MotoGP

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.

While Silly Season for MotoGP seems to start earlier and earlier, the announcement of the calendar seems to get pushed back every year. 2011 is no exception, and even though September has started, there is still no provisional MotoGP calendar for next year, something which is normally published around the time of the Brno MotoGP weekend.

The reason for this year's delay is that the calendar faces a number of complications: Firstly, most people in the paddock are unhappy with the date of the opening MotoGP round at Qatar. While MotoGP fans had to wait until the second week of April for the season opener, the World Superbike series had already been underway for six weeks, and was entering its third weekend of racing. Then there is the issue of the Hungarian MotoGP round that went missing, the option of running Laguna Seca and Indianapolis back-to-back to help save money, and a host of other unresolved questions.

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:

MODERATOR: OK, ladies and gentlemen, riders are on their way. In third place, Jorge Lorenzo here at Indianapolis. (Applause) Jorge has a 68-point lead in the championship over Dani Pedrosa, of course, who won the race.  In second place, Ben Spies. (Applause) And the race winner, his third Grand Prix victory of the season, Dani Pedrosa.

Dani, you look absolutely shattered, I've got to say. I think that was, all three of you look absolutely shattered but that was a pretty tough afternoon's work.