John Hopkins has fired a broadside at Kawasaki bosses. He is angry at the amount of help the team gets from Kawasaki in Japan, the lack of development parts coming out of the factory and the lack of engineers on the ground. Strangely, though, his bosses were in total agreement and are 100 per cent behind him.

Valentino Rossi has reportedly put his retirement on hold until 2010 after his devastating win at Le Mans. He is now in talks with Yamaha to re-sign and extend his contract for two years. It is thought that Rossi will either announce his plans here at Mugello, or at Donington Park which will be his 200th GP appearance.
Ducati has confirmed it has received an approach from AMA Champ Ben Spies' manager. It's thought the Italian factory could be interested in him as a satellite team rider. Spies is touted to be involved with a Suzuki team with Kevin Schwantz as team manager but the factory has yet to make a decision on how many bikes it wants on the grid next season.
Nicky Hayden may well have the new pneumatic-valve engine that Tady Okada is to debut this weekend by the time Catalunya comes round next month. And if HRC bosses are too scared to run it then, both Hayden and Dani Pedrosa will test it after the Barcelona round.

Suzuki will roll out a new GSV-R following the Brno MotoGP race. Rumour has it the bike will have totally different weight distribution and the engine will be located in a slightly different place in an attempt to improve side grip.

James Toseland has revealed that he aims to improve his qualifying performance to take him to the next level in MotoGP. Yamaha has, so far, dominated in qualifying with Jorge Lorenzo and Toseland's team-mate Colin Edwards d sharing four out of the five poles so far. He said the trick is to make yourself go that fast, but not end up in a heap. Breaking news, there's no Father Christmas...

It is thought that Colin Edwards has already begun talks with Kawasaki for next season. It's clear that team green will not be keeping Anthony West on for 2009 but can it afford to pay two top-level riders? Roger Hayden is waiting in the wings for a MotoGP ride, and what of Britain's Chaz Davies who is also linked with a Kawaskai wildcard at Laguna and Indy...

Bridgestone has confirmed its qualifying tyre still isn't up to scratch. Tohru Ubukata said: "Our rivals continue to show impressive pace in qualifying trim but we are working hard to reduce the gap. Of course, as we make improvements, so too do our rivals, therefore we need to make even bigger development steps to make up ground." Which is refreshingly honest...