2017 MotoGP Silly Season

Neil_V said:
Beating out the likes of DePunit Ellison Hernandez Pirro DiMegeo Parks... I could go one with a who's who of who was, but even if you want believe that's impressive enough to land a full factory ride, you only need to look back to Moto2, 250 and 125 where he was absolutely on equally competitive machines... 1 podium over 6 years; that's the real A. Espargaro. Only explanation for him even being in GP is the guy has connections, end of.

ps. He's on a decent bike and his teammate is making him look silly in his second year; and almost beat him in the final standings in his first (7 points). That's why one is on his way to the best bike on the grid, and the other is in the news telling the world how unfair life is :rolleyes:



Did MM not crash out with 2 races to go, effectively handing Bradl that title? Don get me wrong, I think Bradl's great, but I don't remember him 'kicking MM's ***'. As I recall, it was Marc's to lose; which he did.
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His pre motogp(Ducati time included) days might not be anything to talk about. But going from 2014 on, i think he's done a decent job. In 2014 he placed a head of a few different world champions from the lower classes. Also wouldn't say maverick is making him look silly, he's only 10 points ahead of him at the moment. By that thinking Rossi, Pedrosa and Dovi etc etc should be the laughing stock of the paddock. I just personally think what he's done in the last few years justifies him being in motogp as much as anyone else. Plenty of riders who have done well in moto3 and moto2 haven't really lit the world on fire in motogp.
 
boarder360 said:
His pre motogp(Ducati time included) days might not be anything to talk about. But going from 2014 on, i think he's done a decent job. In 2014 he placed a head of a few different world champions from the lower classes. Also wouldn't say maverick is making him look silly, he's only 10 points ahead of him at the moment. By that thinking Rossi, Pedrosa and Dovi etc etc should be the laughing stock of the paddock. I just personally think what he's done in the last few years justifies him being in motogp as much as anyone else. Plenty of riders who have done well in moto3 and moto2 haven't really lit the world on fire in motogp.
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What he's done in the last few years is show Suzuki that he's not a serious podium contender and probably never will be. In that regard, yes Maverick has absolutely made him look silly, and I would argue the MM has done the same to all the other Honda riders, including Pedrosa.

Anyway, he got his shot at the sharpe end on the back of that 2014 'career year', and now the time has come to say bye bye; which in the case of Suzuki, he will be doing shortly I'm sure ;)
 
Neil_V said:
What he's done in the last few years is show Suzuki that he's not a serious podium contender and probably never will be. In that regard, yes Maverick has absolutely made him look silly, and I would argue the MM has done the same to all the other Honda riders, including Pedrosa.

Anyway, he got his shot at the sharpe end on the back of that 2014 'career year', and now the time has come to say bye bye; which in the case of Suzuki, he will be doing shortly I'm sure ;)
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I certainly agree with you on this one.
 
Neil_V said:
If true, good on Suzuki for the 2+2; wouldn't want to lose Rins in the same way they lost Maverick
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I believe they had a similar deal with Vinales. An issue was that they didn't want to force a rider onto their team who didn't want to be there.
 
Oh Oh - I think Lorenzo might have chosen the wrong factory at this time

http://www.cyclenews.com/2016/06/article/volkswagen-dump-ducati/

Volkswagen To Dump Ducati?



Rennie Scaysbrook | June 16, 2016
The Panigale R is just one of many models that owe its birth to the injected funds of Volkswagen.Automotive giant Volkswagen is apparently considering diverging itself from Ducati Motor Holdings in an effort to raise capital following the massive fines the company has incurred as a result of the Dieselgate saga, where Volkswagen and Audi cars were found to be cheating on emissions testing.
Volkswagen has reportedly already put aside a staggering $16.2 billion euros to repair more than 11 million cars worldwide, according the Bloomberg, and is now considering a strategic move that would see the dumping of Ducati as well as the MAN Diesel & Turbo trucking business and propulsion specialist, MAN Renk.
Now under the guidance of Chief Executive Officer Matthias Mueller, Volkswagen purchased Ducati in 2012 under then long-time CEO and later chairman of the company – and nephew of Dr. Ferdinand Porsch – Ferdinand Piech, for $870 million and could now be worth as much as $1.5 billion in today’s market. And considering the two-wheeled brand is not part of the Volkswagen Group’s core business of selling cars with profit levels comparatively low to the four-wheel sector, selling Ducati now could give the firm some much needed capital.
Ducati has seen enormous investment in R&D and from the Volkswagen Group since that 2012 takeover, with bikes like the massively popular Scramber, Ducati Panigale 1299, Multistrada 1200 Enduro and Monster 1200 all products that owe their birth the injected funds from Germany. As a result, Ducati is in the best financial position of its life, another reason Volkswagen might sell to guarantee a large return on investment.
Under Piech’s reign, Volkswagen purchased not just Ducati but also Audi, Czech car brand Skoda and Spanish car maker Seat. Those brands appear to be safe from the Volkswagen axe, as does Italian supercar manufacturer Lamborghini, which is seen as a valuable R & D platform for future automotive technologies.
 
Yea, hard to believe many companies will focus and invest as heavily as VW has with ducati in the past few years, specially with Motogp. Hope so
Lightcycle said:
Could be bad, could be good. Depends on who buys them and how much they are willing to pour into racing vs just pumping out Monsters and Multistradas.
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What if Mercedes steps in and buys them? They don't have a viable motorcycle business. (MV?)
 
lator-illa said:
Audi announced Ducati isn't for sale.
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http://www.motofire.com/2016/06/news/vw-announce-strategy-ducati-arent-mentioned/

Reports that the Volkswagen Audi Group were going to announce a restructure were much exaggerated.

When Bloomberg ran a story about the possible offloading of some of the group’s assets – including motorcycle marque Ducati – there were a lot of eyebrows raised. Many commentators questioned the Bloomberg analyst logic of offloading a profitable and prestige part of the business, but as the VAG group looks to move on from its admission of cheating on emission tests, the need to settle an estimated €16.2 billion of fines and expenses has become a primary concern.

But yesterday, in his presentation, CEO Matthias Muller failed to mention Ducati by name at all, and instead spoke about transforming the Volkswagen Group into a ‘world leader provider of sustainable mobility’. Which, when you’ve been caught lying about the pollutants you’ve been spitting out into the atmosphere, is about the least that anyone expected from the company that makes almost a quarter of Europe’s automobiles.
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I hope they don't, I like having more than 2 factories fighting for a tittle. Can't count on Aprilia or KTM so Ducati and Suzuki it is.
 
Alex Rins just signed with Suzuki for the 2017/18 season. Good for him...
 
Aero wings now banned starting in 2017.
 
Just read a speculative rumour that Aspar is looking at signing Bautisa, and running Ducati GP16s. No indication on who he would replace (my guess is Yonny Hernandez)

(rumour in a spanish newspaper translated on reddit).
 
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