What about Jame Ellison leaving WCM then leaving a space for Shakey paid for by Dorna :D

Ellison moving up to bigger things

Like replacing Roberts at Suzuki ???????

That i would like to see , but would the sponsors go for it ?:(

Sad thing is being a racer these days is a thankless task ! the new breed of team owners that have been spawned over the last decade think they can just buy and sell riders at a whim without a thought to the team development spoil it .They should try getting on a 200bhp missile in a fiercly competitive series and see how they fare.Where the hell did birdy come from anyway all i have ever heard about him is when he's sacking someone and that can't be good for the sport or morale , he seems like a spoilt rich kid who spits the dummy out if (his) riders don't come up trumps every raceday , imagine if all the lesser mortals in non works teams were sacked every time they had an injury or didn't win a race we wouldn't have a race series to support . Can you see yamaha sacking rossi cos of injury or bad results ! i don't think so they put their faith in the team and riders , mcwilliams never stood a chance with birdy and mr bird ought to climb back under the slimy rock he appeared from and put his money into the prima donna car racers cos he's not welcome in a series where riders bust their balls every time they race to be under constant threat of the sack by a little hitler! Ah thats better got it off my chest :flame:

Birdys no2 riders already,lined up,for nxt year !!!,and he currentley rides a duc,ive heard !!!!!!!!!!!!
masons going !,ellison mite be on a desmo ducati,@ D'antin,yet,according to the rumour mill !!

Is that birdy who rides a duc ???

Does ellison really need to be in D'antins team ??? Look what happened to most of our top class riders over the last decade! Let's not kid ourselves here ,what chance have brits got in moto gp or any world championship??? We all regale when they do well but what do they get in return (sweet FA) last years cast offs if they are lucky. Then we have our illustrious press coverage that slate them cos they are yesterdays news! (how many times is hodgson mentioned in mcn?) Anyway bye the bye !YES our brits should be up there contesting world championships cos they have the talent to do it given an opportunity BUT why would european/world sponsors bother with the likes of us when we have that great british quirk of ****ging off anyone who does well ?
Just a reminder to those who think PB is a hero cos he had a few bob to buy his way into a race team . He has SACKED more riders than any other team in his D'illoustrious career as team owner than any other owner/manager/co-ordinator in the last 20 years to my knowledge. C'est la vie SSDD . TAXI!:devil:

[quote]Originally posted by Steve M
A lot of the private Hondas have struggled this year - the AM Hondas in ASB, Bostrom/Chilli in WSB etc and McWilliams hasn't been able to ride since before the Stobart bikes were getting half decent results.

Paul Bird back to Ducati next year if Airwaves go WSB ??? [/ quote]


LET'S HOPE NOT Y^fOLKS! let him fly back to the chickens

I agree with you Northern! It's been a while since we've had a brit on a competitive GP ride. I know Dorna have tried but it's difficult to compete on a Shell 500GP twin, two year old Desmosedici, Roberts KR/KTM, WCM etc even if you got talent.

MotoGP/Dorna etc are a Spanish run outfit, so you can see where their loyalty lies... A bit like FGSport in WSB being Italian, and funnily enough the Ducati's could 1200cc machines to compete against the UJM IL4's

John Hopkins wrote an interesting article on Crash.net's site a few weeks ago about the future of MGP, and his theory was the move to 800cc bikes in 2007 wasn't anything to do with safety, as manufacturers would just raise the rev limits of these missiles, but he did suggest that current 125/250 riders would adapt quicker to 800cc rather than the more grunty 990cc bikes, and how many Spanish riders are there in 125/250?

Even Julian Ryder commented on this on Sunday, something along the lines of the current MGP bikes are the equivalent of super-superbikes, whereas the 800cc bikes would be super-250's

Today's gossip on Crash.net suggests Sete to Ducati next year, Checa out...

Interesting point, Jon. If the main reason is as the rumours suggest, I'd give Dorna the benefit of the doubt about doing it for patriotic reasons. More likely, it would seem is that Dorna wants to protect its lower bike classes as the premier stepping stones to the top class. It seems like teams are poching from Superbike classes to ride MotoGP bikes rather than scouting in the 250 class. At least, it's just a likely that a MotoGP rider comes from elsewhere. Dorna doesn't control Superbike racing.