Jorge Lorenzo (left) and Ben Spies will be teammates on Fiat Yamaha next season. Lorenzo is happy with his new position on the team as lead rider, while the pressure will suddenly be on Spies to finish consistently on the podium. (Larry Lawrence photo)

The media center at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was abuzz in activity Friday morning. A couple of big announcements came through the wire today, firstly Ducati’s surprise announcement that it is pulling out of World Superbike and then the not unexpected release stating the Ben Spies was heading to the factory Fiat Yamaha squad next season.

Not alot to say about the Spies move other than is great to have another American on a factory MotoGP machine next season (Nicky Hayden is expected soon to sign again with Ducati). Spies has had an excellent rookie season on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad this year, but the pressure will be on next year to step up his performances even more. Now that he’s on the world championship-winning machine, Spies will suddenly go from being happy with top fives to anything outside of podium results viewed as a somewhat of a disappointment.

It will be interesting to see how Spies and Lorenzo get along as teammates. So far the statements out of both have been neutral, but Lorenzo seems happy in knowing that he is finally considered the lead rider on Fiat Yamaha. Spies of course will play the role that Lorenzo has played in the past few years trying to find a way to beat the top rider in the series, who just happens to be under the same tent.

The Ducati announcement was interesting, especially considering Ducati has been the favored team in World Superbike for almost as long as the series has been around. Insiders say that this decision may not be final and could be a ploy to get World Superbike to allow Ducati larger throttle bodies for its fuel injection.

Negotiations between Ducati and World Superbike will likely take on more urgency after today’s announcement. Don’t be surprised if today’s release out of Italy is not the final verdict on the 2011 World Superbike season for Ducati. World Superbike without Ducati would be like Milli without Vanilli.