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MotoGP
MOTOGP: Noyes’ Notebook - The Rise and (Temporary?) Fall Of A Dynasty
Dennis Noyes provides a Grand Prix history lesson as he discusses the legacy of Americans at the pinnacle of the sport.
American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies (Photo: Ducati Corse)
PROGRAMMING NOTE: The Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix from Laguna Seca will air on SPEED on Sunday, July 29th at 6:00pm ET. Qualifying will air on SPEED on Saturday, July 28 at 11:00pm ET and free practice will air on SPEED2 Friday, July 27 at 5:10pm ET. #MotoGPonSPEED
While fans around the world fret and worry about every Rossi rumor coming out of Italy, American fans -- especially those who have been following GP racing for ten or twenty years -- are wondering just what has happened to that seemingly endless supply of talent that dominated the big class of GP racing solidly from 1978 through 1993 and still managed to produce one-off titles in 2000 and 2006.
For weeks now there has been speculation as to whether Ben Spies or Nicky Hayden will retain their factory rides in 2013. In Ben’s case, Tech3 riders Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow have been outscoring him and frequently out-riding him.
Crutchlow, who admits to having an offer from Ducati, has pushed Yamaha to either promote him to the factory team or supply him with full factory equipment on the Tech3 Yamaha satellite team. (Yamaha said no to the latter and were vague about the former).
Dovizioso, who knows how things work (he forced Honda to fulfill their contract with him in 2011 and, in the process, wore out his welcome at HRC by obliging them to run three bikes in the Repsol Team), has told friends that he is not optimistic about the possibility of promotion and not enthusiastic about another year on Tech3. The speculation in Italy is that Dovizioso might be SBK-bound.
My guess is that neither Dovizioso nor Crutchlow have done or are likely to do quite enough to bump Ben. Poor results after eight races do not cancel an otherwise great career. Of course, if Rossi did come over to Yamaha that would change everything... More on that later.
Nicky’s position is less secure because Ducati has made an offer to Britain's Cal Crutchlow for a factory ride and left the door wide open for Rossi. Hayden has said that his future in Ducati will be determined by his results over the next few races -- and we may be talking about only the next three or four races because, once Rossi's decision is known, the remaining pieces will fall into place very quickly.
If Crutchlow has a contract on his desk and decides to sign it, and Rossi is persuaded to stay at Ducati, America's last Grand Prix World Champion will be without his ride.
It is unlikely that the MotoGP series will go into the 2013 season without an American factory rider, but the fact that the possibility even exists demonstrates that the situation of American riders in the premier class is much weaker that it was at the beginning of the new century and nothing at all like it was from the late '70s through to the mid '90s.
While fans around the world fret and worry about every Rossi rumor coming out of Italy, American fans -- especially those who have been following GP racing for ten or twenty years -- are wondering just what has happened to that seemingly endless supply of talent that dominated the big class of GP racing solidly from 1978 through 1993 and still managed to produce one-off titles in 2000 and 2006.
For weeks now there has been speculation as to whether Ben Spies or Nicky Hayden will retain their factory rides in 2013. In Ben’s case, Tech3 riders Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow have been outscoring him and frequently out-riding him.
Crutchlow, who admits to having an offer from Ducati, has pushed Yamaha to either promote him to the factory team or supply him with full factory equipment on the Tech3 Yamaha satellite team. (Yamaha said no to the latter and were vague about the former).
Dovizioso, who knows how things work (he forced Honda to fulfill their contract with him in 2011 and, in the process, wore out his welcome at HRC by obliging them to run three bikes in the Repsol Team), has told friends that he is not optimistic about the possibility of promotion and not enthusiastic about another year on Tech3. The speculation in Italy is that Dovizioso might be SBK-bound.
My guess is that neither Dovizioso nor Crutchlow have done or are likely to do quite enough to bump Ben. Poor results after eight races do not cancel an otherwise great career. Of course, if Rossi did come over to Yamaha that would change everything... More on that later.
Nicky’s position is less secure because Ducati has made an offer to Britain's Cal Crutchlow for a factory ride and left the door wide open for Rossi. Hayden has said that his future in Ducati will be determined by his results over the next few races -- and we may be talking about only the next three or four races because, once Rossi's decision is known, the remaining pieces will fall into place very quickly.
If Crutchlow has a contract on his desk and decides to sign it, and Rossi is persuaded to stay at Ducati, America's last Grand Prix World Champion will be without his ride.
It is unlikely that the MotoGP series will go into the 2013 season without an American factory rider, but the fact that the possibility even exists demonstrates that the situation of American riders in the premier class is much weaker that it was at the beginning of the new century and nothing at all like it was from the late '70s through to the mid '90s.
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