Rossi To Yamaha, Tougher Than It Looks?

Note: All of this is based on what is being said as very few ‘hard’ facts exist.

Rossi has a very big decision to make over the next two weeks, probably even bigger than when he chose to leave Honda. Rossi must decided whether he remains with Ducati, a bike that has caused him problems for two years, or if he returns to Yamaha, the bike that saw him win in 04,05,08 and 09.

As it stands the Ducati offer looks something like this: 12-17 Million Euros, Rossi can keep his current crew and can have a personal sponsor on the side of his Ducati.

The Yamaha offer is reported to look like: 4 Million Euro per year, big doubt as to whether Rossi could keep his crew and he must bring a sponsor to the team (most likely Monster).

Rossi has said that money is no object and as such there two biggest issues become the crew and the need of a sponsor if he does wish to go to Yamaha.

Rossi’s crew have been with him since the start, before Rossi they were with Doohan and Daryl Beattie, they’re regarded as the best mechanical team in the world. This is not something that one easily leaves behind. Also, riders develop a language with their team, able to explain specific problems with simple hand motions, relations such as this take time to build. Having to leave behind his Aussie (and Kiwi) crew would be a devastating blow to Valentino, one which may swing his decision in a certain way.

The other major factor, and perhaps more importantly, is the need of sponsorship at Yamaha. If Rossi stays at Ducati he needs to bring no sponsors to the table, at Yamaha he needs to bring a significant sponsor. While Rossi may be happy to take the pay cut the sponsor (presumed to be Monster) may not wish to foot the bill especially when they can get similar exposure for far less on the side of a Ducati machine. Monster sells drinks, not bikes, and drink sales don’t depend on results, they’re based around the personalities who ‘drink’ them.

Ducati’s option to offer personal sponsorship seems to be a move designed exclusively to temp Monster away from Yamaha, offering a cheaper alternative with similar advertising ability. Monster already sponsor a full team in MotoGP, a team regularly near the front, and get decent exposure due to that. If Monster choose to not pay Yamaha and instead sponsor Rossi with an increased pressure this may result in it being impossible for Rossi to gain the Yamaha seat as the key aspect of ‘bring a sponsor to the team’ would be lacking. Simply having Rossi in photos drinking an ice cold Monster Energy Drink may be enough for the energy drink giant as opposed to having him racing up the front with the iconic M covering the side of his bike.

The decision of Monster may take the choice entirely out of Rossi’s hands. Finding a new sponsor would be incredibly hard considering Europe’s economic state. Even if Monster are happy to offer up the money, the threat of having to leave behind his crew may make the Yamaha offer less attractive than it first appears.

Credit to http://www.superbikeplanet.com/ and Motomatters.com for the Ducati and Yamaha offers.

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Spies Leaves Yamaha and Silly Season Explodes

Just a few days ago it seemed as though silly season had settled down and the only change we'd see was Casey replaced by Repsol golden boy Marc Marquez. Then Spies announced he would be leaving Yamaha at the end of the season. Spies cited a "litany" of reasons for his departure from Yamaha and had previous tweeted about ending up "back where w(h)ere we are meant to be!" all of this sparking a storm of discussions about the subsequent changes in rider line ups for the 2013 season.

As always, the main subject of conversation was Valentino Rossi. For months rumors have floated around about the return of the 'G.O.A.T' to the Yamaha factory squad, that had for years helped him to accomplish greatness. At current Yamaha doesn't have the budget to pay both Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi and as such it seems that Rossi would have to bring a large, probably title, sponsor with him. For this there have been two main candidates, the first is Marlboro who currently sponsor the Ducati Corse team. This seems to be the least likely as sponsoring two factory teams is a stretch even for a company like Philip-Morris, especially considering they can't be named or shown on the bike itself. If Marlboro were to back Rossi completely then Ducati, even with support from Audi, would be left without enough money to compete in GPs, meaning that there would be 8 prototype bikes on the grid, four from Yamaha and four from Honda. If this scenario were to happen it would surely result in the death of GP as we know it, something the fans and Dorna don't want to happen. It's for this reason that the Marlboro sponsored Rossi seems unlikely.

A more likely possibility is that Monster will switch from supporting the satellite Tech 3 team and sponsorship the factory team, and pay much of Valentino's salary. Monster already pay Rossi a hefty sum as their logo not only features at the front of his hat, but also on the hat of the cartoon version of himself that adorns his Ducati and various other merchandise. Monster would most likely continue their sponsorship of Tech 3, although in a slightly reduced manor, as young Brit Bradley Smith is also sponsored by the energy drink giant and has a 'contract' to ride in the Tech 3 squad next year.

 The only slight conflict if Monster were to become the primary Yamaha sponsor would be that of Jorge's Rockstar sponsorship. Rockstar would likely bow out and find another rider to sponsor as Rockstar's reported net income last year was $48 Million, compared to Monster's $286.2 Million.

There are many permutations of Monster sponsoring Rossi and/or Yamaha, but this seems far more likely than the sponsorship of Marlboro. Despite the likelihood of this anything could still happen. Yamaha don't need Rossi to win another title, they have Jorge, and as such may take a cheaper Italian such as Andrea Dovizioso, who has shown excellent form on the Tech 3 bike, to fill the second seat. Or they could choose British fan favourite Cal Crutchlow who was meant to have a Ducati contract signed by Mugello. The Italian press is flooded with 'news' of 'deals' between Rossi and Yamaha and Ben's step away from the factory team seems to support this, but as with all things in silly season it is impossible to know what will happen. In all likelihood there are probably only 10 people who know for sure who will be taking the Yamaha seat next season, and none of them are about to talk before an official press release.

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