JAMES TOSELAND DISQUALIFIED AT LAGUNA SECA!!! I GUESS­ HE MAY HAVE HAVE JUST GIVEN BEN SPIES HIS NEW MOTO GP­ RIDE FOR NEXT YEAR!!!

will Spies go to Tech 3 next year do we think? Toseland­ will probably go back to WSBK although it was floated­ that Edwards would go to the Aprilia WSB but can't­ see that as he's so much quicker than JT.

Gareth, calm yourself baby...I was referring to the­ wsbk races becoming dull when Spies has little­ competition, when Haga is off color, you can't say­ that Miller Park was exciting, if you get a decent­ producer, he focuses on the RACING further back, that­ helps, not taking anything away from Spies talent, but­ a race where any rider is on his own by a large margin,­ coupled with poor production is a dull race, that goes­ for Moto gp as well, I want Spies in Moto gp because I­ want to see him race the most awesome talent, WITH­ personality on the planet, I watch all the races, dull­ or otherwise, but lighten up, and go watch the last­ laps at Catalunya on youtube..In italian..mama mia!!

Achilles, yes Rossi is easily the best marketing tool­ at Yamaha's disposal but the US is a bloody hard­ place to crack!!!! Americans are more likely to follow­ something that is 'home-grown' than an­ outsider!! This is why Ducati are shamelessly using­ Nicky Hayden (who let's be honest, his star is­ slightly duller today than 2/3 years ago) in­ advertising at this weekends US GP!!!! Why not Casey­ Stoner their number 1 and the guy who won the­ championship on their bike (remember Hayden's was­ Honda)? Easy, he's an Aussie and the septics have­ no interest in him!!! Rossi is a different proposition­ just because he (like Schumacher/Senna in F1, even­ Pele/Best football) transcends his sport and­ nationality! As for racing being dull, what you on? ­ Did you not see the Catalan GP, the last corner­ overtake? A series that until the last round had 3­ riders on identical points after 6 races can hardly be­ dull! So Rossi cleared off at Assen, but that is not­ the norm and even then when you looked at the battles­ thru the field the racing was amazing!! What about the­ 5 way dice for 6th? That was real racing and was only­ resolved at the very last chicane of the race!!! I get­ frustrated with those who think that a race and the sum­ of it's parts is based on the battle for first!! ­ It's easy to judge an entire race by who's up­ front but the real 'fan' looks at the entire­ field!! Ok, the point is to win, but even then there­ is some amazing racing going on down the field!!! So­ please, if you are going to call any motosport boring­ at least focus on something such as F1!!!!

Gareth....that carefully crafted statement, still,­ does'nt stop the racing being dull....and 'the­ monkey' is by far, and away the biggest marketing­ power that Yamaha have on the planet...

Hey Brian, if you paid enough attention to the­ motorbike section of Yahoo, you'd already know when­ this guy (EGK) makes a comment, it's usually on the­ ball. Before the start of the season in Motogp he­ predicted Kawasaki would run Melandri in a single rider­ team with the help of IRTA and the FIM. He said that a­ month before the Hayate team was formed. He also­ predicted that Honda would get single engine­ manufacturer for the new Moto2 class the day they­ agreed on 600cc bikes with experimental chasis. How do­ you think he knew? Cos he lives in Japan and works with­ a team that has always been linked with HRC (Honda)...

Brian, as always I have to make comments to defend my­ position. I currently work and own a share of FCC­ Technical spots here in Japan and have sponsored riders­ such as Tomoko Igata in 125cc grand prix races in the­ past. So, for me to not have a clue, would be for you­ to be a professional golf player! I am of English­ origin and have lived in Japan and worked in the All­ Japanese Series for two stroke machinery and now four­ stroke machinery for well over a decade. As I live this­ sport, work for it, and own parts towards its success,­ I know a fair few rumours and dealings going in. This­ is not show and tell, otherwise your comments would­ fade into obscurity....

Same goes for you ty.smith22. Wake up, mate. You boys­ sound like politicians, and nobody likes those !

I was almost hoping the F1 teams would have split from­ the FIA and Ferrari could have decided to field a­ three-car team allowing Rossi to make the move. I love­ Rossi on motorbikes, but the idea of him getting a shot­ at a world title in F1 (and becoming only the second­ racer to ever do it) is just great and he would cement­ himself as all of racing's GOAT. Plus it would­ give me a reason to get excited about F1. Then the­ Fiat ride would be opened up for a guy like Spies after­ he completed his "rookie" season. Yeah, this­ is crazy talk but it is silly season.

