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MotoGP down to 17 bikes

The news last week in the run up to the Sachsenring race was the withdrawl of the Grupo Francisco Hernando team.

Many people chose to comment on this story by discussing whether Gibernau should have made a come back, was he any good anymore, etc. etc. But this isn't the issue and in actual fact one could argue the team did a good job hiring Sete, and had much more coverage/news headlines as a result.

Given that they turned up to race without a major sponsor this was a very important issue. But like everyone else whose tried recently, the team found that "if you build it, they wont come".

Presumably what happened was the money ran out, bills werent paid, etc and end of team.

With Kawasaki seeming to have confirmed their bikes wont be back next year at all, even as the Blackasaki Team Hayate, and Suzuki rumoured to have been clost to pulling the plug themselves last year, MotoGP is in an extremely vulnerable state.

Dorna needs a bigger, bolder, strategy, not only to cut costs, but to make the business of running GP teams a profitable business. And soon.

F1 or WSB...oh what to watch...

Well here I am on Sunday morning with both the Malaysian F1 race and Valencia World Superbikes about to start.

A good day to be on the sofa then.

Both F1 and WSB have gone through changes in the off season. The new qualifying format in WSB is working really well, and has produced exciting sessions in all three rounds of the championships so far. This qualifying rule, with three knock-out rounds within the overall qualifying session, is a copy of an innovation in F1 a couple of years ago.

Mike Scott wrote is his GP Week column a few weeks back about the strength of WSB and the fact the MotoGP is well and truly on the back-foot. Innovations like the F1 acquired qualifying format is just one factor, but a much more significant weakness of MotoGP is subtly highlighted by the mass of rule changes for this years F1.

I'm not expert on F1 (or anything else for that matter) but what is clear about the F1 rule changes is the have shaken up the pecking order profoundly. McLaren and Ferrari are struggling (OK, not helped by 'Liegate' as the Hamilton affair has been called by some) and Brawn, Red Bull, Williams, Toyota et al find themselves competing at the front.

In short, the playing field has been well and truly leveled, and everybody has benefited.

Some of the powers-that-be in MotoGP will no doubt look at those rule-changes and consider something similar, but will as ever miss the point completely.

The fact is it's not the technicalities of the rules that have this effect, its the structure and governance of the sport.

These kind of rule changes would never happen in MotoGP because the technical rules are set by the MSMA - in effect Honda, because of Japanese politics.

If the equivalent situation existed in F1 the rules would be set by McLaren and Ferrari, and would surely be to suit their needs. What is more small teams like Brawn wouldn't be given sight of those rules until McLaren and Ferrari had tested various options and figured out what works best. In short they would never be able to win. The rules would say so.

WSB sits somewhere between the two. Not totally hamstrung by the MSMA to quite the same extent, but nonetheless still some way from the effective sporting governance of F1.

So perhaps that is why a die hard motorcycle racing fan like me finds himself watching the F1 while the WSB is being recorded....

A sad state of affairs.

Toseland blames Herve for Edwards spat...

JT has broken his silence over the Tech3 fall out and given his side of the best story in this years MotoGP off-season.

Edwards has been reveling in the fall out from the crew chief swap and JT has attempted to blame team boss Herve Poncheral for the dispute in an exclusive interview with the BBC.

"The only problem was that there was no communication going back to Colin, so all of a sudden he's told by Garry.

It didn't have to happen like this and I can imagine why he feels the way he does."

However some of his comments are likely to inflame the argument even more, claiming he needed "an experienced engineer". Considering Guy Coulon is one of the most highly regarded engineers in a GP paddock he has worked in for more than 20 years, this might be a tough view to buy, and is hardly an olive branch.

There's only one winner in all of this.

Isn't it boring....thank god for Edwards....

The MotoGP pre-season must be one of the most boring in recent times. With limited testing and nothing in particualr happening it's just dull dull dull.

The previously exciting "round zero" last weekend was noteable for little, and you really have to stretch the facts to get interest out of it.

Kallio's performance was encouraging and the Suzuki's of Loris and Vermulen was positive too.

Up front eh story is the same as the last 2 seasons. Stoner has the speed, Rossi the man who can and probably will beat him over the long haul of the season.

The best stuff is the continuing spat between Edwards and Toseland.

JT is clearly struggling. It will take a monumental performance from him to come back from this pre-season anytime soon. Look at Lorenzo last year. He did it right and it took time.

But the fact that Edwards is really rubbing his nose in the problems, not missing any opportunity to get a little dig in shows just how angry Colin is over the fall out last year.

I dont know if they were friends before, but it all seemed pretty friendly. I hope the full story comes out, because whatever James really did over the whole crew chief deal, he has clearly seriously hurt and upset Edwards.

It's Karma man!

Jan Witteveen Story Comes True

Catching up with the news after a few days away, it seems that Witteveen has indeed quit the Maxtra/Hajoe team - confirming his only role is to supply spare parts.

Given that the engine is his design, and the idea behind the engine was to create opportunities for future development, this is a real disaster for the prospects of the team in the near future.

It shows how hard it is to create a new venture like this - but not specifically in motorcycle racing. The italian press is speculating this is all down to the current economic crisis. But only racers could bring together a team of such different philosophies as Jan Witteveen and Steve Harris, and hope that it would work. For me it shows the lack of sophistication in the business of motorcycle racing compared to other industries.

Such a shame.

Melandri Doubts Persist...

Marco Melandri's prospects of actually racing in 09 on the Kawasaki, sorry Hayate, remain clouded in uncertainty.

After making it clear to the media before the Qatar test that he hadn't in fact agreed to race the bike, and would make that decision based on the Qatar testing performance, his public judgement was a rather uncommitted "too soon to judge".

So what does this mean?

Well given all the circumstances it was totally predictable that the testing would show that there is a lot to do to be competitive. So no bombshells on the result.

Surely what it all really means is one or all of:

1. Melandri is in protracted negotiations with Dorna over money. He must realise he can hold them to ransom after Carmelo so publicly over played his hand on the deal.

2. Melandri really doesn't fancy racing the bike under the circumstances and making up the numbers, but worries that it could well be his last chance. There are not many recent examples of riders coming back into MotoGP after a year out.

3. The grid girls aren't hot enough.

I'd love to ask him.

What do you think?