Quote:
Originally Posted by chunder
I have a feeling that Spies will ride for Tech3 again in a straight swop with Dovi, not sure about Tech3, if this ridiculous deal wioth Smith sticks then if I was Cal I would take the money and ride for Ducati, it will pay him a fortune!
As for Barbera, he is not the real deal, always struggles for race pace and is slower than the works guys despite often being quick in qualifying, he is basically the Spanish de Puniet and cant go quick on his own, he always follows.
He will obviously get the ride because he is Spanish however
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Yeah that's how I see it panning out with Dovi and Spies as well there's no way Smith gets a Yamaha next year, if it comes to it you'd imagine that Yamaha will pay for that contract to be torn up rather than have one of their bikes go to an underperforming rider. Smith has showed promise in the past and is clearly quite fast but his problem has always been that once he's in a pack he cant overtake anyone. Put Cal and Ben together on the sat Yamaha and you've got four very talented and motivated riders on their four bikes.
In relation to Barbera I don't think for a second that he's a world beater but who in their right mind would take on the Ducati? Rossi's failure have only shown once again that the bike is a killer of reputations. Looks at RdP as a prime example. Two years ago he was a regular challenger for the frontrow and racing really well, a year on the Pramac and suddenly he can only get a CRT bike.
Ducati are going to be forced to look for a tier two rider or a youngster. They'll go hard after the likes of Espargaro but I just dont see why he'd view it as an acceptable risk to sign for the team. Someone like Barbera on the other hand would at least give Ducati someone that can ride with confidence. I don't think he's a factory calibre rider but Ducati are going to be hard pressed to get one next year