Although Cal Crutchlow could still be his teammate next year, he will not replace Nicky Hayden on the Ducati factory team. Ducati has confirmed at Laguna Seca that Hayden will remain a factory rider through 2013 with a new one-year deal.
Valentino Rossi is still unsigned, however, and Crutchlow could take Rossi’s seat in the event Rossi moves to Yamaha or some other team next year. Rossi has indicated he will announce his plans for 2013 shortly following the Laguna Seca race this weekend.
Nick inks, Rossi stays bc Audi offers $12mil, Dovi get promoted to Factory and Cal is the #1 at Tech 3. Ben signs with BMW for the new combo Italia/Factory squad with Melandri. And if Colin were smart he’d race one season in WSBK before coming back to AMA to race a year just for fun.
re: “Dovi get promoted to Factory”
at which point a fork leg promptly snaps off at the stanchion.
Second place is ok. Just waitin for the rapture. Like everybody else in america
Good for Nicky. Maybe the situation will be different next year.
As messed up as Ducati is, it’s probably a better job than being Lorenthos’s Yamaha “team-mate”.
Too bad, I was hoping Nicky would go to WSB. MotoGP has pretty much lost my interest.
Goose
re: “Too bad, I was hoping Nicky would go to WSB.”
no worries, you may yet get what you wish for. 1 year ain’t enough time to right the good ship desmosedici.
Well, that’s one rider out of the silly season.