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Proposed Circuit of Wales Could Host MotoGP & WSBK

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The prospects of both MotoGP and World Superbikes visiting Wales took a step closer yesterday. Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta and Events Managing Director Javier Alonso flew to the UK earlier this week for a series of meetings about the proposed Circuit of Wales, a new facility that is to be built near Ebbw Vale, in South Wales. The Dorna bosses met with several key figures involved in the project, including Lord Kinnock, former UK Labour Party leader and now ambassador for the circuit, and Welsh Minister for Business, Enterprise, Technology, and Science Edwina Hart.

Ezpeleta and Alonso also met with media, including MCN and local news organizations. Ezpeleta expressed how impressed he had been with the plans for the facility, which include an FIM and FIA approved race track, a motocross track, a karting track, as well a technology park, hotel facilities, and a motor sports racing academy, aimed at providing training for young riders and drivers.

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Racing

Seeking Alpha – On Ignite’s MotoGP Sponsorship

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Ignite Asset Management is a new name in the MotoGP paddock’s lexicon, as well as the new sponsor of Ducati’s “junior” team. While each year sponsors come and go, Ignite is a bit different from the usual batch of names plastered on the side of a GP bike, and the investment firm is getting some interesting play in the otherwise unassuming motorcycle world.

If you are not sure what an “alternative asset management” investing firm happens to be, then the American company’s self-description as a “management firm led by a group of hedge fund industry veterans and supported by private investors that are driven by the undiscovered alpha” is going to really leave you really wondering what slicks-back the hair on these Wall Street types.

Boiled down to its essence, an alpha represents the ratio of an investments and measure how sizable a return was in relation to measured risk. A positive alpha coefficient signals that an investment was good not only in its return, but also in its risk management. Investors are always talking about “seeking alpha” and here Ignite is touting its professional ability of finding the diamond in the rough — standard Wall Street Napoleon Complex stuff.

So then, how does a company like Ignite Asset Management enter into a sport where the running joke about how to make $10 million dollars is to start with $100 million?

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Racing

MotoGP: Davide Brivio Plays Down Suzuki Link

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Reports linking Davide Brivio to running Suzuki’s 2014 MotoGP effort appear to have been premature. Less than 24 hours after reports first emerged on Italian TV, and were later picked up by other outlets, including this one, Brivio has issued a clarification on his Twitter page.

Brivio wrote: “Suzuki contacted me for MotoGP but I’m just talking and I’m not the only one. They have not yet decided yet about 2014 but only testing 2013.” The clarification suggests that the deal to run Suzuki’s MotoGP squad is far from complete. Brivio may currently be in talks with Suzuki, but other parties are also involved.

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Racing

Karel Abraham Debuts His Cardion AB Aprilia ART

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The Czech Republic’s favorite rider, Karel Abraham, is ready for the 2013 MotoGP Championship, as his Cardion AB team has debuted its Aprilia ART entry. Making the jump from the Ducati Desmosedici GP12 prototype, Abraham will contest his third season in MotoGP on a CRT entry.

With not all CRTs proving to be equal, Cardion AB’s choice of the Aprilia ART seems to be the sensible approach from all the entries available. Built off the Aprilia RSV4 superbike, which itself was built off Aprilia’s failed MotoGP program, Aprilia Racing has developed the entire bike in house, including the ARTs robust electronics package.

Competitive out of the box, it should be with little surprise that leas year saw two ART machines battling closely for the top honors in the makeshift sub-class (Team Aspar’s Aleix Espargaro and Randy de Puniet).

Choosing the Aprilia ART doesn’t guarantee success for young Abraham however, as we saw the ARTs of Speed Master and Paul Bird Motorsports struggle for good results against the other CRT entries.

With the likely factor being money paid to Aprilia Racing (PBM didn’t even bother testing the Aprilia ART once during the 2012 season, instead choosing to develop the bike on race weekends), Cardion AB seems at least well-situated in that regard, having already weather the prices of Ducati Corse’s lease costs on the Desmosedici.

