Aussie, I don't think so to be honest, with all respect. I think Ducati have claimed a number of riders, but I'm still expecting Vale to end that.
The problem Ducati have, is Italy love him, he can do no wrong, and as such if Ducati sack him, they'll look bad, really bad.
The only credible way out of this for the pair of them is to get on and fix that bike, which I think is now, and has been going on for ~8-9 months.
I think it'll happen, but it might mean very different weight distribution, how they do that is up to them, if they can do it and retain the L4 great, if they can't then they'll have to make that jump.
As for Casey, I couldn't agree more, the biggest mistake everyone made was how well the guy was riding that bike. Ok, in 09/10 it was really win it/bin it because the bike was getting worse, Casey asked for progress but got the door slammed closed because Ducati knew better. Now I think it's clearly obvious that they didn't know better and their bike was going backwards from '08 and the introduction of the spec tyre.
Casey rode the sh't out of that bike, but he had a point to prove, he wanted to be known to be the best. The biggest fault Ducati made was 1) ignoring the fact that no one else could ride it and 2) ignoring the fact that Casey kept loosing the front.
If they'd targeted those problems sooner, the bike would have been less of a train wreck. As it is, and especially in the world of spec tyres, it's needed, and is still in need of some, kicking, dragging and screaming to get it near to the Japanese competition.
