Yooperbikemike's 2013 MotoGP Thread

He certainly did lose out on a dependable ride.

I wish Ben better luck next season, and the Ducati engineers as well.

Ok, so Spies should have been luckier, then everyone would be happier. Too bad he wasn't, but at least he's alive and well, so I guess he had some tiny bit of luck afterall.

Is it a title sponsor, or a personal sponsor (Monster) who didn't want a teammate advertising a rival company (Rockstar)?

It a fair distance between confidence and luck

With Yamaha buying out the rockstar contract, then I'd have to go with title sponsor.

As I understand it, Tech3 will have Monster as a title sponsor as they have had all along.
and Yamaha Factory racing will have Monster as a secondary sponsor .
Maybe give Mr Poncharal time to get a new sponsor?

Interesting. Where'd you hear that from?

Or maybe Monster knows you brand linkage when it sees it, and is stepping up to cover the field. Top satellite team, and top factory team.

As I understand it, Monster is firmly in with Tech 3, and will be staying there.

Monster are not the title sponsor for Yamaha Factory Racing, they will be getting the same level of exposure as ENEOS, which basically means a largish logo on the fairing and logos all over the leathers. The team will still be called Yamaha Factory Racing.

Initially, Monster was going to back just Rossi, and Rockstar came forward with a similar proposal to back Lorenzo, so you would have had the two bikes identical but for the energy drink logos. Then Monster decided they wanted both bikes, and paid for both Lorenzo's bike and effectively bought his Rockstar contract out.

Contract is worth about 4 million, apparently, which is about half of what a title sponsorship would cost.

Could have been a good chance for Rockstar to win the battle of energy drinks (at least on track) . Maybe Monster didn't want to be shown up.

Interesting.
So no title sponsor for Yamaha still.

No, but with ENEOS and Monster, the need is not as pressing.

Good info. Thanks.

That's it???
2 million euros could get you top billing on the motoGP champions bike?

No, between 8 and 10 million will get you top billing on the MotoGP champion's bike.

4 million gets you the same thing that ENEOS has in the picture below.

There is a fug of alot of money in over pricing sugar water.

I really liked that George had rockstar

Fn monster

Yamaha are in a relatively good position with this deal, probably the best since the Fiat days.

Just like with beer and smokes, there is relatively little cost to produce the product; the major costs of doing business are transportation and marketing, hence all the racing sponsorships.

Nakamoto talks a little about Dani.
http://eurosport.yahoo.com/news/motorcycling-2013-pedrosas-last-chance-title-145054092.html

I like this part.

Nakamoto thinks Honda's mid-season upgrades transformed Pedrosa.

And this:

"Our new machine has much improved braking and cornering, and getting his hands on such a good bike seems to have filled Dani with fresh confidence."

It still seems that Nakamoto believes that the bike is the most important part of the equation. Of course after seen Val on the Ducati it would be hard to argue with him

HRC has always had that mentality, that it was the bike.

Build the right bike, and anyone can win on it.