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Racing

Davide Brivio Linked To Suzuki MotoGP Return

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That Suzuki is considering a return to MotoGP in 2014 is well-documented, with talks still ongoing about the terms on which the Japanese factory will make a return. More surprising is the news from Italy, reported on GPOne, that Davide Brivio, former team manager of Valentino Rossi, is in line to manage the team running Suzuki’s return.

According to reports both on GPOne.com and Moto.it, in a story by Giovanni Zamagni, the news was broken in the Italian TV show “Griglia di Partenza” (Starting Grid), by Max Temporali. Suzuki, it is reported, will make a return to MotoGP in 2014, with a team to be based in Italy and run by Brivio.

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Bikes

Photos: 2013 Honda RC213V

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We teased it to you yesterday, but today we finally have photos of the 2013 Honda RC213V in all its high-resolution glory. With the Repsol Honda squad getting a new livery package this year, the RC213V becomes quite the looker as the team sports a bit more white in their color scheme, with the effect being a more clean and fresh look for the factory Honda squad.

Debuting the team and machines at Repsol HQ in Madrid, both of HRC’s resident Spaniards, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez, were on-hand for the event. With Pedrosa showing himself to be a new man in the latter-half of the 2012 season, and Marc Marquez tipped to be the new talent in MotoGP, Repsol Honda has a formidable pairing at its disposal, as well as a very solid motorcycling package.

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Racing

These Are Sort of the Ducati Desmosedici GP13 Tech Specs

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Very much a cloak and dagger affair, it is always fairly entertaining to read the information that the manufacturers release regarding their MotoGP machines. Despite the fact that these are some of the most drool-over motorcycles on the planet, by rule of thumb the factories publish only the most general technical specifications possible.

If a company like Ducati thought they could get away with it, the release for the Ducati Desmosedici GP13 technical specifications would read something like “a racing machine with possibly two wheels and an engine” when disclosed to the press and public.

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Racing

Teaser: First Photos of the 2013 Honda RC213V

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The Repsol Honda team will make its 2013 debut later this week by presenting riders Dani Pedrosa and Marc Márquez with the 2013 Honda RC213V motorcycle at the Repsol headquarters in Madrid, Spain. While we won’t get to see the latest iteration of the RC213V until this Thursday, one of Repsol’s Facebook pages has teased out some images of the MotoGP machine ahead of the official unveiling.

It will be hard to decipher any specific details from the materials given, though the fact that Repsol is building up the event is an interesting change from the Spanish oil giant. Has someone breathed some life into the company’s marketing team? Is this merely extra excitement for having two Spanish talents on the team? Or will 2013 show some changes for Repsol Honda?

As always, only time will tell, but at least we will only have to wait a few more days to know for sure. Photos and video after the jump.

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Racing

MotoGP: A Two-Man Team for LCR Honda in 2014?

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Lucio Cecchinello is looking to expand his LCR Honda team from a single-rider to a two-man team, according to reports over on GPOne. The Italian team manager is considering adding a second rider to race alongside Stefan Bradl for the 2014 season onwards.

While Bradl will remain on the team’s factory-supported Honda RC213V, LCR’s second rider would ride the production version to be sold by Honda from 2014 at a cost of 1 million euros. According GPOne, Cecchinello has calculated that it would cost him between 1.6 and 1.8 million euros to run the second bike, a total which includes the production RC213V, and the seven people required to run it (one crew chief, one data engineer, four mechanics and a tire engineer).

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Racing

AMA’s Blake Young Racing in the US MotoGP Rounds

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AMA Superbike runner-up Blake Young will ride the Attack Performance CRT machine at all three US MotoGP rounds this year. The former Yoshimura Suzuki rider has signed with Attack Performance owner Richard Stanboli to race at the Austin, Laguna Seca, and Indianapolis rounds of MotoGP, aboard the Kawasaki-powered CRT machine designed and built by Stanboli and his team.

The Attack CRT bike has been undergoing some major changes since making its debut at Laguna Seca in 2012, where it was ridden by US veteran racer Steve Rapp. According to Roadracing World, Attack owner Stanboli has modified the chassis to work better with the Bridgestone tires, and has altered the firing order of Kawasaki ZX-10R engine to more closely resemble a Yamaha R1 engine.

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