[roger albert]

Lot's of interesting comments here. (and thanks to the majority keeping it clean)

Ruben is a tough call. Sometimes development (which riders DO do, in partnership) can be aided by pushing just over the line and crashing (Jeff's example above a good example). But at the moment Ruben is certainly not contributing anywhere near half. Otoh, you don't want a bike that only one rider can ride (Ducati/Stoner) so having two riders who are very different (Corser and Xaus sure qualify) can be valuable.

We don't really know much standing on the outside. It could well be that Corser is pushing the bike to a 99.5% level and doesn't ever cross past 100 through skill or caution, further implying that the bike in current form just can't quite run up front. Meanwhile, Xaus, not being content to run 7th or 10th etc, tries to push to 100%, but sometimes hits 100.1% and lands on his head.

What I'm saying is, that it may appear that Corser is great and Xaus horrible, but though they're getting very different results, what they're doing to achieve them could be scarcely different. Not easy to just plug in a different rider. Very hard to say if he should stay or go, and I'm glad I'm not the guy making that decision.

On brighter news, Reitwagen has a very capable (and occasionally very fast) sub coming in, in the form of Tamada. He's rusty, but it's worth remembering he used to sometimes push Rossi. His feedback should prove pretty valuable, at least to Reitwagen. Can't say if the Factory and Reitwagen bikes are close enough for Reitwagen to benefit.