MotoGP 2013

[ecko_nzed]

He'll be back in world superbikes before you know it.

Nah, Gigi will get the duc sorted, Cal will be on the podium and you'll be buying me them beers before you know it

[Crasherfromwayback]

Nah, Gigi will get the duc sorted, Cal will be on the podium and you'll be buying me them beers before you know it

Lol. Good luck with that.

[Drew]

Cal might have enough mongrel in him to put the red pile of shit on the podium, but...

I dunno if anyone else has noticed, since he's stopped biffing the Yamaha away three times a week in practice, he's not doing that well in the races. I think he's tired of hurting himself, and gonna keep back sliding into obscurity.

[roogazza]

taking the factory ride on the Ducati, that goes backwards, maybe the odd podium here or there.
Two years later he will get the Factory Yamaha ride.
The precedent has been set.

Lol , you mean like Rossi ? haha.
Crutchless is no alien, he'll be too old and there's too many whizz kids coming up. Hard worker and crasher and sometimes can put a qualifyer together, but I'd say that is it for him and his Ducati payday.
(this from an armchair expert).

ps haha just read Drews post !!!!

[Mental Trousers]

Nah, Gigi will get the duc sorted, Cal will be on the podium and you'll be buying me them beers before you know it

Lol. Good luck with that.

Gigi is the man. He's one of my top 3 crew chiefs across all top level racing

• Luigi (Gigi) Dall'Igna - formerly Aprillia's god and Max Biaggi
• Pete Benson - formerly Nicky Hayden and Scott Redding
• Marcel Duinker - Tom Sykes

I reckon if anyone can sort it out (it's not just the bike that needs sorting) Gigi will. If it's still a pile of crap 2 years after he moves to Ducati then it's not fixable and Ducati need to do a Suzuki, ie ditch everyone and everything and start with a blank sheet for both machinery and personel.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Gigi is the man. He's one of my top 3 crew chiefs across all top level racing

.

12 Kent Tce Wellington. For beer delivery purposes!

[pritch]

I dunno if anyone else has noticed, since he's stopped biffing the Yamaha away three times a week in practice, he's not doing that well in the races. I think he's tired of hurting himself, and gonna keep back sliding into obscurity.

Possible, but he is riding injured.

[Drew]

Possible, but he is riding injured.

So's half the field.

I doubt he'll put his body on the line as much any more. I hope I'm wrong, he's entertaining when he's on form.

[GD66]

Gigi is the man....I reckon if anyone can sort it out (it's not just the bike that needs sorting) Gigi will. If it's still a pile of crap 2 years after he moves to Ducati then it's not fixable and Ducati need to do a Suzuki, ie ditch everyone and everything and start with a blank sheet for both machinery and personnel.

Should be interesting. Must say since Audi stepped in, absolutely SFA has happened in terms of bike development or results improvement. Pity it's such a problem child, cos it's a lovely looking toy. Let's hope Gigi can get something happening. If he does, Burgess's reputation may drop a notch or two, although it seems him and his rider didn't really get much they asked for either. Makes you wonder what the race philosophy is over at Borgo Panigale...

[McWild]

Crutchlow is already in the "has been" pile. He managed to score a few podiums on a bike that has practically indisputably proven itself as the best of the non factories. Now he's moving to the "career destroyer" ie the Ducati. In fact the only rider who's ridden the Ducati without their career sliding downhill immediately during and afterwards is our man Stoner, and I think it's obvious to all that Cal is no Casey.

Lets think, Hayden? Has been. Rossi? Getting well into the has been. Dovi? Has been. Capirossi? Moved into has-been with Suzuki. Unless your name is Casey Stoner, being a factory Ducati rider is the clearest sign you can give that you're never going to regularly contend the front again.

I'm sure he's getting a good bit of money out of the deal, and who can blame him, but if he has any ambitions of winning a GP ever his decision to move to the Duc is that of a silly twat.

[pritch]

Crutchlow is already in the "has been" pile. He managed to score a few podiums on a bike that has practically indisputably proven itself as the best of the non factories.

Can't agree with that. Yamaha run just two full factory bikes, Honda are running four. Both satellite Hondas have full factory support.

Pete, Casey Stoner's 'explosive' "Pushing The Limits" is about to be published. Don't know if my stomach is strong enough to take that, but anyway I'm still reading the Simoncelli tribute book. : )

[McWild]

Can't agree with that. Yamaha run just two full factory bikes, Honda are running four. Both satellite Hondas have full factory support.

