: Thu Sep 10, 2009 11:13 am  

carl_spackler wrote:

Probably not, but I wonder if Lorenzo was simply backed into a corner in the end. Honda lost interest, Ducati seem fairly settled (and he'd not really want to go and be second fiddle to Stoner either), so where else would he go? A year deal means he can maybe try Honda again next year. I wouldn't be surprised to see Pedrosa move on if they're trailing Yamaha by so much again.

If I was a team manager for Ducati or Honda I'd be after Lorenzo like a shot. He will be World Champion in two years at least I believe. Pedrosa to Ducati ? Though whether Stoner would be happy about that I don't know. Everything I imagine will depend on what Rossi wants to do in the next couple of years. Good to see a few more riders will be in MotoGP in 2010.

: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:14 pm  

carl_spackler wrote:

Any mind games in there? I wonder if it has anything to do with Lorenzo attempting to copy Rossi's settings at the weekend in order to keep up. Perhaps lashing out if he think Lorenzo is benefitting from his expertise and wanting a bit more secrecy within the garage.

I'm not sure to be honest. There's been a wall in the garage ever since Lorenzo joined Yamaha (put up last year because of the different tyres) so I can't imagine that there is much communication between the two teams at the best of times.

: Thu Sep 10, 2009 2:06 pm  

bramleyrhino wrote:

I'm not sure to be honest. There's been a wall in the garage ever since Lorenzo joined Yamaha (put up last year because of the different tyres) so I can't imagine that there is much communication between the two teams at the best of times.

I would have thought that both riders would not need to try and see how the other is doing for setting up his bike as they have different riding styles to the other and surely setting the bike up the same way would not give the same result.

: Fri Sep 11, 2009 8:21 pm  

Valentinos not gonna retire, he's too close to agastini's record.

if he's gonna go anywhere he'll end up at Ducati. An italian on the Italian bike, dream made in heaven. but only if they make it ridable for anyone other than stoner.

I think a lot of valentinos future will rely on what Jerry Burgess decides to do. He was talking about packing in either this year or next.

: Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:27 am  

Dead Man Walking wrote:

I would have thought that both riders would not need to try and see how the other is doing for setting up his bike as they have different riding styles to the other and surely setting the bike up the same way would not give the same result.

And it didn't, which was why Lorenzo switched back to his own settings for the race.

: Wed Sep 30, 2009 12:44 pm  

Tomorrow it's expected that Ben Spies will be riding for Tech 3 next year with James Toseland taking Spies' seat in WSB.

Toseland will be partnered by Cal Crutchlow, who is currently in Yamaha's WSS team and leading that championship.

: Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:40 pm  

bramleyrhino wrote:

Tomorrow it's expected that Ben Spies will be riding for Tech 3 next year with James Toseland taking Spies' seat in WSB.

Toseland will be partnered by Cal Crutchlow, who is currently in Yamaha's WSS team and leading that championship.

That is a surprise. I thought JT would still be at Tech 3 and a move back to WSB is a backwards one in my opinion. I thought that there were concerns about Yamaha have two American riders with Tech 3 ?

: Thu Oct 01, 2009 12:10 pm  

Confirmed (or at least, the Spies bit is). Edit: Now the Toseland bit The reality is that Spies is hot property. He's also a guy that has made it clear that he wants to spend as little time in WSB as possible. The current season in WSB was something of an "accident" for him. The AMA series was/is on it's booty and he needed out - WSB was the only real option. For all intents and purposes, he wanted to go to Suzuki at the start of the year (he rode Suzuki in AMA and had wildcard rides at Donington and Indy), but their riders were both tied down to new deals. The new rookies rule means that he can't go straight into a factory team and Yamaha's worry was that by making him wait until 2012, which was the earliest that he'd get a factory ride had he stayed in WSB another year, they'd lose him. Commercially, it isn't ideal to have two Americans in the same team but then again, it's not really ideal to have a guy in your team who relies on good fortune to finish in the top six, which Toseland has unfortunately. He's the latest name in a pretty long line of WSB big-hitters who haven't been able to adapt to 800cc. The only offers open to him now are Pramac (but that's looking even less likely - they've just resigned Kallio and are interested in Espargaro), a new privateer team (FB Corse, although given how Hayate and Francisco Hernando got on financially, I'd stay clear of that one), Moto2 (Tech 3 will be running a team in that) or WSB. To me, WSB looks the better option from that list.

Confirmed (or at least, the Spies bit is). Edit: Now the Toseland bit The reality is that Spies is hot property. He's also a guy that has made it clear that he wants to spend as little time in WSB as possible. The current season in WSB was something of an "accident" for him. The AMA series was/is on it's booty and he needed out - WSB was the only real option. For all intents and purposes, he wanted to go to Suzuki at the start of the year (he rode Suzuki in AMA and had wildcard rides at Donington and Indy), but their riders were both tied down to new deals. The new rookies rule means that he can't go straight into a factory team and Yamaha's worry was that by making him wait until 2012, which was the earliest that he'd get a factory ride had he stayed in WSB another year, they'd lose him. Commercially, it isn't ideal to have two Americans in the same team but then again, it's not really ideal to have a guy in your team who relies on good fortune to finish in the top six, which Toseland has unfortunately. He's the latest name in a pretty long line of WSB big-hitters who haven't been able to adapt to 800cc. The only offers open to him now are Pramac (but that's looking even less likely - they've just resigned Kallio and are interested in Espargaro), a new privateer team (FB Corse, although given how Hayate and Francisco Hernando got on financially, I'd stay clear of that one), Moto2 (Tech 3 will be running a team in that) or WSB. To me, WSB looks the better option from that list.

: Thu Oct 01, 2009 10:43 pm  

Toseland has gone to WSB.

: Sun Oct 04, 2009 1:20 pm  

Lorenzo absolutely walked it this afternoon and well done to Stoner as well.