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MotoGP: Crutchlow, Dovizioso, & Iannone To Stay at Ducati Corse — Will Ride Radically New Desmosedici GP15

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After all the speculation of massive changes in Ducati’s MotoGP team, all is to remain the same. During the World Ducati Week event held for fans of the Italian marque at Misano, both Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow announced that they would be remaining with Ducati for 2015.

The news means Crutchlow chose not to exercise his option to leave, and Dovizioso was persuaded to sign-on for two more years. In addition, it means that Ducati has exercised its option to extend the contract with Andrea Iannone, with Iannone to be given factory support.

The decisions by all three riders are a both a show of confidence in the ability of Ducati Corse boss Gigi Dall’Igna to build a more competitive MotoGP machine, as well as a lack of alternatives elsewhere.

The only other factory rides available are the two seats at Suzuki, but given the slow pace of the bike during testing and the amount of development work needed, that was a bigger risk than staying at Ducati.

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Bikes

2015 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14R ABS 30th Anniversary Edition

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In case you didn’t know, this is the 30th anniversary of the Ninja motorcycle line from Kawasaki. To commemorate the occasion, Big Green has already debuted the 2015 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 30th Anniversary Edition and 2015 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R 30th Anniversary Edition motorcycles, and today the 2015 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14R ABS 30th Anniversary Edition joins them.

Like its sport bike brethren, this special ZX-14R comes with a special livery, which will be available to only 300 lucky owners (each unit is specially numbered). Finished in a “Firecracker Red” with “Metallic Graystone” paint, along with gold pinstriping and gold brake calipers, you can be certain that the changes are purely skin deep for this special model.

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Bikes

Is a 2015 Suzuki GSR1000 Coming?

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Speculation for the 2014 trade shows is starting to trickle in, and the fine journalists at the German magazine Motorrad have for us the latest gossip regarding a new model for 2015. Confirming a great deal of speculation, Motorrad tips that we will see a Suzuki GSR1000 at October’s INTERMOT show.

Call it a standard, a streetfighter, or a street naked, the GSR1000 is said to be without fairings and based off the Suzuki GSX-R1000, using the same 999cc four-cylinder engine as the superbike, albeit in an unfortunately detuned state — not to dissimilar from the Suzuki GSR750.

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MotoGP

Valentino Rossi Signs New Two-Year Contract with Yamaha

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The news had been coming for a month or so, but at last it has been announced officially. Valentino Rossi has signed a two-year extension of his contract with the Movistar Yamaha team, and will race with them in MotoGP for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

For the past few races, Rossi had said he had been close to signing a new deal, but had a few details still to clear up. Those details had been resolved at some point between the Barcelona and Assen rounds, with Rossi’s new contract signed at Assen.

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Bikes

Husqvarna Announces Enduro Models for US Market

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A lot has happened with the Husqvarna name in the past few years. Recently sold to Stefan Pierer, head man at KTM AG, the Swedish dirt bike brand was also recently reunited with Husaberg, the brand established from the remnants left behind of the company in Sweden from when Husqvarna moved to Italy.

Folding Husaberg back into Husqvarna, the reformed off-road company was reintroduced to the market in 2014 as essentially rebadged KTM motorcycles — a similar statement can be said about the Husky entry in the Moto3 World Championship.

Not all of the 2014 line came to the US market though, and for 2015 we will see the company’s updated enduro models, the Husqvarna FE 350 S & Husqvarna FE 501 S, come stateside. Other additions to the US market include the FC 350 four-stroke MX and the TE 125 two-stroke machines. And yes, they’re still basically rebadged KTMs.

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MotoGP

LCR Honda Gets New Sponsor – Readying a Two-Bike Team?

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Stefan Bradl’s LCR Honda is sporting a new livery at Assen, after the team secured a major new sponsorship deal. The tie up will see the bike in CWM’s colors for three races in 2014, and will continue as a major backer in 2015.

