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KTM Signs Pol Espargaro to a Two-Year Deal

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As expected, we didn’t have long to wait to find where Pol Espargaro would be working next season, as KTM has announced that it has signed a two-year contract with the Spanish rider, for the 2017 and 2018 MotoGP seasons.

Espargaro’s departure from the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 was announced earlier this morning, along with the news that his direct contract with Yamaha Racing would not be renewed.

The change from Yamaha to KTM won’t be a dramatic shift though, as Pol Espargaro will be joined by his current teammate, Bradley Smith, at the Austrian brand’s factory team as well.

KTM hopes to capitalize on both riders’ feedback on developing the KTM RC16 race bike, as well as their promising pace for strong results.

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MotoGP

Pol Espargaro and Yamaha Will Go Their Separate Ways

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News from Catalunya today is that Pol Espargaro and Yamaha Racing will go their separate ways at the end of the 2016 MotoGP Championship season, effectively also ending the younger Espargaro’s tenure in the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 garage.

It is not clear yet where Espargaro will go for the next season, though that decision and announcement could happen as swiftly as this race weekend in Barcelona. Similarly, it is also not clear who will replace Pol Espargaro with a Yamaha contract in the Tech 3 garage, for next season.

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MotoGP

MotoGP Silly Season Update: Filling the Leftover Factory Seats & Satellite Speculation

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In any other year, the approaching weekend at Barcelona would see speculation around MotoGP’s Silly Season nearing its peak, with a spate of contracts signed in the weeks which follow. But this is not any other year.

Going into the 2016 Gran Premi de Catalunya at the Montmeló circuit, eight of the twelve factory seats open for next season have already been filled, while a ninth is just a matter of days away.

Of the remaining three, only the seat at Aprilia is truly up for grabs, the open seats at Suzuki and KTM already having riders penciled in. It is truly a bizarre year.

So where are we so far? The seats at the factory Ducati and Yamaha teams are all taken, with Andrea Dovizioso partnering Jorge Lorenzo at Ducati while Maverick Viñales joins Valentino Rossi at Movistar Yamaha.

Repsol Honda is as good as complete: Dani Pedrosa has already signed on for two more years, while Marc Márquez acknowledged at the press launch for the Barcelona MotoGP race that he would “definitely continue with this bike.” He will sign a contract with Honda again, but he wants it to be a “perfect” contract.

Suzuki, KTM, and Aprilia all have one rider signed already. Sam Lowes’ seat at Aprilia was settled already two years ago, when he signed for Gresini to race in Moto2 in 2016, and MotoGP for 2017 and 2018.

Bradley Smith was the next to slot into place, signing on for the first seat at KTM ahead of the first race of this year. And Andrea Iannone took over at ECSTAR Suzuki after Viñales announced he was leaving, and Ducati announced they were keeping Dovizioso.

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MotoGP

Paddock Pass Podcast – Episode 27 – Mugello & Sepang

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Episode 27 of the Paddock Pass Podcast sees Steve English and Neil Morrison catching up mostly on the MotoGP happenings at the Italian GP in Mugello.

Wrapping up what has been an eventful week with the riders’ contracts for the 2017 season, the show then focuses on the racing action in Italy, with mentions about the Moto2 and Mot3 races, which were equally enjoyable to watch.

The guys also give some attention to the World Superbike paddock, talking about the series’ recent racing in Sepang, and looking ahead on the calendar for WSBK at Donington Park.

With the Isle of Man TT starting this weekend as well, there is plenty of racing action to fuel the Paddock Pass Podcast, so keep your ears tuned for more shows.

As always, be sure to follow the Paddock Pass Podcast on Facebook, Twitter and subscribe to the show on iTunes and SoundCloud – we even have an RSS feed for you. If you like the show, we would really appreciate you giving it a review on iTunes. Thanks for listening!

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MotoGP

Can Cameron Beaubier Revive the Stature of US Racing?

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When opportunity comes knocking, it is a fool who does not open the door. That is especially true when the opportunity is as unique as the chance to race at a World Championship level event.

Given the chance to shine on the world stage, you have to take that shot. So when Cameron Beaubier was asked to replace the injured Sylvain Guintoli inside the Pata Yamaha team for the Donington round of World Superbikes, I cannot imagine that he hesitated for very long before jumping at the chance.

As commendable as Beaubier’s choice is, it comes with some considerable risk. Not just to the reputation of Beaubier himself, but also to the standing of American motorcycle racing in the world.

As arguably the best motorcycle racer in MotoAmerica, the US domestic championship, his performance will be weighed on a silver scale, and used as a yardstick for the standard of racing in the US. The hopes and dreams of many a young American racer may lie fallow if Beaubier falls short.

Is it fair that the weight of responsibility should fall so heavily on Beaubier’s shoulders? Absolutely not. Yet fair or not, that is what will happen.

The reasons for this lie in the historical strength of US racing, and the important role it has had in the history of both the MotoGP and World Superbike championships.

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MotoGP

The Mugello Moto2 Mix-Up: Who is to Blame?

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The Moto2 class has not had a lot of luck with their starts in 2016. First there was Qatar, where a mass jump start saw some riders called in for a ride through, some issued with a time penalty, and few people very happy about the way it was handled.

That situation was all down to a problem with some of the high-speed starting grid cameras which check for false starts.

