2013 Silly Season?...maybe spoilers

[ccm900]

TOLD YA      


http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2012/Hayden+renews+Ducati+contract



 

stoked!

[CDChase1981]

TOLD YA      


http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2012/Hayden+renews+Ducati+contract



 

  This is great news!

[ducpainter]

TOLD YA       


http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2012/Hayden+renews+Ducati+contract



 

Makes me happy. 

Wonder who his team mate will be?

[gm2]

Wonder who his team mate will be?

some brit

[ducpainter]

some brit

after fp 2 I think I might agree with you.

[Raux]

Italian press saying Spies to BMW WSBK 2013

http://www.moto.it/MotoGP/spies-torna-in-superbike.html#.UBQ0L1u1r8E.facebook

[gm2]

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Jul/120728b.htm

i think this comes down to 1 thing: fun.  he had a lot of it in 2009, not so much since then.

lots of other factors of course.. rookie rule/not, public lack of support from the team's managing director, probably a contract that went on hold just as he was going to sign, the notoriously chilly atmosphere in the GP paddock & it's euro-centrism, blah blah. 

but that can all be boiled down to not having fun.  he's already rich.  if you're going to go risk your life on a daily basis, it better be in a place you dig. 

[OT]

Hitting the nail on head, for all these guys and for everyone else, too 

[Raux]

Stoner spies. who is next to get off the no fun gp ride

[gm2]

@motomatters tweets, some interpretation going on..

Rossi Italian TV via @manziana : Biggest problem is heating front tire. If we solve this Ducati can be competitive

Rossi Italian TV via @manziana: I think Preziosi will stay in Ducati, I am going on holiday for a week to have a good think

Rossi Italian TV via @manziana : They have fixed their problems in Ferrari, but not in Ducati. If Ferrari can fix it, then Ducati can too.


..also supposedly the offer this year is actually less.  12MM rather than 17.  not that it matters.

[ducpainter]

@motomatters tweets, some interpretation going on..

Rossi Italian TV via @manziana : Biggest problem is heating front tire. If we solve this Ducati can be competitive

Rossi Italian TV via @manziana: I think Preziosi will stay in Ducati, I am going on holiday for a week to have a good think

Rossi Italian TV via @manziana : They have fixed their problems in Ferrari, but not in Ducati. If Ferrari can fix it, then Ducati can too.


..also supposedly the offer this year is actually less.  12MM rather than 17.  not that it matters.

who gets the 5mm?

[Speeddog]

Looking at Rossi's options from the other direction:

Pedrosa and Marquez signed 2-year deals, so Rossi is locked out of Factory Honda 'til 2015.

Lorenzo signed a 2-year deal, so he's there until 2015.
It doesn't seem that Yamaha does 1-year contracts... can anyone recall? Derby?
My hypothesis is that if Rossi doesn't sign with Yamaha, they'll sign Crutchlow for 2 years, so Rossi will be locked out 'til 2015 there.

Suzuki/BMW/Kawasaki/KTM/<insert manufacturer> aren't going to amount to a hill of beans in that timeframe....

So, it's mano-a-mano against the best rider left in MotoGP, on the same bike, for the rest of his career....

or bet the farm on Ducati coming up with the goods.

[gm2]

i think one of the most salient issues with ducati is how fast they (don't) get new stuff turned around.  yeah i know, fraction of the size of honda, yadda yadda.  but there is a lot of smoke in that message vs how slowly things really are moving.  this race was going to be the 'major changes' race; the new ecu wasn't quite buttoned up after mugello so then.. nothing?  honda was there with a whole new bike.

moreso than "we're so small!" i think there is a culture within corse to a) believe that you were right in the first place at all costs and b) to the extent that you are willing to vaguely consider that (a) may not be 110% accurate, ever so slightly change things, very very slowly, in a sort of comically analytical fashion.  the bike has the same problem today that it did after valencia in 2009.  you've gotta be kidding me.

i was a huge proponent of rossi making the move.  going out by winning on a duc, for him, is the most poetic swansong anyone could have come up with.  however, shit aint working.  and he can still win.  i believe he can still race like catalunya 2009.  but he sure as hell can't do it here.

sure, maybe audi has promised the world.  but big ass companies don't turn on dime, especially when it comes to mergers.  maybe they can turn it around, but if i were valentino i would have had it by now with the leathers testing thing.


 -- and all the more credit to nicky.

[duccarlos]

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Jul/120728b.htm

i think this comes down to 1 thing: fun.  he had a lot of it in 2009, not so much since then.

lots of other factors of course.. rookie rule/not, public lack of support from the team's managing director, probably a contract that went on hold just as he was going to sign, the notoriously chilly atmosphere in the GP paddock & it's euro-centrism, blah blah. 

but that can all be boiled down to not having fun.  he's already rich.  if you're going to go risk your life on a daily basis, it better be in a place you dig. 

This makes me very happy! Now if I could just find where I could find a motogp.com equivalent for WSBK I would be in heaven!

[Speeddog]

Seeing as all signs are for Rossi going back to Yamaha....

Who's the next rider stepping in front of the Big Red Bus?