentino Rossi first joined Yamaha in 2004 and achieved four MotoGP World Champion titles with the Yamaha YZR-M1 in 2004 & 2005 and again in 2008 & 2009. He won 46 Grand Prix races with Yamaha over a 7 year period before leaving at the end of the 2010 MotoGP season. Rossi, who is presently 8th in the Championship standings, will partner Jorge Lorenzo who currently leads the 2012 MotoGP World Championship by 23 points, having taken five victories from the first ten completed races of the 18 race series. Lin Jarvis At last this means that the rest f the grid will now fall into place pretty quickly...hopefully. Latest rumour has it that Ducati has offered Dovi a contract to replace Rossi in the factory team, and that he has accepted. I'm sure this will piss Crutchlow off no end, after being told he was their preferred choice and even being offered a contract earlier in the season that failed to materialise. Ducati have been less than gentlemanly in this process and Cal could well have lost the chance of keeping his Tech 3 ride simply by waiting for Ducati to come up with the promised contract. Hopefully he will stay at Tech3 next year alongside Bradley Smith. With the prospect of Scott Redding riding a Ducati for Marc VDS and Johnny Rea still in the shortlist for the Gresini ride, it just could be the most abundant year for a long time for British riders in MotoGP | ||
| Jaimec |
Unless Colin sticks around for another year, Nicky could end up being the only American on the grid (and the only one with a chance of a podium too). | ||
| Trojan |
Colin Edwards has a 2 year contract with NGM so should be there next year. However they may need to get him a better bike in order to make him want to stay for another season  The team tested both the FTR/Honda and ART/Aprilia recenty, so it will be interesting to see what they turn up with after Indy. | ||
| Jaimec |
The next BIG question for 2013: What happens if Rossi routinely gets his ass handed to him by his team mate?? Oh, and Matt... even if Edwards is still in the series next year, my previous statement still stands: Nicky is the only American with a HOPE of a podium finish. Unless, of course, the CRT bikes undergo a MIRACULOUS update in the off-season. (Message edited by jaimec on August 10, 2012) | ||
| Trojan |
The next BIG question for 2013: What happens if Rossi routinely gets his ass handed to him by his team mate?? I think he understands that is a distinct possibility/probability on current form. However at least it gives Rossi an equal platform to compete for a win straight away rather than waiting on the promises of Ducati for ever and he will know it is not a machinery problem causing poor results........... | ||
| Bads1 |
That was misrepresented in the press. The actual deal was apparently just for Coke to distribute Monster energy products not to take over the company. If Monster becomes the official sponsor of the Yamaha Factory Team, where does that leave Lorenzo and his Rockstar sponsorship?? Matt they distribute..... but along with that its Coke doing the sales and where all Monster is displayed and marketed in store in the US. (Message edited by bads1 on August 10, 2012) | ||
| Daves |
I still get my Monster off the Bud truck? | ||
| Bads1 |
I still get my Monster off the Bud truck? Yep so did I till about ummm less then a year ago. Now I have to go through Coke. My Bud Distributor for my area (Beechwood) there contract ended. I guess maybe your Bud distributor in your are hasn't come to the end of theres?? | ||
| Bads1 |
Does anyone truly know why Ducati talks with Crutchlow are not on the table now ??? They were heated up for a bit weeks ago??? | ||
| Jaimec |
Because: Crutchlow has a British (not Italian) passport Dovi has an Italian passport and is doing better than Cal anyway. | ||
| Fuzzz |
Rossi signed with Yamaha for '13 & '14 | ||
| Gaesati |
Maybe Rossi has two more championships in him. | ||
| Rocketsprink |
Good for Rossi and Yamaha. Spies proved this season he doesn't belong there.  | ||
| Rocketsprink |
At least not on a factory bike. Spies is still a world class rider.......World Superbike that is. | ||
| Trojan |
Does anyone truly know why Ducati talks with Crutchlow are not on the table now ??? Because Ducati seem incapable of organising a p**s up in a brewery, whether that be technically or in rider negotiation. Having told Crutchlow that a contract was on its way to him from Ducati it simply never materialised. Worse than that though was that they didn't have the manners to tell him he was no longer required, so freeing him up to negotiate elsewhere. Cal has been holding on for Ducati at the expense of other rides coming and going, and now faces a struggle even to keep his present ride alive for next year. Ducati have added shameful business practice to technical ineptitude on their very poor CV for this season Hopefully Cal will bounce back and get either the Gresini Honda ride (unlikely) or at least keep his place in the Tech 3 team for 2013. | ||
| Gaesati |
Tech 3 seems to be the best of the non-factory outfits on form since 2006. I hope Cal keeps the ride. If Dovi gets the Ducati seat Cal will probably outpace him even on a satellite bike unless Dovi surprises us all. | ||
| Jaimec |
Or Ducati pulls off a MIRACLE in the off-season. It would be nice to see Nicky on a competitive bike again. He has been making progress since Vale has been driving development, but they aren't responding fast enough... | ||
| Trojan |
unless Dovi surprises us all I doubt it very much. Dovi is a good rider but has spent his entire career riding what he was given by his team and being the third string rider for a factory. Will he have the necessary development skills to improve the Ducati? No he won't. Hayden has been there for long enough to have made a breakthrough and still hasn't, and the 'magical' Rossi/Burgess combination couldn't make it happen either despite Ducati throwing obscene amounts of money at it for 2 years, so Dovi will inevitably struggle without a decent starting point. He took half a year to get to grips with the Yamaha properly, and that was just jumping from one good bike to another. I think he will be another Rossi/Melandri/Gibernau and find that his established riding style simply won't work on the red bike, and he will be unable to modify his style enough to make it work. A season trailing round in 10th will see him defect to WSB after a poor year. Younger riders coming from Moto2 such as Redding, Iannone etc have no preconceived ideas of what a MotoGP bike should handle like, and would probably be a better long term bet than Dovi. Cal can probably breath a huge sigh of relief for not getting the Ductai gig, at least at the moment. If he can either keep his current team or get the Gresini bike he will be in a stronger position at the start of next season than Dovi will. Maybe if Audi can plough enough money into Ducati to enable them to completely redesign the motor from the ground up (with a much shorter engine and narrower V angle) then they might have a chance of being competitive eventually, but it will be a long slog and neither Honda or Yamaha will stand still in the meantime (nor will Suzuki when they come back in 2014). Even staying ahead of the CRTs when the new regs come into force will be hard for Ducati at current progress rates. | ||
| Simond |
It really would be a shame if Cal doesn't get a ride after his performances this year. Was the talk about RDP at Tech 3 just a case of an over-optimistic French press? I'd love to see him on a competitive bike.....though not at the expense of Crutchlow | ||
| Bads1 |
Heres another question. If Monster leaves tech 3 then they are out alot of money. Monster is the second largest energy drink company in the world and trailing Redbull more and more every year. Who will be the main sponsor for them?? | ||
| Jaimec |
Any reason there couldn't be a "Monster Tech3" AND a "Monster Yamaha" team in the paddock? | ||
| Bads1 |
Do you see them sponsoring more then one team in any series??? | ||
| Jaimec |
Just because it HASN'T been done doesn't mean it CAN'T be done... |