In Mugello there was more starting grid misery. This time, though, the problem was not with jump starts, but with restarts. An interrupted race and a quick start procedure ended up causing chaos, the first running of that procedure catching a lot of teams out, which in turn caused problems for Race Direction.

As is their wont, unforeseen circumstances managed to catch everyone out, causing the first quick start procedure to be abandoned, and a regular restart instituted.

The reasons for red-flagging the race were sound. Xavi Vierge crashed at the entry of the Biondetti chicane, his bike piercing the air fence, and deflating it. Without an air fence in place, the track was simply too dangerous to continue.

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Racing

IOMTT: Bruce Anstey Racing a Honda RC213V-S

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We suppose someone would be crazy enough eventually to try it, and today we get confirmation that Bruce Anstey will be racing a Honda RC213V-S in the Superbike TT and Senior TT races at the 2016 Isle of Man TT.

The MotoGP bike for the streets will be part of the Valvoline Racing by Padgett’s Motorcycles Team, and is a product of the Isle of Man TT’s looser rules when it comes to homologation requirements.

The move is a clever one, as straight out of the box the Honda RC213V-S stacks up quite nicely against even the most highly prepped racing superbikes at the Isle of Man TT – boasting a 210hp figure with the sport kit installed, and a 390 lbs mass when ready-to-race.

A team with a proven track record at the Isle of Man and developing street bikes for road racing, the Padgetts Honda squad has made some modifications of their own to suit the RC213V-S for the Mountain Course’s trials.

Still, the Honda RC213V-S alone won’t assure Antsey of a race win, though it certainly will add some spice to the rider lineup before they head down Glencrutchery Road.

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Dirt

Video: Mind & Motor with Maverick Viñales

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Forgive us as we play into Alpinestars’ marketing game, as the video we are about to show was made strictly to help sell more motorcycle leathers. But still, it is also a great insight into a MotoGP rider that has been hogging headlines recently, Maverick Viñales.

Tipped by many in the paddock as the next alien, Viñales was the major roadblock in this year’s MotoGP contract negotiations, as the young Spaniard had a difficult time choosing to leave the factory Suzuki MotoGP team for the factory Yamaha outfit.

Viñales even tells of his thought process for that decision in the video, which is remarkably candid of him to do, especially considering that the media is a sponsor’s marketing video.

Other items of note is how Maverick Viñales nearly found himself racing MX bikes, instead of GP bikes. He also talks about how he trains on the motocross track with his girlfriend, Kiara Fontanesi, who also happens to be a four-time Women’s Motocross World Champion.

Long story short, the video is well worth a watch. Check it out after the jump.

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News

Motorcycle Charity Riders for Health Shuts Its Doors

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If you are a regular reader of Asphalt & Rubber, then you surely have seen our banners supporting Riders for Health, one of the great charities to come out of the motorcycle industry.

The non-profit organization, based out of the UK, provides healthcare services to remote locations in Africa, utilizing motorcycles to traverse the uncertain terrain.

Started by Andrea and Barry Coleman, along with Randy Mamola (yes, that Randy Mamola), Riders for Health even had HRH Princess Anne as its patron, with major support from the FIM and the MotoGP Championship as well.

If you attended a MotoGP round in the US or UK, then you may have seen the Riders for Health auctions, or participated in the Day of Stars or Day of Champions events.

Therefore, it is unfortunate for us to report that Riders for Health will be closing its UK offices, effectively ending the charity’s operations.

Thankfully, some of Riders’ operations in a number of African countries will continue on despite this closure, as their operations have already transferred to local actors, governments, or organizations.

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News

Valentino Rossi Meets the Yamaha Motobot

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When Valentino Rossi was in the US for the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, a little bird told us he would be stopping by Yamaha’s San Francisco offices, where the Yamaha Motobot autonomous riding robot project is coming to life.

It looks like our sources were right, as Yamaha has released a video showing Rossi “meeting” Motobot, at what looks like Thunderhill Raceway, just north of San Francisco.

The video is interesting, because it shows the rapid progress that Yamaha, and its partner SRI International, are making with automated two-wheeled systems.

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MotoGP

Sunday MotoGP Summary at Mugello: Of Engines, Disappointment, & Blistering Battles

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The 2016 Italian Grand Prix at Mugello was many things, but above all, it was memorable.

It’s not just that the three races ended up with incredibly close finishes – the margin of victory in Moto3 was just 0.038, and that was the largest winning margin of the three races – but how they were won, and what happened along the way that will leave them indelibly imprinted on the memories of race fans.

There was drama, a bucketful of heartbreak, and plenty of chaos and confusion thrown into the mix. If there was a script for Sunday, it was torn up and rewritten a dozen times or more before the day was over.

The drama started during morning warm-up. As the final seconds of the MotoGP session ticked away, Jorge Lorenzo suddenly pulled over and white smoke started pouring out of the exhaust of his Movistar Yamaha. His engine had suffered a catastrophic failure.

This was a worry, as it was a relatively new engine, first introduced at Jerez, with twelve sessions of practice and two races on it. The other two engines Lorenzo had already used had 21 and 23 sessions of practice on them, and had also been used for two races each (including the flag-to-flag race at Argentina).

Though the engine allocation has been increased from five to seven engines for 2016, losing engine #3 at just the sixth race of the season could end up cutting things rather fine by the time we reach Valencia.

Losing an engine so soon before a race seemed like a stroke of incredibly bad luck for Lorenzo. In fact, it would prove to be exactly the opposite.

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