Dani Pedrosa has ended the first full-day of MotoGP factory prototype testing at Sepang at the top of the timesheets. The Repsol Honda man was fast throughout the day, finally setting a time that would not be beaten with an hour left of the test.

Though Pedrosa’s best time could not be bested, it was challenged, Jorge Lorenzo using the final minutes of the session to post his fastest lap of the day, falling just eight thousandths short of Pedrosa, but still right on the pace.

The most impressive performance of the day goes to Marc Marquez though, who was fast out of the box, led the session at one point and finished the day less than five hundredths of a second behind his teammate. Marquez had been expected to make a strong start, and be within a few tenths of Pedrosa and Lorenzo, but getting within a few hundredths can be classed as exceptional.

Ignite Asset Management is a new name in the MotoGP paddock’s lexicon, as well as the new sponsor of Ducati’s “junior” team. While each year sponsors come and go, Ignite is a bit different from the usual batch of names plastered on the side of a GP bike, and the investment firm is getting some interesting play in the otherwise unassuming motorcycle world.

If you are not sure what an “alternative asset management” investing firm happens to be, then the American company’s self-description as a “management firm led by a group of hedge fund industry veterans and supported by private investors that are driven by the undiscovered alpha” is going to really leave you really wondering what slicks-back the hair on these Wall Street types.

Boiled down to its essence, an alpha represents the ratio of an investments and measure how sizable a return was in relation to measured risk. A positive alpha coefficient signals that an investment was good not only in its return, but also in its risk management. Investors are always talking about “seeking alpha” and here Ignite is touting its professional ability of finding the diamond in the rough — standard Wall Street Napoleon Complex stuff.

So then, how does a company like Ignite Asset Management enter into a sport where the running joke about how to make $10 million dollars is to start with $100 million?

Along with the unveiling of the Ducati Corse factory team, Ben Spies, Andrea Iannone, and the rest of the Pramac Ducati team were on hand at the 2013 Wrooom event to unveil their factory-supported hardware. Continuing the close relationship between Ducati Corse and Pramac Team Principal Paolo Campinoti, the Pramac Ducati squad will help Ducati develop the Desmosidici race bike during the 2013 MotoGP season.

Though the logos may be sparse, Pramac Ducati sees the addition of Ignite Asset Management to the team’s livery, a New York-based asset management firm. Moving from the factory Yamaha team to the Ducati “junior” squad, Spies will be joined by Moto2 star Iannone, who captivated fans last year with his aggressive riding style and back-end cornering procedures.

Ahh, now here is the genuine article. Relatively unchanged from the bikes raced at the Valencian GP, the Ducati Desmosedici GP13 has finally broken cover at the 2013 Wrooom event. Shown here we see the Ducati Corse bikes of Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso, which will race alongside the similarly-spec’d machines of Ben Spies and Andrea Iannone in the Pramac Ducati “junior” team.

Unveiled just moments ago on the mountain’s summit, we’re still waiting for Ducati Corse to drop the hi-res version of these photos in our mailbox, so more details and snaps as we get them. In the meantime, notice how the shots after the jump aren’t nearly as creepy as the ones released by Yamaha earlier this morning.

Today, Cycle World posted a great story by none other than MotoGP’s Ben Spies. Now out of his contractual obligations with Yamaha Racing, Spies can finally speak candidly about his 2012 season, and what was occurring behind close doors within the Yamaha factory team, as well as his contract negotiations within the MotoGP and World Superbike paddocks.

Some of the story we already know, like how a high-ranking Yamaha official told Ben Spies to give 100% or not show up, after the American was sidelined with food poisoning at Mugello. Spies also sheds light on the rumors about his switch back to WSBK, namely with the BMW Motorrad team. Discussing his interactions with HRC and Gresini Racing, Spies also sheds insight about how he ultimately landed in the Ducati Corse camp. Head over to Cycle World, the article is well-worth a read.

With the news that the injured Ben Spies would miss not only the Australian GP, but the Valencian GP as well, the American MotoGP rider’s miserable MotoGP season was abruptly ended after his fall at Sepang.

Set to ride on the Ducati Junior Team next season, Spies’ run with Yamaha now seems to have concluded, and the attention has shifted as to whom would ride in his place at Valencia, if anyone.

Despite a twitter campagin to get American Josh Hayes back on a Yamaha YZR-M1, Yamaha Racing have instead chosen test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga to replace Ben Spies on the factory Yamaha.

Crashing hard in the Malaysian GP, it initially seemed that Ben Spies had escaped serious injury, as the Clinica Mobile staff gave the American rider a clean bill of health at the circuit. Getting examined further in Kuala Lumpur however, it became apparent that Spies had suffered quite a number of injuries – an AC shoulder separation, a cracked rib in the upper-chest area, and bruising to his lung, to be precise.

Undergoing surgery today at the National Surgery Center near San Jose, California, Spies reported on Twitter that the operation had gone well, though the extent of his injuries will mean an increase in the duration of his recovery time, with 10 to 12 weeks being the number banded about. This news means that Spies will miss not only the Australian GP, but also the Valencian GP and the post-season MotoGP testing — a serious blow to the soon-to-be Ducati rider.

As if crashing out of the Malaysian GP wasn’t bizarro enough, Ben Spies has announced today that he will be missing the Australian GP, as it has become evident that he injured his shoulder in his wet-weather tumble at Sepang. Although found to have no injuries by the Clinica Mobile staff at the circuit, after undergoing tests in Kuala Lumpur post-race, Spies found that he had sustained an AC shoulder separation, a cracked rib in the upper-chest area, and bruising to his lung.

Returning to the US for treatment on Tuesday, Spies will accordingly miss the MotoGP’s next stop, which is at Phillip Island. His participation in the last round of the season, the Valencian GP, is now in question as well, though it could be possible for the American to be healed enough to race within that time frame.

Though this season has been a string of highly suspicious instances of bad luck for the factory Yamaha rider, Valencia will be important round for Spies, as the post-race test will be the first opportunity for him to ride the Ducati Desmosedici race bike.

As was forecasted, the rain made its appearance for the start of the Malaysian GP being held at Sepang. The wet weather of course meant all bets were off for what could happen on this third-to-last round in the MotoGP Championship, and the adverse conditions increased the possibility of some “off-road excursions” by the riders. No one had more to lost from such a proposition than current points leader Jorge Lorenzo.

Sitting 28 points ahead of Dani Pedrosa, the factory Yamaha rider needed only to stay upright on his machine to retain control of the 2012 MotoGP Championship title, but with the rain in Sepang, that simple task could prove to be more difficult than anyone imagined. Needing to grab back as many points as possible, no one probably welcomed the rain more than Dani Pedrosa…well, except maybe the Ducati riders, which made for some high-stakes in the otherwise low-action race

One of the three “flyaway” races before the season finale in Valencia, the Japanese GP is race that is not only important to the two remaining Japanese manufacturers in the premier class, but it begins the dénouement of the MotoGP Championship.

Finding renewed vigor in his Championship hunt, Dani Pedrosa has only a handful of races left to catch Jorge Lorenzo, and win his first premier-class title. Truthfully needing Lorenzo to make a critical mistake or suffer a mechanical failure, Pedrosa also has to keep the pressure on his rival, and try to minimize the gap to his fellow Spaniard.

With each place separating the two riders likely to play a pivotal role at the end of the season, the drama unfolding in Motegi was palpable, though the action itself was a slow grind of a multi-campaign war.