Toseland back to WSB?

[badgerKDD]

So after this weekends poor result and Colin Edwards signing does anyone else think Toseland will be heading back to WSB, or is there any likely hood of a last minute Tech3 deal. Or for that matter any Moto GP team. Personally I think he should return to WSB as he's really struggled this year and I don't think its a machinery issue, as Colin has managed decent placings all year whilst having to 'swap' crew chief at the start of the season and run on the same spec bike as James, I think maybe he's just better suited to the bigger superbikes.

[deej]

there will be a deal for toseland somewhere,pramac ducati maybe or even tech3. as far as im aware its in dornas contract with the bbc to have a brit in motogp,no brit no terreristial coverage and a s all the other top brits dont have/want a motogp contract it seems like he'll be staying unless he wants a wsbk return that is. i dont think he deserves a contract for 2010 and i think he was lucky to have had a 2009 contract too,he was lucky he had a few decent results in early 2008 when everyone was developing the new 800s,since the developments started hes gone backwards yet edwards has been consistently up near the front

[gazaR1]

It seems to me that since going to moto gp toselands pr machine has gone quicker than him.He seems to be always at shop opening,rallies,or playing his piano somewhere,in fact he seems to be doing more p.r. than the rest of the paddock put together.I could be wrong and the other riders are doing the same thing in their own country,but i think the time for all this is when you've actually acheived somethingbecause i can't see an improvement in his racing.
if redding,smith and webb get a season of moto GP2 under their belts we could well see some british podiums,providing rossi retires,lorenzo goes to hollywood and stoner is still feeling a bit tired

[rik]

I hope not the guy is a really good rider and showed it when on similar machine to rossi 2 years ago. We do not know what goes on behind the scenes of motogp. All these bikes are at different specs. Lets not forget he did win the wsb title beating bayliss and co. It all depends on the machine/ package.N Haydon for example!!
I would love him to ride a rossi spec yam. It has only been a few rounds since lorenzo has had the same spec yam as rossi.

Why do we always bag british riders I just hope he gets a good ride next season and sticks it to all those who question his ability.

I think a honda would suit him better but that does not look possible at the mo.

[deej]

Rik,it was revealed last week that Spies has JTs seat for 2010 and this weeks MCN has a feature with JT saying his motogp dream is over

The guys a great rider and will be a wsbk front runner next year. I think the problems he's got is he has no 125/250 experience and got lucky at the start of the 800motogp era when all bikes were equal. All the top motogp riders of the last decade have worked their way up from the smaller classes (hayden being the exception) and know to adjust and set up a bike. Britain and the ACU don't do enough to help budding rossi wannabees,its all about superbikes in this country hence the reason that smith/redding/webb all raced in spain before graduating to 125s. Only last month niall mackenzie to me n k7dave that if taylor doesn't get to spain next years he's had,he's only 16 now and is already in danger of having his motogp dream crushed

Toseland will do well next year and could be world champ again in 2011 once his confidence is back

[Scotty]

I agree with deej's point; Toseland, great rider as he is, spent all his career on proddy bikes until the start of last season, and has no experience of setting up a proper race bike with its myriad adjustments to every aspect of chassis, engine position etc.
So much of our lack of competitive GP riders stems from a decision by the ACU in the early 80s to concentrate on proddy racing in the UK because of cost. More recently they dropped 250s from BSB meetings as well - what a far-sighted policy eh? The upside of this is that British riders have won the WSB title a total of 7 times, and Cal Crutchlow looks set to win WSS this year as well. The downside is that aside from occasional flashes from Ron Haslam and Niall Mackenzie in the 80s and early 90s, and later Jeremy McWilliams, we've had nobody competitive in GPs until last season with Smith, Redding and Webb in 125s, and that's because they went to Spain to do it Had they stayed in Britain, they'd probably be riding 600s round sodding Mallory Park until their mid-20s and by then it's too late Where could Toseland have ended up if he'd been whisked away to Spain to learn proper racing bikes after making a big impact as a 17 year-old in BSS? How many other great British riders missed the boat over the years, spending far too long riding proddy bikes in the UK, whilst obviously less talented riders who could bring big money with them made it in GPs?
Don't forget, it's only nine years since a paltry 18,000 spectators turned up at Donington to watch the GP - memorable for the one man who's single-handedly turned the sport around and got the fans coming back - Valentino Rossi, who scored his first win on a 500 in the 2000 British GP (those of us who followed racing properly were aware of him making waves in 125s in 96 and 97) On the back of Rossi's popularity, GP and later MotoGP really took off worldwide, but it's biggest in Spain and Italy, who each have 3 and 2 GPs respectively. Look at the grids - packed with Italians and Spaniards. Everyone was so excited that JT nearly got 5th at Donny this year - three years ago, the top four finishers at the Mugello MotoGP were all Italian, look at this season's results through the classes, aside from Bradley Smith in 125s and Aoyama in 250s, almost all the GP winners have been Italian or Spanish FFS! Can you imagine how mental More Crap than News would go if we had a fraction of that success? Maybe the lads in 125s will open the doors for more Brits to go, and more British sponsors to take notice too..

