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Interview: Lucio Cecchinello – The Man Behind LCR Honda

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Former GP racer Lucio Cecchinello is a Honda man through and through. Team owner and principal at LCR Honda (the ‘LCR’ standing for Lucio Cecchinello Racing), Cecchinello started his racing career on a Honda NS125R, and worked his way up to the GP ranks, where he spent most of his time on a Honda RS125 (he finished his career on an Aprilia though). In 1996, Cecchinello started LCR, making him both the team’s rider and its principal director, an absolute rarity in the paddock.

LCR Honda slowly grew from the 125 & 250 Championships into the premier class of the sport: MotoGP. Campaigning a number of top riders, LCR Honda has seen Casey Stoner, Randy de Puniet, Alex de Angelis, Nobby Ueda, Toni Elias & Carlos Checa all ride the team’s bikes at some point in their careers. This year LCR Honda has Moto2 Champion Stefan Bradl in the saddle, and the team hopes the German rider will be just as impressive on the big bikes as he was with the 600’s.

Taking some time to talk to HRC’s PR machine, Cecchinello shares his unique perspective on having both a racing and managing career. As a satellite team owner, Cecchinello’s opinions about CRTs from a business perspective are especially intriguing, as he forecasts trouble for CRT teams trying to bring in big-name sponsors.

Perhaps most significant are his comments regarding Moto2 though, as Cecchinello believes that the middle class of GP racing should go to a 500cc two-cylinder format, which would allow manufacturers to race in all three class with the same cylinder and head designs. The interview is a pretty good read for any MotoGP fan, check it out after the jump.

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Bikes

LCR Honda RC213V Makes Its Debut

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LCR Honda may only be a satellite Honda team in MotoGP, but everything Lucio Cecchinello touches regarding the squad has an amazing attention to detail, and the teams’s 2012 launch is no different. After a disappointing last season with Toni Elias, LCR Honda has swapped in another Moto2 Champion, this time with German Stefan Bradl at the helm of the LCR Honda RC213V. Already showing tremendous progress in the big show, Bradl is an early favorite for the Rookie of the Year distinction, and the 22-year-old is certain to give some of the more veteran riders a run for their money this season.

Officially launching the 2012 LCR Honda squad in Jerez this week, the Italian MotoGP team always brings us some of the most artful studio shots from the paddock launches, and again Lucio and his crew don’t disappoint in this regard. If you like your photos warmed up and desaturated, we have got a treat for you, but sorry…no bunnies this time around.

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Racing

Toni Elias to Test with BMW Italia’s WSBK Team

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It’s not exactly a secret that Toni Elias has been having a tough season in MotoGP this year. Typically two to three seconds off the pace from the front-runners, you’d be hard pressed to remember that the Spaniard was once a rising start in the MotoGP paddock, and dominantly won the 2010 Moto2 Championship. Rumors of Elias’ exit from the LCR Honda have been going almost from day one it seems, though the down to Earth and pleasant rider continues to persist onward.

Though electrifying the crowds with his first race win in 2008, Elias appears to be on his way out of MotoGP…for the second time in his career. Unable to do anything with the LCR Honda that Randy de Puniet confidently rode in 2010, Elias is now reported to be testing at Misano this week with the BMW Italia World Superbike squad, which in-turn recently just lost James Toseland to a career-ending hand injury. With WSBK becoming the home from MotoGP’s Lost Boys, a move to the premier production motorcycle racing class seems almost fitting for Elias, but is that in the cards?

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Racing

Ben Bostrom to Wild Card Laguna Seca with LCR Honda

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American rider Ben Bostrom will have double the duties this coming weekend at the US GP at Laguna Seca, as he’ll ride as a wild card in MotoGP with the LCR Honda team, alongside Toni Elias. Bostrom will also be honoring his commitments with the Jordan Suzuki AMA team, riding the Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the AMA Pro Superbike races held in conjunction with MotoGP’s first US stop of the season.

“Words can’t express how excited I am to get this amazing opportunity to race on my home track in front of the whole world,” said Bostrom. “I have to thank Michael Jordan Motorsports and American Suzuki for allowing this to happen. The collaboration between Lucio, LCR and the MJM team has been terrific. I’m going to get on the GP bike and put it as close to the front as possible. Then I’m going to hop on my Jordan Suzuki bike and try to create even more magic.”

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Bikes

LCR Honda CBR1000RR – If LCR Honda Made a Honda

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MotoGP race team LCR Honda has been caught dabbling with one very trick Honda CBR1000RR. While we’re having a hard time believing the rumors that LCR Honda intends to use the bike as claiming-rule team (CRT) entry in MotoGP, the LCR Honda CBR1000RR is an exercise on what one can do with enough money and access to HRC’s secret stash of motorcycle racing parts.

Raiding the HRC parts catalog, Lucio Cecchinello and his crew have boosted the Fireblade’s output to 200hp, and completing the kit are 2010 Öhlins MotoGP forks, Brembo carbon fiber brakes, Marchesini wheels, and of course a Playboy replica paint scheme (naturally). One of the most impressive CBRs you’ll find, we caution you not to believe other reports that state this is all a part of LCR considering a CBR motor as the basis for a CRT entry.

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Toni Elias Signs With LCR Honda – Returns to MotoGP

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Reigning Moto2 World Champion Toni Elias will return to the big show for the 2011 season, as the Spanish rider has secured a contract with the LCR Honda satellite team. Elias has been on fire this season in Moto2, easily establishing himself as the dominate rider in the class. Looking to secure Moto2 as the feeder series for MotoGP, Dorna is rumored to have helped secure Elias’s return to premiere racing, after he lost his ride in the San Carlo Gresini Honda squad in 2009.

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Racing

Honda Says No to Melandri, Dorna Holds Kawasaki to Contract

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marco-melandri

Avenues to ride in MotoGP for the 2009 season are becoming dead-ends for Marco Melandri. In case you haven’t read A&R the last few weeks, Kawasaki’s pull-out from MotoGP has sent the young Italian scrambling for a ride this coming season, with his latest stop being in the Honda camp.

Lucio Cecchinello, manager for LCR Honda, admits to having been approached by friends of Melandri to see if the team would be interested in sponsoring a second bike alongside Randy de Puniet.

Negative Ghost Rider, the pattern is full.

Employing the classic “It’s not you, it’s me” line, the LCR boss issued the statement: “I was asked by the manager of Melandri to run in 2009, but this will not happen for the following reasons,” said Lucio. “First, we can not afford to include a second driver. The current economic situation does not allow us to consider an investor can pay Melandri, especially given his last season. ” 

“Secondly, even if I talked to Honda, I am almost certain they would be against the idea of providing a new motorcycle. This would HRC to new engines, to invest in new parts and another crew. We are in a period where Honda wants to save rather than spend even more money. Finally, it is too late to hire staff and new mechanics. There is therefore no chance to see Melandri join my team. ” 

There is still some speculation that a white knight might step in to take over the Factory Kawasaki effort, this possibility earned further credence today as Carmelo Ezpeleta from Dorna released the fact that Kawasaki has a signed contract to run in MotoGP until 2011. 

Ezpeleta stated that “Once they [Kawasaki] informed me of their desire to stop, I began negotiations with them, arguing the contract they had signed and I asked them to reconsider their best decision, or at worst of postponing…The possibility of two Kawasaki on the grid in 2009, in one form or another, can not be ruled out. They signed a contract and a contract can not be ignored in a day.”

Get the popcorn folks, its only going to get more interesting from here on out.

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