he's being "HOSED"...!?!?! exactly... WHERE THE HELL IS HE SUPPOSED TO GET A JOB...!?!?! WTF...!?!?! i was there during daytona qualifying on thursday and stood directly across from pit-out and adjacent to where the HMC crew was positioned on pit lane. and as the lap times were being called off over the P.A. system... my jaw literally dropped open when i heard the announcer indicate that picotte had thrown down a lap-time for a moment that would have put him second on the grid. and if remember correctly, this was during the qualifying session after nicky had just thrown down his pole position lap and just before he (nicky) hi-sided. in fact... i'm sure of it...!!!
______________________________________________________________________________________
3/18/2002 - EXCLUSIVE: Picotte Speaks Out
By Paul Carruthers
Fired Without Warning
Ousted HMC Ducati rider Pascal Picotte says he had no idea that he would be fired from the team after just one race, and that he’s had no communication whatsoever with team owner Mitch Hansen since he left Daytona International Speedway on Sunday afternoon, March 10.
“I never talked to him [Hansen],” Picotte said today. “He never returned my phone calls after Daytona. I’m really, really, really surprised. I thought he [Hansen] was special, a really kind man. I thought he had a lot of passion for racing and I thought the chemistry between us was really good. We had good tests, I worked well with the engineer they sent over from Italy. We went to Daytona and I kept hearing from them that I was the right person for the program. I missed the front row by a 10th of a second and he [Hansen] hugged me and told me how proud he was of me.”
According to Picotte, there was a single problem with the team’s current crew chief, but it was nothing that couldn’t be resolved.
“He’s a great mechanic, but he’s just in the wrong position. I didn’t want him fired or anything. It was nothing that we couldn’t have fixed by just sitting down and talking.”
Then Picotte was approached by Hansen and asked if he would like to have Gary Medley [the current engine builder at Kawasaki] as his crew chief.
”I said sure, loaded my stuff and he [Hansen] gave me another hug,” Picotte said. “He told me again that I was the right person for the program. He said he was going to be loyal to me over the next few years, whether he ran with Ducati or some other manufacturer. The next thing I know, Alan [Labrosse – Picotte’s manager] calls me and told me that was it. We were done. I just don’t understand.”
According to Picotte, he didn’t have a contract with the team, but one was promised.
”I really trusted him [Hansen],” Picotte said. “We had a verbal agreement and a contract was supposed to be there [at Daytona], but it wasn’t. I had a lot of trust in him and I just don’t get it. I thought he was such a gentleman, but I turned my back and got stabbed. He never returned my call – the last time I saw Mitch Hansen he hugged me. Now his press release said they are letting me go in time to get another job – there are no other jobs.”
___________________________________________________________________________________________
here's a pic i took of picotte late on thursday after that qualifying session. as evidenced by this pic, he seemed as pleased as a racer could be with himself. can you say "BLIND SIDE"...?

i spoke with him a bit and congratulated him on his success. although short-lived, i let him know how impressed i was with his qualifying time as i heard it come over the address system. i even took a pic with him, but unfortunately, that's when battery in my new digital camera decided to die on me. arrrggghhh...