After first announcing that Ben Spies would stay in WSBK for 2010, and move up to MotoGP for 2011, commotion surrounded both paddocks that the American Superbike rider could in fact be bumped to MotoGP as early as next season. Today, Yamaha has officially confirmed what many had speculated: Ben Spies will join MotoGP via the Monster Tech3 Yamaha MotoGP team for the 2010 season.
With Marco Simoncelli having obligations in Estoril, British Superbike racer, Leon Camier, will be filling in for the injured Shinya Nakano at Magny-Cours this weekend. Camier will get to ride the Aprilia RSV4 Factory alongside Max Biaggi as World Superbike wraps up it season with its second-to-last stop of the year at the French Magny-Cours race track.
FIM President Vito Ippolito has written an open letter this week that delivers a message of fair play to riders and teams. The letter comes as MotoGP heads to Estoril, Portugal and WSBK braces for its penultimate weekend at Magny-Cours, France.
Presumably, Ippolito’s letter comes as a response to unsportsmanlike conduct that’s been occurring in all the Championship series, and making its way onto television sets and computer screens. Mr. Ippolito’s letter after the jump.
MCN is reporting that James Toseland is set to make an announcement tomorrow (Thursday) regarding his plans for 2010. Toseland is expected to divulge that he and American rider Ben Spies will be doing an almost direct bike swap for next year. The plan has Spies taking a seat at Tech3 Yamaha alongside fellow Texan Colin Edwards, while Toseland takes the #1 seat at the Yamaha factory World Superbike team.
Desmosedici RR owners will be happy to hear that their GP replica bikes are being recalled yet again. This time at fault is the spacing between the tail-guard and exhaust system. Because of their close proximity, the tail-guard could possibly overheat, and become a fire hazard.
Come Spies or highwater, Italian food brand Sterilgarda and Yamaha have confirmed their continued sponsorship agreement in World Superbike for the 2010 season. This announcement does one of two things: it either 1) confirms Ben Spies’ involvement with the factory Yamaha World Superbike team for 2010, or 2) it means that Sterilgarda is content to race with Yamaha regardless of who rides for the tuning fork brand.
Ducati has announced the return of Casey Stoner to MotoGP racing, with the Portuguese GP only days away from its first practice session. Stoner’s return is right on schedule, despite some speculation that the Australian racer might never race again after his prolonged hiatus from two-wheeled jousting.
German tuning house Holey has done the once over to this Kawasaki ZX-10R, and given it the race replica look of Marco Melandri’s Hayate race bike. We’ve been short-fused with race replicas lately, but there’s something about the Hayate replica that we really enjoy. Maybe its the dark color scheme, or maybe its just the inspiring story behind the little MotoGP that could. More photos after the jump.
Source: Moto Special via MotoBlog.it
Ducati Corse has re-signed both of its World Superbike riders, Noriyuki Haga & Michel Fabrizio, for the 2010 season. No word on the details of the rider’s contracts, but the move won’t cause any surprises in the WSBK paddock. Xerox Ducati has been dominating the World Superbike series, save for one man, Ben Spies.
Well, we saw it coming. Electric scooter manufacturer Vectrix Motorcycles has finally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. For those that didn’t learn the intricacies of Chapter 11 filings from the recent reorganization of General Motors, Vectrix as we know it will be transfered to a new corporation (New Corp.), while the bad assets and debt of the company remain in old company (Old Corp.). In this case, New Corp. will take the form of “New Vectrix LLC” and the move will leave the brand with minimal debt obligations (at the detriment of its current creditors).
While a pretty standard announcement for a Chapter 11 filing, Vectrix isn’t out of the woods yet. This filing will give Vectrix the second chance it needs, but it does nothing to address the fundamental problems that caused the company to go bankrupt in the first place (much like GM you say??!).
Hopefully with proper management, this move will give Vectrix the second chance it needs to be successful. The Chapter 11 filing is at least a good sign for the company and creditors as a Chapter 7 filing would have meant both parties would have been S.O.L. Such is the miracle of the United States Bankruptcy Court. Press release after the jump.
KTM North America has created a new division focused on the on-road market. The new division is clearly a step by KTM to continue its push into the road bike scene. Heading the new division is Brad Hagi, former Director of Distributor Sales Worldwide at Ducati in Italy. With this new announcement, comes the rumor of a new motorcycle in the works for 2010. More after the jump.