2T Institute wrote:At least anyone CAN buy or lease good stuff from Aprilia

You're joking aren't you? A couple of Dorna's main problems with the 250's was the Piagio group choosing who'd compete for the title in a boardroom in mid Italy and the astronomical cost of the bike, which as you point out was the only option for a team not tied to HRC wanting to compete.

2T Institute wrote:forgot how far behind HRC was the year before a Japanese ride was on board?

Not sure what you mean there, "the year before a Japanese rider was on board" was 2007, Dovi came 2nd on the HRC backed RS losing to Jorge Lorenzo who is plainly the better rider out of those two.
In 2008 that Japanese ride (Takahashi) was never going to match Bautista, Kalio or Simoncelli, he wouldn't have won even if he'd had a factory Aprilia.
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