Re: Ducati
Being Italian, I had a longish conversation with some of the Ducati mechanics at Laguna Seca and their feeling was that the problems are: 1. The fact that it is impossible for them to have the resources spent by teams like Honda and Yamaha. Ducati Corse for MotoGP has a fraction of the people that those other companies can have. Not in the pits, but back home, building, planning, testing, etc.
2. That the Bridgestone tires are not a good match for the machine.
3. That Capirossi is good and right now he just does not have the winning combination.
I think Ducati cannot really compete with Honda/Yamaha on the first: maybe they can switch tires.