Cal Crutchlow

The return of a British MotoGP draws ever nearer. Cal Crutchlow has been linked to a MotoGP ride for several months now, but the Englishman now looks set to finalize the deal in the next couple of weeks, with an announcement possibly coming as early as this weekend at Misano. Talks are expected to take place here in Misano to settle the last few details with Yamaha bosses, but a deal now looks to be certain.

Crutchlow is so sure of securing the deal that he has broken off talks with World Superbike teams, and is focused on switching to MotoGP with the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha squad, MotoMatters.com understands. An announcement by the Sterilgarda Yamaha rider is now merely a formality.

Crutchlow has made no secret of his desire to move up to MotoGP. The Englishman came close to signing a Moto2 deal with Fausto Gresini in the middle of last year, while Crutchlow was still racing World Supersport, but Yamaha held him to the second year of his two-year deal, which saw Crutchlow join the Sterilgarda Yamaha team in World Superbikes. Crutchlow has an option to stay with Yamaha's WSBK squad, but has decided to turn it down for a shot in MotoGP with Tech 3.

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.

Yesterday, we discussed who is going where in the factory teams in MotoGP. For the most part, those deals are either public, or really badly-kept secrets. Today, we'll look at the situation among the satellite teams, a situation which is much, much less clear-cut than the factory squad, in part because the factory deals have not all been announced yet. The number of changes are suprisingly few, reflecting in part the problems in MotoGP. As costs rise, the cost of being competitive is growing, and more importantly, the cost of failure is increasing as well.

As a consequence, teams are not willing to take chances on unproven but promising talent. The learning curve in MotoGP is now so steep - electronics, bike setup, but most especially tires - that it takes half a season to start to get your head around the class. Limited testing has made the situation much, much worse, raising the penalty for rookies entering the class even further - the scrabbling around for substitute riders for Valentino Rossi, Hiroshi Aoyama and Randy de Puniet illustrating the case perfectly.

Despite all attempts to put MotoGP's silly season on hold while the world awaits Valentino Rossi's announcement that he has signed for Ducati, the business of filling next year's empty seats rumbles on. That business is most pressing for the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha team, as the team looks set to lose both its current riders at the end of this season.

In an interview with the French website Moto Caradisiac, Monster Tech 3 team boss Herve Poncharal sheds some light on his plans for 2011. The interview covers both MotoGP and Moto2, and in it, Poncharal lets slip a few interesting details.

Before talking about what his plans are for next season, he first points out that everything is contingent on Valentino Rossi moving to Ducati. But that matter is to be cleared up on the Sunday night after the Brno race, Poncharal told Moto Caradisiac, saying that Yamaha has a press conference planned at which they will announce their 2011 line up.

With Valentino Rossi out until after the summer, the race is on to find a replacement. But with MotoGP bikes becoming ever more specialized, that's not as simple as it sounds. Most speculation so far has centered on the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha team, with Colin Edwards the name most commonly linked to the Fiat Yamaha ride. An announcement had been expected to the effect that Edwards would be replacing Rossi on Friday afternoon after FP1 at Silverstone, but the decision is still on hold.

When asked by MotoMatters.com, both Yamaha Motor Racing managing director Lin Jarvis and Tech 3 team boss Herve Poncharal confirmed that no decision had yet been made. "We have had many, many meetings," Jarvis said, "But we are still not decided."

More videos from OnTheThrottle.tv, the OTT crew taking full advantage of being on-site at Miller Motorsports Park. This time, David Williams, Jonathan Green and Steve Martin sit down for a long chat with reigning World Supersport champion Cal Crutchlow. The Sterilgarda Yamaha rider talks about a huge range of subjects: How he got started, why he switched from soccer to motorcycle racing, the phenomenon that is Max Biaggi, traveling to Monza under the shadow of a volcanic ash cloud, and ambitions in MotoGP.

Jason DiSalvo celebrates racing at his home round with a special helmet paintjob

Jakub Smrz was part of the Great Ducati Revival in Utah

On a bigger bike this year, but still fast: Cal Crutchlow

Racing is rapidly approaching, and a spate of bike launches have taken place over the last week of so, few of which we have been able to give the coverage or publicity they deserve. Yamaha, however, have made our job extremely easy, providing photographs and video of both the MotoGP and World Superbike launches. Today was the turn of the 2010 Yamaha World Superbike team to unveil its livery. Sterilgarda remains as title sponsor to the team, and Cal Crutchlow and James Toseland have the task of taking up the mantle left behind by departing champion Ben Spies.

The launch also revealed some interesting changes to the 2010 Yamaha YZF-R1. Power is up by 8 horsepower compared to last year, with the benefits coming across the rev range, while the bike is also 3kg lighter. The radiator and lower fairing have been redesigned for better aerodynamics, while also increasing cooling. And the fuel tank has been simultaneously lightened and had its capacity increased. You can read more about the new R1, as well as find out about who and what Sterilgarda is exactly on the Yamaha Racing website. And you can judge the changes for yourself from the photos below:

Alstare Suzuki's Leon Haslam was the fastest of the World Superbike paddock on the first day of testing at Valencia. The young Briton was quickly up to speed on the new Suzuki GSX-R1000, taking two tenths of a second off Noriyuki Haga's race lap record at Valencia. That was exactly the same margin by which Haslam was faster than Max Biaggi, the Aprilia rider continuing his development of the RSV4, the bike continuing to show potential.

James Toseland had a strong outing at his second test of the bike, and pronounced himself pleased to be riding at a track he knows so well, after initially making his debut on the Yamaha R1 at Portimao, a tough track to master, without also having to get to grips with a new bike and tires. Toseland and his team mate Cal Crutchlow spent their time working on a new electronics package, the necessity of which was demonstrated by an early crash for Toseland. The Englishman locked the rear of his Yamaha up on a cold tire, while changing down between Turns 4 and 5.

Johnny Rea set the 4th fastest time of the day, just ahead of Crutchlow. Crutchlow was 0.7 faster than the second Ten Kate Honda rider Max Neukirchner, Aprilia's Leon Camier and Aprilia's test rider Alex Hoffman.