He was supposed to be a Honda star. He leveraged his potential to secure a full factory Honda for this year through the Marc VDS team, just one year after debuting in the MotoGP class aboard an Open class Honda. We are speaking about Scott Redding.
As we discussed in an article published back in 2013, Redding was a racing prodigy who was competitive in the 125cc GP category at 15 years of age, when he was named Rookie of the Year and became the youngest rider in history to win a GP. He narrowly missed winning a Moto2 championship before moving to the MotoGP class last year. The guy is fast.
Honda believed in him, and when he insisted on a full factory machine for 2015, Honda delivered one. Redding, meanwhile, has had an extraordinarily frustrating year despite his factory machine, routinely finishing far behind Cal Crutchlow, for instance, who has the same factory support level as Redding. Redding is frustrated, but determined to rub elbows with the race leaders, which is where he believes he belongs.
This past weekend at Silverstone, Redding announced that he has signed an agreement with Pramac to ride a Ducati next year. Pramac and Redding took a close look at each other a few years ago when Redding tested for the Italian team, but ultimately decided to ride a Honda at the MotoGP level. Here is a quote from Redding that accompanied his announcement of the switch to Ducati for 2016: “From what we’ve spoken to Ducati about I think it would be the same bikes the factory Ducati riders are on now. It’s almost like Honda don’t want to have me or keep me whereas with Ducati, they really want to have me and I think that they will give me the best of the best for performance.”
Hey, doesn’t this leave a golden opportunity for the Kentucky Kid to make a comeback? Oh yeah, give him a proper bike and he’ll be back on the podium FA SHO!
He is fast but he is not a future world champion.
re: “he insisted on a full factory machine for 2015”
insist all you want.
re: “Honda delivered one.”
you will get nothing, and like it.
Haha!
it’s only the HRC motto.
He seems unsure if he’s getting a factory bike. Based on his results this season I don’t think Honda’s crying too much.
You bad mouth a girl in a breakup, your chances of dating her gorgeous friend and/or relative are somewhat minimized.
This does leave a nice spot open for a rising star like Zarco, though.
There are two things I am always reluctant to bet against in MotoGP. One is Valentino Rossi. The other is Honda. I hope for Redding’s sake that he is making the right move. Ducati is definitely a different team now than they were over the past few years, but I don’t think the Pramacs are a better ride than what he is on now.
If your Honda is not Orange, you’re not on a “Honda”. Same with a Blue Yamaha.
I was surprised to learn that the Pramac bike is last years’ Ducati. Patrucci did very well in the wet @ Silverstone on his. I’m guessing that Pramac will continue to get the “last gen” bike from the factory, which should put Scott on the bikes that Dovi and Ianonne are riding now.
Petrucci did deliver a brilliant ride.
Next year, I bet he’ll shut Redding’s big mouth up with his results.
Re: last year’s Ducati.
I didn’t find it surprising.
Even the pre GP15 Ducatis were the best bikes in the wet.
Their fatal problem is that it doesn’t rain often.
I get the impression that Scott Redding isn’t a technically minded rider. More the intuitive kind.
Reason being: he rarely manages to get his bike set-up right and complains about vague feeling.
If he could give coherent feedback, the technicians are likely to do a better job and get the
set-up, at least, in the ballpark.
Near impossible to do that with: “The front end feels vague. Make it better.”
The problem would be made worse next year as the technicians are Italian speakers.
In order for Scott to be successful he’ll need a technically minded psychic staff who can
translate Scott’s impression into meaningful language to instruct the techicians.
Otherwise next year will be just like this year.
He should have talked to Hayden, Rossi and Crutchlow before making that decision
It’s all about the bike. If Crutchlow knew what this year’s bike was going to be he never would have left.
Not sure about that. Had Cal remained he’d likely be riding the 14.x.
Chossing between 2015RC-V and the updated GP14.x even with hind sight is a tough call.
I think Cal is doing a rather good job this year considering the problems with the Honda.
He made impressions with HRC’s bog honchos so, his seat for the near future is now pretty secure.
I’d say career-wise, he made the right call.
Crashlow’s problem is not his bike.
Not that Hayden’s been finishing any better with his Honda, not that it’s a factory bike.
The open class RC213V-RS that Hayden rides isn’t even close to the RC213V. A look at the top speed recorded in qualifying show a large difference in horsepower and speed.
The open-class should be it’s own race run in a second wave. None of the open class riders have a hope of scoring points unless enough of the factory riders crash.
The Avintia Ducati’s are a lot closer in power to the factory Ducks that the Open Hondas are to the Repsol bikes.
Scott’s statement is burning bridges with a company that believes in “never forgive, never forget”. I hope for his sake th emove to Ducati proves fruitful.
I’m not sure anyone would want a 2015 full-fat Honda this year or the next.
Marquez hasn’t been behind the door about critizing it.
The only thing is that with the new tyre supplier on board next year, anyone not at the front of the queue (i.e. non factory) will not have their bike adapted for new rubber characteristics. So if it doesn’t work on Michelins from the off, it likely won’t work all year.
At this point, I’m worried that next season will see an even bigger split between the haves and have-nots. But, as with a wet race day, when things are less predictable, the experience of Rossi could be the ace.