Solid points secured by Hayden and Stoner!

Yes silly season is well upon us now for MotoGP, and rumors are swelling after Livio Suppo spent time with Casey Stoner and his father during the MotoGP testing at Jerez, Spain. Suppo, who moved to HRC after 11 years with Ducati, is rumored to have met with Stoner in order to have the Australian rider make a switch of teams in 2011. The Honda marketing manager made it clear when he jumped ship from Ducati that he would be back for Stoner, a rumor that’s been confirmed by Loris Capirossi, and passed around the paddock more than a few times.

This silly season rumor isn’t without some faults though, as a move by Stoner into HRC would likely mean the exiting of Dani Pedrosa from the team. Pedrosa’s contract with HRC is up after this season, while Andrea Dovizioso’s contract has an option for the rider to renew with HRC for 2011, which would seemingly give him some immunity from a rider shuffling. Pedrosa has long been the #1 rider on HRC, and has garnered support from Spanish title sponsor Repsol, who would normally like nothing more than seeing a Spanish rider on their sponsored team.

However Pedrosa has also made some publicly unfriendly remarks as of late about HRC and their development of the RC212V. Whether related to these comments or not, Repsol has been rumored recently as giving its blessing on showing Pedrosa the door, which could allow HRC to pursue the pairing of Stoner and Dovizioso, but then again Pedrosa’s strong finish in Jerez may have silenced that tune to some degree.

The Spanish rider, despite his podium victory, is still complaining of problems with his Honda RC212V, while Dovi seems to be getting on with the machine quite well. Could all this be the formula needed to bring Stoner into Honda’s camp? It’s probably too early to tell, but as the silly season heats up we can certainly expect to hear more about Stoner and Pedrosa what their prospects for next season look like. Stay tuned race fans.

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Wavex said:

Stoner to HRC for 2011 MotoGP?

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Disco said:

The pieces are starting to move around the board...........

All hinges on what Rossi does/decides next month on who will go where.

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Wolfman said:

Was reading today, that Ferrari are getting very keen to have Rossi drive in F1 for them....

This rumour is bought up every year....This time is was quoting lap times, that were 2/10th's off pole for the F1 race held at the same track he was testing at....

But i reckon he is off to Ducati...but i reckon he will want to take Jerry Burgess too, more than anything, because he would rather not race against someone with Jerry as their crew chief.

Would Ducati let Rossi do that? Bring Burgess?

I love silly season rumours, and innuendo...

:thumbup:

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Wolfman said:

Was reading today, that Ferrari are getting very keen to have Rossi drive in F1 for them....

This rumour is bought up every year....This time is was quoting lap times, that were 2/10th's off pole for the F1 race held at the same track he was testing at....

But i reckon he is off to Ducati...but i reckon he will want to take Jerry Burgess too, more than anything, because he would rather not race against someone with Jerry as their crew chief.

Would Ducati let Rossi do that? Bring Burgess?

I love silly season rumours, and innuendo...

:thumbup:

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Disco said:

Sure ive read articles where JB has stated he would love to work with Casey, but only after Rossi retires and/or leaves for WRC or F1 or maybe even Supermoto (surely the foot out points strongly to a career over there!).

Get the feeling that Rossi is off to Ducati IF he stays in MotoGp. Yamaha has pissed him off (even though IMO both Yamaha & Jorge did the right thing resigning for this season) and even if Jorge leaves at the end of 2010, not sure Rossi wants to be at Yamaha with a certain young American as his team mate in 2011.

Can't see Burgo being welcomed in Bologna, its not as if Ducati need him to 'build' them a bike. Casey potentially going to Honda (and Honda publicly admitting their mistakes on the opinion of riders/staff), sure Burgo would be welcomed back by the evil red empire.

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Wolfman said:

Was reading today, that Ferrari are getting very keen to have Rossi drive in F1 for them....

This rumour is bought up every year....This time is was quoting lap times, that were 2/10th's off pole for the F1 race held at the same track he was testing at....

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AngelFZ said:

Well, he has tested their (Ferrari) F1 car many times but at the end he goes back to the motorcycles. I'm not sure if this is mostly "publicity" in a way to get more attention (do they need more attention?), for both parties, Rossi and Ferrari.

