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Strong winds have forced Dorna to cancel qualifying for the MotoGP class at Phillip Island.

Wind with gusts of over 70km/h made conditions impossible during FP4, and after Miguel Oliveira suffered a massive crash at Turn 1, blown off line and onto the grass, an impromptu meeting of the Safety Commission voted to cancel qualifying, deeming it too dangerous to continue.

On Saturday evening, Stuart Pringle, Managing Director of Silverstone Circuit, told a small group of journalists that the delays and problems caused by the wet track during FP4 were due to the unusually heavy rainfall, and not the resurfaced track.

“It was a Biblical downpour,” he told us. “It was more like a monsoon you’d see in Malaysia than heavy, normal rain. The drainage on the circuit is very good.” He was not worried about racing on Sunday, because although rain was forecast, it was not a deluge.

“It’s heavy rain, but it’s not the kind of cloud burst stuff we saw earlier. Is it going to be more of a challenge if it’s wet? All circuits are more challenging in the wet than the dry. So I think we’re set for a good race tomorrow.”

Sunday proved Stuart Pringle wrong.

It wasn’t the quantity of water which caused the problems. It was the fact that water simply wasn’t being drained fast enough to allow riders to ride safely, or as safely as can reasonably be expected of traveling at over 300km/h on a wet track, braking as late as possible in a close pack, as 23 riders battle for position in the opening laps.

There was standing water in just about every section of the track, causing the MotoGP bikes to aquaplane while on their sighting lap, a lap taken usually at nine tenths, rather than ten tenths. They were aquaplaning while accelerating, at speed, and while braking.

Bikes aquaplaning had caused Tito Rabat and Franco Morbidelli to crash while braking for Stowe.

But Morbidelli had crashed after Rabat, and the Italian’s Honda had flown across the gravel and struck Rabat as he sat in the gravel trap, breaking the femur, tibia and fibula in his right leg, and putting him out of action for months rather than weeks.

Nobody who saw that wanted to suffer the same fate. Or worse.

If you came looking for the MotoGP race results from the British GP at Silverstone, we can understand your confusion, as it is both surprising and disappointing to report that today’s racing action has been canceled.

The reason? The simple answer is: rain. Yes, the seemingly most obvious weather condition that could occur at a track situated in England has brought the MotoGP Championship to a standstill.

Of course if you are looking for a more complicated response to today’s lack of racing, the answer resides with the Silverstone circuit itself, which was unable to cope with the mild rain storm.

We knew the weather would be a factor in Qatar, and today the rain, and the standing water it created, has lead to the cancellation of the qualifying session at the Qatar GP for the MotoGP, Moto2, and Moto3 classes.

As such, Sunday’s grid (assuming the weather doesn’t change the schedule further) will be based off the combined free practice (FP1, FP2, & FP3) times from earlier in the week.

This means that Maverick Viñales will start from pole for the Qatar GP, joined on the front row by Andrea Iannone and Marc Marquez, in that order.

As we said yesterday, the Qatar GP schedule is in serious flux with the weather at Losail. Be sure to keep an eye on Asphalt & Rubber for updates to starting times, as everything is subject to change.

The 2016 World Superbike calendar will have just thirteen rounds. Attempts at finding a replacement for the canceled Monza round have failed, causing the calendar to definitively lose a round.

Dorna had been in talks with several other circuits to replace the races at Monza, with the Estoril circuit being the most popular candidate. However, no agreement could be reached with any of the replacement candidates, and Dorna had no choice but to cancel.

All hope is not lost for Monza, however. Work continues at the iconic Italian track, including efforts to make it suitable for motorcycle racing. The circuit could yet make a return, but not this year.

Racing almost 800km from Villa Carlos Paz to Termas de Río Hondo, Monday marked the first earnest day of racing in the 2016 Dakar Rally, after the timed section of Stage 1 had to be canceled because of the incredibly weather at play in Argentina.

This doesn’t mean Monday was without weather though, as the special section was trimmed from 450km to 354km, because track conditions had deteriorated after Sunday’s thunderstorms.

That slight respite proved to be a boon for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price, as the Australian took the first Stage win of The Dakar. Price finished just 20 seconds ahead of Husqvarna’s Ruben Faria, lining up a duel that is likely to be a major part of this year’s edition of The Dakar.

While KTM might be without Marc Coma and Cyril Despres, both riders now having retired from two-wheel racing, KTM has a strong showing so far in 2016, with Stefan Svitko of Slovakia rounding out the podium, third in Stage 2, though he carries a one-minute penalty from the day.

The 2016 Dakar Rally is off to a poor start, as the first stage of the event had to be canceled today, on account of the weather. While yesterday’s prologue in Rosario was under 104°F sun, lightning storms prevailed in South America today, along with heavy rain.

The intensity of the rainfall saw the river crossings swell in size, while the heavy wind and rain meant that the safety helicopters couldn’t safely operate. As such, the ASO had no choice but to scrub today’s stage, citing safety concerns for the competitors.

After being a tentative “go” for racing last week, the 2015 Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials has now been canceled because of conditions on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

The announcement comes after rains in the Salt Lake City, Utah area put water on the salt flat racing course, and now currently half an inch of water sits on what the BMST calls its “Mountain Course” area.

It’s been a while since we reported on the eRoadRacing World Cup series, the love child merger of the TTXGP and FIM e-Power electric motorcycle racing series, and that is for good reason.

While Asphalt & Rubber is a big proponent of the electric motorcycle uprising, and there are a lot of interesting things developing in this space (be sure read to our ride reviews of BRD RedShift SM, Mission RS, and MotoCzysz E1pc) the racing side of the equation has been rather lackluster.

So, it doesn’t surprise to hear that the FIM has cancelled the eRoadRacing event at Miller Motorsports Park, which was supposed to happen August 31st & September 1st.

Instead, the North American part of the eRoadRacing series will consist of only two rounds: last month’s Red Bull US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, and this month’s Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.