Pons loses one bike and Stoner

 
Italian team Lucio Cecchinello scored a Honda leasing bike and Casey Stoner
along with it. It remains to be seen whether he can hang on to the other one
and Checa - supposedly Camel remains local to Biaggi... which raises the
question when Camel and Biaggi established those close ties. I can just
remember the Biaggi-Camel thing when Max rode for Pons. Max -unlike Sete-
didn't think twice about switching sponsors to score the number 1 Repsol HRC
bike...

...pablo

 pablo wrote:

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/motogp/21218/

Seems that Biaggi and Camel are very likely to end up at Kawasaki now,
and the the Spanish Connection (Pons/Checa/Espeleta) will keep that team
afloat for another year, in reduced form. Once again, one must question
Sito's relationship with Honda.

Regarding your suggestion that Gibernau is somehow more loyal than
Biaggi, I think specific circumstances must be examined in both cases.
In Gibernau's case, Sete was contracted to Telefionica, his deal running
through this past season, and it has been said that he was getting much
more money from Telefonica than he would have gotten from Repsol. And
there was the fight between the sponsors relative to the future of the
factory team and probably already Pedrosa issues brewing. But in the end
Sete took the money and hoped that the factory parts he was given in '04
would continue to flow his way, and it's not entirely clear that he had
any choice anyway.

Max wasn't contracted to Camel, he was contracted to Pramac, and that
relationship with Honda melted down after last year anyway. So it was
probably very easy for Honda, Max and Repsol to do that deal, and Max
continued on this year with personal sponsorship from Camel, as I
understand it. Max has always paid a lot of attention to his sponsors,
more than the factories he's ridden for, from what I can tell.

 

Not sure what you mean. They an not dating. It's a business relationship,
and Sito has to pay up, no matter what.


I didn't say that, my only question is why Camel would feel so loyal.

...pablo

 pablo wrote:

Oh, sure you do. Earlier in this Biaggi/Camel drama I said "Honda seems
to be treating him like a puppet on a string, just as they always have",
to which you responded, "I think you underestimate Pons links to Japan
and in the European scene".


No, you didn't say that, but you sure seemed to imply that. The flip
side of not understanding Camel's loyalty to Biaggi is Biaggi's
disloyalty to Camel, and on that you said, "Max - unlike Sete -
didn't think twice about switching sponsors to score the number 1 Repsol
HRC bike". Seems pretty clear to me what you meant.

 

Mark - as all too often, this just makes sense in your mind. Yes, I remember
that conversation. However, the nature of the Honda-Pons relationship is now
just the same as it's always been - he's the manager of a long running lease
team. And your premise continues to be based on pure speculation on your
side.


Perhaps you need to engage your brain if that's what clarity means to you.
Being business minded is by no means being disloyal. That is a downright
stupid thing to say. The fact someone changes sponsors does not mean one is
disloyal to anyone - contracts run out and need to be renewed on both sides
etc. It's business, and just because an agreement ends does not mean anyone
is being disloyal. Get a grip.

...pablo