VOL. 50 ISSUE 29 JULY 23, 2013
P41
Briefly...
Cal Crutchlow remains the key
piece of a Rubik cube in which
most of the other colors are already
firmly fixed in place – if all contracts
are observed. "My situation's the
same as before. I don't have a job,"
he confirmed. His summer break
is likewise one of considering the
options. Stay with Yamaha, now the
factory has promised to chip in with
his salary. Move to Honda, displacing one or another satellite rider.
Take the Ducati dollars, in the hope
that the new team has a better bike
coming.
The Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix gets started with
pole-sitter Stefan Bradl (6) leading the pack
over the hill that is turn one and into turn two.
toGP are settled there's a bit of a
scramble on for the two satellite
Honda seats, where contracts for
Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl
might not turn out to be all that
they seem.
Just what bearing this had on
the race result is open to speculation. Both of them found some
sort of inspiration, however, under sunny skies on the tortuous
and exhausting little Laguna Seca
The first remains tenuous, in spite
of Yamaha's cash injection. Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo hold
the catbird seats, Bradley Smith
is cast-iron-contracted to Tech 3,
and the second satellite seat is earmarked for potential Marc Marquez
rival Pol Espargaro. One solution
would be to shuffle Smith sideways, to the planned lease-lend
Forward Racing squad. Honda's
factory seats are likewise reserved
for Marquez and Dani Pedrosa; and
both satellite bikes are also under
contract, more or less. Alvaro Bautista this year confirmed a two-year
deal in return for his race-testing
Showa suspension; while Stefan
Bradl is still uncertainly awaiting
confirmation of his contract extension for next year from Honda.
This puts the former Moto2 World
Champion under severe pressure
to perform. For Crutchlow, there
might even be the chance of a factory seat in 2015, should Pedrosa's
long tenure come to an end.
Ducati would be a safe bet financially for Crutchlow, but a major
career gamble. Although an apparently strong team has been assembled under new race boss Bercontinued on next page
