OK, let’s get down to it.
1. Brno this weekend with a 2-bike Suzuki team, BSB regular John Hopkins returning to the squad to bolster the field to, gasp, 18 bikes. Be still, my beating heart.
2. On the subject of grid sizes, Valentino Rossi’s crew chief, the “tell it like it is” Jeremy Burgess, has come out in public and said that next year’s CRT concept is “crazy and bizarre” IRTA chief Herve Poncheral (also the head of Tech III) has defended it saying that people wanted bigger grids but didn’t know how to achieve it and the CRT system will give them that. Yeah, Herve, right, at 4 seconds a lap slower than the front runners, that’s a real success story. he also pointed to the fact that people bemoaned the death of 250’s but that the new Moto2 category has been a huge success. Well, yes it has, if you judge success by close racing and full grids. But if you judge it by technical progress and lap times, then it’s not. And the “dumbed down” formula is certainly not going to provide the “step up” to MotoGp that the FIM wanted as can be seen from the dismal performance of Tony Elias who has struggled in MotoGp after spending two years racing non-adjustable bikes.
3. Rumours persist that Suzuki is going to continue in MotoGp next year, using this year’s 800cc bike. I can’t see it. By half season the 1000cc bikes will be so much faster than the current 800’s that the Suzuki will be languishing even further down the field at race end than what it is now.
4. The “Rossi to Honda in 2012” rumour also won’t go away. This one is definitely one to watch with great interest.
5. Yamaha will test its 1000cc challenger for the first time in the official test after this weekend’s Brno GP. Will be good to finally see it break cover.
6. Nicky Hayden has tested the newly resurfaced infield section at IMS and declared it to be perfect. Let’s hops so, after the criticism that it has endured over the last two meetings there.
7. Further to the Ducati dilemma, it has been suggested that, despite Vito’s contradiction of the idea, Ducati may be going to debut a twin-spar aluminium frame as early the test day at Brno this weekend.
8. Ronald Ten Kate of the eponymous team has announced that they will have a significantly updated Honda Fireblade for next season. The wording seems to suggest fly-by-wire throttle but hint that the bike could be more than just an upgrade from the 2011 model.
