After being rained out yesterday, the Qatar GP, at the Losail International Circuit, finally got its green flag today. There was however a good omen to the start of the season, question mark riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden made it onto the starting grid and finished a respectable result. We don’t want to give away anymore of the MotoGP season opener, so continue reading for all the spoilers.
The Aprilia RSV4 is set to go on sale soon this summer in Europe, and later in the year here in the US. As such, details about the bike are starting to emerge, as well as a plethora of promotional materials. Continue reading for the official technical specifcations of the RSV4, and pictures from its press only track debut.
The United States hasn’t really embraced the scooter culture as much as Europe and Japan have. The gallery after the jump either explains why we’re the better, or the lesser for that trend. You make the call.
It has been confirmed, 2010 will see the debut of the Moto2 racing class, which will replace the 250cc GP. Moto2 comes about in an effort to make racing more affordable by having a second racing class that is more analogous to the bikes being built for the road, namely the middleweight 600cc segment. The Grand Prix Commission in its announcement has also revealed that Moto2 will have a single engine design, meaning all competitors will be running the same spec motor, the manufacturer of which has yet to be appointed.
If you tuned into SpeedTV today (or whatever your local channel may be), you may have noticed only a few laps of 125cc & 250cc racing, and noticeable absence of any MotoGP action. This is because a rare rainstorm at the Losail International Circuit this evening scrubbed the first MotoGP race of the season. Because of the rain-soaked tracks and heavy use of flood lights, the circuit became almost mirror like and was too treacherous for the riders to compete on safely. The season opener for MotoGP has been pushed back to Monday at 9pm Qatar time, with an additional warm-up session beforehand at 6.30pm.
The unluckiest man of the weekend has by far been Nicky Hayden. In the first Free Practice, he suffered a clutch problem, followed by an electrical problem, which cost him testing time in the session and forced him to use his backup bike. The next day in the second Free Practice, Hayden had an engine blow up on his Desmosedici, forcing him one again onto his backup bike. Lastly in the Qualifying Session, Nicky Hayden took a huge highside just a few minutes from the end of the session, and now his participation in the season opener at Qatar is questionable.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that’s been visiting A&R for the past few days when you read that Casey Stoner has won the pole position for the Qatar GP tomorrow. The Australian has been dominating the week and holds nearly half a second over second place rider, Valentino Rossi, who with Stoner, Lorenzo, and Dovizioso are the only riders to break into the 1:55’s this week.
Casey Stoner continues to be the man to beat in Qatar this weekend, but the rest of the MotoGP field is getting wise, and starting to encrouch on the Australian’s lap times in Free Practice 2.
Riders Niccolò Canepa and Mika Kallio have added stickers on their Pramac D16 bikes in memory of the people of Abruzzo, Italy who lost their lives in the Monday’s devasting earthquake. Joining Capena and Kallio is Valentino Rossi, who will also ride at Qatar with a sticker in support of the people of Abruzzo.
“This weekend I have a special sticker on my bike, which says ‘Forza Abruzzo’. It’s a message from us for the people of Abruzzo. It’s not so far from my home in Tavullia and I want them to know that we are with them at such a terrible time.”
The 2009 L’Aquila earthquake was an earthquake of 6.3 moment magnitude that occurred in the central Italian region of Abruzzo on April. So far at least 289 people are known to have died, and 10 are still missing, making this the deadliest earthquake to hit Italy since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake.
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The Fiat Yamaha Team has signed a three-year agreement with Petronas, the Malaysian national oil and gas corporation, who will become a new official sponsor to the MotoGP team. Under the new partnership, the Fiat Yamaha Team will carry the Petronas logo on both Rossi’s and Lorenzo’s bike’s as well as the team equipment and material.
The return of MotoGP racing is just a few days away in Qatar right now, and Casey Stoner has proven himself the man to beat. Stoner was fast from the moment he rolled out onto the track, setting the 1’57 mark within 10 minutes of the free practice, a time he would reduce by a further 0.8 seconds towards the end of the session. Only two other men were able to break in’ the :57’s, Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards. It took Rossi quite some time to catch the Australian, but he was eventually able to close the gap to Stoner by 0.4 seconds. Colin Edwards, the third fastest man in the opening session of the 2009 season finished 0.7 seconds off of Stoner. Outside of that group, Jorge Lorenzo made it 3 Yamaha’s in the top 4, but was still 1.2 seconds behind the time to beat.