James Toseland's manager to visit Misano World Superbike round

James Toseland’s manager Roger Burnett will embark on a fact-finding mission at the Misano World Superbike race this weekend.

Burnett will visit Misano to check on potential WSB options for Toseland next season, while also assessing the level of interest if the worse case scenario should arise and the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad axes the 28-year-old.

But Toseland isn’t even entertaining a swift return to WSB – the Yorkshireman instead concentrating wholeheartedly on ensuring his MotoGP dream doesn’t crumble after just two years.

A poor start to his second MotoGP campaign has placed Toseland’s alongside Colin Edwards in the Tech 3 Yamaha squad under threat.

But his future suddenly looks much less precarious with Ben Spies expected to stay in with Yamaha in World Superbikes next season and Marco Simoncelli poised to sign a deal with Honda.

Both were Tech 3 targets and leading candidates to oust Toseland.

But no door has been slammed shut on the double World Superbike, who won the WSB title for Ducati in 2004 and Honda in 2007.

And Burnett told MCN:” James doesn’t want to go back to World Superbikes because he is absolutely convinced he can be competitive in MotoGP. Of course we have to deliver results but nobody is more aware of that than James. But he’s always risen to the challenge before, and he’s putting in a huge amount of effort to get the results he feels he should be getting.” Did the Misano jaunt though suggest Toseland would be back in WSB next season?

“I have to be doing my job and checking what all the potential options might be, but the priority for James is to stay in MotoGP, ” said Burnett.

In assessing Toseland’s potential MotoGP options in 2010, Burnett has met with factory Suzuki boss Paul Denning about a GSV-R slot.

But what will eradicate any doubt about Toseland’s future is a significant improvement in results.

Tech 3 boss Herve Poncharal said Toseland could still have a future with his French-based team.

Poncharal told MCN: “His destiny is in his hands. James is our rider and there is nothing that says he can’t be our rider in 2010. But how he performs will determine what happens, so it is totally up to him to show that we must keep him. But it’s certainly not impossible to imagine to a situation where we keep Colin (Edwards) and James next season. Nobody has ever said that James would not be with us next year.”