Soup :: Sears Point Superbike Round Kicks Off '06 Silly Season

Sears Point Superbike Round Kicks Off '06 Silly Season
by dean adams
Thursday, May 12, 2005

It's that time of year again, when rumors fly fast and furious and a very large game of contract poker begins--the silly season.

Where in the past the silly season has begun near the end of the year, in US Superbike the silly season will officially kick off at Sears Point this weekend with a gala party for 800 guests. Oh, hang on, that was the Supercross banquet last week in Vegas.

Regardless, this could be one of the more interesting silly seasons in recent memory. Many top shelf riders do not have contracts beyond 2005, including Mat Mladin, Miguel DuHamel, Kurtis Roberts, Aaron Yates, Roger Lee Hayden, Jamie Hacking, Aaron Gobert, Eric Bostrom and many others. What's more, it seems there are questions whether Neil Hodgson is signed for next season.

Million dollar question (literally) answered: Suzuki's Ben Spies is signed to Suzuki through 2006. And so is Jason Disalvo.

There have been rumors in Europe for months that Mat Mladin has been approached by a European team to race either MotoGP or World Superbike in 2006. Asked about the rumor at the Barber round several weeks ago, Mladin had no comment.

Questions:

Will Eric Bostrom return to Kawasaki next year? To begin with, only if they have a factory Superbike program.

Is Yamaha preparing to return to the big dog class in 2006? As always Big Blue holds its cards very close to their collective chests, but after spending two million dollars to modify the track at Laguna Seca for the MotoGP event, they can't possibly say they can't afford to race the premier class. But it was never about money was it? Jason Disalvo wants to race Superbike next season and says the subject is being brought up more now than ever at Yamaha.

What will Michael Jordan do in 2006? His current set-up is great if he desires to have possible Superstock wins and decent Superbike results. It's just that one can only assume that the NBA legend is in motorbike racing for a little more than for good results in the pretend class. Do Mat Mladin or Miguel DuHamel play golf? Yes (sadly) they do.

Troy Bayliss' US Superbike tenure ended far too early for the tastes of some (two poles, mind you). Would he entertain racing Superbike in the US for one final year? Sure, for something like one million dollars.

It's clear that Miguel DuHamel wants to race for at least two more seasons beyond 2005—with his '04 triple wins showing that he's still very competitive. However, will the Honda machinery have evolved into a package commensurate with the talent on the seat pad by then?

Hodgson's current Ducati contract ends this year. They're discussing 2006, but he'll be as popular as a monster with an enourmous schwanstucker once the word gets out that he's unsigned. And gee, doesn't the Ducati World Superbike team need him in a bad way?

Perhaps Mat Mladin will start his own Superbike team in 2006? Oh, that's right, he already has one, with Marty Cragill as rider. Hmmmm ...

Stay tuned.

ENDS

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