Erm Yamaha are pulling out of WSB as an official team...
Yamaha pulls out of WSB - News | Motorcycle Sport | WSB Results | World Supersport | MCN
WTF!
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Erm Yamaha are pulling out of WSB as an official team...
Yamaha pulls out of WSB - News | Motorcycle Sport | WSB Results | World Supersport | MCN
WTF!
Well......that's a pity.......so where will Melandri and Laverty go from here.........I reckon the best bets at this stage would be Tenkate/Castrol Honda in place of Xaus and Kawasaki if Chris Vermeulen's condition doesn't improve...........
Regardless, with Melandri and Laverty available, riders in other teams will be under pressure to up their performance for the rest of the season.
I wonder what's going through Biaggi's mind right now......would be great to see Melandri on an Aprilia.
Yep, sadly saw this this afternoon - pretty gutted for Marco, Eugene and the (Belgarda) team members who clearly didn't know what was coming (the *team* re-signed Marco recently with Eugene set to follow, but Yamaha Europe shut down the operation).
There is a possibility the bikes may get picked up (by, say, the Parkingo team currently leading WSS or the current team with private backing), but troubling times ahead.
WSB has to cut costs and veer away from the near-prototype route it's currently involved in. Anyone reading Dennis Noyes or Julian Ryder's tweets - along with anything from Motomatters - has the right idea.
Shame to see Belgarda Yamaha go, especially as they were technically the defending series champion just last year.
Rod mentioned Vermuelen as a further potential casualty of changes to come - I'm afraid that is likely to be the case, his career is truly in dire straights at the moment.
Finally, good news for MotoGP with HRC Vice President, Shuei Nakamoto announcing that Honda will field 6 bikes next year:Quote:
Originally Posted by jonny hurlock
The HRC Vice President then confirmed that there will be six Hondas on track in 2012.
"The bikes will all be equal to start the year, aside from the transmission. The satellite teams that want to use the new gearbox must pay for it separately; it's very expensive, and costs more than the house I live in! The design isn't relevant for use on production bikes, however, since it's only designed to work at very high revs. It wouldn't be useful on the street. Honda will not be selling engines alone, only complete bikes."
GPOne
I like your thought's on Melandri at Aprilia but Biaggi is still running 2nd and I really hope they persist with Camier who is a very talented rider. I sadly have to agree with you on Vermeulen. I still think he's talented and skillful enough to be in WSB but injury has crueled him this last two years. Would love to see him on a two-rider Yoshimura Suzuki team with Josh Waters. Eugene joining Rea at Ten Kate would be spectacular and I'd be chuffed to see Marco on a green machine (his Kawasaki outing last time was black).Quote:
Originally Posted by Rod Richardson
Dunno about ParkinGo. On one hand, Guiliano Rovelli (ParkinGo team principle) says they want to go WSB next year and Yamaha is an option if they have the resources.Quote:
Originally Posted by patnicholls
But then in another article he says that they will not be with Yamaha next year. BE1 has been listed as an option but whatever happens, hopefully someone can take over the reigns (I'd love to see Francis Batta get the gig).
Also, Kawasaki's superbike contract is up for renewal too with the Pedercini and Motocard.com teams also interested but I'd be amazed if Paul Bird lost the contract.
100% agree about the need for cost cutting. They have announced that their attempt to reduce costs is only allow each rider one bike. That works fine for supersport who only have one race. I became convinced that WSB needed to 'dumb down' the spec of the bikes when I heard that either Haga or Fabrizio perferred to use MotoGP spec forks in their Ducati whilst the other one preferred the WSB spec forks. That coupled with Rossi testing the R1 and announcing that it was by no means a production bike but a prototype racer and I think the WSB has lost sight of what it is really about and is in danger of again 'outgrowing' itself.
WSB is going to have a very interesting silly season I think.
Hmmm, seems Dorna is to acquire WSB. Hopefully this can be positive.
bad news for PBM and Tom Sykes:
Kawasaki to drop PBM, Sykes for 2012 | WSBK News | Sep 2011 | Crash.Net
they even started winning too.
In a follow-up article on Crash.net they said that Sykes hasn't been given his marching orders from Kawasaki (only PBM) and the he and the big K would like to continue together. Hope it works out as he's done a power of development work for them. I'd assume that Motocard will step up and get the Green WSB team contract, apparently with closer factory involvement, and that PBM probably lost the contract due to the drugs/guns scandal earlier this year. Stuart Easton should be riding for Bird next year too, wherever that may be.Quote:
Originally Posted by jonny hurlock
BMW has re-signed Haslam for 2012 with his teammate to be announced at a later date. I'd figure on Corser being out and replaced with either Badovini or an ex-GP rider.
Also, Rossi and Ducati just completed a test at Mugello with lots of talk that they ran an aluminium twin-spar frame. Interesting times ahead for them.
Toni Elias to test BMW Italia at Misano | WSBK News | Sep 2011 | Crash.Net
Elias could be going to SBK next season with this news.