With the serious amount of good riders and corresponding lack of available seats, some people are going to be left with nothing to do at the beginning of next season. Former champion Tom Sykes shouldn’t be one of them as he is in deep negotiations with both Honda and SMR.

It appears that Honda are favouring Sykes over the like of Melandri, Baz, Laverty, Torres, Savadori et al but the Huddersfield rider has admitted that he doesn’t come cheap and he might be a bit rich (£400,000 is the figure being circulated) for Shaun Muir’s budget.

There is a small chance that Sykes could re-appear in BSB with Paul Bird’s team but the Penrith chicken chopper is focused on securing the services of Scott Redding, who is going to get a shock when he rocks up at Knockhill for the first time.

Muir, meanwhile, is taking his time selecting manufacturers and, similarly, riders because he is in no rush. Like other team bosses, he has the upper hand as supply is high and demand is low.

Melandri has friends in high places at HRC and could find a berth in the satellite TripleM Honda stable but the team can only field a second bike if the big H pays for it and all the associated staff etc.

It looks increasingly likely that the vaunted GRT Yamaha move up to the big class has hit budgetary stumbling blocks so that is another door that will more than likely close in Melandri’s little face.

Markus Reiterberger is a wildcard in all this as he is, on his day, as fast as the top guys and will demand a fraction of the salary. He is very popular within the BMW ranks so should the German manufacturer decide it is coming back with a full effort, expect the German to be top of the rider list.

Kyalami looks set to return to the WorldSBK calendar after a near-decade absence. Rumours at Portimao put the race at the end of August on a track that has been revamped, lengthened, widened and resurfaced. Sith Ifrican Sheridan Morais has ridden on it and says it ‘used to be Mickey Mouse but now it’s not’. So there.