Motorcycle Racing Lineups for 2009

[svoloch]

here's worldsuperbike, pulled from speedTV.  trying to find or pull together motogp:

Ducati Xerox: Noriyuki Haga, Michel Fabrizio
Ten Kate Honda: Carlos Checa, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Jonathan Rea
Yamaha Motor Italia: Ben Spies, Tom Sykes
PSG-1 Kawasaki: No one signed yet. Ayrton Badovini is probable. Regis Laconi looking to leave. Makoto Tamada might return.
Suzuki Alstare: Max Neukirchner, Yukio Kagayama (Possible third bike for Fonsi Nieto or Xavier Simeon)
Sterilgarda Ducati: Shane Byrne, and second rider possibly Alessandro Polita
BMW: Ruben Xaus, Troy Corser
Aprilia: Max Biaggi, second rider to be decided: Roberto Rolfo or Alex Debón.
D.F.X. Honda: Probable: Karl Muggeridge and a second rider.
GMT94 Yamaha: David Checa. This now looks like being a single-bike team.
Guandalini Racing Ducati: Jacob Smrz (possibly combining with Bolder Ducati and Jake Zemke, but nothing is confirmed at this time.)
Althea Honda: Tommy Hill and second rider
Stiggy Honda: Leon Haslam and probably Joshua Brookes
RG Ducati: Lorenzo Lanzi and possible second rider

lot of interesting rookies, like Spies, Sykes ( Brilliant in the wet, for those who watched him wildcard at donnington ), Muggeridge ( ditto, but in the dry, he crashed out in the wet, if I recall correctly ).  Byrne was the british superbike champion if I recall, but I did not get a chance to follow it much this year...  Haslam is second in british superbike, and he wildcarded as well and looked strong.

holy crap, forgot to mention Kiyonari...  wow..  this should get exciting...

I think 2009 superbike will be really interesting, especially with Haga on a drive ( he nailed superpole!! ), so hopefully us Haga fans will finally see him catch the bouquet this time!!!

[svoloch]

Rossi:

“I think Casey Stoner next year will be back even stronger, so I think he is the hardest rival I have ever had, more than Sete Gibernau and all the others I have fought against,”

wow.  Biaggi does not even get an honorable mention   Even when praising his top rival, he still manages to drop a subtle dig at Biaggi...  awesome...

[Giannis]

Muggeridge has been racing WSBk the last years not a rookie

Byrne  won the title with 1098 this year in BSB he  also raced GP for Aprilia and Proton...

[AndreRA3]

A lot of BSB guys are going to the world championships next year.  More than a couple will go to supersport...

By the way, Sylvain Guintoli will ride for Rizla Suzuki BSB

the motogp as I recall hearing it:

Factory Ducati: Stoner & Hayden
Alice Ducati: Mika Kallio & another new face to motogp (Cannepa?)
3rd ducati?: Gibernau (I still think this is a rumor for now, maybe its been confirmed)
Suzuki: no changes
Gresini Honda: Elias on a full HRC backed ride, and De Angelis on a customer bike
Factory Kawasaki: Melandri and Hopkins
Aspar Kawasaki: Probably a spanish rider like Debon, maybe Nakano
Yamahas: No change in either team
Team Scott Honda: Yukio Takahashi
Repsol Honda: Pedrosa and Dovisioso
JiR will probably pull out of motogp, as HRC decided to supply the last customer bike to Team Scott (and Scott and JiR have split)

[AndreRA3]

Oh yes, Bridgestones all around next year.  No more qualifier tires, smaller tire allocation per rider, fewer tires to choose from, etc...

Elias' front tire of choice has already been cancelled for next year.  Lots of changes in the making...

[Giannis]

yes some riders will loose the special tires they used this year...

[fastwin]

Any mention of James McCain? And why not??

Yep, good line up next year for sure... at least overseas. There has got to be a huge s#@t eating grin on Bayliss's face knowing his friend and favorite rival of all time, Haga, we'll be taking his empty seat at Ducati. How cool is that? They are good friends and eternal rivals. I will miss their head to head match ups dearly. Some of the best WSBK races I have ever seen has been between Bayliss and Haga. They have each others numbers like I have never seen in any other race series. Watching them dice it out within inches of each other is the best ever. They race each other like it's on mental telepathy... "you move this way an inch and I'll move that way an inch." Just awesome, doesn't get any better. Again, it will be dearly missed in '09 with Troy's departure.

[AndreRA3]

By the way, did you hear that Hector Barbera (or was it Alvaro Bautista? I think it was Barbera) joined us in the compressed vertebrae club?  Apparently he fractured a couple of them, got back on the bike and then realized something was wrong...  Tough guy!  I could barely move after mine!!!  Also impressive is that he hopes to ride in valencia this year... can't see it happening though...

[svoloch]

Since Hector is rather known for knocking other bikes down, I doubt his compatriots are going to miss him in the short term...  although he did make things interesting....

At San Marino, I think Hector was in the mix for 4 crashes...  Simoncelli called him a "criminal" but there is no love lost between the two of them, and Simoncelli has been accused of dangerous riding also.  Still, I think there was a line of people set to pull Barbera aside after that race and give him a good "talking" to...

but then, the crazy sh1t that the 250cc guys pull all the time is one of the things that makes that class interesting, and is why it will be greatly missed next year....

[AndreRA3]

I was under the impression that next year will be the last 250 year, not this year...  Hopefully i'm right.