it will be interesting to see how honda reacts if collin doesn't win the championship. i will bet dollars to doughnuts that nicky hayden will be in europe next year either as collin's teammate or his replacement.
Nickey Hayden is an awsome rider but he is not ready for world superbike. Look at Eric Bostrom. Kawi thinks he is the greatest thing since sliced bread but he got his butt handed to him in Sugo and he will probably finish out of the top ten in Monza. Colin Edwards is a world class motorcycle racer. When they were testing Honda's new GP bike in Japan he went over there and turned a faster lap on it then Rossi did. Granted Edwards is used to riding four strokes so that might have been a factor. But the bike was setup for Rossi and not Edwards and Rossi was riding it for a week straight. Edwards got on the bike and turned a faster lap ten minutes into his session. I am a Honda guy myself but lets face it the Ducati WSBK effort is more indept than Honda's and their bike is better than the SP2. If Honda does anything with Edwards it will put him on the GP team but I doubt it. Honda would rather have a top level rider in each major race effort. They have Hayden in AMA, Edwards in WSBK,and Rossi in GP and thats the way it will probably stay unless something major goes wrong.
Oh and before someone tries to say "Why does the RC-51 beat the Ducati in the AMA." Maybe because Ducati puts about as much effort into AMA as Honda puts into World Superbike.
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