The last time Ferrari had an Italian driver (and they have not had that many) it was not too good for them (not that I have any intentions of comparing Fisichella and Rossi) also, at that time their car was not in the best shape.

I do not know how many people here remember Jhonny Cecotto. He switched from motorcycles to cars quite some time ago, he had as partner Ayrton Senna...
Do you think Rossi will adventure himself into F1 (ferrari) if they get Vettel? I'm not sure for how many years Alonso will stay with Ferrari, even though he said he'll stay with Ferrari until he retires.

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Wolfman said:

Apparently...Ferrari want a 3rd car in F1! Sounds fancible? but anything is possible.

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Italian Press Says Stoner Signed with Honda – Rossi Offered Deal by Ducati

Silly season is officially underway starting today as the Italian press is full of accounts (all penning their source as being from Sportmediaset) that Casey Stoner has signed with the Repsol Honda MotoGP team, with a sub-headline that Valentino Rossi has been offered a two-year contract with Ducati. Sportmediaset cites the deciding reason for Stoner jumping ship as being the Australian rider’s disappointment in how Ducati backed him during his mysterious illness last year.

Despite headlining Stoner’s move, the bulk of their article concerns Rossi’s switch to Ducati, which may be a tip-off on the validity of the news, as the Italian press loves to pair the two marquee names together.

The 2010 silly season is sure to be a special event, with all four of the top riders under contract renewal. Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, and Valentino Rossi have set themselves above and beyond the rest of the MotoGP field, which only adds to the importance (and speculation) during this period, where manufacturers try and secure the very best rider for the following seasons.

While we remain skeptical on this news, there is some support to its validity. Sportmediaset claims the contract was inked during MotoGP’s stop at Jerez, Spain, during the Spanish GP. During this time, Casey Stoner’s father was on-hand for the race, and talked to both Honda and Ducati, presumably about his son’s future.

Part of the Honda equation may be Livio Suppo, who Casey Stoner had close ties to when the Italian worked at Ducati. Stoner’s animosity with his team, and the prospect of working with Suppo again are apparently cornerstones of the alleged deal between the Aussie and Honda. Honda was also reportedly expected to make early moves in the silly season in order to secure a rider, as being late to the party could be disastrous (more on that in a minute).

Of course with any rumor…or headline…coming out of Italy that involves Valentino Rossi and Ducati, has to be treated with some skepticism, as time and time again we’ve seen inaccurate reports from the Italian media concerning their local heroes teaming up.

Before the silly season began, it was clear that all four riders would be talking to the major OEMs in MotoGP before making a decision. It was also clear that Ducati was very keen to keep Casey Stoner on-board, as the Australian has proven in the past to be really the only man in the paddock capable of wrestling the Ducati into shape. Considering the abrupt about-face on this remark, and the fact that the other OEM’s weren’t considered, there is a bit of evidence to suggest that this is just idle speculation.

Sportmediaset’s description of the Rossi deal also wanders greatly from the reasons Rossi turned the Italian company down back in 2003. Ducati is reported to be offering Rossi everything under the sun, including technical guarantees. With Rossi looking for teams that are rider-focused, and not bike-focused (the Italian ridre likes to be the center of attention, not only on the track, but in the garage), it’s hard to see a team like Ducati, who are very centered around their GP10, making a sudden shift in philosophy. Despite this aspect of the news, Sportmediaset says Rossi has until the Mugello round to decide on taking the job with Ducati.

It’s impossible to tell definitively on this rumor where the truth lies, especially since the only actual source is from the unreliable Italian racing press. Neither Honda, nor Ducati have commented on the matter, which adds further cause for concern, since at the very least we’d expect an announcement from HRC if Stoner has indeed inked an agreement.

With more news likely to come at the next MotoGP stop (at Le Mans in two weeks), we have some time yet to fully digest these possibilities. We do know one thing for certain though, if these rumors prove to be true, Jorge Lorenzo would look to be SOL, and forced to re-sign with Fiat-Yamaha with almost zero negotiating leverage…but maybe that works into Rossi’s plan afterall?

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UPDATE: GPOne.com (probably the most reliable source in the Italian Media) has gotten word from Livio Suppo that “no one has signed anything yet”, which probably confirms that Stoner is talking to HRC, but obviously hasn’t made his mind up about anything.

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