When Randy de Puniet climbed on board the Ducati Desmosedici for the first tests everyone was saying how well his loose riding style seemed suited for the beast from Borgo Panigale; which statistically has overwhelmed more riders than we can count (including a certain 9 times World Champion), but even the French rider hasn’t gelled with the machine.
De Puniet has crashed out five times in nine races so far this season (he and Marco Simoncelli are gunning for that dubious record) his previous injuries have hampered him and now he’s picked up a more serious one at Laguna Seca, but it seems that the Pramac Ducati rider may not be in MotoGP next season and may be heading to new and ‘greener’ pastures.
According to the lowdown from our French cousins at Motosblog, de Puniet has been offered a Kawasaki to ride in the World Superbikes championship in lieu of the constantly injured Chris Vermeulen.
De Puniet debuted in MotoGP in 2006 with Kawasaki, spending two seasons with them and his best result was a 2nd place in 2007 at a very wet Motegi.
Whether de Puniet will go to WSBK’s remains to be seen but judging from the results that MotoGP refugees have been having in the series (Checa, Biaggi, Melandri) it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to think about it.