AT THE MOMENT DOVIZIOSO’S FAVOURITE PHRASE IS ‘LONGTERM’, WHICH IS NO SURPRISE SINCE DUCATI ARE STARTING 2013 WITH A BIKE LARGELY UNCHANGED FROM 2012, DESPITE THE YEAR’S MOSTLY DREADFUL RESULTS

bike in MotoGP – albeit a second-best version of the best bike – to risk all with the diabolical Duke?

“Ducati won me over. Filippo Preziosi (who was still in charge at Ducati Corse when Dovi signed) and Gabriele Del Torcio (the big boss at Ducati Motors) explained their future programmes and they told me about the budget and the engineering. Also, I know that you need a factory bike to win a World Championship and if we work well, then it will be possible to win the championship.”

All he can hope is that Audi’s purchase of Ducati will bring about major changed and improvements inside Ducati Corse, so that the same old mistakes of the last few years won’t be repeated in 2013 and 2014.

And then there’s the other reason for the switch from Tech 3 Yamaha to the factory Ducati team: money.

It was Dovizioso’s misfortune to make it to the top of MotoGP as the world went broke. There isn’t much money around any more, especially if you ride for a satellite team that’s struggling to raise sponsorship money, so we can only forgive him for taking the money and hoping for the best with Ducati.

Back in 1992 I asked 1993 500 king Kevin Schwantz which was most important to him – winning the World Championship or making a lot of money. I was surprised when he told me that the money was more important to him, but why shouldn’t that be so. As King Kenny Roberts once opined, “Ten cents and a World Championship won’t buy you a cup of coffee.” In other words, there’s no point in doing this job unless you are being paid well.

So who wouldn’t be seduced by a seven-

satellite rider, he had been ‘struggling along’ on a few hundred grand? Racers have short careers and Dovizioso’s may be over by the time the global economy returns to vivid good health. He also has a family to support and a handful of podiums every year is never going to help him put enough away for a long, long retirement.

During the next two seasons Dovizioso may amaze us by turning the Ducati around and getting the bike close to the front, but 2013 and 2014 could also be the toughest two years of his life.

Not to worry. If his Ducati challenge does go the same was as it went for Rossi, he can always console himself by asking his team to replace the lap times on his pit board with his current bank balance.