Rumour Mill 09/10

[Pantah Jack]

Ant West at either MZ or Marc VDS Racing (after declining an offer from another Moto2 team).... Source - someone very close to Ant

[tha_jackal]

Ant West at either MZ or Marc VDS Racing (after declining an offer from another Moto2 team).... Source - someone very close to Ant

Marc VDS because of the Bartholemy connection? I assume..

Would be a wise move, judging by young Scott Reddings success thus far..

They would make a solid lineup IMO..

Any idea which team he turned down?

[NinjaMaster]

Not really rumours when they are confirmed signings but British Supersport Champion Sam Lowes will replace Eugene Laverty at the Parkalgar Honda team in supersport next year. Broc Parkes has been signed by the Kawasaki Supersport squad for the next two years and Kats Fujiwara will move into a role as Kawasaki test rider. Hopefully the second Kwak ride goes to a young bloke like Davide Giugliano, Maxime Berger or Jeremy Guarnoni. Chaz Davies has re-signed with Triumph to be joined by Luca Scassa. Ayrton Badovini to move back to WSB with a new BMW Italia team possibly with James Toseland as teammate.

[Mach24]

Nori Haga to DFX Aprillia on semi factory gear = The end of his chances of becoming World Superbike Champion.

Whilst he may get a few wins here nor there, surely the Biaggi deal won't allow for equal equipment for Nori-san.

However, I think it is a good thing Aprillia is providing the good gear.

Also gr8 news about the second BMW team as well.

[NinjaMaster]

Nori Haga to DFX Aprillia on semi factory gear = The end of his chances of becoming World Superbike Champion.

Whilst he may get a few wins here nor there, surely the Biaggi deal won't allow for equal equipment for Nori-san.

However, I think it is a good thing Aprillia is providing the good gear.

Also gr8 news about the second BMW team as well.

Nori can officially be added to Slight and Chili in arguments for greatest ever WSB non-champs. Pleased to see he got a competitive bike though I wish Smrz stayed on the Aprilia, he started to look better as the season drew along.

Paul Bird has confirmed that Tom Sykes will remain in his team, though the factory rides are taken by Vermeulen and Lascorz so he will likely be a satellite rider out of the same garage.

Seems Fabrizio will likely be on a Suzuki or Althea Ducati, hopefully Guintoli gets another ride.

[NinjaMaster]

Sylvain Guintoli has signed to ride alongside Jakub Smrz at the Liberty Ducati team (yay!). It is expected that Michel Fabrizio will replace him at Suzuki (I think he will go well back on a four cylinder bike).
There is also some talk of Biaggi retiring on a Bayliss-esque high after winning the title this year - or it's a ploy to squeeze more money out of Aprilia to see their bike carrying the number 1 plate next year.
Ten Kate to have Castrol or San Carlo backing with Alex DeAngelis (or Josh Brookes?) partnering Johnny Rea.

Also, Sepang may well be Rossi's last ever race for Yamaha. It is expected they won't release him from his contract early, especially after his race with Lorenzo on the weekend and this seems to have sped up his required surgery on his shoulder. Shame to finish their relationship in this fashion.

[Allyc85]

Do you have a source for the Rossi story as theres nothing on the MCN website and I cant believe Yamaha would over react after Rossi turned them from average into champions!

[NinjaMaster]

Do you have a source for the Rossi story as theres nothing on the MCN website and I cant believe Yamaha would over react after Rossi turned them from average into champions!

http://motomatters.com/news/2010/10/...with_yama.html

http://www.bikesportnews.com/news-de...ip&newsid=6738

Also, Kenan Sofuoglu will ride Tomizawa's bike for the last 2 Moto2 races, probably where he is headed next year. And Australia have 2 wildcard riders in Moto2 at Phillip Island with both Alex Cudlin and Wayne Maxwell getting one-off rides. Good luck to 'em all!

[Rod Richardson]

Allyc85

I would expect that the comments would have come from the team manager Wilco Zeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelenberg as suggested by his quote included in the following article:------

http://www.yamaha-motor.com.au/hotne...-out-at-motegi

Wilco Zeeelenberg - Team Manager
"We just need a few more points! This wasn't a perfect race for us and we struggled a bit when the track changed after Moto2, especially at the hard braking in turn one, but our target was to play it safe and take points so we are happy. Of course the end of the race was exciting, but Jorge is a winner and even with the situation with the championship he was never going to give up on the final podium spot easily. It was a great battle between the two strongest riders in the world but they are team-mates and Valentino took too many risks and touched Jorge a couple of times, which should not have happened when Jorge is fighting for the championship. Anyway, considering the front-end issues and the fact that we chose not to run the new engine, we have to be very happy with these points and now we are all just focused on Sepang and the possible championship victory there."

[patnicholls]

Kenan confirmed at Technomag CIP for the last two rounds - good luck to them and I think he'll be a front-runner straight away.