We’ve got another juicy little rumor to add to our previous WSBK Silly Season post.
The latest gossip out of last weekend’s World Superbike Championship round at Brno is that Ducati Xerox will probably be handing Noriyuki Haga his walking papers at the end of this troubled season.
NitroNori has simply fizzled out and even if at Brno we saw a more aggressive looking rider but binning the Ducati twice in the Superpole session, does not bode well for another year in team that will see another Italian manufacturer and direct competitor in superbike sales take the title this year.
So who will take Haga’s place? It seems that Ernest Marinelli is talking to the evergreen Colin Edwards.
The Italian engineer who turned team manager after Davide Tardozzi defection to BMW has admitted that he’s put out feelers towards the two times Superbike champion and current MotoGP rider.
Carlos Checa is also high up on Ducati’s shopping list.
The Spaniard has certainly out performed the factory riders on his privateer Althea Ducati and is fourth in the standings, in front of both Nori Haga and Michel Fabrizio.
Ducati would also like to put an English rider on one of their official bikes to make their sponsor happy, but top riders Leon Haslam and Jonathan Rea are already tied to their current contracts for next year.
Haga seems to have changed his mind about retiring, he’ll have another mouth to feed in September, and has sent out signals to Sterilgarda Yamaha that he’s available and that would be a return to his old team that he left at the end of 2008, because it seems that James Toseland’s job is also on the line after his up and down season.
More silly stuff when we get it.