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Photos: John McGuinness in Joey Dunlop’s Honda Livery

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Marking the 30th anniversary of Joey Dunlop’s first Isle of Man TT win with Honda, John McGuinness raced Sunday’s Dainese Superbike TT race in the iconic rider’s racing livery. Joey’s colors (circa 2000, his last TT entry) proved to be good luck for Mr. McPint, as the 19-time-TT-winner set an outright race lap record during the Superbike TT.

Slapped with a one-minute time penalty in the pit lane, McGuinness could only manage a third place podium in the race, but the Honda rider is working hard on catching Joey’s all-time win record of 26 Isle of Man TT wins. Fittingly, Joey’s nephew Michael won the Superbike TT race, setting a race time record in the process as well.

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Racing

LCR Honda’s 2013 MotoGP Team Livery

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Every year we find ourselves covering the launch of LCR Honda’s team livery and subsequent photo shoot. Maybe it is because we love Lucio Cecchinello’s approach to localized sponsorship for his MotoGP team, but more likely it is the attention to detail and artisan approach the Italian brings to his satellite Honda squad.

This isn’t just a motorcycle team, it is a family…a family of very passionate motorcyclists, and it shows. For 2013, Stefan Bradl is back, and will be campaigning the season with a factory-spec Honda RC213V race bike. More photos after the jump.

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Racing

Rossi, Lorenzo, and the 2013 Yamaha YZR-M1

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The last of the factory MotoGP teams to unveil its 2013 livery (Ducati Corse, Pramac Ducati & Repsol Honda here), Yamaha Racing has finally officially debuted the 2013 Yamaha YZR-M1 race bike, along with the team livery for riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.

Unlike his 2011 defense, Lorenzo will not rock the #1 plate, perhaps getting wind of the dreaded number’s propensity to kill its owner’s chance of a successful title defense. For Rossi fans, the return to Yamaha is surely a welcomed sight, with The Doctor’s neon yellow “46” working better with Yamaha’s blue and white paint scheme. Somethings just seem to go better together, right?

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Bikes

Photos: Ducati Alstare Unveils The WSBK Hotness

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Ducati is back in the World Superbike Championship, and today the Ducati Alstare team debuted its Ducati 1199 Panigale R race bike that Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini will campaign with this season. Heavily supported by Ducati Corse, it comes as no surprise then that the team’s livery is in the customary Rosso Corsa, and comes with some very familiar names on its side.

Energy Trading International (ENERGY T.I.) is a name you will see on Andrea Iannone’s Pramac Ducati, while communications company TIM has been a feature on the factory MotoGP bike for a number of seasons. Battery maker FIAMM has also been in the MotoGP paddock with Ducati, while energy drink FICC is the only new-comer to the world of two-wheeled motorsport on the team.

Despite all the cross-pollination, Ducati Alstare is true to form with a stunning machine for 2013. Enjoy some hi-res photos after the jump.

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Racing

MotoGP: Valentino Rossi’s Sepang Livery, Just Add Monster

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Valentino-Rossi-Yamaha-M1-Sepang-MotoGP-test-livery-06

You can tell it is the off-season when the subject of what Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha YZR-M1 will look like is an instant buzzworthy item, and you know MotoGP fans have been pretty hard-up over the past few months when even the test livery creates a frothing at the mouth. Today is no different.

Allegedly itself, Valentino Rossi’s test livery for MotoGP’s first pre-season test at Sepang is already creating quite a stir on Twitter. There isn’t all that much different about the Sepang livery and the livery on the Yamaha M1 that Rossi tested last November in Valencia, except of course for the fact that Monster Energy has been added to the layout.

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Racing

Teaser: First Photos of the 2013 Honda RC213V

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The Repsol Honda team will make its 2013 debut later this week by presenting riders Dani Pedrosa and Marc Márquez with the 2013 Honda RC213V motorcycle at the Repsol headquarters in Madrid, Spain. While we won’t get to see the latest iteration of the RC213V until this Thursday, one of Repsol’s Facebook pages has teased out some images of the MotoGP machine ahead of the official unveiling.

It will be hard to decipher any specific details from the materials given, though the fact that Repsol is building up the event is an interesting change from the Spanish oil giant. Has someone breathed some life into the company’s marketing team? Is this merely extra excitement for having two Spanish talents on the team? Or will 2013 show some changes for Repsol Honda?

