Crutchlow...Your thoughts ?

I pretty sure Cal is in the lucky position to have a contract with Tech3 next season but...



If it wasn't for this contract, I would be getting slightly nervous about his chances of retaining the ride. I know he is in his rookie season and has done OK, but with the current economic crisis and the financial pressures ( sponsors needing guys to be running at the front / or at least finishing ) this has bought to all the teams, do you think that at this point in the season, Tech3 would have been thinking about retaining him ?



Edwards sounds like he may be on his way out of the team if its true that Bradl is on the radar, but he still has double Cal's points.



I really like Cal and the way he rides a bike. I hope he can start to run a bit further up the front and get a few decent finishes to regain a bit of confidence. Us Brits need a guy in MotoGP !!!!!



Any thoughts guys and girls ?

Bradl is on a couple of teams shopping lists (by the way, 6 Honda's is the magic number), he is at least as likely for LCR as Tech 3). I do think that Edwards will probably leave GP although as far as retiring I don't know.



Does Laverty count as a Brit? He's from a nearby island! He's been shopping the GP paddock.

He seemed to be ok till his Silverstone crash. I'm sure it's just a confidence thing, lets hope he's back to normal soon enough as he was doing ok till then.

Bigguy said:

Does Laverty count as a Brit? He's from a nearby island! He's been shopping the GP paddock.

Click to expand...

He's near enough for me



Dunno if he'll be in MotoGP next year (Moto2 maybe) but it's surely not far off. I guess I can see Haslam or Camier in MotoGP soon enough but Norge seems most likely for a decent ride

Bigguy said:

Does Laverty count as a Brit? He's from a nearby island! He's been shopping the GP paddock.

Click to expand...

Northern Ireland is part of the British isles mate. Southern Ireland is not.



I like Cal, he always seems a happy chappy but lately the stress is starting to show. I would love to see how he performs on a better ride but i doubt we will ever get to see that.

Stevo said:

He seemed to be ok till his Silverstone crash. I'm sure it's just a confidence thing, lets hope he's back to normal soon enough as he was doing ok till then. He's near enough for me

Dunno if he'll be in MotoGP next year (Moto2 maybe) but it's surely not far off. I guess I can see Haslam or Camier in MotoGP soon enough but Norge seems most likely for a decent ride

Click to expand...

He told Toby and Jules last weekend that he's only interested in MotoGP or World Superbike. No Moto2 for Laverty.

chopperman said:

Northern Ireland is part of the British isles mate. Southern Ireland is not.



I like Cal, he always seems a happy chappy but lately the stress is starting to show. I would love to see how he performs on a better ride but i doubt we will ever get to see that.

Click to expand...

I thought he was on a pretty decent bike. There are 7 other riders that would swap with him, Im sure.

Bunyip said:

I thought he was on a pretty decent bike. There are 7 other riders that would swap with him, Im sure.

Click to expand...

Yeah, its a 6th or 7th possition bike as just about every rider who rides it shows. Both cal and colin have been complaining about its front end grip and tyre usage this year.

From the tone and words of Herve, he is losing patience. He was miffed that Ctutchlow pulled in and retired from a race, and he is really miffed at all the crashes. So far, his claim to fame is he has replaced Edwards as having the foulest mouth in the paddock, but they say its close. He has got to start finishing races in the top 7-8 or he will be looking. At this point, it would be much cheaper to buy out his contract than continue to rebuild mutimillion dollar machines every week.

chopperman said:

Yeah, its a 6th or 7th possition bike as just about every rider who rides it shows. Both cal and colin have been complaining about its front end grip and tyre usage this year.

Click to expand...

There have been some pretty suspect front tire situations at Tech3, and I wouldn't doubt Lorenzo's deal at Brno might be related. Cal got some flack for pulling in during one of those situations, and I'd say he did the right thing. He already had one major injury, no need to risk two.



So, I wouldn't say Cal got to GP with the normal credential I would expect, but then again, I'm not keen on the Moto2 being the only way to MotoGP. I was vocal about Toesland retaining his ride in GP, I got little to no support on it. Cal this year has performed about as good, so I'll say right here, he deserves a third year (and that's without seeing what his 2nd year looks like yet). Apart from having some good pace, the dude is a no-nonsense clown antics type, and I personally like that (I'm still kinda wondering why the Brits get behind Simo so much).



There's been a lot of bitching this year between a few Spanish and Italian riders and frankly I expect it, but an Aussie also chimed in this year during a few practice sessions, and of the riders in the paddock I'd expect Cal (and Edwards, not sure to include Spies) to be the only ones to bitch slap one of them if they got out of line. Its a redeeming quality for me, hahaha (yeah, yeah, I know, I'm being a bit flippant, don't take me too seriously, though I still like the thought.)

Stevo said:

He seemed to be ok till his Silverstone crash. I'm sure it's just a confidence thing, lets hope he's back to normal soon enough as he was doing ok till then.





He's near enough for me

Dunno if he'll be in MotoGP next year (Moto2 maybe) but it's surely not far off. I guess I can see Haslam or Camier in MotoGP soon enough but Norge seems most likely for a decent ride

Click to expand...

