http://www.crash.net/motorsport/motogp/news/165244-0/gibernau_to_ducati_at_sachsenring.html

http://www.crash.net/motorsport/motogp/news/165738-0/gibernau_very_fast_but_will_he_race.html

Finally, for those who need pics to whet their appetites:

http://forum.ducati.com.ph/index.php?topic=1137.msg17503#msg17503

Weird.  Not sure wassup with all that; should Ducati be blamed for making an impossible-to-ride suicide machine (per Marco Melandri, Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli) that *can* win races or should Casey Stoner just retire now as the bravest motorcycle rider of all time?

Someone explain this to me 

Please 

Sete is like Samson... cut off his couffed hairdo and he's powerless. He's just taking up valuable space and breathing precious air. He had he's chance. The only thing good about Gibernau is that Arai makes a nice Corsair model named after him... that's it.

Nicolo!!  Help us out here!!!

Seriously, we need Nicolo.  Let's go get him.

nicolo canepa, world superstock champion, has also been testing with ducati on the gp bike and the 1098...   He's my vote for Stoners wingman...

Anyone?

When Sete was with Honda it seemed that Rossi has Gibernau's number and Sete couldn't win against Rossi.  It's a mind game he plays win Sete just like he's doing with Pedrosa with less effect.  But Sete is the only one who can lap half a second slower than Casey on the same bike as what is available to Melandri.  That makes me think that Melandri is hopelessly spooked by the Duc and will never get it together.  It is best for him and Ducati if they parted ways.

In the meantime, Ducati wants to salvage their season and Sete might help.  Despite being laid off for a year and a half, he still was fast.  Racing however is different from testing so it is difficult to expect much from Gibernau also.  Maybe they are just using him to show the other riders that the Duc does work they just have to adapt it and not the other way around.

Personally, I want to see Hayden give it a shot.

But, what about the GP9?  I know that a carbon fiber framed bike is not an original idea but to have the cahones to use it in MotoGP is awesome for Ducati.

cdc

Never better said... racing is different from testing. Even in cycling, when I used to race there were guys who could really kick ass on training rides, win group sprints for city limit signs, drop everyone climbing hills, etc. but they never placed well in races. Weird but true. Sete may be testing well but that doesn't get you on the real world podium. Personally, I think Ducati should save money and drop to a one bike team. Besides Stoner everyone else is just on the payroll and using extra pit space. What would a back placing rider do for their effort? Hell, if they want a wanker in the back of the pack doing laps they should give me a call!!

you should always be looking for the next guy.  Nicolo Canepa could be that guy, with some investment ( like Honda is doing with Pedrosa ).  Gibernau is definitely not the next guy, and neither is Hayden.  I think they were hoping it was Melandri, but that did not work out.  I'm telling you now, Canepa could be that guy... 

Quote from: The Svoloch on July 04, 2008, 12:43:39 PM
I'm telling you now, Canepa could be that guy... 

another perscient thought?...

***

hah!  not sure about prescient, it seems obvious to me. 

Sounds like your good buddy Niccolo Canepa is going to get some public seat time on a factory Ducati SBK at Brno, Vallelunga and Magny-Cours as a wild card rider!! Hope he does well. Tell him it shifts on the left and it's one down and five up... unless he does that whole GP shift thing.

Quote from: fastwin on July 09, 2008, 08:41:54 AM
Sounds like your good buddy Niccolo Canepa is going to get some public seat time on a factory Ducati SBK at Brno, Vallelunga and Magny-Cours as a wild card rider!! Hope he does well. Tell him it shifts on the left and it's one down and five up... unless he does that whole GP shift thing.

Superstock champion doest mean a thing in the MotoGP circus.... Is he going to ride the thing? We will find out but i doubt that...

marco is a great rider but always get some bad rides... his best MotoGP season was with Movistar/fortuna Honda team but the RCV211 was a Great bike Overall and pretty much everyone won a race or two  riding one..

Barros, Melandri, Tamada,Rossi, Ukawa, Gibernau,Biaggi,Hayden even Edwards had some great results.

well we shall see.  He's been fast in testing, couple seconds behind stoner and something like 5 or 6 seconds over your pal Marco.

He was fastest at the Indy gp9 tests ( no stoner, and admittedly only Spies was competition, and not much at that ).  I hope he gets a shot at GP, but I'll settle for wsbk...

this is the GP9 you're talking about, right?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_GP9