Rossi: 'My crew are coming with me'

Old firm will make switch back from Ducati to Yamaha

Posted: 17 August 2012
by Visordown News

So-ah, we make-ah de list for what we want from Yamaha. Okaye, first we all have ah speedboat..

JEREMY Burgess and crew will join Valentino Rossi back at Yamaha MotoGP in 2013.

Speaking to the press about his Yamaha move and a potential future in WSBK, Rossi said: "So I think my crew come with me. More or less the same guys that come with me from Yamaha to Ducati. But is still not decided 100 percent. I think we have to fix some of the ties."

Speculation is that Rossi has signed a two-year deal in MotoGP and will help to develop Yamaha's new superbike for the World Superbike series and then make the switch to WSBK to race that bike. However, Rossi hasn't confirmed that rumour and what he will do after Yamaha MotoGP remains open. The Italian also elaborated on the reasons behind returning to Yamaha for next season.

"And about my future well depends a lot from the result of the next two seasons. Because I want to remain more than two seasons in MotoGP but depends how much I'm strong and I'm fast with the M1. And to have the opportunity for the future for Superbike, yeah, I always say. But it's very early to say, because I hope to be faster, to be competitive, to enjoy and remain in MotoGP more than two season."

Speaking to SpeedTV, Jerry Burgess said: "We are still on the same chassis as he raced in Qatar at the first race this year, and he is no closer to the front ten races later.  It was a no-brainer; the only thing Valentino had to get over was that probably Jorge Lorenzo will be the #1 rider. Valentino asked me to go to Yamaha with him and while I haven't yet spoken to Yamaha that is my intention."

Burgess said that it would be up to Yamaha who they employed as taking on Rossi's crew at Ducati would mean Yamaha would have to lose the current crew who were brought in to work with Ben Spies when Rossi uprooted from Yamaha, taking his crew, which was made up of former Honda mechanics and also long-serving Yamaha mechanics to Ducati.

The Rossi whirlwind continues.

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Discuss this story


Reg Plater
How can "So I think my crew come with me" be converted to "My crew are coming with me?"
.....
"But is still not decided 100 percent. I think we have to fix some of the ties."


"Red is really blue!"
...."But we still need to confirm that red is indeed really blue".

Posted: 17/08/2012 at 11:36


Jeroen Dutch
I think it is not fair to the Spies crew to replace them by the Rossi crew who earlier "betrayed" Yamaha.

Posted: 17/08/2012 at 17:13


SlowInFastOut
Let's it face it, the crew have hardly been stellar over at Ducati. The last thing any new rider would want is the same bunch who were getting beaten by satellite teams!

Posted: 17/08/2012 at 17:42


Kurt Bartlein 2
How about an article from visordown that breaks down in depth what each of Rossi's crew actually does day to day, including Burgess? Does burgess actually touch the bike or just make suggestions, etc? I'd be facinated, there's no info like this on-line.

Posted: 18/08/2012 at 17:03


William McLaughlin
First off - Ducati's problems go beyond what a "crew" can fix. That bike needs to be overhauled from the ground up.

Secondly - To say that this group of people which Rossi has stood behind for years and years don't deserve to come with him is ridiculous. Just because Yamaha had to bring people in to support Spies, doesn't change the fact Honda had to do the same when Rossi went from Honda to Yamaha.

He sticks by those who help him and knows THEY are not to blame for the Ducati lacking performance. It is the actual design, not the functionality, of the bike. His crew has gotten this thing to run as good as it is possibly going to. You can polish a turd, but it is still going to smell like shit. Bottom line; He is a package deal and the teams know that if you want Rossi, he is bringing his friends with him, simple as that.

And to finish up on the Ducati thing, I'm only hoping in the years to come that Audi has a bigger influence on them. The Italians have (traditionally) had such a stubbornness about them it is infuriating. Look at what VAG (Volkswagen Audi Group) has done with their recent (last 10-15 years) acquisitions. Of them, Lamborghini, has had probably the most dramatic turn around.

Presently, it's as if you're (the crew, for instance) given a square peg and a round hole. They (Ducati) ask you to make it work. Only they stipulate that you're only allowed to make variations of square pegs and round holes. Then they (Ducati) keep wondering why the crew can't get it down...because the design/engineering concept is flawed beyond recovery. SCRAP IT!

Posted: 18/08/2012 at 21:11


vin ROUGE
I am a die hard rossi fan but there is no getting away from the fact that the whinging annoying genius stoner rode that ducati to the max...i think vale is getting old & is not prepared to risk crashing a bike he is not comfy with week in week out.i really hope he gets back on the yam & is up front.i,m kinda glad cal is not getting on the career killer ducati & hope to dovi gets to grips with it....but dont hold your breath

Posted: 19/08/2012 at 23:22


The Truth
The last year that Stoner rode it, it was the 800cc version. He has never ridden the 1000cc version. That was 2010 and Stoner finished 4th in the championship that year. Valentino missed 4 races completely, was injured for the rest of the races sans Qatar and still placed higher than Casey. Stoner did win a few races on it late in the season but there were factors involved other than a win sheet. Pedrosa was injured and DNS start one of those races. Valentino as was said, was riding injured, and for a few races Lorenzo had backed off to guarantee bringing it home for his first MotoGP championship. From 2007, Casey won 11 races, then 6 the following year, then 4 then 3. Notice a trend? His last year on it he retired during 5 different races and luckily escaped serious or career ending injury. Rossi stepped on the thing coming from the worst injuries in his career and prior to had never missed a race. He knew at the Valencia test of 2010 that the front end was completely screwed and immediately told Preziosi to fix it. It has no feel. That was almost 2 years ago and still hasn't been fixed. After Marco died I highly doubt Rossi is going to put his life on the line for a bike that couldn't win the championship anyway.

Casey is a great rider, Valentino is a legendary one. how anyone can doubt a 100 race winner and the #1 premier class rider in 63 years escapes me.

Posted: 20/08/2012 at 15:15


Jeroen Dutch
vin ROUGE wrote : ...i think vale is getting old & is not prepared to risk crashing a bike he is not comfy with week in week out.

I thought the same thing about Carlos Checa in the Ten Kate Superbiketeam.
You know what happened the next year on the Ducati Superbike?!

Posted: 22/08/2012 at 17:04

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