MOTOGP » Melandri set to ride on

I hope marco does a lot better the second half of the season.

Ducati needs a bit of personality at the end of the day after moaners tantrum. At least marco likes a fight.

Should be a good second half of the season.Good luck Marco x

Melandri is on a much bigger contract than Stoner.
If Ducati break the contract they will have to pay Melandri off for the remainder of the season and I guess compensation as well for breaking the contract?

Expect to see him peddling around in last position for the remainder - embarrassing for Melandri, Ducati and MotoGP.

I''m quite surprised by this, it really sounded like Ducati had given up on him. I don''t think Stoner will be too pleased about this, he needs his team mate to be running up front and taking points off Rossi. I''m also perplexed as to why Gibernau did all that testing if Ducati had no intention of bringing him back??

Come on Marco, fingers crossed you can get it together mate. I''m gutted for him this season. I hate seeing such a talent have such a hard time with a bike :(

If he can get it together I will be very impressed as I thought he may well have given up on it by now....

It must nark moaner to know the team mate is earning more than him and failing miserably it just goes to show how much potential marco had and ducati thought he had marco is a fab racer and if he could of got to grips with it might just have put moaner to shame just a shame it hasn't worked out however I agree that it does boil down to a financial issue rather than anything else.

Yeah Vales Girl, Marco might have put Casey to shame, if he didn't suck so bad. Lol. Ducati might as well hang on to Marco until they get Nicky, I seriously doubt the Gibbon would have done any better.

Does anyone have any evidence that Marco is getting paid more than Casey? Casey is the WC.

This might be alitte bit of PR, I have heard that Sete has another test with Ducati at Mugello this week and dependant on that the decision wil be made. This is based on IF sete want's to come back more than if they want him back, also the whole Hayden in 09 thing means sete would only get this year on the factory and next year on the satelite bike and he is rumoured to only agree if he get a contract for next year..

In my opinion Ducati have no choice but to stick with melandri if Sete says (or has said) no.

Surely though it is in Marco's interests to go right now. His confidence is shot, and his reputation diminished further every time he finishes to the rear of the field, with Stoner at the pointy end.
Whether Gibernau could do better is debatable, but Marco needs to get back on an already developed bike, ideally the Gresini Honda, to try and re-build his career.

this all goes to show how lucky stoner has been with this bike. Would he have been world champ on any other bike? - i don't think so. Fair play to him though - he is world champ and chasing this years championship.
He has hit on a bike that has the right combination for him.
Marco has hit on a bike that obviously isn't the right combo for him - he was one of the top contenders in recent years - showing potential to be up with every best. Come on, all you stoner fans, be honest weren't you a little afraid for him when marco signed for ducati? - i for one was relishing the prospect of the battle between them