IN
THE
WIND
P50
MELANDRI JOINS DUCATI IN BIG
WORLDSBK SHAKEUP
T
he 2017 WorldSBK Champi-
onship lineup has been shak-
en up by the surprising addition
of Marco Melandri to the official
Aruba.it Racing Ducati World
Superbike team, alongside
Chaz Davies, who has finally
re-signed, as has been long
expected. With Davies' contract
requirements having been met it
appears that at least part of the
reason to sign Melandri is that
he no longer commands a high
fee like before, for a number of
reasons.
His recent and disastrous
move to Aprilia's MotoGP pro-
gram, when he wanted to stay in
World Superbike and compete
with Aprilia for the title in 2015,
saw his career find itself in ap-
parent jeopardy. Melandri has
no permanent ride in 2016 at all,
and had been speaking with the
Puccetti Racing Kawasaki team,
so far only running in Supersport
and Superstock classes, to try
and get back into the paddock
that way.
But in landing the best avail-
able 2017 ride in the entire
WorldSBK paddock, before the
end of July, no less, Melandri
has now beaten a host of hope-
fuls to the kind of location that
could re-kindle his unquestioned
talent back to its very best.
And at its best it was very good
indeed.
Melandri, who is soon to
be 34 years old, has won 19
WorldSBK races, on three dif-
ferent machines (Yamaha, BMW
and Aprilia) and with four differ-
ent teams. He has finished his
Melandri is
coming back to
WorldSBK and
with one of the
best teams on
the grid.
