After a spanning career that has seen him racing in the United States, the grand prix paddock, and on the top steps of WorldSBK podiums, Chaz Davies is finally ready to retire.
The name “DesertX” should be a familiar moniker for Ducatisti, as the Desert X concept was the belle of the ball at the 2019 EIMCA show.
Back then though, the Desert X was a concept bike built under the Scrambler Ducati name, and it featured a 1,079cc air-cooled v-twin engine.
Oh, how things have changed! Now being teased for a December 9th debut, it would seem that the Italians have done more than reformat the name, and that makes us very happy.
Episode 238 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this show covers the MotoGP action from the San Marino GP at the Misano World Circuit
On the mics, we have Steve English, David Emmett, Neil Morrison, and Adam Wheeler, as they cover what turned out to be a very eventful weekend in Italy.
The weather cooperated for the second and final day of the Misano MotoGP test.
It stayed dry and warm all day, which meant everyone got the track time they were looking for. In the case of Maverick Viñales, that was a lot of track time: the Aprilia rider racked up 109 laps, a grand total of 460.6 kilometers.
Equivalent to Misano to Turin, London to Paris, Dallas, Texas to San Antonio, Texas.
The problem with all that track time, of course, is that a lot of rubber gets laid down. That adds oodles of grip, making conditions ideal for MotoGP machines.
The folks at Suzuki have a surprise for us today, showing off one of their 2022 models a bit earlier than expected. The bike is the Suzuki GSX-S1000GT – a long-distance sport-tourer built off the GSX-S1000 platform.
That pedigree means that the Suzuki GSX-S1000GT is built off the “K6” GSX-R1000 engine, and should make about 150hp in US trim, with 78 lbs•ft of torque on tap from its inline-four engine. Wet weight is set at 498 lbs (226 kg).
It was only a few hours ago that we were talking to you about the upcoming plans for the new World Supersport regulations, and now MV Agusta gives us a glimpse of the machine that they will be offering this reimagined middleweight category.
Built for the purpose of winning races, say hello to the 2022 MV Agusta F3 RR.
The World Supersport field is ripe for change, and that shouldn’t be new or surprising information for anyone following the space.
This is because the 600cc inline-four market has disappeared, especially in Europe, leaving the middleweight class with an uncertain future in racing.
Where there is an absence, there is a vacuum, and the space being left behind by the Japanese supersports is being filled rapidly by European twin and three-cylinder offerings.
Another American will be in the grand prix paddock next season, as American Racing has signed Sean Dylan Kelly for a two-years deal inside the Moto2 team.
Tom Sykes will remain in the Hospital General de Catalunya in Barcelona, for further examination, after his Race 2 crash at the WorldSBK round this past weekend.
The BMW Motorrad rider was involved in a Turn 1 crash on the second lap of Race 2 at Catalunya, where he lost consciousness and suffered a severe concussion.
Accordingly, the doctors at the Hospital General de Catalunya are keeping Sykes for observation, and he is expected to be discharged from the hospital on Wednesday. Sykes is unlikely to race this coming weekend at Jerez.
It was supposed to rain, so of course it didn’t, proving that the weather on Italy’s Adriatic coast is just as fickle as any other place in the world at the moment.
Instead, it was hot and humid, with the threat of rain looming in the distance, providing a brief shower during qualifying for the Moto2 class, but leaving the rest of the sessions untouched. The recent rains did leave their mark, however.
The standing water left by the heavy showers of recent weeks had allowed midges, mosquitoes, and other insect life to breed copiously, and clouds of midges swarmed sections of the track. To the misfortune of Jack Miller, who had to come into the pits after getting one of the little mites in his eye.
Friday at Misano was fun, if a complete waste of time. Ideal conditions for about 35 minutes of FP1, then the deluge came, flooding the track and putting an end to any idea of improvement.
A rainy afternoon – though not quite as rain-sodden as the end of FP1 – meant it was impossible to better the times from this morning.
Which left Maverick Viñales at the top of the timesheets. A remarkable achievement, given this is just his second race on the Aprilia after his dramatic separation from the Yamaha team.
Does this mean that Viñales is now the favorite for the win at Misano? Even Maverick Viñales doesn’t think so.