The new sponsorship deal is so significant that it offers LCR Honda new possibilities. Lucio Cecchinello has made no secret of his desire to expand from a single bike to a two-bike team, but so far, the financial backing necessary has been missing.

The deal with CWM World has the potential to be the key support which would allow Cecchinello to add a second, Open bike to his satellite Honda RC213V currently being ridden by Bradl.

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WSBK

2015 World Superbike Regulations Amended

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For the 2015 season, the World Superbike Championship is to officially adopt the current EVO rules, in an effort to reduce costs within the premier production motorcycle racing series. Meeting this week at Catalunya though, the Superbike Commission has agreed to amend the 2015 “EVO” regulations, in order to ensure more parity amongst the variety of machines competing in the series.

As such, new stipulations regarding the 2015 World Superbike rules have been released. The new rules largely clarify what can be altered in a Superbike engine for 2015, as well as outline how OEMs can continue to develop their electronics packages (WSBK is the last World Championship to allow electronic development). For the full breakdown on rule changes, read after the jump.

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Bikes

Updates Coming for the 2015 KTM 1190 Adventure?

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KTM seems set to update its still young adventure bike model, as the 2015 KTM 1190 Adventure has been caught in the wild. Featuring a noticeably bigger fuel tank, refined windscreen, and numerous other subtle changes (note the larger air vents in the bodywork), the KTM 1190 Adventure seems to be getting improvements for next year, rather than an all-new model appearing, as had been said recently by other publications.

Caught outside the Circuito de San Miguel by Canary Island motorcycle rental firm Canarias Moto Rent, the photos of the 2015 KTM 1190 Adventure tell a pretty convincing story of a very modest model refresh by KTM — likely building off the feedback from current KTM 1190 Adventure owners.

If you were looking to buy a new KTM 1190 Adventure, we would hold off on that purchase. Expect the updated 2015 model to drop at this year’s INTERMOT show in October, if not earlier. Thanks for the tip Jackie!

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MotoGP

LCR Honda & Marc VDS Considering MotoGP Expansion for 2015 – But No More Production Hondas Available

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The 2015 MotoGP grid is shaping up to look even stronger than this season. There are increasing signs that the weaker teams on the grid are set to disappear, with the strongest teams in Moto2 moving up to take their place. In addition, there is a chance that some of the stronger existing MotoGP teams could expand their participation as well.

It is an open secret that the Marc VDS Racing team is weighing up a switch to MotoGP. Team boss Michael Bartholemy has had initial talks with the team owner Marc van der Straten about adding a MotoGP entry to their line up, but they are still a long way from making a decision.

Bartholemy told us that a decision on their participation would come at Assen at the earliest, but admitted that it was still a very serious option.

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Bikes

Official: 2015 Honda CBR300R Coming to America

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As we expected, the Honda CBR300R will be coming to the North American market, as American Honda has confirmed today that the single-cylinder machine as a 2015 model.

Though available in August later this year, Americans shouldn’t feel too bad about the 286cc machine coming late to the US, as even European markets have had a delay on receiving the machine, which officially debuted for that market at EICMA last year.

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MotoGP

How Dani Pedrosa’s €8 Million Contract Demand from Suzuki Is Like Brown M&Ms

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With Marc Marquez already signed up for 2015 and 2016, and Valentino Rossi on the verge of penning a new deal with Yamaha for two more years, attention is turning to Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

Will Lorenzo want to stay with Yamaha or switch to Honda? Will Pedrosa be prepared to take a pay cut or head off to a different factory? All these are thing we will learn over the coming weeks.

Pedrosa’s case is particularly interesting. Some well-informed sources are starting to report on his options for the future. According to the Spanish magazine Motociclismo, Dani Pedrosa has been offered a substantial pay cut by Honda, with a base salary cut from something in the region of 6 million euros a season to 1.5 million euros, with a very generous bonus scheme for winning races and the championship.

But Suzuki have also shown an interest in Pedrosa. The Japanese factory needs a winning rider to help make their new bike fully competitive, times set by Randy de Puniet are so far lagging a second or more behind the factory Hondas and Yamahas.

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