with some 30 teamsters, from director Ichiro Yoda and manager Michael Bartholemy to the catering staff. And three riders, counting tester Olivier Jacque.John Hopkins switched to Kawasaki last year for big money after five years with Suzuki. Crash after crash

’s not right. We have to find a solution. I’m not happy, but this is what we have to deal with at the moment.”Ducati project leader Livio Suppo remained baffled, with his new factory rider qualifying even slower than the two satellite-team bikes of Elias

that factory teams may not hire MotoGP class rookies.Not money-saving, but pushed through by Yamaha Tech 3 team owner (and teams’ association IRTA president) Hervé Poncharal, in the interest of his private team and the handful of others on the grid. It gives

, after apparently losing the jewel-in-the-crown car race (and we shall see how that ends up), Silversnot has snatched back MotoGP.The more things change … Great idea from Dorna, to introduce a second economy-class level into MotoGP, whereby non-factory

There is a new trumpeting sound to be heard at the GPs. It comes not only from the high-level four-into-one tailpipe of Yamaha's new four-stroke GP bike, but also from the same factory's publicity machine. Though, after the first few races, this has

strong belief within Honda that he has a very big future indeed. Why else would they have snatched him back from Yamaha, and given him a plum ride - neither Edwards nor Biaggi were able to get a full factory bike, let alone in the top factory team

has a real factory Honda on which to prove it.Dani’s seniority in the team, so far simply assumed as if by right, is under threat and he may not be there to defend it.Dani has won few paddock friends over the years with his morose reaction to serial

on the old days in the USA when it was part of the AMA rule book. Factory teams from BSA/Triumph and Norton (ah, remember when) used to visit the important Daytona 200-Mile race in some trepidation with their race-winning triples etc back in the 1970s

. Development is why the factories indulge. Yamaha revealed in the same weekend that their latest electronic package uses GPS to tailor throttle response corner by corner, combined with gyroscopes and myriad other factors. The twist-grip does one thing

nothing anyone had ever seen. Informed speculation puts the fee paid to a top factory team like Yamaha at something like $15-million back in the early 1990s. Today, even with inflation, the same money would buy two or more years of the factory Honda