WSBK » Ducati: Vermeulen, Biaggi or Byrne

Badovini .. that's putting the "wild" into wildcard!! He is certainly fast on the Kawasaki, crashes a lot, has had one top 10 at Monza when half the field blew up or retired. I don't know enough about him, to be honest, and he hasn't leapt out of the pack to say "I'm a real talent on a ****** bike" at any stage yet. Probably "no" then.

oops, that's suppose to be "test mule for Michelin and Yamaha"

Shakey is a very talented and hungry rider and, more to the point, he's a Brit. That might sound crazy, but WSBK is very important in the UK and this year, for the first time that I can remember, there are no Brits in it. By contrast WSS is drawing lots of attention from the UK because there are several very good riders in there. Ducati have done very well over the years with British riders so why not pick Shakey?

With max or shane ducati can forget the 2009 riders-WC...

Why does it have to be an Aussie/Ducati combination,remember Fogarty,Hodgeson and Toseland all won on Duke's so i would have Haslem and Camier in the Ducati Factory team in WSB.

No love for Troy Corser?? I know there are rumours he's going to BMW. Don't forget Corser won the 1996(?) title on the Ducati. For a proven rider who can win championships, there aren't too many around. Biaggi is too inconsistent. I don't rate Byrne. Xerox already have a young rider in development in Fabrizio - I think they should go for Corser

I see Melandri to Kawasaki in MotoGP, Vermuelen to stay with Suzuki, Hayden to Ducati, Dovisioso to Repsol Honda. Which leaves West.

Can anyone else see Ant West replacing Corser at Yamaha when he leaves for BMW/Ducati/other? West got into MotoGP based on his Yamaha WSS performances. From what I understand, the relationship was a good one

Nice connection Bolts - Westy to Yamaha - I hadn't put those two pieces together again. There is little doubt that Kawasaki will drop him for 09, and he'll live a bit longer as a result, maybe long enough to win some races again. If he doesn't get the WSBK ride then WSS for sure till he gets some scores back again. This 08 Kawasaki is a rider cruncher for sure. Westy for Yamaha. Pitt for Ducati

Bolts .. one more thing. Are there ANY riders in the field at the moment after Bayliss and Corser who have WSBK championships?? Add Max as a 250 WC and the field of champion riders is very small. It's interesting though that 9 of the top 10 riders in 2008 MotoGP have a WC in one discipline or another. Dovi is the exception to that. This is not noted to lower WSBK in any way, it's just that it sticks out a mile. Strange eh!!

If we are talking about Brits what about Sykes, Crutchlow, Haslam or Camier? Haslam has done WSBK before (along with everything else) and he's still young.

Haslam has done every thing and not very well either had all his chances by now surely. Biaggi should stay where he is, he's doing well now but everytime he's had a factory ride(besides 250) he never does as well as he should.