Number 17 mystery solved...

When Crash.net uploaded its pictures from Monday testing at Valencia, featuring Chris Vermeulen making his Suzuki debut and Randy de Puniet completing his first Kawasaki laps, eagle-eyed viewers soon spotted a potential contradiction...

That's because both WSBK championship runner-up Vermeulen and 250cc race winner de Puniet were sporting the number 17 on their respective factory machines - so just who will have the number in MotoGP next year?

The answer has now been provided by Kawasaki Racing Team press/marketing manager Ian Wheeler who, after reading our viewers comments on the issue, alerted Crash.net to the following explanation from their team coordinator, Michael Bartholemy:

"As soon as we knew that Randy de Puniet would ride for Kawasaki next year, we reserved the number 17 with the International Race Teams Association (IRTA), who are responsible for coordinating allocation of racing numbers in MotoGP," Bartholemy told the team's website Kawasaki-Eckl.com.

"Chris Vermeulen ran the number 17 on his bike when he raced as a replacement rider in Phillip Island and Istanbul, so we weren't surprised to see him running the same number here at the Valencia test.

"However, we can confirm that Randy de Puniet will definitely run with the number 17 on his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR next season and that Vermeulen will run under a different number," he adds.

Vermeulen ran the number 77 with Ten Kate Honda in World Superbikes this season, while de Puniet fielded the number 7 on his 250cc Repsol Aprilia. Carlos Checa currently holds the number 7 in MotoGP.