MotoGP | Misano | Italy |2018 | Sep 7 - 9

Did Ponsson have 9 podiums and 3 wins in WSBK? If he did, I must have missed it....

 

No, but Cal had a championship winning bike from Spies and only managed 5th place that season while getting spanked by an ancient Italian.

 

Saw the RRW article, but that twitter link sheds some light on why he was acquitted.
I watched the vid a few times, it's not overly conclusive, but you have to have a REALLY open mind, and nearly no concept of how motorbikes work, to buy the argument that Canepa "grabbed his arm", and didn't grab the lever.
Does anyone believe that ? .. wow.

 

Well, here is his version, which I heard today.

He never applied for the job, never contacted the team. They came to him. They said they could not use any rider who has a current WSBK contract (this turned out to be a lie, since they have since hired Torres). He was racing in the CEV 1000 superstock championship. They offered him a contract for four races.

After Misano, as the issue churning, he received a what's happened message from the PR person on the team telling him that there was a problem with Dorna. A half hour later, he learned on Facebook that Torres got the ride for Aragon. They did not even bother calling him. He then posted a now infamous press release, which they lied about on live TV yesterday, saying that they dumped him in reaction to his press release.

Anyway, they had a four-hour meeting to try to resolve things with the team owner who ended up calling him a loser after making various offers (including Moto-e) which he had no interest in. Ruben Xaus acted as a translator during the meeting and was a real dick as well.

So he lawyered up (remember, he has a four-race contract) and the team said that they had no responsibility in the matter and that his exclusion was decided by Dorna and IRTA. His lawyer sent letters to both organizations which refused to acknowledge them. So he's taking them to court. He says that his career is shot anyway, since they will never let him backing GP, and Dorna owns WSBK so that's probably out too.

 

This circus is starting to resemble F1.