…without a colour in between, goes the saying. In the case of MotoGp, there will be no need to have an in-between colour.
Last night’s announcement was that the FTR team that runs the Bluesens outfit in Moto2 will be graduating to MotoGp (CRT) in 2012. That bit we knew, but the interesting bit is that they are planning on powering their bike with a highly developed 4 cylinder engine derived from the Kawasaki ZX-10R. So we may yet see Kawasaki back in MotoGp, albeit not quite in the way that Green supporters would have liked. If FTR can extract the sort of power out of the motor that the old Kawasaki MotoGp bike was developing, then it could be a good show.
But it is also looking increasingly unlikely that the green will be sharing with the blue. Despite continued assurances from Suzuki’s MotoGp boss, Paul Denning, that all was well and that an announcement was imminent (not even the biggest optimist would say what that announcement would actually be), the projected date of that announcement has now been pushed back to the end of July and there is still no guarantee (or even hint) that it will contain news of Suzuki’s continuation in the sport. Indeed, some are suggesting that, since there is no sign of a 2012 1000cc bike from Big Blue, the team may elect to continue on using the present 800cc bike (regulations do not prohibit this move)
This just doesn’t make any sense at all. At present the bike is not powerful enough to go close to putting the long-suffering Bautista on pole or on the podium. Whatever makes these silly pundits think that it will be as fast as the rival manufacturers’ bikes when they have 200cc more and a year’s more development as well? Indeed, I predict that, were this scenario to come to pass (and I’m saying it WON’T) the 800c Zook would struggle to beat the best of the CRT bikes.
So, Kawasaki IN, Suzuki OUT seems the most likely outcome.
Interestingly, FTR also announced at the same time that they will be undertaking the development of a Moto3 bike as well, using the new Honda 250cc single as a basis. If they do, they will become the first chassis manufacturer to have bikes in all three classes in which MotoGp is competed.
Pretty, eh? A hark back to the ELF Honda days of the early 90’s.
