NEWS

WORLD SUPERBIKES: LATEST GOSSIP, NEWS AND RUMOUR

18/11/2009

Leon Camier looks set to be on the Aprilia next year

By Edgar Jessop
Image by Graeme Brown

It would appear that Leon Camier is firmly in the frame to partner Max Biaggi in the factory Aprilia team next season. The reigning British Superbike Champion is testing the bike today and tomorrow at Misano and is expected to put pen to paper after that.

Meanwhile, Guandalini have switched allegiance from Bologna to Noale and Jakub Smrz will run on RSV4s next season. There is no news of a team-mate as yet but it could be MotoGP ejectee Alex De Angelis and his pot of gold.

WSB boss Paolo Flammini is, apparently, not HP with all the chat about 1000cc production motors being introduced into MotoGP in 2012, or something. He made a lot of noise about Moto2 but then went quiet. I would imagine that Flammini's contract with the FIM states he has the stranglehold on production racebikes, not production engines in prototype chassis...

Ronald Ten Kate has said he has every faith in his young pairing of Jonathan Rea and Max Neukirchner for the 2010 season. He reckons he didn't push the German to put in fast laptimes at the Portimao test but after some more testing at Valencia and Portimao, he expects Neukirchner to be on front-row pace.

New Xerox Ducati team boss Ernesto Marinelli has said it will be difficult to step into Davide Tardozzi's shoes (presumably because Tardozzi is about four feet tall) but he believes he is up to the job. The Italian also quipped that Noriyuki Haga didn't take his defeat well at Portimao, likening his reaction to taking an ice-cream off a child.

Fan favourite Karl Muggeridge has swapped to the IDM Superbike series in Germany after failing to secure a decent seat in World Superbikes. Shame that as I bet someone in British Superbikes would have given him a ride. Shaun..?