Former British Superbike Champion Gregorio Lavilla looks set to join Shane Byrne in the Sterilgarda Duati World Superbike camp after being released from his Pro Ride Honda team.
The Spaniard is now chasing some sponsorship deals in order to take money to the Ducati squad which ditched Superstock 1000 champion Alex Polita before the season began because his cash dried up.
The Pro Ride team didn't attend the first two WSB rounds because they didn't have enough cash to fly to Phillip Island and Losail, but rumour has it they haven't built a bike that is remotely competitive. At the pre-season Portimao tests, Lavilla was using suspension and chassis parts borrowed from Hydrex Honda.
Pro Ride team manager Marco Nicotari said: “We had the dream environment this season. Experienced technicians, good internal organization, very good rider. The bike has achieved a point of development where we believed that Gregorio, with his talent and experience, would be able to give us amazing moments. We felt that finally we were close to the points and to come back to the top 10. But the economical crisis does not have eyes for these kind of things."
