Here are just a few of the major dramatic plots developing these days in preparation for the 2010 season:

1) Honda is going all out to beat Valentino Rossi in 2010 and win a World Championship with Spain’s favourite son, Dani Pedrosa. This means paying silly money to the best technical people they can find, thereby weakening their competition. In fact, they have just latched on to senior engineers Christian Battaglia and Andrea Zugna, two senior engineers from the Rossi-Lorenzo team.

2) Valentino Rossi has put Yamaha on notice that they will have to choose between him and quick-man Jorge Lorenzo at the end of 2010, whoever wins the Championship.

In the meantime, Vale will continue to insist on complete physical separation of the two riders and support teams, with no exchange of information allowed between his and Lorenzo’s team members. This “Divide to win” strategy started in 2008 when they rode on different tire brands, and was continued at Rossi’s insistence in 2009, presumably to work on Lorenzo’s head. Teammates indeed?

3) MotoGP organizers Dorna have announced a return to 1000cc-four cylinder engines for 2012, as a “cost-cutting measure”, thereby scrapping all the development money spent so far on the 800cc machines, which had been brought in to replace the 990s as a safety measure. For the record, the 800s were quicker than the old 990 before the first race of that season. Go figure.

And to add to Dorna’s headaches, you can expect 16 bike MotoGP grids this year, the lowest ever and enough to cause TV and track promoters to demand a reduction in fees.

4) World Superbike organizers are screaming that MotoGP is invading their territory, “Stock-based” chassis and engines, first with the GP2 class for any chassis using a specially built spec Honda 600cc engine, and now the 1000cc-four cylinder configuration that look an awful lot like production Japanese litre sportbikes – enough to confuse spectators anyways.

5) The heretofore promising GP2 class, rail-roaded in by Dorna to replace the 250GP class, may not produce large starting grids, what with the economy, the cost for the teams of starting from scratch in a new class, and the reluctance of OEM manufacturers to use an engine that everyone knows comes from Honda.

The one ray of sunshine for North Americans is the arrival in MotoGP of Ben Spies aboard good but not first line Yamaha machines. Rossi may not want to see Spies aboard the best Yamaha can offer, but if he were to have a bad start to his 2010 season, expect better bike to go to Spies by mid-season, to test his mettle with no hold barred.

The gangly Texan is undoubtedly a phenomenon, but I still think that his size and weight (70kg against 51 for Pedrosa and 57 for Casey Stoner) puts him at a disadvantage, an insurmountable one me thinks, until the 1000 bike return in 2012.

So, the grits are hitting the pan hard these days, and we will keep you posted.




Photo Credit : MotoGP