According to Julian Ryder, the influential British journalist, a few more moves in the “silly season” have taken place this weekend at Sepang.
1. The proposed Edwards/Spies swap is OFF.
2. The proposed 3rd Kawasaki is also OFF. Aspar wanted Debon, a Spanish rider, and wouldn’t budge and the factory wanted Nakano as he’s a known quantity, has strong links to the Big K and is respected there. The factory wouldn’t budge either, so it’s 2 Kawasakis for next year.
3. Anthony West will join Stiggy Motorsports in WSS next year, replacing Joshua Brookes.
4. The “single tyre rule” is expected to be announced officially this weekend. I have been noticeably silent on this issue, not through lack of interest, but through lack of time to explore and comment knowledgeably. However, the bare bones of the matter is as follows. Expect around 20 tyres for a weekend with a choice of two constructions and two compounds for the front and only a little more choice for the rear. Qualifiers are obviously dead, there is a discussion going on about how many rain tyres will be provided, and expect only 150 tyres to be provided for testing – that’s all season.
Now, without going into detail about this, I believe that this is the beginning of the end for MotoGp as a “prototype” class, which is what it always has been. In every other field where a “control” tyre has been introduced, it has failed totally to achieve what it set out to achieve, ie, lower costs (more money is spent in other areas and the cars/bikes end up going just as fast)
This will happen in MotoGp. Expect, within a short time, the introduction of the “cookie cutter” formula now being proposed for Formula One where the cars have identical chassis, engines, tyre and ECU’s and the only thing different about them is the advertising logos on the panels. Don’t believe me? Here’s the proposal.
And, in the end, it still won’t reduce costs, but it WILL kill the sport. Remember, you read it here.