We feel like we’ve heard this before…oh wait, we have. FB Corse has announced it will push back its second testing date back to the last week April because rider Garry McCoy has been suffering from the flu. You may remember the FB Corse pulled a similar move, and pushed back the launch of their team presentation when issues concerning the signing of John Hopkins arose.
The street going version of the the BMW S 1000RR made a surprise visit during the Jerez MotoGP this past weekend, and luckily someone took some pictures of it. The new superbike was being used as the race safety bike for the GP races. These photos come about a week before the at Monza’s World Superbike round, May 8th -10th, where we hope to finally see the bike in its full street form, although these photos are pretty close to showing us that. Continue reading for the photos, and more details.
Going into Sunday’s race, it seemed for certain that a Spaniard would once again be on the podium at Jerez. Then The Doctor showed up with a lightning fast warm up time, that just eeked out Jorge Lorenzo’s. With the Italian interjecting himself on this previously Spanish only affair, the Spanish GP was shaping up to be a a blood sport exhibition for the 123,000 Spanish fans filling the grandstand. Continue reading on for a full race report from Jerez.
It took Jorge Lorenzo just 1’38.933 to lap around the circuit at Jerez, and put himself at the front of the grid on Sunday for the MotoGP Spanish Gran Prix. The Spainard didn’t disappoint his home crowd, as he staved off the other local favorite, Dani Pedrosa.
The two riders have been in top form all week, and Pedrosa again demonstrated his improving form and fitness on the Repsol Honda RC212V , lapping just 0.051 seconds behind Lorenzo to take the second place spot on the starting line tomorrow. Completing out the front row is Casey Stoner, who was half a second behind Lorenzo at what he describes as his least favorite track.
Yes…we just wanted an excuse to post these pictures of the Hayden/Takahashi collision. While Nicky Hayden hasn’t had the best of luck in the first two races of MotoGP, on a positive note though the Kentuckian rider recently stated, “At Motegi I felt as though the communication within the team had improved, the work we’re doing together as a group is becoming more smooth.” Hayden concluded by saying he didn’t “even want to think about the possibility of it raining again.”
Hayden is currently 15th in the MotoGP standings, 37 points behind leader Jorge Lorenzo.
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Results are in from the MotoGP IRTA Test at Jerez this past weekend, and it was Casey Stoner who lead the entire weekend and came out the M Award winner. Despite this, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo were closer than these times suggest. Jorge Lorenzo, in particular, made a big step forward, and looks like he could run with Rossi, Stoner and Pedrosa this season, though he is still not ready to challenge for the title. At least, that’s what he says. Unsurprisingly, the best times for most people were set during the BMW M Award session, but the lack of qualifying tires this year, combined with the fact that that 45 minute session was disrupted by both the weather and James Toseland’s crash meant that there was not so much in it.
Jeremy Burgess, the man beind behind great riders like Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan, and Valentino Rossi has voiced his opinion about the one tire manufacturer rule for next year’s MotoGP season…just a little bit more loudly than before. Read more after the jump.