We’ve been following the silly season rumors and speculations for last couple of weeks and yesterday the season officially opened.
Let’s recap what we’ve read and heard so far.
Marco Simoncelli supposedly signed a two year 4.
000.
000 euro contract with HRC to ride with Fausto Gresini’s satellite Honda, only to have Fausto Gresini, Simoncelli and Carlo Pernat, Simoncelli’s manager, at Montmelò on Sunday vehemently denying the exsistence of a contract or even an option.
Pernat did say that they were in talks with Honda, but also with Yamaha and saying that they have declined Ducati’s offer, thus leaving a very disappointed and love sick Livio Suppo, who openly courted Simoncelli on Italian TV.
We also know that Simoncelli wants definetely to ride in MotoGP, so there goes Giampiero Sacchi’s and Gigi Dall’Igna’s idea of creating a second Aprilia factory WSBK team with Simoncelli and with Gianluca Montiron as team manager.
Another team that is very involved in silly season is Rizla Suzuki.
Paul Denning offered 250cc Spanish rider Alvaro Bautista who is headed to MotoGP, a place in his team.
The rider had the Catalunya race as a yes or no deadline to decide if he wanted to ride for them, Sunday has gone by and Bautista has yet to say if he has accepted.
Bautista was probably waiting to see if his mentor Jorge “Aspar” Martinez could find a bike for him.
Martinez has been trying to launch a MotoGP team for the last couple of years and has heavy sponsor backing, but no one will give him a bike.
The top Spanish manager was almost sure that he finally had a Yamaha lined up for his protégé, that he went so far as to announce that he would be in MotoGP in 2010 to the Spanish press, but Lin Jarvis Yamaha’s Managing Director, admitted that he had talks with Martinez for a fifth bike, but dashed all of the Martinez’s hopes when he announced that Yamaha will field only four bikes next year, despite pressure from Dorna insisting that Yamaha put out a fifth bike.
So Martinez is now back to talking to Honda and Ducati.
We also have Suzuki denying that they’re trying to lure WSBK sensation Ben Spies back in their fold with a big money offer to ride with them in MotoGP next season, but English website MCN reports that Suzuki’s current rider Loris Capirossi wants to ride another year and that he wants to stay with Suzuki and is close to signing a new contract with the British based team.
The ever busy Carlo Pernat will be at Misano this weekend looking at other options for his clients, which besides managing Loris Capirossi and Marco Simoncelli, also includes Alex DeAngelis and Niccolò Canepa.
We can safely assume that Pernat not going to the beach to work on his tan and oogle the topless girls and is trying to find a ride for DeAngelis, who is not exactly setting the MotoGP world on fire with his performances with Gresini’s Honda and is also probably looking for some type of option for Canepa.
The young rookie who got his ride and chance in MotoGP because he was Ducati’s official test rider, is constantly getting beaten by his fellow team mate and rookie Mika Kallio and Canepa has already put in a couple of wildcard appearances in WSBK last year always on a Ducati.
Yamaha Tech 3 team is another name that is constantly coming up in the riders musical saddles, that includes Simoncelli and Ben Spies.
Mario Meregalli Yamaha SBK team manager, last night on Paddock, Uomini e Corse (Paddock, Men and Racing) admitted that Spies wants to go to MotoGP but only after he wins the World Superbike Championship title.
Spies is still upset with Suzuki and Denning after they didn’t want him this season in their team.
We’ve got the evergreen Colin Edwards who is exchanging messages and e-mails with Aprilia’s Gigi Dall’Igna asking about Aprilia in WSBK.
Then there’s the rumor that Alstare Suzuki’s Francis Batta is very interested in James Toseland and that Toseland’s manager Roger Burnett will be at Misano this weekend to check out other options in WSBK.
We also have Burnett saying that he’s also talked to Rizla Suzuki about the Brit rider.
Even more silly season is that John Hopkins’ manager Bob Moore talked to Herve Poncharal in Catalunya last weekend because Hopkin’s despite riding only one round in WSBK series with Stiggy Honda before being injured, would like to return to MotoGP.
There are other riders that are up for contract negotiations.
Casey Stoner.
We just know he’s going to re-up with Ducati despite overtures by Honda and Yamaha.
Stoner is still upset with the two teams when they wouldn’t give him a factory bike for the 2007 season and luckily for Ducati ended up being their rider and World Champion.
Claudio Domenicali and Livio Suppo will certainly offer the moon, the stars and the entire universe to keep Stoner, the only rider who is capable of dominating and winning repeatedly on the red missle.
Dani Pedrosa.
The Spanish rider is a top factory rider, despite his continuing injuries.
Honda HRC seems the only solution possible.
Does anyone see him going to Ducati or Yamaha, alongside Casey Stoner or Valentino Rossi.
No way will Alberto Puig permit it.
We still don’t know how Andrea Dovizioso is faring against Puig’s dominant presence in the HRC Honda team.
Dovizioso sagely signed a single year contract, keeping in mind Hayden’s problems with Pedrosa and Puig, does he want stay another year with them and what other options are there? Nicky Hayden.
Will he stubbornly continue to try to adapt his riding style to the factory Ducati or try his luck elsewhere? Or will Livio Suppo give Kallio the factory bike and demote Hayden to the satellite Pramac team?Will Jorge Lorenzo sign again with Fiat Yamaha and continue giving Valentino Rossi headaches or will Lorenzo’s new manager Marcos Hirsch listen to Repsol and lure him away from Yamaha and put him HRC Honda so he can try and make friends with long time rival Dani Pedrosa?Chris Vermeulen.
With a lot of rumours centered around Suzuki, where will the always postive Aussie go? Back to the blue skies of the WSBK series or does some MotoGP team need a wet weather specialist?Will Yuki Takahashi continue in Scot Racing alonside new comer Gabor Talmacsi or be ousted in favour of keeping only the sponsor rich lined leathers of Gabor Talmacsi or can Dorna intervene in favour of their token Japanese rider?Toni Elias.
On a Honda semi-official spec bike and faring worse than second string satellite LCR Honda rider Randy DePuniet.
Will he end up in WSBK along side fellow country man Carlos Checa or will the always kind and generous Fausto Gresini offer him a ride in his newly formed Moto2 team?Marco Melandri.
Can he convince Kawasaki to get back into the MotoGP game or will he be headed to greener pastures on some other team?Only a few months and all the pieces will fall into place and we’ll find out which rumors were true and which were only media hype.
