Silly Season starting early....

[YamaHead]

Yamaha has signed Rossi and Edwards, but has no sponsor for 2006. In spite of winning the title for two years in a row, an extraordinary tangle caused by owing so much to Rossi that his conditions were accepted at the expense of the factory team’s major sponsor. Unless Rossi agrees to ride under Gauloises colors, Altadis will withdraw both Gauloises and Fortuna sponsorship from the premier class and may take legal action against Yamaha. Altadis believes that having Rossi listed as a rider on a “satellite team” in 2006 outside the Gauloises-Yamaha sponsorship agreement constitutes a violation of the spirit of the Altadis-Yamaha contract for Gauloises sponsorship for 2006. Altadis signed at the end of 2004 a two-year contract with Yamaha with the understanding, they say, that if Rossi renewed his agreement with Yamaha for 2006 he would be included in the factory team. Rossi did sign, but demanded the right to run a parallel team without tobacco sponsorship. At present there is no sponsor for this “satellite team” while Altadis and Yamaha hold urgent meetings to avert a lawsuit with an uncertain but potentially expensive (for Yamaha) outcome.

*Courtesy of Dennis Noyes @ SPEED Channel

[Alex]

Interesting bit of news there scott!

[Beezkneez]

politicsc

[Guest Tomg]

how very odd. but you can see where he is coming from with the "no smoking" bit

[YamaHead]

It kinda sucks that tobacco sponsors seem to be the only companies with deep enough pockets to support a GP race team. Too bad it can't be more like NASCAR, where you see everything from soap to Viagra for financial backing!