Goose, we need you!

Sepang is always an interesting race. It comes at the time in the season when, mathematically, championships can be won, and lost. At the beginning of the weekend there were three riders who stood a chance of taking home the inaugural Moto3 honours; Sandro Cortese, Luis Salom and Maverick Vinales. However Maverick Vinales has removed himself from the running by refusing to race for his team, Blusens Avintia, due them being “a second division team,” and perhaps more importantly the fact that his manager, who is also the team manager of said “second division team”, had failed to inform him of other offers for next year. The situation is further complicated as Vinales had signed a two year contract (one year in Moto3 and one year in Moto2) with the Blusens team.

Most people understand that a formal contract, such as one outlining your employment for the next two years, is legally binding and breaking it without evidence of negligence on behalf of the contract provider. Even considering that there are most likely other factors involved in the split, it’s hard to see how Vinales will be able to break the contract without legal repercussions, most likely having to pay a sizable amount of money. Dorna, the parent company of MotoGP, may even take it upon themselves to deal with Vinales, although what they would do is much harder to predict. Some possible options are a ‘ban’ from riding for the two years that the contract would have been in affect, ‘You ride for us, or no one.’ This depends on how the contract is worded and perhaps more importantly how good the lawyers are for each side, if it does reach that stage.

There are much broader implications for Vinales too, the most severe being the risk to his career. Even for a teenager Maverick has proved himself to be a hot headed and despite being very quick on a motorcycle it makes him much less attractive to prospective teams. Many talented riders such as Cortese, Marquez and Lorenzo have been known to be hot heads on the track, especially in their younger days. But few of them openly walked away from contracts or refused to ride, their situation may have been slightly different but the point stands.

This incident also bring up the idea of a rider union, a collective of riders and legal representatives who ensure fair practice amongst the teams. There are several problems with this however, first there is the issue of funding. Teams are currently struggling for funding and this union would require funding, and probably a lot of it, but there is almost no where for the money to come from, apart from the pocket’s of the riders. This would be very unlikely as the majority of riders struggle to get paid as it is. There is also the issue of getting a ride being almost as competitive as riding the ride. This fact would potentially make riders less likely to join as they may feel that by helping another rider to get a ride it stops them obtaining one too.

It is likely that whatever happens Vinales will be back next season, probably in Moto3 aboard a KTM based bike. But it will take time to see how this issue plays out for both Vinales and Blusens and if any legal action is taken. It will also take time to see if Vinales’ career is in fact hindered by his antics because regardless of who the blame lies with walking out of a contract and with three races to go is not the proper way to handle a contractual dispute. Just as it is unprofessional for teams to release riders without valid reasons and proof so too is it unprofessional for riders to break contract without valid reasons and proof. 

However a further spanner has been thrown into the works as some Spanish journalists are reporting that Vinales may be in Australia, most likely to ride the bike in the hope that he will be able to terminate the contract in a more amicable way. Yet this too creates potential problems as it may make people view Vinales as a hot head, as mentioned before. There may also be the issue of how the legal troubles, if there are any, will play on the young Spaniards mind. We’ve already seen him falter under pressure at various stages and all these troubles could add to his problems. We saw in 2007 that Valentino Rossi struggled on track while dealing with off track legal troubles, and he had already won five of his premier class titles, unlike the young Vinales.

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Tom Sykes and Kawasaki Prove That There is Hope for Ducati and Their Myriad of New Talent

Kawasaki had, in years previous, been a team and a bike that struggled in championship racing, be it MotoGP or WSBK. At the end of 2008 they formally pulled out of MotoGP, leaving Marco Melandri to soldier on under the banner of the Hayate Racing Team in 2009, scoring a single podium in the mixed conditions of France, the odd wet podium had for a while been the best result any Kawasaki in any class could claim. 

Superbikes had been no better for Kawasaki as they struggled to score even the rare podium, the factory team often finishing mid back at best. But Kawasaki decided to change this, to focus more on the racing world. After the 2010 WSBK season the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R underwent extensive, race focused, development and in the hands of Tom Sykes managed a win. 2012 saw the Kawasaki become a WBSK title contender for the first time in over ten years and became competitive under the hands of not just Tom Sykes, but also Loris Baz. Tom Sykes would eventually lose the championship by just half a point, the closest ever margin in WSBK or MotoGP.

This stunning turn around of fortunes for Kawasaki prove that there is hope for Ducati, especially with the resources of Audi looming in the background. Similarly to Kawasaki Ducati to need make a change to return to the front of the pack as they had done with Stoner in his multiple years with the team. Ducati, and Audi, are willing to make the changes that are necessary and have enlisted four riders in the shape of Nicky Hayden, Andrea Dovizioso, Andrea Iannone and Ben Spies with wildly different riding styles in the hopes that one of their riding styles will ride the Ducati how it is meant to be ridden and provide a better base to make the Ducati more rideable, or at least show Ducati which riders to hire.

Ducati have shown this season that they are trying to improve the bike with a variety of swing arm upgrades for Rossi and Hayden, resulting in Rossi’s first dry podium at Misano earlier this year. This, combined with Audi’s support, sets hopes high that Ducati will be able to do what Kawasaki have done in WSBK and return to the front of the pack. The biggest hurdle they face is the creation and development of the chassis. This season Ducati had contracted out FTR to make their chassis as the small Bologna factory lacks the capacity to produce them at the rate required. Levels of worry about Ducati’s future raised earlier in the week when rumors began to circulate that Swiss chassis maker Suter had been in talks with Ducati about next season’s chasis. Suter have provide that their pace of development and chassis are somewhat lacking this season with their project in the CRT class, causing relations between Colin Edwards and Eskil Suter to become strained. 

There is no way to currently tell whether Suter will step up to meet a customer like Ducati or if there even is a deal. But the recent success of Kawasaki would suggest that by keeping the development in house, something that may become possible with the help of Audi, and by accepting radical changes that a struggling bike and team can turn around their fortunes, especially with a decent rider, in Ducati’s case four, leading development and riding the bike to the limit, that a change in fortunes is in-fact possible, especially for a team with a history of success like Ducati.

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