WE have all seen the credit crunch hit hard this year and in MotoGP and WSB we have all had cutbacks to try and reduce costs which I support 100 per cent. The only problem is that while the cuts go in the right direction in some cases the outcome is in fact more costs for teams unless the organisers take the very necessary next step rather than simply making a political gesture. BSB on the other hand decided to ride round the short Brands for four-days, so maybe there is no recession in that class”¦ In World Supersport we have seen the loss of Friday morning’s first free session but in my opinion the new format is better. Some teams object but I think this is only because we are all apprehensive of change. Some of the teams wanted two qualifying sessions with arguments like ‘what if it’s wet?’ or ‘if my rider has a problem or crashes in the one and only qualifying session’. Well to that I say if it’s wet it is wet for all so no problems there and we all know there is only one session so we must as a team approach it in the correct way. How can it be a problem, MotoGP has only one session for qualifying and in effect so does WSB as only the last session decides the top 20 places on the grid. With two free sessions before qualifying I believe we have a better situation for setting the bike up for the race, which is what we are all there for. The problem starts when the testing rule for Supersport and indeed Superstock is now completely free, this means with less event track time teams with more budget will be tempted to do more separate testing to give them an advantage. I suggest a total test ban once the season has started with only an agreed amount of official tests allowed on tracks holding rounds. If any of us need to test something we would have to do so at a non championship track. This would be the biggest cost reduction and would not change the results. The most expensive thing in racing is testing; as an example in a three-day test even in Supersport you are looking at around a £10,000 tyre bill alone. When I mentioned this I was told we can’t do this as Lagrive and Venemen have contracts to do the Bol’Dor’ at Magny Cours. I say so-what let’s give them a dispensation as they have already signed for 2009 and are riding 1000cc bikes, we can look at it again for 2010. My view is make your decision as a rider – do you want to ride World Endurance or World Supersport for future years. Then I am told the Italian teams need to do their home rounds for sponsorship reasons. In principle I have no problem with a team doing their home National race. The problem starts when there are three rounds of our Championship in Italy. For me this is wrong; two are enough in any country and three is just wrong as it is supposed to be a World Championship. The same applies in MotoGP having three rounds in Spain, it is not right. It’s quite simple; we all want to cut costs so in both cases drop one of the three rounds. Just because the organisers come from these counties is not a good enough reason to have so many rounds there. Anyway, I hope common sense prevails and testing is drastically reduced to give us a more level playing field for all and in doing so create even closer racing. One last comment on the cost front, MotoGP went to Qatar for a night race knowing that if it rained they were not going to race. In this case then don’t have a night race, if this does not work for Qatar then don’t go there, we had a day race there in WSB no problem. In MotoGP what we ended up with was a four lap 125 race, only 13 laps of 250 and a big increase in costs for the MotoGP teams having to stay an extra day to hold the race on Monday. Let’s all look to actually reduce costs not just make a token gesture so we are politically correct. Cheers Simon