No disrespect to Cal, but Haslam is easily the most talented Brit you guys have right now. You put him on a competitive bike and he'll challenge for the title in Supers. He did so when the Suz was doing well, that is until, in true Suzuki fashion, they decided to cost cut and let him ride an undeveloped bike the rest of the season, handing it to Biaggi (who was on a well sorted bike). Of this, I'm sure, put Haslam on a competitive bike and you will have your next great Brit in GP.



(Or you guys could ask Hopkins to run the Union Jack.

Bigguy said:

Does Laverty count as a Brit? He's from a nearby island! He's been shopping the GP paddock.

Click to expand...

In your defense, he did run the Irish flag, so it was a bit confusing. But as I'm told, he is a Brit. Cal only won two races (at home) so its conceivable for Laverty to make the jump. But honestly, I doubt he's on any GP proper teams. CRT, that's another thing. (If he does got to GP though, I hope they treat him like .... until he starts winning. Its just the professionally acceptable thing to do, right? )

I don't think Tech3 is that bad of a team. Just that the riders they have pretty much................ SUCK.



Why the hell would they even want to keep Colin Edwards around, this is the same dude that couldn't even muster a win out of the factory Yamaha.

Cal had an excellent start to the season, and more than any recent Brit is the series, appears to have the potential, aggresion and lack of fear to take it further. Unfortunately since the British round things have gone pretty badly. I think it's good that he's got a second season signed up because the pressure for a rookie to retain his ride is a bit harsh. Also, it is actually quite typical of rookies to start excellently until something goes wrong, then suddenly realize things are hard and have to build again from scratch. This is the test, he needs to get back to where he was, he needs time. Having said all that, he isn't likely to be rookie of the year (1 tick in the moto2 box) and JT got a 6th place in his first season, something Cal is yet to do.

Jumkie said:

In your defense, he did run the Irish flag, so it was a bit confusing. But as I'm told, he is a Brit. Cal only won two races (at home) so its conceivable for Laverty to make the jump. But honestly, I doubt he's on any GP proper teams. CRT, that's another thing. (If he does got to GP though, I hope they treat him like .... until he starts winning. Its just the professionally acceptable thing to do, right?

)

Click to expand...

As i said Northern Ireland is part of the british isles but that doesn't mean all of it's people want to be concidered British. If he flys the Irish flag then he is more than likely catholic and wants .... all to do with the british let alone fly the union jack

Jumkie said:

I was vocal about Toesland retaining his ride in GP, I got little to no support on it.

Click to expand...

There's a shocker...

SuperShinya56 said:

Why the hell would they even want to keep Colin Edwards around, this is the same dude that couldn't even muster a win out of the factory Yamaha.

Click to expand...

He's been kept around at the request of Yamaha. They want him to continue to aid in development work. The only way he leaves the paddock is if he agrees to become a test rider for Yamaha (which is what they want). If he thinks he wants to continue racing, Yamaha Japan will throw him another contract because his developmental skills are that good.

chopperman said:

As i said Northern Ireland is part of the british isles but that doesn't mean all of it's people want to be concidered British. If he flys the Irish flag then he is more than likely catholic and wants .... all to do with the british let alone fly the union jack

Click to expand...

From what I heard, that was just World Superbike not knowing the difference between Ireland and Northern Ireland and just running the Irish flag for him. I believe he said he doesn't care.

povol said:

From the tone and words of Herve, he is losing patience. He was miffed that Ctutchlow pulled in and retired from a race, and he is really miffed at all the crashes. So far, his claim to fame is he has replaced Edwards as having the foulest mouth in the paddock, but they say its close. He has got to start finishing races in the top 7-8 or he will be looking. At this point, it would be much cheaper to buy out his contract than continue to rebuild mutimillion dollar machines every week.

Click to expand...

From what I heard Herve was fuming at Cal at silverstone because he was told to go out and do 3 or 4 laps to get heat into the tyres in quallie before trying to do a flyer.

But he did just the one outlap and tried to get onto the pace straight away which resulted in a different flyer and a broken collar bone.

Herve was not an happy bunny at all.



I have to agree with most Cals start to the season was looking so promising, regular finishes and bringing home some points. And silverstone seemed to be the backward turning point, (maybe his shoulder hurts! couldn't resist!) but he was injured.

It seems strange about the tyres though, I mean at the begining of the season they were running ok and finishing races but from assen onwards seems to be chewing them up far too quickly. Maybe a tiny step back on settings might propel them forward.



I just hope Cal can get his head round it and start to pick up his game. We brits need someone in GP!

Austin said:

From what I heard, that was just World Superbike not knowing the difference between Ireland and Northern Ireland and just running the Irish flag for him. I believe he said he doesn't care.

Click to expand...

He raced under the Irish flag when he was in 250

Tom said:

He raced under the Irish flag when he was in 250

Click to expand...

As I was typing it, I thought I had seen an Irish flag next to his name for a long time but figured I'd post the story I'd heard anyways.

Another redeeming quality is Cals pace. Usually mid pack. Thats decent. He may not be finishing races but he isnt slow. Thats what has been saving Simo, that is they hav the potential.