Well we’re already a month into the New Year and I hope everybody had a great holiday season, even if it already feels like a lifetime ago! Big things have already happened in 2009, not least in the USA, where we have a new President. It is an exciting time to be an American and personally I have not seen such a popular candidate as Barack Obama since Robert F. Kennedy ran for office before his assassination in 1968. Now I don’t want to get too political here but these changes are going to have a massive impact on the global economy (hopefully a positive one!) and at the moment that seems to be the subject that is dominating our sport.

The withdrawal of Kawasaki’s factory team and possible re-entry as a privateer outfit is a complicated story and it changes every day, but at the time of writing everybody is waiting to hear if Kawasaki will release the bikes and if Michael Bartholomey can get a team together. It is a worrying period for John Hopkins and his fans but I can tell you that in the meantime John is continuing with his usual intense preseason training programme of motocross and cycling and is hoping to sharpen his competitive edge with an appearance in a rally car at the X-Games. He will be ready if he gets the call.

Indeed, it is a worrying period for MotoGP in general but as Carlo Domenicali said at the recent Ducati team launch in Madonna di Campiglio, if the sport can get through this rough spot then it can get through anything. As enthusiasts of Grand Prix racing we have to make that happen by continuing to show our support, tuning in to the races on television and turning out at the racetracks all over the world. In the meantime lets hope nothing else gets cut before start of the season.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to Madonna once again for the event they call Wrooom, which also features the official launch of the Ferrari F1 team, and it gave me a nice chance to catch up with Casey Stoner and his new team-mate Nicky Hayden. Wrooom is always a great opportunity to see people out of their usual environment because you can spend time with them and learn more about their character. One thing that never fails to impress me is how competitive and adaptable the riders are. One year ago Casey learned to ski in a day and this time it was Nicky’s turn. If he can adapt that quickly to the Desmosedici then it’s going to be a great season!

Nicky’s efforts against the odds at HRC over the past couple of seasons have earned him a lot of respect in the paddock and he is no longer simply known as ‘the guy who beat Valentino in 2006’. Casey has already realised what a cool person he is and how dedicated he is to his task, putting in the hours of hard work that the Desmosedici undoubtedly demands. They clearly have a lot in common in terms of their background and their philosophy to racing although there are two things I’d like to happen between them. Firstly I hope Casey’s strengths on the Desmosedici rub off on Nicky and secondly it would be nice if Casey could pick up some of Nicky’s good habits with PR and press. Media relations is something Nicky seems able to do easily, the one-liners roll off his tongue and make a lot of people in the paddock smile - not least the journalists. I believe that if you’re going to do something you might as well have fun doing it and Nicky sure does.

As far as Casey is concerned, spending time with him at Madonna reaffirmed my desire to see him challenging for the title again. Casey and Vale kind of have a point each against each other and I’d love to see Casey take the fight to him again and make it a much closer championship this time around. He is in determined mood, he has had time to analyse the way the season panned out last year and with that experience under his belt, if he can avoid making the same mistakes there is absolutely no reason why he can’t do it. Fingers crossed he can recuperate the strength in his arm quickly enough because for me that is the only other question mark at the moment.

The new Desmosedici GP9 was also officially unveiled at the launch, with the biggest talking point being the new carbon chassis. The idea behind the carbon is obviously to make the chassis lighter and stronger but also to put weight in different areas of the bike in order to help the overall balance. F1 have been using carbon chassis for a number of years and now Ducati are taking it to a different level in MotoGP but the real key to improvement for all of the factories will once again be in the electronics and the efficiency of engines mileage-wise.

Another decisive factor this year will be how each machine and rider can adapt to the narrower choice of tyres and it is going to be really interesting if they are simply given the option of a hard and soft compound. That will certainly affect some riders more than others, in particular Dani Pedrosa, who in the past has used softer compounds than his rivals and always seemed to be the odd one out in terms of tyre choice.

It feels like a long time since we saw the guys in action and I think we are all looking forward to seeing what happens next week at Sepang. We’re all waiting to see what lap times they can do on the standard tyre that Bridgestone has been working on over the winter break and the other interesting thing to look out for will be how teams begin to adapt to the new economic climate in terms of the logistics and their working methods. The three upcoming tests in Sepang, Qatar and Jerez will paint a much clearer picture of what is to come for MotoGP in 2009.

Randy