Some stats for the last few seasons, DNFs included as they represent lost opportunities to score any points and don't necessarily represent the worth of the bike like they do when Ducatis don't finish because they're shit.

2010:
-Monster Tech 3: 279 points between Spies and Edwards / 6 DNFs
-Gresini Honda: 228 points between Simoncelli and Melandri / 5 DNFs
-LCR Honda: 116 points from Randy de Puniet / 3 DNFs

Average per rider: Yamaha 139.5 / 3 DNF vs Honda 114.7 / 2.7 DNF

2011:
-Monster Tech 3: 179 between Crutchlow and Edwards / 9 DNF
-Gresini Honda: 139 from Simoncelli and / 5 DNF
-LCR Honda: 61 from Elias / 3 DNF

Average per rider: Yamaha 89.5 / 4.5 DNF vs Honda 100 / 4 DNF

2012:
-Monster Tech 3: 369 between Crutchlow and Dovi / 5 DNF
-Gresini Honda: 178 from Bautista / 1 DNF
-LCR Honda: 135 from Bradl / 4 DNF

Average per rider: Yamaha 184.5 / 2.5 DNF vs Honda 156.5 / 2.5 DNF

2013:
-Crutchlow is 30 points up on the two Hondas of Bautista and Bradl and we all know Smith is a waste of a good seat anyway.

To me, those stats, taking into consideration the DNFs and the riders riding the damn things show a pattern of the Yamaha being the vastly superior option. The only reason to take a satellite, HRC funded Honda over a satellite Yamaha is for that sweet juicy Repsol contract if you make it work for you. Besides, HRC wouldn't run the risk of letting their satellites beat their factory bikes. Whereas Tech 3 seem to get much more free reign.

If it weren't for the carrot of a Repsol contract (that none of the satellite riders are ever going to get anyway) and it was an out and out choice between Tech 3, Gresini, and LCR the Yamaha would be the choice 9 out of 10 times.

[Drew]

Crutchlow is already in the "has been" pile. He managed to score a few podiums on a bike that has practically indisputably proven itself as the best of the non factories. Now he's moving to the "career destroyer" ie the Ducati. In fact the only rider who's ridden the Ducati without their career sliding downhill immediately during and afterwards is our man Stoner, and I think it's obvious to all that Cal is no Casey.

Lets think, Hayden? Has been. Rossi? Getting well into the has been. Dovi? Has been. Capirossi? Moved into has-been with Suzuki. Unless your name is Casey Stoner, being a factory Ducati rider is the clearest sign you can give that you're never going to regularly contend the front again.

I'm sure he's getting a good bit of money out of the deal, and who can blame him, but if he has any ambitions of winning a GP ever his decision to move to the Duc is that of a silly twat.

The satellite Hondas don't have the good brakes, or suspension.

[Bender]

Crutchlow is smart enough to know that he's never going to get a factory seat at Honda or Yamaha. What's going to happen with those teams is the managers are going to be signing the craziest of the Moto2 riders, seeking to get the next Mark Marquez (if I was Rossi I'd either go faster or make moves to retire before Aleix Espargaro becomes available).

He may as well go to Ducati and make some money out of it so he has a comfortable retirement. If they improve the bike, it's a bonus - if not, everyone will still be saying the Ducati is still a 8th/9th/10th place bike if it doesn't go bouncing down the road.

[Mental Trousers]

Should be interesting. Must say since Audi stepped in, absolutely SFA has happened in terms of bike development or results improvement. Pity it's such a problem child, cos it's a lovely looking toy. Let's hope Gigi can get something happening. If he does, Burgess's reputation may drop a notch or two, although it seems him and his rider didn't really get much they asked for either. Makes you wonder what the race philosophy is over at Borgo Panigale...

Yeah, looks like there's been a couple of problems. Gobbmeier isn't Italian and he's not a bike engineer. He did some good stuff at BMW Motorad getting them into a position to be one of the leading teams in WSBK but they were German Engineers, he was able to communicate with them. At Ducati he's essentially a car guy with some bike experience trying to sort out an extremely passionate and slightly stubborn crew of bike designers.

What he's done in terms of getting the Ducati Junior team set up and proper testing procedures etc is great stuff and it's definitely needed. But dealing with the engineering side of things hasn't gone so well and that's why they're bringing in Dall'Igna.