[duckdawg]

So since Stoner is moving to Honda, you can't really believe that they are gonna fund three riders out of the factory shed? Pedrosa has said all along that he wants a ride at the triple tuning forks. So If ( and I'm still saying if) Rossi moves to Ducati, it would make more sense that Yamaha would grab Dani, rather than move Spies up. Just saying that hate him or not, one, he has proven he can win, and two, he weighs less than a fat gnat's ass. Ben is a fantastic guy, and a great rider, but he's a newb. Next year will be the silliest season yet, and remember, you heard it here first folks. Comments?...

 

[Jami6989]

you can't really believe that they are gonna fund three riders out of the factory shed?

They said it and I believe them. They aren't spending a penny to race in any other series so they have the loot.:woot: I think Stoner joins the current 2 riders next year under the big top.

 

[duckdawg]

what people forget is how much Dani boy and Casey hate each other...

 

[Jami6989]

what people forget is how much Dani boy and Casey hate each other...

Everyone wants to beat their teammate first and much more so when you hate them!:rockon Two fast guys on a team that don't like each other? Works for me!

Maybe HRC is finding a way to push Puig out of their nest finally. Hiring Casey and having him beat Pedro on Pedro's bike might be the best way to do it.

 

[johnyisthedevil]

rumor has it they are going to run a separate team for him with a moxie or vegemite sponsorship.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images...AA300_PIbundle-3,TopRight,0,0_AA300_SH20_.jpg

 

[mikstr]

Pedrosa has said all along that he wants a ride at the triple tuning forks.

Can you blame him? He (and everyone else) would love to ride a real racing motorcycle (with a "short and sassy" I4 and the sweet handling only it can deliver), not just a doctored up touring bike

 

[stk0308]

you can't really believe that they are gonna fund three riders out of the factory shed?

They did it for Rossi. There has been 3 factory Repsol bikes before that.

one, he has proven he can win,

He's proven he can win RACES. He has not proven he can win the top class championship. His undercard championships are nice, but there are a bunch of multiple 125 and/or 250 champs in the field now. One in particular Yamaha will probably keep from this years factory team.

 

[Old Baldy]

Repsol will not let Danni go. Honda will not let Repsol go.

 

[dj_wawa]

Repsol will not let Danni go. Honda will not let Repsol go.

This.

 

[duckdawg]

if Yamaha loses Fiat, dani boy could take Repsol to the pitchforks with him...

 

[DesperateSP2]

HRC has fielded more than two bikes in the past. Apart from the Gibernau era (when the Spaniard was obviously racing a top-spec factory racer despite being in a satellite team) you had the three bikes 500cc effort with Doohan, Beattie and Itoh in 1993. Remember that crazy fuel injected two stroke Itoh was running? :rockon
The big problem at the moment is sponsorship. When HRC hired Livio Suppo from Ducati they made no mystery that one of his main tasks would be to find alternative sponsors to Repsol. There have been all sorts of crazy rumors in the past two years or so about Repsol rethinking their motorsport commitments since they don't feel is paying off as much as they expected.
Pedrosa became a Repsol man after his much publicized break with communication giant (and extremely generous sponsor) Telefonica so it's pretty obvious that if the Spanish oil company stays, so is he.
The FIAT sponsorship is another masterpiece of corporate politics. It was part of a deal with Toyota to open a joint venture in China to build cars for the Asian market. Since Yamaha has strong ties with the Toyota keiretsu and since all parts involved felt FIAT may appeal more to the average European fan than Toyota the deal was sealed to use the Italian manufacturer's logo. Rossi doesn't mind as long as he gets a big paycheck and he isn't forced to take part in a commercial for some rustbucket (one of the reasons he broke up with Honda).

 

[johnyisthedevil]

don't know if anybody else caught it or not, but one of repsols new stipulations is that there has to be one spanish rider on the repsol team. no matter what brand of bike is being used. they touched on that subject on the motogpod podcast a couple weeks back