MOTOGP » JiR confirms Honda split

Jir wanted to win so they were going to hire Ben Spies but honda wanted their token rider from Japan so the Scott team got the bike.

Motogp can't afford to loose anymore teams, the grids is so empty that it will mean that if you finish you get points just too few bikes on the grid will mean it's death, they need a rethink before it's too late

What's point of leasing an RC212V?
Honda will never ever give you a bike that can beat Dani Pe^h^h^h Repsol team. So that means you cannot beat any other factory bike.... A waste of money.

I am sure WSBK would welcome them with open arms......

The future for Motogp is shakey - what is the point of racing state of the art prototypes if there are effectively only 3 teams which can win ?

Plus where do are the up and coming 125/250 riders go if there are few seats at the top table ?

Good point Sasha,but I am surprised by Honda who have not won the championship again this year.I thought they would have flooded the grid with their machines in a bid to win something.They have no doubt done the honourable thing by supporting the Japanese no hoper,so I think they have shot themselves in the foot.Its no good complaining though as you get blackballed and never allowed to ride one of their bikes again, like Max Biaggi.I am not big fan of Dani,but I have to admit on his day he is good and it is always good to see a good scrap at the front.I hope Aprillia come to the party and push Honda further back down the grid.Its not a good time for Honda in MotoGP or F1 at the moment.

Honda have a third of the regular 18 bike grid with six bikes already and they aren't going to increase that number due to the Scot/JiR parting of the ways. Shame the KR deal fell apart - no indpendent/privateer teams anymore - only satellite operations. Would be interesting to see what someone could do with a Suzuki or Kawasaki engine in a different chassis - but that might prove to be a bit too embarassing for the manufacturers.

So, at least for 2009 season, there's no ride available for spies at motogp. I don't believe he will jump on a worldsbk ride. Most probably he will remain with the ama series. It's a pity that we will have to wait to see how good he is at world level.

A great future for wsbk, attracting more and more people and factories.
Spies should go with yamaha, in corser's place, imo.

I think that there is some point to running a private team in MotoGP. It depends on how you go about it though. Look at Scot/Jir this year - well run team plus very fast rider and they have had a great season leading to there boy moving up into the full works team. Its how I would like to see the private teams run. New young fast riders using the private teams as a showcase. They don't have to win on these bikes - but consistantly running at the sharp end racing with the factory boys will get you noticed pretty fast. Like Dovi has Done this year.
Slightly off point but I think Dovi is going to murder Pedrosa next year.

Sasha, up until 2007 I think, the privateer teams were able to win races (gresini team). Since the 800's have come out I don't think there's been a privateer race winner, has there?