THE SILLY season has started exceptionally early, with rumours of 2009 rider deals surfacing, sometimes on the flimsiest of pretexts – such as one linking US Superbike champion Ben Spies with a switch to Ducati, and another putting Colin Edwards

No new bike, despite poor performance, say DucatiDUCATI TEAM chief Livio Suppo denied that Ducati will rush out a new bike before the end of the year, squelching rumours that poor results for all the Italian factory’s riders except Stoner had

will be the rider in a new second satellite Ducati team, to be sponsored by Onde 2000 and managed by current 125 rider Pablo Nieto, son of legendary 13-times champion Angel.Earlier in the week, Gibernau was unwilling to comment, other than to say: “If a situation

VISORDOWN BROUGHT you news last week that Marco Melandri’s place in the Marlboro Ducati squad was under threat and that MotoGP veteran Sete Gibernau was set to replace the lacklustre Italian.The likelihood of this happening is now almost a reality

Could Ducati have the measure of this man?The winter testing ban sparks everybody up for the open season, with all notable teams assembling for something not unlike a GP at Sepang, fighting hard for first blood.And mamma mia, it went to Ducati

The 2006 champion is the most human and likeable MotoGP rider by a massive margin. You can’t help wanting him to do well, even though he hasn’t won a race since 2006. And that only brought his grand total to three.To be honest since the switch to 800s his results have been little...

All out war ... Capirossi leads Hayden and RossiDucati and Bridgestone couldn't have timed their Great Revival any better. Three poles and two wins for Loris Capirossi came just as the championship changed from foregone conclusion to fait accompli

for more, from start to finish for 30 laps at Valencia on his Ducati. If it proves anything, it is that stats don't matter a damn. Only the method of scoring does. Hayden rode to that method better than anybody else. And nobody - not even Rossi - begrudges

WE'RE SAYING goodbye (or should that be good riddance?) to the Chinese Grand Prix and judging by the reaction of many teams and riders it seems Shanghai won't be missed one iota.Few riders seem to like the layout. Marlboro Ducati’s Casey Stoner said

of the American Ducati effort). His expectations of a return to the factory Ducati SBK team had been thwarted, he said, by Bayliss. Ducati had given in to the Australian, according to Hodgson, who "didn't want to be put under pressure by having a competitive team