Friday, 03 February 2012 10:23 by Claudio Porrozzi

Francesco Batta was in Varese, Italy on Tuesday to meet with Giovanni Castiglioni and Massimo Bordi, and discuss MV Agusta's return to racing.

The long term project called for participation in a few World Supersport races this season, paving the way for a more consistent presence the next year, and an eventual "jump" to World Superbike in 2014.

Batta would have made his race team and track-side infrastructure available, developing the race bike and providing a portion of the necessary resources, with MV Agusta covering the rest of the necessary funding.

During the recent meeting, however, the Italian manufacturer communicated their preference for dedicating all economic resources to production efforts and an important project which will be revealed at season's end.

Castiglioni did tell Batta that, should Alstare find economic backing to fully fund the project, the manufacturer would be willing to work with him.

Such an arrangement seems nearly impossible at this point in the pre-season, and so the project is effectively postponed.

And we hope that it really is just a postponement and not a cancellation, considering the importance and history of the MV Agusta name.