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MotoGP summer break gossip, rumour and intrigue

Ducati MotogGP boss Paolo Ciabatti has said that Jorge Lorenzo's brace of wins came too late for them to keep him as a rider after both parties had agreed not to discuss the future until after the first three European races - or the start of the ground war, as Wayne Rainey called it.

Ciabatti had expected his expensive signing to come good in 2018 but winter testing - Sepang apart - was disastrous and a crash at Jerez, mediocre form at Le Mans meant the phone call to Honda had already been made by the time the Mugello win appeared.

Suzuki's Andrea Iannone reckons he can 'do anything' with the GSX-RR if he didn't have big problems in the second half of races. The Italian has been very fast on new tyres but as soon as the rear Michelin starts to drop, he's is fish in a barrel.

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"This aspect costs me much more than my teammates. I think the potential is very high, but it should also stay high when the tires are worn out," he said.

Looks like Karel Abraham is staying in MotoGP next season as his chequebook has replaced that of Xavier Simeon at Avintia Ducati. He will get a 2018 Desmosedici to ride and could be a regular points man as he has showed occasional turns of speed in recent seasons.

HRC chiefs are happy with the role Cal Crutchlow is playing for them but factory team boss Alberto Puig thinks he should fall off a little less.

"I think Cal is doing really well. The only problem is that he has some crashes that bring him down a little bit in the championship," he said.

"But potential-wise and speed-wise, he is showing good performance and he is also helping us a lot in development. And we are happy. We expect that next year it will be the same."

Puig opted to take on Lorenzo instead of promoting Crutchlow when Dani Pedrosa jacked, and said it was an opportunistic move. "I don’t know what Ducati was thinking about... and we don't care. There was an opportunity and we took it."

Petronas Yamaha have not yet offically announced either of their riders but it is expected that both Morbidelli and Quartararo will be unveiled this week, and also a surprise move into their Moto3 team too...

It looks like most of the Moto2 moves are pretty close to done and dusted with only a handful of riders left to do their deals, including Sam Lowes. The Isle of Man resident is apparently in talks with several teams but could opt for a seat next to Alex Marquez.

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