[deej]

cheers scotty

yet on the other hand britain,america and australia dominate in wsbk's due to the prodcuction biased series they now have. do you ever think britain will ever produce a homemade world champion at motogp level.
crutchlow would have been better off taking the moto2 ride next season rather than wsbk r1 hes rumoured to be on,it would have been a good level playing field for him to start on and to learn how to set up a bike for the step up to motogp

[Funky]

I think the biggest loser in all this will be Tommy Sykes on the other factory Yamaha, if Toseland comes down to that team or Crutchlow goes up, where will he go? He's been an alright finisher too, though I'm biased as I'm a fan. I think it would be very shortsighted for Yamaha to put an almost fledgling team together off the back of such a great WSB season for themselves. Also having pretty much an American team would be a major cash cow if doing two Moto Gp's over there again...

My Predictions go as follows..

Moto GP Tech 3:
Edwards
Spies

WSB:
Toseland
Crutchlow

Hopefully Sykes will pick up a good ride (Partnering Rea would be awesome) and Camier will move up as I think he should have last year...

[deej]

sykes will be back in bsb,his results dont justify a wsbk ride. ive heard hes already been offered the airwaves ride alongside dan linfoot providing they both take 200k sponsorship with them

toseland and crutchlow would be a good team that should be strong enough to challenge the ducatis

[Funky]

I think the biggest question marks are over some of the moto 2 rides...

[deej]

How many moto2 rides have been confirmed,the only one I'm aware of is scott redding on the BQR. Bradleys still not confirmed on the aspar moto2 bike and may stay on the 125 was what he said when interviewed on sunday

[Funky]

It'll be a bloody crime if redding goes up but not bradders. I wonder how many of the WSS guys will go over...

[Scotty]

Interesting dilemma about the number of WSS guys who might want to switch to Moto2 - they'll suffer exactly the same problems as JT has - the Moto2s may have super-tuned 600 engines, but they'll have full GP-spec chassis with multi-adjustable everything - anyone from a SuperSport bike will have a whole lot more to contend with than simply changing the springs and tweaking the damping a bit....
Interesting too to hear Bradley's choice of either the top 125 in the pitlane and #1 rider for the top team and a championship that'd be arguably his to lose, or take the Moto2 offer from a potentially unproven team in a whole new class with no benchmarks at all yet. In his shoes, I'd be inclined to stay with Aspar and have a real go at being a GP World Champion, then move up to Moto2 after it's been going a year and everyone has a better understanding of what's what and who the better teams are... Scott Redding's already too big for a 125, and I really hope that he lands on his feet next season, but what if his team end up among the also-rans, struggle to make the bike competitive, he rides his heart out to end up at best a mid-field finisher? Anyone's thoughts?

[deej]

redding should be ok next season as the BQR bike has been testing all year in the spanish championship with a tuned cbr6rr motor,i think they were the first time out there to publicly show the bike off. bradley should stay and try and be 125 champ,hes in the best team with the best bike and can then hopefully make the move upto moto2 in 2011 as a world champion

i doubt there will be that many WSS riders going across due to the complex way of setting the bike up and them being unproven, crutchlow will be on the R1 for sure,the only one i think capable of running in moto2 straight from the off is laverty with his previous 250 experience of riding bad bikes very very well

[Funky]

Damn it scotty, I hate it when you're right and the voice of logic...