When FIM, Dorna and IRTA announced that they were changing the 250cc class to 600cc Moto 2, most fans turned up their noses and declared that it was the end of an excellent championship and that it would be an end as a learning school for riders that would be heading to the top class, that Dorna was making another bad mistake and most teams wouldn’t want anything to do with the new series, especially when it was announced that Honda would be the sole motor provider for the new Moto2 series.
After Friday’s official closing date FIM announced that they have received proposals from 47 teams for 91 entries, two of which are for the exsisting 250cc 2 stroke class that is still permitted to run in 2010 alongside the four-strokes, and those two will probably be Aprilia’s since the Noale based company is offering their RSA bikes free of charge to two teams.
Six satellite MotoGP teams, Tech 3 Yamaha, Gresini Honda, LCR Honda, Pramac Ducati and Grupo Francisco Hernando Ducati and Scot Honda all submitted entries for two-rider teams as well as most of the 250 teams, with Jorge “Aspar” Martinez who wants three places on the grid.
Maybe the best news is that Kenny Roberts has also submitted an application to field a team in Moto2.
Team Roberts last fielded a MotoGP bike back in 2007.
Speaking to Cycle News, the three times World Champion said: “We’re still working on sponsorship stuff , but we thought we’d get an entry in.
It really should be a better class to bring up young Americans in.
You have the motors and you get to build the bikes, which is what we’ve always done.
If we don’t get the big thing [sponsorship for a return to MotoGP], it may be possible to do that and get some Americans over there racing.
”A selection committee comprising FIM, Dorna and IRTA representatives will meet at the next round at Barcelona to decide on the provisional entry list for the new category, because even it would be nice to see, especially compared to MotoGP’s lonely 18 bike grid, it will be virtually impossible to able to field 91 bikes on a starting grid for safety reasons and their would not be enough garages to go around.
Carmelo Ezpeleta, Dorna’s CEO after seeing how may teams submitted applications must be silently cursing himself when he offered between 200,000 – 250,000 euros to help the 250cc teams make the transition and help out new teams.
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