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Mika Kallio

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Now before we get ahead of ourselves, we should preface that Carlos Checa is not making a MotoGP comeback, but the former GP rider will ride the last two rounds of the 2010 MotoGP season. Checa has just signed a two-year contract renewal with Althea Ducati, after having a very strong season on the satellite Ducati squad, and has impressed many top-level players in the Ducati squad. The same however cannot be said of Mika Kallio, who looked to be a promising upcoming rider in his rookie year last season, has been an utter disappointment this season, and currently sits last in the standings of full-time riders.

Pramac Ducati, which despite its satellite status is basically the factory training ground for Ducati Corse, has obviously struggled this year as well, and would like to at least finish the season on a high note. Inviting Carlos Checa out to Mugello on Tuesday, the Spanish rider got rewarded for his hard work in WSBK, and took the Ducati Desmosedici GP10 out for a romp. According to the Spanish media, Checa has been given the green light to race for Pramac in Estoril and Valencia instead of Kallio. There has however been no official word from Ducati on the rider switch.

Mika Kallio filled in for the absent Casey Stoner this weekend, and finally got his shot riding with the factory Ducati team. Kallio’s big break would be cut short though, as he had an “incident” with Marco Melandri on the second to last lap, which took both riders out of the race.

In a classic he said, she said, Kallio and Melandri have very different views on what exactly went down. Read the quotes below, watch the video above, and decide for yourself what you saw happen.

Ducati has just announced that Casey Stoner will miss the GP this weekend at Brno, as well as the next two races. The decision was made by Stoner and his medical staff back in Australia, who have been trying to track down the reason for the rider’s chronic fatigue.

Stoner will return to MotoGP racing in October, at the Portuguese GP. Until then, Mika Kallio will replace Stoner on the Ducati Marlboro factory bike, and WSBK rider Michel Fabrizio will take Kallio’s spot on the Pramac Ducati satellite team.

With the MotoGP paddock still up in the air as to where riders will land for the 2010, some riders are in better positions than others. Nicky Hayden finds himself in the unique position of deciding whether or not he will stay with a factory ride, or move elsewhere. Hayden currently has a one-year contract with Ducati, which has an option to renew the contract for another with the American rider.

abruzzo-italy-niccolo-canepa

Riders Niccolò Canepa and Mika Kallio have added stickers on their Pramac D16 bikes in memory of the people of Abruzzo, Italy who lost their lives in the Monday’s devasting earthquake. Joining Capena and Kallio is Valentino Rossi, who will also ride at Qatar with a sticker in support of the people of Abruzzo.

“This weekend I have a special sticker on my bike, which says ‘Forza Abruzzo’. It’s a message from us for the people of Abruzzo. It’s not so far from my home in Tavullia and I want them to know that we are with them at such a terrible time.”

The 2009 L’Aquila earthquake was an earthquake of 6.3 moment magnitude that occurred in the central Italian region of Abruzzo on April. So far at least 289 people are known to have died, and 10 are still missing, making this the deadliest earthquake to hit Italy since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake.

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