Jerry Burgess keen on young talent to bolster Yamaha's MotoGP effort

Valentino Rossi’s crew chief Jerry Burgess has told MCN he hopes to see one of the current younger generation 250 MotoGP riders join Yamaha for the 2008 MotoGP world championship.

The Australian is a big fan of blooding young talent, and while he refused to name Jorge Lorenzo, Burgess believes Yamaha should consider a rider like the Spaniard.

Yamaha has been strongly linked with reigning world 250 champion Lorenzo for over a year with an announcement on his future expected imminently.

Yamaha delayed an official communication about the Spaniard’s deal after last weekend’s Dutch MotoGP in Assen.

An announcement was due on Monday, July 2, 2007 but was postponed for undisclosed reasons.

It is not clear in what team Lorenzo would ride in next season, with Valentino Rossi rumoured to be fighting to keep current team-mate Colin Edwards in the Fiat-backed official factory team.

But Yamaha is desperate to secure the services of top young talent to succeed Valentino Rossi when the 28-year-old Italian decides to quit MotoGP and Lorenzo is red-hot favourite to move from his Fortuna Aprilia squad.

Asked if it was time to pluck a younger rider from the 250 class to help build for Yamaha’s future, Burgess told MCN: “I’ll only be worried about what I’m doing. I’d be more interested to make sure we had Valentino for another year.

“But clearly we’ve (Yamaha) got to get riders who can win. And there are probably a lot more riders out there who may have some reluctance to head in the Honda direction.

“It seems like the Kawasaki is extremely competitive now and Suzuki is up there. I’m always one for giving the young guys a go. 

“If I was running this championship right now I’d stop it, and I’d relegate the bottom six and bring the top six 250 guys straight in.

“That’s what I reckon should be happening. Anybody who is not performing there’s no point in going on with it.”