More of the pieces of the puzzle fell into place in the last couple of days.
Stefan Bradl was confirmed at LCR this morning leaving RdP out in the cold, probably headed to a testing job at Ducati. Bradl’s deal is for two years.
The Speedmaster team confirmed Anthony West on an Aprilia/FTR and Iannone to continue as their Moto2 rider.
Ancient British ex-Gp, ex-BSB, ex-WSBk rider, James Ellison has been confirmed at another British-based CRT team using a HondaCBR1000RR engine. Ellison was chosen because the team owners wanted to “keep the team as British as possible.” Funny, I thought that the idea would be to make the bikes as COMPETITIVE as possible. Oh well.
In Moto2, Forward Racing confirmed Yuki Takihashi to join Alex de Angelis in their outfit for 2102.
Dani Pedrosa may undergo more surgery on his troublesome shoulder during the off-season with a view to sorting out some lingering issues. If so, he probably still should be available for the first testing session of 2012.
In addition to a relaxation of the testing rules for 2012 (see previous article) the FIM has also mandated brake lever protection bars for next year with a view to hopefully preventing a lock-up type accident such as the Capirossi/Gibernau one of a few years ago.
In WSBK, Francis Batta has made good with his promise to not compete unless he can compete on Suzukis, announcing that he is pulling the pin on his racing effort. With Suzuki’s banner to be flown next year by the Crescent Suzuki Team next year (using Yoshimura engines) there was no room left for the man who gave Suzuki its only WSBK title (with Troy Corser)
In what is probably the most bombshell-type news, it has been revealed that work on the proposed Austin, Texas, circuit has been stopped following massive disagreements between the various parties involved over, surprise, surprise, money and contracts. With F1 supremo, Bernie Ecclestone already saying that he’d walk away from the American deal if the parties couldn’t come to agreement, the odds on the circuit being built at all are now lengthening.
Finally, on the industry front, here’s a really interesting technical appraisal of Honda’s new Integra engine.
