When the Husqvarna 701 Enduro LR debuted at EICMA last year, we lamented that the “long range” version of the 701 Enduro wasn’t coming to the USA at the time, as its 6.6-gallon (25-liter) gas tank seemed like a great idea for the North American market.
The minds at Husqvarna North America must have agreed with us, because today we get news that the Husqvarna 701 Enduro LR is coming to the USA, as a 2021 model – available in US dealerships in Fall 2020.
The Aprilia Tuono V4 1100 seems set to get wings for the next model year, as the eagle eyes at GPone have caught the Italian streetfighter testing with a MotoGP-inspired aerodynamics package.
Caught spinning laps in Imola with test rider Lorenzo Savadori at the control, what we see here is surely coming for the next model year, but the question is whether it will be a street bike or not.
A new road race is set to come to the motorsport stage: the Diamond Races at the Isle of Wight in England.
The races will use a time trial format, like the Isle of Man TT, with a 12.4-mile road course winding through several towns and down the island’s coast.
But the real advantage of the Diamond Races is its location, as the Isle of Wight is located just southeast of Southampton, and sits just under three hours from London, making it an easy and approachable racing event for British and international fans.
As the MotoGP Championship gears up for its first race of the 2020 season this coming weekend, we get a bevy of announcements from Jerez, Spain.
The first item is that Franco Morbidelli will be continuing with the Petronas Yamaha squad, signing a two-year contract with the satellite Yamaha team. This surprised no one.
More surprising was the silence about the future of Valentino Rossi, as the Italian is expected to announce his move to the Petronas Yamaha garage this week. However, The Doctor may have held his tongue because of the news that was coming from the Honda contingency.
Confirming the paddock rumors, HRC announced that it had signed Pol Espargaro to the Repsol Honda squad on a two-year deal, thus displacing Alex Marquez from the factory-backed team before the Spaniard had turned a single racing wheel with the Japanese manufacturer.
While the motorcycle racing world awaits the return of real racing, contract time is heaving into view. Though the methods are different – Skype calls and WhatsApp messages, rather than private conversations at the backs of garages or between trucks – the objective is the same: to find the best match of bike and rider, giving the most hope of success.
Having to work remotely is the least of both managers’ and teams’ problems. The bigger issue is that there is next to no data to go on. Teams and factories are having to make a guess at who they think will be strong in 2021 based on who was fast in 2019, and who showed promise in the winter tests.
Riders have no idea which bikes have made progress over the winter, and which have stagnated. Is it worth taking a gamble on KTM? Has the Honda gotten any easier to ride?
The news has been rumored for several weeks, but now it is finally official, as Jack Miller will move from the satellite Pramac Ducati team, and join the factory Ducati Corse MotoGP team for the 2021 season.
The news almost certainly means the departure of Danilo Petrucci from the team, though it remains to be seen if Ducati will also retain the services of Andrea Dovizioso for next season, as the Italian is said to be scouting other offers.
Good bets would be placed on Dovizioso remaining in the squad through next season though, which means Miller can count on the veteran Ducati as a teammate for the 2021 championship.
The COVID-19 pandemic has complicated motorcycle racing in many different ways, some quite unexpected. To address some of those complications, the Grand Prix Commission, MotoGP’s rulemaking body, agreed a number of exceptions to the rules for the 2020 season, concerning wildcards, concerning concession points, and concerning engine development.
Engine development had already been frozen in response to the coronavirus crisis. In part as a cost-cutting measure, and in part because the European manufacturers had had their factories closed, all six MSMA members agreed to halt engine development and use the engines they were due to homologate for the 2020 season for the start of the 2021 season.
Another week, and another Honda CBR600RR-R rumor. Well…to be fair, this is only our second rumor concerning the Japanese supersport machine, but if things continue forward, we can expect a lot more coming from the rumor mill on this one.
This week’s edition sees us still talking Honda working on a CBR600RR-R model, and that it will be ready in time for the 2021 model year (one assumes that the coronavirus has not disrupted this timetable).
But, things have been taken one step further, with an unveiling date being discussed in the far corners of the internet. Namely, the Honda CBR600RR-R is set for an October debut.
Another piece has slotted into place for the 2021 MotoGP season, and like the last announcement – Alex Rins at Suzuki Ecstar MotoGP – it is far from a surprise. Today, Suzuki announced it has extended its deal with Joan Mir for another two years, for the 2021 and the 2022 seasons.
The deal had been long coming. Talks had been ongoing for a while, to such an extent that Joan Mir dropped a very heavy hint that the deal was done in an Instagram Live question and answer session, saying that he “wasn’t allowed to say anything” but that he would have news soon.
Ever since the factory Monster Yamaha MotoGP team signed Fabio Quartararo at the beginning of this year, there has been much discussion about the future of Valentino Rossi, who would then be losing his seat in the factory team to the young Frenchman.
Before the coronavirus outbreak, the expectation was that Rossi would take the first third of the 2020 season to decide his future in MotoGP. If The Doctor felt he could be competitive and wanted to continue racing, then a factory-backed bike in the Petronas Yamaha satellite team was promised to him for 2021 and onward.
Of course, with no racing so far this year, Rossi’s plan to assess his retirement has gone out the window. Talking today with MotoGP’s Matthew Birt however, Rossi explained that his new plan is not to retire at the end of this season, and instead to race in 2021.
In a welcomed diversion from the ongoing onslaught of COVID-19-related news, the Suzuki Ecstar team has announced that it has signed Alex Rins for a further two seasons, meaning that the Spaniard will be riding for the team in the 2021 and 2022 MotoGP seasons, such as they may be.