News coming from our good friends at Ducati News Today, tell us that according to one Australian dealer, Ducati is set to debut a small-displacement learner motorcycle that would adhere to Australia’s Learner Approved Motorcycle Scheme (LAMS). Fraiser Motorcycles is stating that Australia will get the new model in the coming months, and good money says that the bike is a modified Monster 696.

Whether that machine will have a smaller bore or shorter stroke is up for debate, but we imagine whichever is cheapest to produce will likely dictate the answer. Also expect to see some sort of deliberate power reduction used in the design, as Australia’s LAMS calls for a 201hp/metric ton horsepower-to-weight ratio.

Reviews

Even before its launch in Milan last year, the 2011 Ducati Diavel has been the talk of the motorcycle industry since its first spy photo was released. It amuses me that Ducati chose to name the Diavel (say: dee-ahh-vole) after the Bolognese word for the devil. The linguistic foreplay from Ducati is just asking for a response from motorcyclists who feel that Bologna company has over-stepped its prescribed branding boundaries, and sold its soul to the Devil of bottom-line thinking. Setting out to the City of Angels, I swung a leg over the Ducati Diavel for a day of riding on some of Los Angeles’s finest and most well know routes. The short answer to how the Diavel fared: damningly well.

Racing

To call the Daytona 200 anything less than a disappointment might be fighting words in some circles of motorcycle race fans, and at best the race was a dismal start to the 2011 AMA Pro Road Racing series. From that day’s events, speculation and criticism have surrounded the Daytona 200, its multiple red flags, shortened race distance, and other events that unfolded over the course of its running. Looking to address those criticisms, AMA Pro Racing has issued a lengthy reply and explanation of how the events unfolded behind the scenes, both in regards to stopping the race for a tire change and regarding repairs to Jason DiSalvo’s motor.

Racing

After losing the top joint to his pinky finger in a crash during the Monday night testing session at Qatar, Cal Crutchlow has had to have some special gloves from Spidi made in order to accommodate his injured finger and its bandages. Luckily Spidi, the Italian glove manufacturer and Crutchlow sponsor, has been able to rush produce a glove with a larger pinky finger sleeve that incorporates a lycra panel and special reinforcements.

Opinion/Editorial

Perhaps a different take on how to best bring aid to Japan, I got an interesting message from Mark Gardiner, who pointed out “Japan is not Haiti. By the time we can actually deliver bottled water and blankets to the scene, people will have walked to parts of Japan that are relatively unscathed. If you want to help Japan, buy Honda stock.” I think ‘The Backmarker’ is grasping a key point here, and with permission, we’ve reproduced his article on the subject as a guest post after the jump.