Capirossi stays

Loris stays at Ducati.

Which leaves Sete and Max where?

 

If they've signed Loris, I can't see them paying Sete's wage demands.

It seem pretty likely that Vermeulen will stay where he is.

 

I kind of doubt it. I think it all depends on how all the other seats
land. At the moment, I figure Vermeulen is the last in the pecking
order. There have been some mutterings about the BSB HRC team going to
WSB and a Kyonari-Vermeulen team on HRC CBR1000s is possible but that
would mean Honda swallowing their pride and using Pirellis. It just
seems most likely to me that Honda put a bit more back door support into
Ten Kate and tell Chris if he wins WSB he's got a "definite" place in GP
in '07.

All of this just reinforces a feeling that Honda have got themselves in
a right pickle. And each problem in turn is the result of
political-sponsorship-face decisions.

And it makes me want to root for Lavilla.

 

Or Lanzi

 

HRC UK would quite like to go back to WSB but Honda (Japan) probably
doesn't want to because it would involve loss of face after they left in
a hissy fit over the Pirellis. Plus they need a development team on
Michelins. So they're stuck with Kiyonari (a factory employee) having
nowhere to go if and when he wins BSB. And they still want to have
Hondas up front in BSB.

Vermeulen is contracted to Honda. Ten Kate fill the role of being in WSB
except that there's a limit to what Honda can provide them via back door
support. If he wins, great, if he doesn't then it's not their team.
Except that he's not going to win the championship this year.
(probably). And there's a strong chance he might win it next year and
probably not much chance that any other Honda rider will.

In MotoGP, they've potentially got Hayden, Pedrosa, Max, Sete, Melandri,
Tamada, Barros. I can't see them running more than 7 bikes so for
Vermeulen to come in, at least one has to go. Hayden, Pedrosa, Melandri
and probably Tamada have a lock on places. Max, Sete and Barros can all
run up front and get podiums. Now if Sete moves to Ducati then that
changes everything (*). It's hard to see anyone else in MotoGP filling
the place. So who else is outside MotoGP? HRC UK don't think Kiyonari is
ready yet. Duhamel is too old and Zemke hasn't won enough. Of the 250
riders Dovizioso, Aoyama, Lorenzo, haven't done enough yet. But then
with all the sponsorship trouble they might not have 7 bikes next year.
What if there are only 5?

In AMA, Honda have lost their way. Can't really say any more than that.

Try and forget that he's Spanish. He's come into BSB as a wild card
because one of GSE's riders was damaged. He's hungry. He takes the
series by the scruff of the neck, learns the circuits in minimal time,
produces some aggressive inspired rides and is now 1 point behind
Kiyonari with 4 races to go. And it's a full factory Honda team vs a
privateer Ducati team (although with strong ties). What's not to like?

(*) If Sete goes to Ducati, I'll predict that he never wins another
race.

 

Whatever you call it, Rutter and Kiyonari have HRC on their leathers.
It's the old WSB team. They have a factory employed rider and factory
bikes. If they went back to WSB it would be *the* full Honda factory
team or not at all.

You're only as good as your last race. And riders improve. And we all
know Mat is an awkward cuss. In that last season that Lavilla raced in
WSB on the Suzuki. Don't you remember Monza? Or Assen until he fell off?
First non-Ducati in the championship, 7 podiums of which 3 2nds in a
year when Hodgson walked it and Xaus won what Hodgson didn't. So I think
he did quite enough to offset any suggestion of privilege. And what did
he get for that? Out of a job. The criticism then was that Lavilla was
too nice. Well he seems to have found some hunger and aggression.

It's not hard to imagine Hayden doing the same thing at Laguna next
year. If everything goes right for them and Rossi has a bad day, all the
front runners have one more win in them. Now given Loris' stunning
qualifier today, perhaps Ducati on Bridgestones can win. Would Sete beat
Loris in his first year on Bridgestones and with Ducati? I doubt it. I
reckon in 5 years time, if we're still here, we'll be arguing about
whether Sete deserves his ride with X or if the only reason he's still
there is because he's Spanish. Pretty much like Checa or Barros now.

 

Yup the team that ran Kocinski, Slight, Edwards, Fogarty (in no
particular order). I think they even managed to win one or two
championships.

Re Lavilla

Well among other things Checa regularly gets within a second of pole and
can get the occasional podium. Not many people can do that. But he is
reaching his sell-by date.

 

Yes, except that the Muzzy team is no longer around and Kawasaki have
been represented by other teams in WSB since then.

The Honda UK team is the same team running out of the same workshops
with the same manager as the one that won the championship with Edwards.
They're still a full factory team with direct links with Japan. They
still run full factory bikes. They've been doing all that since the
early 90s. You have to think that if Honda went back to WSB officially,
this is the team that would do it. And the only way that the team would
go to WSB with private bikes is if Honda pulled out of both WSB and BSB
and the team was effectively cut free and closed down. Neil Tuxworth has
too much history to simply disappear so he'd undoubtedly find a way of
staying racing. But there's absolutely no indication that Honda would do
this.

This all started because I used a short hand. Instead of saying "HM
Plant Honda Racing" I used "HRC UK". So I guess when they were racing in
WSB it was Castrol Honda Racing and not Castrol HRC. And the MotoGP team
is Repsol Honda and not Repsol HRC.
http://world.honda.com/HRC/team/index.html
http://www.honda.co.jp/BSB/race2005/formation/team-hm/

So what is your problem? Is it too much for you that the only factory
Honda superbike team outside the AJRR is in the UK?

I'm finally sick of this again. Back in the box you go. *plonk*.

 

Quite.