As always, only time will tell, but at least we will only have to wait a few more days to know for sure. Photos and video after the jump.

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Racing

This is Not Rossi’s New Yamaha MotoGP Livery

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The great winter depression is nearly over for MotoGP fans, as tomorrow Ducati Corse will debut its 2013 team(s) for the premier class, and soon enough we will see similar events from Honda and Yamaha as well. In February, the boys with their bikes will be back on the track, as the pre-season tests at Sepang again give us our first glimpse at the teams’ progress over the off-season.

Of course, the anticipation doesn’t stop some. Take graphic designer and DeviantArtist Samuel from Italy, he spent the long-winter months photoshopping together what many Rossi fans have been speculating about: the nine-time World Champion’s new livery now that Monster is sponsoring the Yamaha Racing MotoGP team.

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Racing

Honda WSBK Switches to 2013 Livery for Magny-Cours

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We’re not sure who is behind the liveries for Honda Europe’s racing department, but they do a damn fine job of creating simple, understated, and gorgeous race graphics. Channeling some more of that Honda RC30 goodness, HRC is also the second team to adopt the faux-headlights that World Superbike will mandate for bikes in the 2013 season.

While the graphics might be different for 2013, the machine certainly isn’t. Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam will have their work cutout for them next season, especially since we hear that the WSBK-spec Honda CBR1000RR is a bit of handful, as Hiroshi Aoyama can attest to (his bike is pictured above).

With Rea said to have opted to stay in WSBK, instead of a move into MotoGP, the Ulsterman has really been the only rider that can decipher the CBR’s code, and after seeing his performance at Misano and Aragon, we think that’s more of testament to Rea’s skill, than a fluke match between man and machine.

Hopefully things will get better in 2014, when Honda’s V4-powered homologation special hits the streets.

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Bikes

2013 Ducati Superbike 848 EVO Corse SE

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Sorry Ducatisti, there is no Panigale-inspired supersport-class Ducati Superbike this model year, but those Italians have made an update to their sport bike line-up for new year with the 2013 Ducati Superbike 848 EVO Corse SE. Sort of like the 2012 Ducati Superbike 848 EVO Corse SE that was debuted last year at EICMA, this one has an aluminum tank, but with the added bonus of a special two-tone “Ducati Test Team” livery.

The Ducati Superbike 848 EVO Corse SE also has Ducati Traction Control, Ducati Quick Shift, an Öhlins rear shock, and upgraded 330mm brake discs. Certainly not what anyone was misguidedly hoping for from the Bologna brand at INTERMOT, but you have to admit, that’s one dead sexy paint job. Expect the real Ducati goodness to drop next month at EICMA. More photos after the jump.

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News

More Photos of How Yamaha Blu Itself

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Debuted at the San Marino GP, Yamaha’s new Race-Blu livery is set to black & blue the European market when it hits dealers this October (December for the R125). While we still get the tasty Graves Yamaha inspired Team Yamaha Blue/White, you might be longing for the matte grey and vivid primary blue color scheme that Jorge Lorenzo rode to victory at Misano this past weekend.

Coming to the 2013 Yamaha YZF-R1, 2013 Yamaha YZF-R6, & 2013 Yamaha YZF-R125, the Race-Blu livery is very fetching, so it is a bit of a shame that we won’t be seeing it here in the USA. Maybe if we Americans hold our breath until we go blue in the face, Yamaha USA may consider it as a mid-model year option (not likely).

Don’t feel blue though, we can still live vicariously through our European brethren. More photos of how Yamaha Blu itself after the jump. There’s gotta be a better way to say that.

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Racing

MotoGP: Yamaha Racing Goes Blu for Misano & Aragon

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Yamaha Racing has debuted its “Race-Blu” livery at Misano today. The work of Aldo Drudi (of Valentino Rossi helmet fame), the blue and matte grey paint scheme is the same special color schemes that will be available on the Yamaha YZF-R1, YZF-R6, and YZF-R125 bikes for 2013, seemingly everywhere except the United States.

Yamaha says the livery is a throw-back to its historic racing blue colors of the 1980’s. Factory riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies will also wear special Race-Blu leathers for the races at Misano and Aragon. Will the special livery prove to be as lucky as the Red/White 50th Anniversary livery? Only time will tell.

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