MotoGP exile Marco Melandri has said he is prepared to ride in World Superbikes for no wages so long as he can make his own decisions and is on something vaguely competitive.
The ex-250GP champion, who is currently in the wilderness, told Italian media he has enough money and a return to WSBK would be because he wants to win not to accrue more assets.
Where he would go remains a mystery. Kawasaki and Ducati are full, Melandri couldn’t get a slot in the new Yamaha team despite being big mates with project leader Andrea Dosoli and Honda look set to wheel in Nicky Hayden alongside Michael Van Der Mark.
Melandri’s exit from the Aprilia MotoGP project precludes him from any satellite team running RSV4s - should anyone at the Noale factory deign to make their minds up - and the Althea squad look set to switch to BMW as the current operation run by M&T Racing and backed by BMW Italia are doing other things. But BMW is another place from where Melandri has exited. So even if he is on a free transfer, there isn’t a lot of space.
