Saved by Spain Again, But for How Long?
Where would MotoGP be without Spanish investment? I am not just talking about Dorna. Quietly and without headlines beyond the borders of Spain and Italy, the notoriously unstable Pramac Ducati team has already shed one rider, Nicolo Canepa. Canepa leaves Kallio alone at Pramac to join the Spanish Grupo Francisco Hernando team along with Sete Gibernau. Although Paolo Campinoti, now sole owner of the Pramac team, is without Alice, the team sponsor in 2008, he bravely says that Pramac will still run a two-rider team. Ducati, however, has said that it cannot supply a sixth set of bikes. (They, if there are no further changes, will run Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden on the Marlboro bikes, Gibernau and Canepa with the Grupo Francisco Hernando, and Kallio on a lone Pramac machine.)
At a time when satellite teams are suffering from lack of sponsorship the Onde 2000 team of colorful, Spanish, self-made billionaire Francisco Hernando (“El Pocero”) seems to be the healthiest non-factory team in MotoGP. “El Pocero” had already requested machines for Fonsi Nieto, the nephew of the legendary Angel Nieto, whose two sons, “Gelete” and Pablo direct the Onde 2000 team. This request was denied.
Now, to save factory-rider-of-the-future Canepa, the Italian company has gladly agreed to supply “El Pocero” with additional
bikes and technical support for the former 1000cc Superstock FIM Cup Champion who spent last season as Ducati factory tester on the Desmosedici and 1098 projects.
Just as Kawasaki originally refused bikes to Aspar only to find that the Spanish team may be the green team's only salvation, Ducati, after turning down the request by “El Pocero” for additional bikes, now finds that the Madrid-based team is the only organization capable of bailing out their struggling satellite team Pramac.
Without Spain (Repsol and Italy's FIAT are the only major non-tobacco team sponsors in MotoGP), the premier class of the FIM World Roadracing Championship, would certainly be in a much more serious crisis.
The problem with bailouts is that, in times of crisis, everyone wants one. Kawasaki are experiencing the same problems as other factories, and, if Dorna steps in to keep Kawasaki running, Suzuki may be next in line for a handout. And why not? Honda, the manufacturer providing six bikes, Ducati, providing five, and Yamaha, providing four may also be looking to Dorna for more generous revenue sharing.
The meeting of the MSMA in Japan is going to be a tough one for Dorna, but Ezpeleta has kept this precarious union of four Japanese factories and Ducati on message and on track in the past. This will be a true test of his leadership and of the strength ($) of Dorna Sports S.L.
