At the Mugello round of the Moto GP
circus last weekend, Spanish midget Dani Pedrosa did his contract
hopes for 2011 no end of good by taking pole and leading flag to flag
for a completely dominating victory. Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo was
second while Pedrosa’s team-mate Andrea Dovizioso took third.
The big news from the weekend, of
course, happened before the race when Valentino Rossi crashed heavily
in practice (on a cold rear tire) and suffered a compound fracture to
his tibia. At best, he’ll be out for six weeks (two races minimum)
so his title hopes are toast. At present, he’s still second but
that’s not going to last. Who’s going to replace him? Well,
likely it’ll be somebody from Tech 3, but whether it’s one of the
Moto GP guys or Yuki Takahashi, currently in the Moto2 class for Tech
3, remains to be seen.
In the meantime, interest in the
paddock is clearly already focused more on 2011 than this year. All
four "aliens" — Rossi, Casey Stoner, Lorenzo, and Pedrosa —
are out of their contracts at the end of the season, as is high-hope
newcomer Ben Spies. Rumours are that Stoner has already signed with
Honda, but who knows?
More as it happens.
