Gabor Talmacsi ended his trial with Team Pedercini at the Sepang Kawasaki test on Friday by informing the team that he would let them know if he would race for them in 2011 in a few days. According to the team, he “sampled a Superbike for the first time in Sepang, with a view to a possible switch to the world championship with Pedercini team. Talmacsi was impressed by the team’s skill and the Kawasaki new Superbike’s performances and potential.”

Team Pedercini has had Roberto Rolfo signed to contest the 2011 World Superbike championship since late November. He was given the most time on the bike when Sepang’s afternoon rain was not falling. There is a note on what appears to be Talmacsi’s official Facebook page (here at A&R we are not, regrettably, fluent in Hungarian) that suggests that Talmacsi was a bit upset by his lack of time on the bike.

Perhaps a bike that hasn’t gotten enough press after its debut at Intermot, the 2011 Suzuki GSX-R 600 managed to shed roughly 20 lbs from its supersport design, making Suzuki the 600cc class leader once again, at least on paper. Suzuki was the only Japanese manufacturer to update its Supersport line for the new year, and instead of a casual redesign (although the GSX-R 600 doesn’t stray far from its predecessor’s aesthetic), the Hamamatsu-based company made a number of technical changes that focused around massively lowering the bike’s sprung and un-sprung mass.

While the styling might remain a little vanilla, we sure do like that spec sheet coming from Suzuki. Tipping the scales at 413 lbs wet (shazzam!), the 2011 Suzuki GSX-R 600 makes the same 123hp at the crank as the previous model, but presumably with better components (note the Brembo monoblocs and Showa Big Piston forks). Continue past the jump to see Suzuki America’s Derek Schoeberle explain where Suzuki made improvements to the GSX-R 600.

After the news yesterday that the Canadian distributor for MV Agusta had posted pricing on its website for a new Brutale model, MV Agusta has quietly released photos and information on the 2011 MV Agusta Brutale 920, an entry-level version of its big street-naked motorcycle. With its four-cylinder radial valve 921cc motor, the MV Agusta Brutale 920 shares the same crankshaft as the Brutale 1090RR (55mm stroke), resulting in this over-square motor making 129hp with its 73mm bore. Available in matte black and white, we expect the new Bruatle to his US shores with a ~$14,595 price tag.

After recently announcing the return of MV Agusta to the Canadian market, MV Agusta’s Canadian distributor Motovan has outed the Italian company’s new Brutale model. While it doe not seem that this model is the 675cc “Brutalina” that Castiglioni hinted at earlier this year, this Brutale instead appears to be an F4 derived street-naked, and is expected to hit the North American markets in mid-summer 2011. With pricing starting at $15,595 CAD, we expect pricing here in the United States to be closer to $14,595.

Likely based off the revised MV Agusta F4, which debuted at EICMA back in 2009, the new Brutale should see a style update to keep the street-naked inline with MV’s current take on the F4. Noticebale from Motovan’s pricing is the new Brutale’s lower price tag amount, which should help move some more units. We expect the new Brutale to have a 920cc displacement, and borrow heavily from the F4′s chassis design and aesthetic.

After teasing us earlier last month with its silhouette, Mission Motors has finally taken the wraps off its Mission R electric race bike. Boasting some big numbers, namely a 14.4 kWh battery pack and a 3-phace AC induction motor that makes 141hp and 115 lbs•ft of torque, the Mission R ticks all the right performance boxes with its 160mph top speed, 100 kW motor controller, regenative breaking, and barely race legal 545 lbs weight.

Taking lessons learned from the Mission One, Mission Motors has built the Mission R from the ground-up, and tapped some well known names to help the company make this striking motorcycle. With James Parker (of GSX-RADD fame) designing the chassis, and Tim Prentice of Motonium working on the industrial design, the Mission R is not only a very pleasing motorcycle to look at (drool over that billet single-sided swingarm), but also incorporates some advanced concepts to make it a potent and compact racing weapon. Oh, and did we mention the bike looks freaking fantastic?

After releasing a provisional calendar that left some venues to be determined, World Superbike has finally released its official schedule for the 2011 season. Leaving the European and Italian rounds empty back in October, we see Donington Park and Imola now official added to the roster. While the addition of the two historic circuits is certainly not the most surprising news, it atleast completes the WSBK calendar.

Good news for British motorcycle racing fans, as Donington Park has secured a spot on the 2011 World Superbike calendar. But the real good news for the Brits is that WSBK will come to both Donington and Silverstone next year, giving the sometimes rainy island a double-helping of production-based international motorcycle racing.

The announcement signals the rescue of the British track from what seemed like certain death, after planned renovations fell through and the track was unable to secure a Formula 1 bid, leaving the Donington Park leasees without a dime to spend, and without a track circuit to run (construction had begun to make the track conform to Formula 1 standards).

While Dani Pedrosa has been spared the surgeon’s knife for his broken collarbone, Valentino Rossi underwent his surgery this weekend for his injured shoulder, which will see the new Ducati rider out of action for 90 days. Rossi’s shoulder, which was a bigger factor in the 2010 season than the rider’s broken leg that saw him miss four races, was injured in April during a motocross cross-training accident, and plagued the Italian throughout the latter half of the 2010 season.

Surgeons at the Cervesi di Cattolica hospital preformed an arthroscopic procedure on Rossi’s supraspinatus tendon and glenoid ligament, encountering no complications in the procedure. Recovery times for this type of surgery typically last 12 weeks, which should mean that Rossi will be fit enough to test early next year at MotoGP’s second testing session.

If you’ve heard any loud thuds while visiting A&R the past two weeks, it’s been us falling over ourselves over the 2011 KTM 1198 RC8 R. For 2011, the new RC8 R gets a number of refinements to its already stout package, and for the spec sheets racers the most drool-worthy stat perhaps is the bike’s modest power boost to 175hp, up from its base of 167hp. There’s a kicker to that power figure though, it comes from switching the base engine map, which is designed for 91 octane (AKI rating, which is what we use here in the USA), to a 93 octane map.

It could seem like we’re splitting hairs here, but unless you live next to a race track where gas stations will often carry the 93 octane rated fuel, you’ll be risking pinging KTM’s beautiful 1195cc motor with the lower-rated fuel, and be relegated to using the 170hp engine map while on the street. We don’t know how RC8 R owners will only handle 170hp on the street, hopefully the photos after the jump will help.

After declaring its intention to field a three-man team in the 2011 MotoGP season with riders Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso, and Casey Stoner, HRC went immediately into circles about how it would pull-off such an arrangement when the money to finance a larger factory squad did not materialize. Exploring avenues that would see a second, single-bike, factory team (rumored to be sponsored by Red Bull) centered around Andrea Dovizioso, Honda also tried to stick the Italian rider inside the Gresini Honda satellite squad (with the promise of factory support), but both efforts came to no avail.

With Dovizioso holding his ground, and Honda bound by a contract, questions regarding how the Japanese manufacture would handle its predicament were a common source of conjecture in the MotoGP paddock. This speculation has finally come to a conclusion though, as HRC has announced it has secured Andrea Dovizioso in the factory team for 2011, which will will continue to be sponsored by Repsol Honda.