Yooperbikemike's 2014 MotoGP Thread

I always felt that Ducati's public remarks about Stoner were shameful. And I never understood why people around the sport were so quick to dismiss the lactose intolerance problem as an excuse. People are allergic to all kinds of things. I'm just glad he went to the Repsol team so we could really see how fantastic he was.

I also hope the new boss at Ducati has the stuff to turn that joint around.

Thanks for the link. Maybe I'll order that book.

I'm only one chapter in, but it's good so far.

Fixst.

Stoner will continue his testing job with Honda in 2014, so no danger of him going broke any time soon.

and BTW;
Happy Christmas all you crazy race nuts!!

I wonder what he makes for the gig? I really have no idea, as he is the only person in the world capable of doing the job it may be a lot. Does he make $100,000 or $1,000,000 or something else?

Closer to the latter than the former. I'm sure someone will jump in, but IIRC its near a mill per test.

No way.

all free for him of course,the fee will be quite modest i would think.Perfect for Casey he can ride faste bikes fast with very little interference.I think this started cos one of the regular test riders crashed and hurt himself.There are other test riders but not so well qualified as a recent world champ

that much I sincerely doubt. He has unique talents and insights and turned down aout $6-8M to race. You really think he wants to ride so bad that he'll put his health on the line again for pocket change?

There was a post a while back about how ex-champions were collecting 300K sorta money for testing several years ago and how things have stepped up.

I didnt say it was for pocket change,but I very much doubt its in the race salary range either,300k for one test or for the two or three he did?

It's interesting to note that Ben Spies had a very different experience with Ducati support than Stoner did.

From memory he turned down $15M to race for one season. More than Honda had ever offered anyone to race for them - F1 included.

I wonder how much Honda payed Marquez to race for them this year.

Not really. The bike was winning then, not like anyone of JLs calibre queuing up to ride it these days....

I'll bet you it was less than they ever paid for a championship!

Though... He's prolly getting a fat raise for 2014.

I'm starting to get the feeling I had about Spies, hoping, waiting, hoping, still waiting, then finally thinking it will never happen.

No doubt!

He probably signed a 2 year deal last year.

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Motomatters reports that Cal and Lucy tied the knot on Sunday.

Congratulations, Mr & Mrs Crutchlow!

It'll be interesting to get Ducati's side (if it ever happens), but my recollection was that Stoner not only shut out the media but Ducati management as well, so in the information vacuum it wasn't surprising that Ducati brass, being the only ones still operating in public, said things that reflected their growing impatience with Stoner's unexplained leave. Unfair? Probably, but Stoner's famous disinterest in PR has its drawbacks.