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MotoGP Releases Revised 2020 Calendar with 13 Races

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There is a plan for the 2020 MotoGP season. With the COVID-19 outbreak receding all across Europe, Dorna has been given a second chance at setting a calendar for the 2020 MotoGP season.

The newly published calendar will see 13 races held at circuits in Europe in the first instance, with the possibility of four overseas races being tacked on at the end of the year, if conditions permit.

The calendar is explictly still provisional, subject to local rules and regulations concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.

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MotoGP

Austin MotoGP Race Decision Coming by End of July

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Ever since the opening round at Qatar, the schedule for the 2020 MotoGP Championship has been in limbo. And for American fans, this hasn meant a tremendous amount of uncertainty regarding the grand prix round held outside of Austin, Texas.

Though we are seemingly no closer to knowing if and when the Americas GP will take place, American fans have now been at least provided a timeline on when we will know: the end of July.

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A&R Pro

US Dirt Bike Sales Were Immune to the Coronavirus Lockdown

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That motorcycle sales are down because of the coronavirus lockdown seems like an obvious thing to state. Just for clarity though, American motorcycle sales through the first four months of the year are down 9% compared to last year.

Truthfully, that number is far less than we were predicting here at Asphalt & Rubber, and there is a good reason for that. While the COVID-19 scare has decimate on-road sales (-23%) and scooter sales (-24%), this has not been the case for off-road motorcycles sales totals, which are up 30%.

Even dual-sports seem to be buoyed by having a tire in the dirt, with sales reported to be down only 5% during the same time period.

Looking deeper into the dual-sport numbers though appears to give an insight on this odd dichotomy between street and dirt sales in the motorcycle industry.

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MotoGP

Japanese GP at Motegi Canceled as MotoGP Plans to Stay in Europe until Mid-November

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After last week’s announcements that the Silverstone and Phillip Island MotoGP rounds were canceled, today, the Japanese round of MotoGP joined the list of cancellations.

The race at Motegi has been called off, and will not take place this year, despite the importance of the race to the Japanese manufacturers.

Today’s announcement was the last step in a general clearing out of the schedule to allow for a calendar of races that could feasibly be held for 2020.

The plan, as Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta pointed out in the press release, is to do as many races in Europe as possible, and only heading overseas after that, if international travel is still possible.

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MotoGP

MotoGP Machines Return to the Track on Wednesday & Thursday

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After thirteen and a half weeks of silence, MotoGP bikes are to roar into life once again in their natural habitat.

The KTM RC16 machines are to spend two days testing at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, on May 27th and 28th. The last time MotoGP bikes were on track was at Qatar, on February 24th.

Factory rider Pol Espargaro will be joined at the Red Bull Ring by test rider Dani Pedrosa, where they will continue work on the RC16.

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Bikes

Honda CBR1000RR-R SP US Arrival Delayed Until September

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Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP

More delays are coming to the Honda CBR1000RR-R superbike, this time for the SP models that are coming to the US market.

While Europeans will have to wait a couple weeks longer because of a con-rod recall affecting the new Fireblade in their markets, would-be owners in the United States will have to show some patience as well, as deliveries to the United States have been pushed back by over one month.

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MotoGP

MotoGP Racing Creeps Closer to Reality for 2020

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The good news was that Dorna had submitted a plan to hold two races in Jerez on the 19th and 26th of July, and that the authorities in Andalusia and the city of Jerez had supported the plan.

But many obstacles remained in the path to turning the plan into reality. Now, nearly three weeks later, those obstacles are starting to disappear.

The biggest obstacle was removed on Monday, when the Spanish government announced that the enforced quarantine on anyone entering the country would be lifted from July 1st.

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News

US Roads Have Become Deadlier Since the Coronavirus

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For those of us who have been venturing outside of the home, the coronavirus pandemic has come with the silver lining that it has become easier to travel by road in the United States.

With more people working from home and sheltering-in-place, the need to get in a car and drive somewhere has fallen by the wayside, and we as motorcyclists have seemingly benefitted from having fewer vehicles to share the road with as we ride.

However, data from the National Safety Council (NSC) – a non-profit organisation chartered by US Congress – should give us some pause, as it suggests that those trips out have been substantially more dangerous than usual.

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News

Back in the Swing of Things, MV Agusta Rush 1000 Delivering in June

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Perhaps the most lurid motorcycle we saw at the 2019 EICMA show, the MV Agusta Rush 1000 is truly a bike that stands out from the crowd. Designed with what MV Agusta calls a “drag racing” aesthetic, the Rush 1000 takes the already gorgeous Brutale 1000 RR streetfighter, and dials it up to 11.

On the technical side, MV Agusta hasn’t distinguished the Rush 1000 too much from the Brutale 1000 – they both share a 205hp inline-four engine (209hp with the kit exhaust, which surely one would install for the full “Rush” effect), which is pulled straight out of the MV Agusta F4 RC superbike.

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