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Biaggi en discussion avec le Team KR -
23/11/2005, 16h57
Biaggi in talks with Team KR
Roman Emperor Max Biaggi is fighting to remain in MotoGP next season after Yamaha Tech 3 and Ducati D'Antin confirmed to Eurosport.com that the Italian was not wanted. Team Roberts is therefore Biaggi's final option following the news that his personal sponsor Camel has already quit Sito Pons' team.
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Max Biaggi has often talked himself into delicate situations, but a recorded conversation with journalists in Australia, where he is reported to have said that RC211V was unridable and that HRC has sabotaged his season, have severely compromised his future in MotoGP.
Honda reacted by stating that the Biaggi would never ride one of their machines again, going as far as to replace the Italian with Tohru Ukawa at Valencia. Dorna refused, Biaggi rode and since lost his job.
The was hope of a seat at the Camel Honda Pons team given that Biaggi has close links with the brands chief executive. However, Honda again stepped in and said that Biaggi was not welcome, forcing Camel to pull their money from the Pons team.
"We are looking at other options in the paddock," Daniel Torras, General Director of Sponsorship for J.T.I. told the Valencia press room on Sunday. "If we are unable to find a team interested in working with us and with Max Biaggi, we will look outside Grand Prix motorcycle racing."
It is reported that Camel then approached Kawasaki, Yamaha Tech 3 and Suzuki for a possibility of putting a third bike on the grid next year. Suzuki and Kawasaki refused, while Yamaha team boss Henri Poncharal told Eurosport.com that, like Honda, he was not welcome.
"If Yamaha had given us the consent to sign Biaggi, it would have been announced some time ago," Poncharal told Eurosport.com. "But the truth of the matter is that Yamaha don't want Biaggi, no more than Honda do."
At this point, there remained only two possibilities: Ducati D'Antin and Team Roberts, but upon contacting the Italian team, the response was clear: "There is no possibility of Biaggi riding for us next year," a spokeswoman told us before adding that they will announce their riders on Friday.
So that leaves Team Roberts, and with the Banbury-based team announcing a two-year supply of Honda engines and Michelin tyres, but no title sponsor, then the Biaggi-Camel possibility fits in perfectly, and a $10 million injection of cash would certainly please Kenny Roberts Sr.
We questioned Eurosport's Randy Mamola about the possibility of Biaggi riding a Team KR prototype next season. "I wouldn't be saddened if he wasn't in MotoGP next season," Mamola said, "but the fact remains that he is one of the biggest names in the sport and one of the biggest characters.
"I know that Team Roberts have been talking with Biaggi, and Camel will back him up in anything he chooses," added the American, "and I think that Max has nowhere else to go except Team Roberts.
"Roberts and Biaggi are two extreme characters, but maybe they can butt heads together and make it work, with Camel money, with Honda engines," he added.
However, in another late twist, German prss is reporting that Camel are contemplating dropping their star rider in order to join up with the Yamaha Tech 3 team next season, with Carlos Checa making a possible return to the team.
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