This is potentially interesting news for those of you in the US (and ties in with earlier discussion on this subject). http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresults/MotoGP/2013/June/jun1913-dorna-open-to-leaving-indy/
Nice shot, thanks. ^^^ If that's Pedrosa, he looks frighteningly comfortable. Wonder whether he'll put his hand up for a chassis swap.
Honda is already debuting the 2014 bike and thinking about using it immediately while Ducati is still futzing about with mild tweaks to the bike that didn't work last year.
According to tweets, Pedrosa did 9 laps on the 2014 bike and decided there wasn't enough difference to start using it at Assen, and called it a test. Marquez is going to stay another day for more testing. Would be interesting if Marquez decided to use the 2014 -- he might find something with it as the season progresses. Or not.
Maybe they can take one of VR's engines and give it to JLo. It sure would be nice to have another rider or two fighting for podium spots.
Krop, did you ever hear any rumors of Hayden as a possible rider at Suzuki next year? I know you mentioned him going to WSBK next year. I only ask as it seems Hayden upped his pace last weekend and at the test and was thinking it might have had something to do with a possible motogp ride for next year with Suzuki evaporating and him now thinking he needs to show more pace in order to keep his motogp ride for another year. I know the guy is also trying hard but it seemed like he was really on his game last weekend. Well, until he crashed.
Krop mentioned that Nicky loves Ducati and Ducati loves Nicky. The logical thing is for him to go to WSBK with Ducati.
Well, Suzuki won't be back till 2015 - if at all - so that's not an option. Hayden needs something before that, and Ducati will pay him well if he moves to WSBK. He said at Barcelona he wanted to stay in Ducati, though.
I think Nicky, Bautista and Cal....all crashed in roughly the exact same spot. Just a theory, but seemed odd to me. Jlo, MM, Dani and Vale, as far as I could tell, were running a tighter line through that turn.
I guess staying in Ducati could be speak for motogp or wsbk. I don't see Ducati taking anyone from moto2 since they already have AI and if anything feel like they would need another proven motogp front runner. Did Cal burn bridges with Ducati? Him or maybe Esparago (older) are about the only riders I would see as a reasonable replacement for Hayden.
putting a different rider on the duc wont fix any of ducatis problems, they will still get beaten by non factory machines
Nicky might not agree. I think he will do all he can to stay in Moto GP. I did wonder if contract negotiations didn't account for his sudden teammate besting form. I am pretty sure Cal and Nicky both said they pushed a little too hard and that is why they went down. Bautista (I haven't read what he may have said) almost looked like he pulled the front brake and bailed to avoid taking Rossi out two races in a row.