Details are very murky at the moment, but it appears as if Jakub Smrz's hard riding may be close to paying off.

Smrz, possibly the hardest-riding man in the 2010 World Superbike championship, has already tested the BMW Superbike and some feel he will be racing a BMW yet this season.

How this will all play out will be interesting, to say the least. Do BMW plan to have Smrz (27) race a factory BMW in 2010? The factory BMW team already has two contracted riders, Ruben Xaus and Troy Corser, and also has a test rider in TV commentator Steve Martin. And then there is the matter of Smrz's current team.

A former GP rider, Smrz is a favorite of many WSBK insiders and watchers as he has developed into a very aggressive rider. He regularly out-paces the factory Ducati riders in practice, qualifying and in some races, even though Smrz rides an older 1098 Superbike and his team has a tenth the resources of Ducati Corse. Could Smrz's present team, Team Pata B&G, be switching to BMWs?

Two observations that may be important or may have no value at all in terms of BMW and Smrz:

On the grid before race two at Salt Lake City, Ruben Xaus looked, for all intent and purposes, like a condemned man. He actually looked to be more depressed than a man facing an executioner, if that's possible. He sat silently next to his bike, his hand over part of his face and clearly wasn't looking forward to racing the BMW. A friend asked him if he was okay, and Xaus said that he was fine, but no one seemed to buy it.

After race two at Miller, BMW Team Manager Davide Tardozzi, judging by the expression on his face, was absolutely furious. He had the red mist in his eyes and was swearing under his breath as he stalked back to the BMW garage. I know Tardozzi fairly well, and my sense of it is that he felt Corser faded in the race and lost the possibility of a podium position.

Corser finished fifth in both races at Miller.