IN
THE
WIND
P32
SMITH, CRUTCHLOW AND REDDING SORTED
A
fter a small flurry of new con-
tracts, and one or two offers
declined, the rider jigsaw came
several steps closer to comple-
tion for next year's MotoGP sea-
son.
Bradley Smith was confirmed
to stay on his Monster Yamaha.
Then the now sponsor-free LCR
team announced that it had
signed Cal Crutchlow to stay for
two more years. Finally, on race
day of the British Grand Prix at
Silverstone came confirmation
that Scott Redding is to switch
from Honda to
Ducati at the
satellite Pramac
team.
With no
factory seats
available, the
second Pramac
Ducati team had
been the hot
option, with the
team expecting
full GP15 ma-
chines as used
by the factory riders this year.
Current rider Danilo Petrucci
was signed up for two more
years before Silverstone, but
teammate Yonny Hernandez will
be dropped.
Top of the Italian team's shop-
ping list had been Danny Kent,
with a three-year deal, but by
the start of the weekend he had
declined, reluctant to tie himself
down for that long. Kent is now
expected to move up to Moto2
with his current Leopard squad.
Cal Crutchlow had been an-
other candidate.
Now the focus switched to
Redding, struggling to come to
terms with the factory Honda,
after a strong debut last year on
the Open bike. A disgruntled
Redding pointed out: "Marc
[Marquez] has gone back to last
year's chassis but I'm still on the
new chassis, struggling. It's al-
most like Honda doesn't want to
have me or keep me, whereas
with Ducati, they really want to
have me and I think that they will
give me the best of the best for
performance."
By the end of the weekend,
his decision to move had been
confirmed.
Smith's deal came two races
after he complained that while
he had made it clear he wanted
to stay, "there wasn't the same
enthusiasm" from either the
team or Yamaha. In a strong
streak of form and top satel-
lite rider, the Briton was miffed
when less successful teammate
Pol Espargaro was re-signed,
Cal Crutchlow to stay with LCR team for two more years.
Scott Redding landed the coveted
Pramac Ducati seat that fellow Brits
Crutchlow and Danny Kent were
rumored to be in the running for.
