by
Bruce Allen
Published: November 8th, 2012
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Cool, calm and consistant. Except for the incident at Assen with Alvaro Bautista, Jorge Lorenzo has finished either first or second in very race this season.
Dani Pedrosa recorded his best-ever MotoGP season, surpassing his previous best by 58 points with one race still remaining. Unfortunately, it was not enough to beat Jorge Lorenzo.
Casey Stoner, sounding jaded about the current and future state of MotoGP, will retire following the Valencia race.
Valentino Rossi is returning to Yamaha after a disappointing two years with Ducati.
- Andrea Dovizioso takes his act from the Tech 3 Yamaha to the factory Ducati. Anyone want to bet he breaks 200 points next year?
- Alvaro Bautista returns on the San Carlo Honda with a one year deal, his last contract with Fausto Gresini unless he becomes a consistent top-five guy.
- Cal Crutchlow returns on his Tech 3 Yamaha, newly teamed up with Moto2 grad and fellow Brit Bradley Smith. Cal must have high hopes for 2013, while Smith still strikes us as a curious choice to move up to the premier class. Probably Herve Poncharal knows a little more about him than do we.
- Rookie of the Year Stefan Bradl returns to his LCR Honda after seriously overachieving in his first year. His mission: not to be the next Ben Spies.
- Nicky Hayden returns for another fruitless year on the factory Ducati, hoping for a third place finish somewhere to keep his string alive. He seems okay with being the number two guy there as his career winds down.
- Ben Spies, the biggest surprise of the 2012 season, moves from the factory Yamaha to a junior Ducati team. He will do well to tally 75 points next season. The rise and fall of Spies in the course of two seasons illustrates how quickly things can change in this sport. Spies will be joined by Andrea Iannone, moving up after several successful seasons at Moto2.
A season full of hope ended in disaster for the currently-injured Ben Spies, who will only finish two of the final nine races of the season.
- Hector Barbera takes another step backward next season, moving from Pramac Ducati to the Avintia Blusens CRT team. He will join up with Hiro Aoyama, back from a disastrous year in World SuperBikes. This leaves both Yonny Hernandez and Ivan Silva scrambling for rides next season. We think Hernandez has the skills to remain in MotoGP; not so sure about Silva.
- Karel Abraham exits his satellite Ducati in favor of an Aprilia-powered CRT. His fortunes may actually improve in the process.
- Aleix Espargaro and Randy de Puniet return for a second year on the Aprilia-powered CRT. Being the top two guys in the second division counts for something, doesn’t it?
- Michele Pirro is history on the Gresini CRT next season, perhaps to be replaced by Ryuichi Kiyonari (?), according to David Emmett.
- Colin Edwards appears set to return next season with NGM Forward Racing, although aboard what is unclear. He may, in fact, have a teammate next season, possibly Claudio Corti, coming off his third consecutive mediocre year in Moto2, and riding as a wildcard for Avintia Blusens this weekend.
- James Ellison appears to be OUT at Paul Byrd Motorsports, to be replaced, if you believe what you read, by Shane Byrne and possibly Yonny Hernandez.
- Finally, Danilo Petrucci is probable to return with IODA racing, perhaps with a teammate, identity unknown.
The 2013 MotoGP season starts almost immediately after the Valencia race, with the first tests for next season beginning Nov. 13.
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