Alvaro Bautista

With the highest-profile moves all officially confirmed, MotoGP's Silly Season is starting to run out of steam. The big surprises are out of the way, and we are left with just over half the seats still unfilled. But even for the unsigned rides, names have already been penciled in, some rather more firmly than others. 

The two big names still waiting to put their signatures under contracts are surely Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa. Lorenzo's Brazilian manager is said to be playing hardball with Yamaha, trying to extract the best possible conditions out of the Japanese factory now that the sales powerhouse Valentino Rossi has left Yamaha to go to Ducati. Rumors of a 14 million euro salary demand are unconfirmed, but with Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica likely to take on sponsorship of the Yamaha squad, Lorenzo might be expected to earn that in sponsorship by allying his selling power to the Telefonica brand.

Being a Texan, Ben Spies is naturally unfazed at being thrown out of the saddle

Nico Terol shows that blue can be the fastest color

Seeing eye-to-eye: Colin Edwards ...

The press office of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway continue to do an outstanding job, collecting the following notes and quotes from the riders in today's MotoGP race. For quotes from the podium riders, see the separate news item.

MotoGP POST-RACE NOTES:

The industrious folks in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway press office have done part of our job again, collecting quotes from fifteen of the seventeen MotoGP riders for tomorrow's MotoGP race. Even better, they came up with a selection of fascinating statistics from today's qualifying session as well. Here's the official IMS press notes and quotes:

MotoGP QUALIFYING NOTES:

On Monday morning, Jules Cisek had a final chance to take some photos during the Brno test. He had to be quick, though, as he was soon chased out of pit lane by overly officious security guards.

Pramac - because Ducati's don't necessarily have to be red

Nicky Hayden's wrist was sore, but he had work to do, so he got on with it

Still crazy after all these years: Italian veteran Loris Capirossi

Race day pictures from Brno, courtesy of Jules Cisek:

Andrea Iannone looked like doing another disappearing act in the Moto2 race, then went backwards

In good company: Rookie Marco Simoncelli chases two MotoGP and one WSBK champion

Dani Pedrosa hung in there a long time, but there was no staying with Jorge Lorenzo

While Scott Jones, MotoMatters.com's own photographer is back home in California, our friend Jules Cisek is here at Brno instead. And fortunately for us, Jules is a dab hand with the camera as well. Here's his photos from Saturday.

It's decision day for Rossi on Sunday at Brno

A ride through the forest: Brno provides a beautiful setting for motorcycle racing

Alvaro Bautista is getting pretty beat up this year. His big crash on Saturday morning left him thankfully just bruised

Alvaro Bautista's rookie year in MotoGP has been incredibly tough. After breaking a shoulder in a training crash while riding a motocross bike in early May, the Rizla Suzuki rider has suffered further injury at Brno. Bautista fell heavily at Turn 3 during this morning's FP2 session, landing on his back and crawling away in pain. The Spaniard was taken immediately to the medical center, where he was diagnosed with a suspected fracture of the L1 vertebra, and then flown to Brno hospital for further medical examinations.

The circuit medical center has ruled Bautista unfit to take part in qualifying practice, and the Spaniard is almost certain to miss tomorrow's race. No news is as yet available on whether Bautista will be fit for the next round at Indianopolis. More updates as and when they become available.

UPDATE

Various sources are reporting that Bautista has been given the all clear by the Brno hospital. No fractures were found during the examination, but Bautista did suffer very heavy bruising on his back, which he will have treated using pain killers and physiotherapy. Bautista is currently on his way back to the circuit to attempt to take part in qualifying.

With the MotoGP season at its halfway point, and the silly season starting to shake itself out, it's time to take a look at the state of the market for 2011. With contracts either signed or on the verge of being signed, the picture of who will be riding where is becoming clear. For the most part, names have been at least pencilled in, those pencil strokes to be replaced by contractually obliging ink after Brno and Indianapolis, but there are still one or two question marks that remain open.

In the first part of this silly season summary, we will address who goes where in the factory teams. The rider picture is just about settled, with the only real question mark what happens at Suzuki. But riders aren't the only factor here, as somebody has to pay the bills. So alongside the rider lineup for each team, we've addressed the issue of sponsorship, and who is likely to be footing the bill next year. Riders and sponsors in bold are confirmed (or as good as confirmed), while names in italics are either best guesses or based on firm rumors. Tomorrow, we will look at the state of the satellite teams.