Pons is out !

I blame stoner

no more flying banana's then ?
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Ohh thats ....!!!

It's a conspiracy. A big conspracy. A big Honda conspiracy....
Any way where will the RCV destined for Chucka go now? Will honda only run 6 bikes?

:angry:this news sucks the big kahuna!

I'm with you. 25 years there, though Gresini is the better of the two teams. But this is a sign of the times, and the trouble MotoGP is in, a stong satellite team like Pons pulling out, even if its (Apparently) only for a year

Here's a statement from today, by Checa over the nightmare ?


MotoGP News

Carlos Checa considering options after Honda Pons withdrawal
News, 05/01/06

Carlos Checa has issued a statement regarding Honda Pons´ withdrawal from the 2006 MotoGP season. The decision to end the team´s 25 seasons competing at the highest level has left Checa without a ride.

“Whilst thinking about the first test of the year in Sepang, I received the unpleasant news that the Honda Pons team with which I was to race in the upcoming MotoGP season had withdrawn from competitive activity, as a result of a lack of sponsor. The timing of this decision at the beginning of the 2006 preseason leaves me in a complicated situation as regards the future, as I find myself without alternatives that would allow me to compete for good results”.

Checa, whilst disappointed at his lack of options for the upcoming season, maintains a positive outlook on the situation.

“It is paradoxical that after having confided fully in my future, awaiting a season with Honda and a technical team that I know well and in which I had the utmost confidence, that things have turned around completely and left me out of the game. However, it is clear that now is not a moment to complain or look for guilty parties in this regretful situation. I have never done it because it simply isn´t my style”.

“The only thing that is certain is that all the excitement that I had stored up for the 2006 season, based on my confidence in what had been offered to me, has disappeared in one moment. I am sure that I will not let my guard down against this disappointing situation and give up this positive state of mind, because I am and always have been a fighter”.

On what awaits the Spaniard, who had an impressive second half of the 2005 season, he remains open to whatever options present themselves to him.

“Circumstance leaves me out of the championship, but I still consider myself an active rider and I won´t discard any future possibilities”.

This is so disappointing. So many riders have left Motogp this year and now this.
I'm afraid to see how this will change motogp.

Awful deal really, the Pons team is perhaps the most respected customer team on the grid and they can't even secure enough sponsorship money to field one rider, a sponsor friendly Carlos Checa I might add. The good news is that Pons claims he will be back in MotoGP in 2007. As for Checa, how unlucky. He has been mediocre aboard the Yamaha for some time and was disappointing aboard the Ducati for the first half of the season and comes good in the second half and was instantly fast in his first test on the RC211V. At the age of 33, who knows how many more chances Checa will have on decent machinery. It's a shame Honda and Camel had to be so stubborn, great teams like the Pons team and riders like Checa are the ones who ultimately suffer, not the multi million/billion dollar corporations JT Tobacco or Honda.

hmmmm major bummer

At least Pon's is talking of 2007 and not gone forever.

whats this latest crap about camel trying to become yamahas new sponsor... this just keeps gettin more bizzare!

Well yamaha do need one for their "Factory" team, which will be hard to get if Rossi's on his own little team, with his own sponsors. Who's partnering Edwards on the official "Factory" team? Is it going to be another one man job?

What's happening to our beloved sport???

This will confusion and loss of well known riders will not help grow the sport.
It really is a huge shame that it appears as if MotoGp may go the road of Formula 1.

Slowly but surely ruin a great sport as they did with WSBK.

i guess .... happenz ! i think stoner wil end up with a ride in the 250cc next year as der is no team obiviously but what happenz to checa ! rrr bless

Stoner will be in MotoGP in 2006, he signed a contract with the LCR team that he rode 250s on and LCR has signed for Honda RC211V's in 2006.

Honda said they would only put seven RCV's on the grid, now they got six. Will they just forget the seventh one now, reserve it for Pons (hopeful) return? or will it go to someone else?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (richo @ Jan 8 2006, 02:23 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Honda said they would only put seven RCV's on the grid, now they got six. Will they just forget the seventh one now, reserve it for Pons (hopeful) return? or will it go to someone else?
honda actually wants to reduce the # of thier bikes. unless theres some eleventh hour deal goin on, there should only be 6 hondas this season.