MotoGp entries - thin field

So the official entries appears for MotoGP.

18 riders with Biaggi missing. Presumably due to some politics about
sponsors, contracts and slots. But you can be sure he'll be out there.

2 of those 18 are the WCM-Blata V6. I think we'll all be surprised if
that actually turns up on day one.

Aprilia's definitely (well probably) out.

Then there's D'Antin and Proton. It's very possible that neither
appears, not due to lack of riders or even bikes but lack of
sponsorship.

17 bikes on the grid is just not enough. It should be 28.

No sign of the FIM panicking yet. We'll see. I wonder if they're putting
any pressure on Honda and Yamaha to resell engines to private teams or
Suzuki and Kawasaki to run more than 2 bikes? I bet they're running
round trying to find sponsorship for Proton and d'Antin.

 

What makes you think or what have you read that tells you that this V6
will actually appear? Although I guess they can always continue with
their straight 4 in the mean time. I really hopes it does. And I hope
its a little more competitive. But building an engine from scratch is no
small job.

Indeed. But it's not here yet. And Aprilia, Piaggio (and hence Fiat, in
the middle of trying to sell it's entire car division) plus an Italian
fork lift truck manufacturer are all involved. Who knows what will fall
out of that mix.

Really? They got seriously over extended last year supplying all the 999
satellite teams, and d'Antin and running the Fila and MotoGp teams.
Maybe it would actually help them (and Marlboro) if they dropped back to
2 factory teams and 2 supported teams (Austin and GSE).

Dorna money, credit cards and chaos last year. More of the same this
year?

Of course it is. But somebody has to pay for it. And KTM simply won't
play if they don't get paid. I would love to see McWilliams and Byrne
switch to Proton/KTM but I'm being realistic here. Where's the money
going to come from? None of Kurtis, McWilliams or Byrne will bring any
more sponsorship than it takes to pay themselves. Somebody like Red Bull
perhaps?

28/27/24 it doesn't really matter that much. I'd prefer 27 because with
a few retirements it fills the larger tracks with a bit more activity
and it allows a few more people who *should* be in MotoGp to get there.
But they've still got to ride something. That #24 is a gentleman's
agreement among the teams, Dorna and the FIM to try and create an F1
style set of 12 teams of two. They haven't managed to keep to that for
the last few years and it looks like they'll bend it next year as well.
I don't expect it to change any time soon, but I also don't want it to
drop to 22 or 20 or 18. If the target is 28 maybe we'll get 24 plus 4
more or less wild cards that do a few races each.

You're right. I always get confused with all those organisations. They
mostly seem to be interchangeable. And arbitrary.

Yes, I'm being alarmist. And I'm just continuing the worry that MotoGp
is pricing itself out of the market.

 

Translation:

Waah! Rossi won in spite of what I predicted and is putting his
personality ahead of corporate sponsorship. Boo on him for that.

 

The grail is a mix of major factories leasing or selling engines and/or
otherwise uninvolved factories (like BMW or KTM) doing the same. I just
can't see the first happening while everyone is chasing Honda and
Yamaha. Suzuki and Kawasaki have their hands full just trying to get
close let alone setting up a customer engine division.

I think Dorna/FIM really hoped this would happen. The goal being that
the whole package could be sold into new markets which would then
attract new sponsors. But another year goes by and we're still totally
dependent on the tobacco companies plus two Spanish sponsors.

Like Aprilia, right? They never were viable, but that was as much to do
with lack of money as lack of ability.

--
Julian Bond Email&MSM: julian.bond at voidstar.com
Webmaster: http://www.ecademy.com/
Personal WebLog: http://www.voidstar.com/
M: +44 (0)77 5907 2173 T: +44 (0)192 0412 433
S: callto://julian.bond/

 

http://www.motogpnews.com/home.php
Been taking lessons from the Fat Dwarf have we? "If that cheating
pasta-eater hadn't done so well, the young Nicky Hopkins would have won
the championship fer' sure. My tip for 2005; Nicky keeps it Stateside
and brings the championship back to its proper home."

I especially liked their reader's poll. Currently 70% (that'll be 7
people then) "feel violently angry that the 125cc and 250cc races have
been omitted from the US GP at Laguna".

On which note. I hear that MotoGP, AMA SB, BMWs and Superkart leave no
place for some or all of the other AMA classes. What's that all about
then? "We don't want the stinkwheels, they're un-American", "Well...
OK", "We'll run a round of the AMA championship". "SBs are OK, as long
as there's only one race on Sunday, and you've got to take the BMW race,
and you can't screw around with the practice schedule because of the TV
rights. Perhaps you could run all the other classes in the evening? And
maybe get the old American racers involved, we used to like them. Oh and
move that bridge. And can you cut down the tree at the Corkscrew? And
pit lane walks are out. And yes, we'll fax the swiss bank account number
for the bung^h^h^h^h, sorry, charity donation."

--
Julian Bond Email&MSM: julian.bond at voidstar.com
Webmaster: http://www.ecademy.com/
Personal WebLog: http://www.voidstar.com/
M: +44 (0)77 5907 2173 T: +44 (0)192 0412 433
S: callto://julian.bond/

 

Pooh. Nicky has two years on the GP tracks. Rossi has >= seven. Just wait.

--
Ed Light

Smiley :-/
MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.

 

Oh, you were just quoting that dumb web site!

--
Ed Light

Smiley :-/
MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.

 

Indeed.

--
Julian Bond Email&MSM: julian.bond at voidstar.com
Webmaster: http://www.ecademy.com/
Personal WebLog: http://www.voidstar.com/
M: +44 (0)77 5907 2173 T: +44 (0)192 0412 433
S: callto://julian.bond/