Brno has a variety of meanings to different people. To the Old Czech, the words means muddy, to the Slavs it means to fortify, to men aged 16-55 it means rail thin supermodels, but to motorcycle race fanatics, the city should take on the meaning of unpredictable racing action. You’ll have to continue after the jump to see why Race 1 proves this theory.
MotoGP was in Donington Park this weekend for the British GP, and what will be the MotoGP Championship’s last stop at the Midlands track for the foreseeable future. Donington proved that not only would this be a finale GP, but also a memorable one. Weather forecasts for the day proved to be accurate with drizzles occurring during racing. Teams gambled on tires, and early ride reports indicated that the British track was very slippery when wet (shocking, we know). The end result was crashes, cold tires, and a podium line-up we’re guessing no one expected. Bangers and mash anyone?
World Superbike action this weekend comes from Brno, where riders are hot off a recent testing session at the former Soviet Block track. The Superpole results clearly speak to who did their homework, with fresh faces entering into the upper ranks. This Sunday should be set to have some good production motorcycle racing, and hey…if we’re wrong about that, there’s still eastern European umbrella girls, and that always makes people happy.
With this being MotoGP’s last stop at Donington for the foreseeable future, the British venue seems to be putting its best foot forward. Agreeable weather, rabid fans, and close qualifying makes Sunday’s race and send off that much more enjoyable. It won’t be all clear skies though, Sunday’s weather forecast is showing some rain, and undoubtedly riders are practicing their bike swapping out in their minds.
Tron Legacy is due to come out in 2010, picking up the story from the original Tron. The sequel will continue the story as if 20 years have gone by, with the Tron server sitting in isolation, honing its game. Of course one of the best parts about the new Tron, is the new Tron light cycle, which will be faster and more realistic than its predecessor. Returning to the cast is Jeff Bridges, playing Kevin Flynn, and joining the story is Olivia Wilde, of House M.D. fame. HD trailer after the jump.
We woke up this morning to see the forums, twitter, and blog comments ablaze on Al Ludington and Johnny Rock Page’s discourse from Mid-Ohio. Out of these comments we see a clear divide on where people stand on the issue of backmarkers, the rules of AMA Pro Superbike, the managing of AMA roadracing, and the comments made by our two protagonists.
So, we thought we’d post some of the more interesting, and to the point comments made by people from both sides. Read’m after the jump.
We don’t even know where to begin with this…The AMA Pro Racing has announced that it has indefinitely suspended Al Ludington for his interactions to during Race 1 of AMA’s stop at Mid-Ohio. Page was accused by Ludington for not abidding to a blue flag (over-taking rider approaching), as Aaron Yates looked to get around the slower Page. Pretty standard stuff in racing, especially in the AMA where there can be a wide gap in lap times of teams and riders.
The issue here though is the handling of the matter, as Ludington goes off his rocker, threatening and cursing Page, all while misquoting the rule book. During his rant, what becomes clear is Ludington’s lowly perception of privateer riders. He also sheds light on how the AMA perceives roadracing in America. It’s a sad state we live in folks.
UPDATE 2: We now have clear photos of the 2011 Aprilia Tuono V4 lapping around Mugello, along with video footage of the bike. Check it out here.
UPDATE: Sorry folks, it looks like we’re one of the many sites that are being requested to remove the photos of the Tuono V4 at Mugello by the photographer. The camera phone photo remains though.
We’ve got more spy shots for you today, which should cover just about every bike Aprilia is rumored to have in development. One lucky photographer was at Mugello and caught both the upcoming Aprilia Tuono V4 & RSV4-R taking laps around the Italian course. We also found what looks like a camera phone picture of the Tuono V4 out in the wild.
While the RSV4 has gotten most of the limelight, the Tuono V4 has been content, as always, to be in the superbike’s shadow. Drawing from similar inspirations, there aren’t too many surprises on what the bike looks like. Imagine the RSV4 without its clothes on, with a new headlight, and you’ve about got it.
Ask, and yee shall find. Within a couple hours of posting the rumor that Aprilia releasing a “base” model RSV4, we get word of spy shots of the rumored bike. Photos confirm Showa forks relpacing the Öhlins units up front, and that the RSV4 looks damn sexy in all black. More news as we get it. Big ups to Michel!
RSV4 R “Base” Model in the Paddock:
The Aprilia RSV4 hasn’t even reached dealers in the US yet, and there’s already speculation for what’s to come next year. With BMW finally spilling the beans on its pricing structure for the S1000RR, it should seem clear that Aprilia is going to have a lot of trouble hocking the long awaited RSV4 at the likely $6,000 price surplus that the RSV4 is going to have over the Japanese and new BMW.
To combat this, there is speculation starting to go around that Aprilia will release a “base” model (they don’t like calling it a base model, but that’s what it is) later in 2010, in order to compete with the cheaper models. Rumors peg the base model price to be about $4,000 less than the Factory model, which is due to come out later this year.
Jorge “Aspar” Martinez is closing in on finally becoming a player in MotoGP. Aspar has had his eye on MotoGP for some time now, hoping to move out of the ranks of 250GP, where he has been making quite the showing with Alvaro Bautista at the helm. Despite his ambition, the right deal has never been able to materialize for Martine. But that now seems to be changing as Aspar could announce before Donington, his plans to enter MotoGP as Ducati Satellite team. Bautista, however, is still a question mark.