Blair, what Spies should do and can do are very­ different!!! As he would be classed as a rookie in­ MotoGP he cannot ride for a full 'factory' team­ unless it is Suzuki (due to them having no satellite­ squad). This rule was brought in to ensure that those­ who have worked their butts of at MotoGP level­ aren't overlooked for the best rides as often or­ not an unknown quantity has come in and taken a ride­ that should have gone to someone who earned it!!!! ­ This will stop 'one hit wonders' who have had­ one decent year under their belts in another series­ coming in and taking a seat that should really go to­ someone with the experience of these type of machines,­ the tracks etc.....

Spies should go to Yamaha factory Moto GP next year. ­ Rossi has two years left in the tank....Spies will take­ over......Tom Sykes will be returning to Britain next­ year to lick his wounds.....a golden opportunity on the­ Yamaha squandered away.

Ty, Kwaka are contracted to Dorna for this year and­ next and to pull out in total would cost a payment of­ US$35m!! Unless either the recession lifts or a big­ money sponsor comes in don't expect to see them in­ any other guise than Hayate and 1 bike!!! Also, lets­ not confuse the issue, but the bike isn't great and­ it would appear that Marco is thrashing it. If he­ doesn't, then he will not get a decent ride next­ year as his starpower will have seriously dipped!! As­ for rumours of who is going where, one of the best­ I've come across is Hayden returning to Repsol­ Honda no less!!! HRC put a lot of money, time and­ development into Pedrosa and have not seen any return­ on this investment whereas they know that Nicky CAN­ test and develop, isn't crash/injury happy and left­ them on a good standing, never once putting the boot in­ to them even though he could have for the lack of­ support they gave him after becoming World Champion­ (and that included that season as he was developing a­ bike designed for Dani!!!). As for the second Ducati,­ looks like Kallio will get it as he is beginning to­ monster the bike and he fits the bill in terms of no­ longer being a rookie for next year!!! The Pramac team­ will probably be Fabrizio (unless Ducati Corse decide­ to keep him in WSB which is unlikely as Nori'll­ keep his ride and the lad Simeon will come up from­ Superstock or Canepa coming from GPs) and De Angelis­ (who's fed up with only having customer spec­ machinery despite bringing lots of money). Pedrosa­ will probably move over to Gresini as he's got an­ HRC contract for at least one more year!!!! However,­ neither he or Puig are well liked by HRC management and­ are seen to have 'annoyed' most of the Repsol­ Honda people, treating the team as if it was their own­ property!!! Maybe Yamaha would be willing to allow­ another satellite team in to the mix, albeit with a­ more customer driven project.

This is all good stuff, silly or not. Thanks for the­ insight, EGK and garethmccarroll. Dorna is obviously­ concerned about grid numbers and it would be nice to­ see more competitive satellite teams emerge. If there­ is even a possibility of Pedrosa on a Yamaha, who rides­ the other Repsol bike? Also, is there any talk of­ Kawasaki coming back into the fold? Their bike has­ shown promise this year with minimal support. I am­ wondering what it would take to get them back, even­ partially, without being forced.

Well, I personally think Kallio can ride the Ducati­ like Stoner. He all but proved it at the weekend. He­ too can ride it like an animal and push it around.­ There are plenty of wild riders who could do the same.­ Fabrizio is on the cards, not only is he young, but­ Ducati have also made promises to allow him testing­ time on the bike at some point this season. But as he­ is so close to the WSB crown, and don't count him­ out just yet. It's not all going to go Ben­ Spies's way after all, he might have to wait. My­ guess is Canepa will move to WSB and Fabrizio will move­ to Motogp. Ducati have signalled their intentions to­ find an Italian rider for the bike. They ear marked­ Simoncelli, but aparently his wage demands matched­ Stoners, and a rookie costing as much as a potential­ and former world champion is not heard of usually. I­ dare say Hector Barbera would make it go well, but he­ is as dangerous as Elias at times. There is also De­ Angeles, he is a man that many people hold in high­ regard. He is also a sponsor magnet and could well­ bring San Carlo with him. If the rumours about Melandri­ and Fortuna have any depth it could be all change.­ However, San Carlo did agree an extention with a­ further 12 months if they wanted to earlier this year­ with Gresini but aparently they did not wish Simoncelli­ to take a ride in the team (They wanted Bautista).

