WSBK

Patrick ‘PJ’ Jacobsen will be stepping up to the big show for the 2018 season, with today’s announcement that the American will be riding with the TripleM Honda WSBK Team. Moving off of the World Supersport grid and into the World Superbike Championship, Jacobsen will be riding the Honda CBR1000RR SP2 with the satellite Honda team effort that TripleM has put together. “I’m very excited to be making my World Superbike debut with TripleM Honda WSBK Team,” said PJ. “It’s a great opportunity for me to be finally racing in this class and I want to thank the team and Honda for making this possible. Both the team and I will be rookies in the WorldSBK championship so there’ll surely be a lot to learn, but it’s a challenge that stimulates me and I can’t wait to get started.”

News

The Yamaha Corporation announced today that it will be selling 8 million shares of its holdings in Yamaha Motor Co., a movement of shares that will see roughly 2.3% of the voting power in the powersports company changing hands. This deal is expected to close on December 4th, and the Yamaha Corporation says that it will be selling its position to various unnamed securities companies, presumably to then be sold on the open market. At the current market price for Yamaha Motor stock, this deal should be worth close to ¥26 billion, and ¥18 billion after tax expenses have been factored. The news means that while the Yamaha Corporation will remain the single largest shareholder in Yamaha Motor Co., its ownership position as a shareholder will drop from 12.22% to 9.93%, as a result of the divestiture.

MotoGP

Last year’s Grand Prix of the Americas was marred by the dispute between Kevin Schwantz and the Circuit of the Americas, which saw the former GP Champion accusing the new MotoGP circuit of cutting him out of a deal with Dorna, the media rights holder to MotoGP. The legal dispute has simmered since the MotoGP race, but it is unfortunately finding a new spotlight now, as a court date has been set. Scheduled February 10, 2014 as a ten-day trial, Schwantz and COTA will get to argue their claims before a jury of their peers in Austin, Texas. In the suit, Schwantz alleges that COTA, and its former President Steve Sexton, tortiously interfered with their contract with 3FourTexas (Schwantz’s company), as well as fraudulently misrepresented themselves.