I hope so, He was basically conned out of the title last year. Have you seen the new proposed rules for next year ?
It's a bit wishy/washy, I hoping they'd take the electronics off the bikes. WSB needs a big shake up, that's for sure.
Ducati aren't renewing Hayden's contract next year - shame. Guess he'll be off to WSBK. Word on da street is that Honda have made a 11th hour offer to Cal... but for what? Allegedly, Ducati want Bradl, not Cal (german rider, german owners?) and Honda don't want Bradl in LCR anymore (lacklustre performance?). Cal wants a factory ride, this we all know... could Honda have promised to shove a full factory bike across to LCR next year? Might they get rid of the Pedrobot?
I can see that happening, Honda have thrown everything at him for six years and no championship, now this year's probably off the table too. For a works Honda rider he's been thoroughly underwhelming, 24 wins in six years sounds impressive in isolation. But Stoner took 15 in two, Rossi 33 in four, Doohan 54 in ten, Pedrosa's win ratio is miles below any of them, which isn't great for the nominal face of Honda Racing Company. Marquez is the future, he's Spanish, so Repsol are happy regardless of where Pedrosa ends up because they get to keep a Spanish face on all their adverts. He's one podium from matching Danni's debut season too, before the half way mark. Whether they take on Cal, that's more iffy. Cal keeps running his mouth off to the press, Honda won't like that. On the other hand, watching him beat their factory riders and Rossi on the not-quite-works bike must be getting their attention. I don't think Cal would sign for anything less than the Repsol team, LCR or Gresini is effectively a contract to come second and Tech 3 is as good a place to be. I dread Ducati announcing that they've signed Crutchlow for next year, I hope that he wouldn't so something so stupid, but Dovi and Rossi did.
I don't think Cal will sign with Ducati, I don't think he's quite that desperate. Perhaps the only situation to force that would be literally no other bike to ride
If Cal signed for Ducati i would be so dissapointed. I think he is already on one of the best bikes around and could do with at least another season putting in good results. Maybe wait it out until rossi retires or leaves Yamaha. Cal and Jorge would be a great combo.
Huge step backwards if he goes to the dukes. Fingers crossed he gets a good ride for next and what a pity Smith stays on the yammie instead out cal but that's the way the contracts fell for them two.
Just thought about what I typed. Remember Audi has taken the dukes over and I cannot see them taking a losing battle without them aiming to do well in the future. I reckon Audi will change things for the better.
http://motomatters.com/analysis/2013/07/16/motogp_silly_season_update_2_satellite_h.html Silly season analysis from Moto matters
Assuming Audi don't decide that Moto GP is too expensive, pull the plug and focus on SBK spec machines. If Burgess and Rossi couldn't fix it, there's a significant chance no one can fix it, for all the heads that rolled when Audi took control it might still be a losing battle.
1st free practice Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m22.757s 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m22.848s +0.091s 3. Marc Marquez Honda 1m22.980s +0.223s 4. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m23.033s +0.276s 5. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m23.255s +0.498s 6. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1m23.380s +0.623s 7. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 1m23.905s +1.148s 8. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m23.927s +1.170s 9. Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 1m24.287s +1.530s 10. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 1m24.363s +1.606s 11. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m24.441s +1.684s 12. Hector Barbera Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m24.467s +1.710s 13. Alex de Angelis Pramac Ducati 1m25.133s +2.376s 14. Yonny Hernandez PBM Aprilia 1m25.309s +2.552s 15. Karel Abraham Cardion Aprilia 1m25.394s +2.637s 16. Hiroshi Aoyama Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m25.451s +2.694s 17. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Suter-BMW 1m25.594s +2.837s 18. Colin Edwards Forward FTR-Kawasaki 1m25.664s +2.907s 19. Claudio Corti Forward FTR-Kawasaki 1m25.770s +3.013s 20. Michael Laverty PBM-Aprilia 1m26.659s +3.902s 21. Blake Young Attack APR-Kawasaki 1m26.668s +3.911s 22. Bryan Staring Gresini FTR-Honda 1m26.753s +3.996s 23. Lukas Pesek Ioda-Suter-BMW 1m27.825s +5.068s 24. Dani Pedrosa Honda