Yes I can agree the US market is a growing interest for­ most of the Japanese manufacturers. But tech3 has a­ problem if they approach Spies whilst still having­ Edwards under contract. Part of their Monster­ sponsorship is to ensure one American rider and One­ European rider. Also with this in mind, Monster's­ biggest competitor RedBull sell more drinks in England­ than in France, Germany and Spain together. So they­ would prefer to target England as it puts them up­ against RedBull. And notably, the UK Snowboard team is­ also sponsored now by Monster Energy Drinks, it seems­ that their likely hunting place will be England. This­ is part of their companies face, high speed, higher­ energy sports. But lets face it, Yamaha have two top­ young English riders to hoist up if they needed to.­ Apparently, Crutchlow's signature was on the­ agreement of a potential Motogp ride. Which means­ inevitably, he will move to WSB next season and take a­ seat from either Spies or Sykes. I consider this to be­ obvious...Spies will move to Yamaha in Motogp. Yamaha­ would not make an agreement with Crutchlow, knowing his­ potential, if they had not already got something sorted­ for Spies in advance. But lets look elsewhere, as I­ mentioned Jorge Martinez was spotted talking over a­ quiet lunch with Yamaha's representatives, also he­ was seen talking with Alberto Puig, and was seen in­ Barcelona to have a lengthly talk with him aswel. He is­ capable of putting together a package. He also has a­ huge talent in Bautista, and large sponsors seeking to­ keep Bautista. Yamaha could easily be temtped by an­ offer of Pedrosa and Bautista on Yamaha's. But so­ too, could Honda, Suzuki or Ducati. We've seen how­ keen Ducati are to expand when they handed Onde2000 two­ bikes because a major sponsor came with them. Yamaha­ say four bikes only, But IRTA are pushing for an­ increase from Yamaha to atleast five bikes and Honda to­ eight. Suzuki would also run three bikes if they landed­ Bautista....

As for rider changes, either Colin or James could­ easily go back to WSB (but with youth on his side­ I'd say Tose)!!! They both have ridden for what is­ now Yamaha World Superbike Team in the past and know­ the team inside out as well as the team knows them!! ­ Can see Colin staying with Tech 3 if only to 'bed­ in' and advise Spies!!! Ok, so Herve Poncheral­ would like a European (preferably French) but­ ultimately his team is funded by Yamaha and Monster­ Energy who have their own strategies and if they want 2­ 'septics' in a team that is what will happen!!!­ As for this business of who can ride for what team,­ rookies and the like, it doesn't really matter!!! ­ We all know that Simoncelli will have the highest spec­ kit available even if he is with a satellite team!! ­ All these companies have the capability to produce a­ large volume of bikes!!!! Who else remembers the days­ when there were 8 'works' Honda NSR 500s­ screaming (or banging) around the worlds GP circuits?!!­ Remember, most of the costs are in development and not­ production!!! Just look at Tech 3 atm, with the Yamaha­ number 2 spending most of his time in their garage­ working with James rather than with the­ 'factory' boys in the Fiat garage!!! This is­ why someone like Spies wouldn't have a problem­ moving to them as he knows he'll get every bit of­ support he needs!!!

To ACHILLES. It must be damn hard for Spies to keep­ such a straight face!!! After all, I'm sure like­ all riders he is confident in his own abilities but to­ come to a foreign series, on foreign tracks on a bike­ you'd never ridden and then take pole at every­ round bar one, set numerous fastest laps and win 10­ outta 18 races would no doubt have one thinking how­ easy it is and possibly how bad the opposition are!!!­ But being a sportsman in the truest sence, I'm sure­ he'd rather be seen to be humble and respectful­ rather than laughing his face off at everyone else!!! ­ Moving on to marketing. It would seem we have two­ principles in place here. Yam sells alot of sports­ bikes in the UK, whilst the US market is not really­ their thing!!! Yam spends lots of money currently in­ the UK especially with their involvement with GSE Group­ and Rob Mac Racing, in the US they have NO involvement­ in AMA at works levels!! However, whilst one market is­ strong it would be in their best interests to tap the­ US markets. How to do that? Well, if you have a­ current world champion who now races in the premier­ motorbike series you have an established attraction!!! ­ That sells itself. If Spies can win WSB and then move­ up to GPs with Yam the marketing is simple and the­ rider starts to pay for himself thru increased sales in­ his home market!!! As for rider changes, either

@EGK - I must take issue on one thing you said­ regarding Yamaha sales in England v's USA. It would­ be politically better for Yamaha to have Spies than­ Toseland on that basis. Even though sports bikes are­ not as pospular in USA than in UK I would warrant that­ they still sell more in America than they do in UK and­ the potential market is much bigger. Spies has bigger­ global poularity than our James has and let's face­ it JT is not setting the world on fire. I believe that­ Yamaha who have Spies now would rather have him on a­ Tech 3 Yamaha than Toseland on pretty much all fronts.

Also Marco Melandri's manager was in talks with­ Fausto Gresini over the weekend. With the chance of a­ larger European sponsor coming their way due to­ Simoncelli riding for them, Melandri could be back on a­ Honda. And as Melandri's manager and Gresini do not­ get on well, I doubt this was a chit chat over lunch!­ First rumour here is Fortuna have shown an interest...