Max Biaggi gets his comeuppance

Max Biaggi's hopes of getting a seat in next year's motogp nosedived yesterday when Bridgestone made it clear that they were not prepared to shoe a 3rd bike for the Kawasaki team. Since he was vetoed by HRC for next year (it has overall decision over who rides its RCVs on its satellite teams) after a poor performance as their #1 factory rider this season accompanied by typical Biaggi displays of ill-temper and resentful outbursts directed at his employers, the 3 time motogp runner-up has been trying to secure himself a seat with one of the other competitive teams in the paddock. Needless to say his nemesis Valentino Rossi's employers, Yamaha, quickly made it known that his services were not of interest. Ducati have already lined up Caparossi and Gibernau on their Desmosedicis and Suzuki also declined an offer from Biaggi's backers, Camel, to fund a third bike. They've landed world superbike young gun Chris Vermulen to replace retiring Kenny Roberts Jr.for next year alongside young John Hopkins.

Why is everybody turning the Roman down? He's notoriously hard to work with and after a lacklustre year with the might of HRC behind him, teams must reckon that he'd be absolutely unput-upable-with next year in teams with less resources than the Japanese giant.

It now appears that Biaggi's only chances of avoiding forced early retirement are if Camel manages to persuade HRC to climbdown and allow Biaggi a seat on Sito Pons' satellite team. Camel has sponsored it for the last few years and Biaggi rode for the team in the 2003/4 seasons. Camel has repeatedly threatened to follow Telefonica Movistar out of motogp sponsorship but HRC have so far refused to budge. Pons has lined up young aussie Casey Stoner alongside Spanish Carlos Checa. If Camel and Biaggi prevail it's likely that Stoner will lose his seat and might find himself obliged to reopen negotiations with Yamaha, who could give him a seat on Herve Poncheral's dysfunctional Tech 3 satellite team.

At 34, the Italian Emperor only has one or two more seasons left in him, surely, and Camel's loyalty to him is, to me, inexplicable. Motogp sponsors seem to be extremely conservative. Alex Barros, Carlos Checa, Troy Bayliss and Kenny Roberts Jr. all managed to keep seats in the 20 strong paddock over the years even though they have not really been accompanied by results. Bayliss, Roberts Jr. and Barros have all been forced into retirement this year as team managers are taking on younger riders. This is no small way due to Marco Melandri's excellent year at Team Gresini where he deposed his team mate Sete Gibernau as championship runner-up. Melandri had spent his two first years in motogp at Yamaha Tech 3, where he had not exactly shone. Next season he'll be joined by young Spaniard Toni Elias, who rookied at the very same Tech 3 team this season and has brought his sponsors, Fortuna, with him to Honda Team Gresini. With young Dani Pedrosa (20) along with Casey Stoner (20) and Chris Vermulen(24)
all joining the motogp paddock for next season, and with this year's runner-up, Melandri (24) and third-placer, Nicky Hayden (24) promising to stay on top of their game, the average age of the paddock will drop considerably and will get a well-needed injection of new blood and life. in 2006.

Biaggi should be obliged to join his aging colleagues, Roberts Jr. et al., after his disastrous performance this year on supposedly the best bike in the paddock. Of course, he could ride for WCM or TeamRoberts but I don't think such a fall from grace would sit well with the Roman's temper.

UPDATE
Well Max Biaggi went ahead and announced at the Bologna motorshow that he'll be riding with Kawa next season. He said he'd gotten assurances from Bridgestone that tyres won't be a problem. If this is indeed true, that means that Sito Pons will be left without a sponsor as Biaggi will bring Camel with him. It does look as if Biaggi isn't simply thinking wishfully as Casey Stoner has abandoned his Honda RCV and Pons to reunite with his 250cc manager, Lucio Cecchinello on a one-rider motogp project using a Yamaha M1!
Who exactly is served by Biaggi getting on a Ninja next season? Everybody'd like to see Rossi on a Ninja but I doubt that Biaggi will be drawing in the crowds and viewers with this move. Apart from his loyal Italian fanbase, who would have been sad to see Biaggi forced into retirement this year? Come to think of it, who would have even noticed?