There’s no doubt that Randy de Puniet has had an amazing season this year. Finding his rhythm, and staying out of the gravel traps has allowed the sometimes shirtless frenchman to carry the flag for the Honda loyal…all while on a satellite spec machine. It therefore comes as no surprise that de Puniet has seen his contract with LCR extended to next year, and as an added bonus, he will compete in 2010 with a higher spec RC212V.
Arizona Motorsports Park, the $6 million, 155-acre, 16-turn, 2.23-mile racecourse outside of Glendale, Arizona, has won a crucial legal verdict from the Arizona Court of Appeals. The appellate court has ruled that the race track detrimentally relied on a permit provided by the county to build their facility, and is therefore entitled to continue using its property for racing events.
According to Italian website Motosprint, Stiggy Racing will be trading in it’s Honda CBR1000RR’s next year for a pair of shiny new Yamaha R1’s. This surprising manufacture swap seems to center around the financial issues Yamaha (and the rest of the motorcycle industry) is facing with cut backs in racing, and will add a second “supported” Yamaha team to the WSBK series in 2010.
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.
Mat Mladin has announced this weekend that he will retire from motorcycle racing at the end of this season. Originally thought to be only reitiring from the AMA, and presumably looking to World Superbike or MotoGP for his next-step, Mladin has confirmed that his absense from Superbike racing here in the US is in fact a complete departure from the sport.
It looks like Kenny Roberts will be returning to premiere motorcycle racing, this time in the upcoming Moto2 series. The new Moto2 series is almost a replay of Roberts’ earlier endevours into MotoGP, a honda motor and a custom chassis.ÊRoberts bowed out of MotoGP in 2007 after money dried up for his Proton backed team, and they were not able to remain competitive.
However, with the expected lower costs of running in the Moto2 series, Roberts may have found the perfect fit for his tight budget, and custom chassis making experience. Also, with Robert’s team already in place loosely, working on a 600cc track bike, the conversion over to the Moto2 should be fairly painless.
The Dainese Superbike race of the Isle of Man TT is in the bag after being rained out this weekend, and with it a new record lap on the Mountain Course. Spoiler to follow if you dare make the jump.
With Moto2 being an ever evolving race class, there is still some speculation as to whom its official partners will be. Repsol seems to be an almost lock on supplying oil and lubricants to the over-pepped 600cc Honda powerplants, as the Spanish company has a strangle hold on the MotoGP racing series.
What may come as a surprise to race fans though, is the resurgance of Michelin in prototype racing. After a less than stellar season last year in MotoGP, . Now, the French company is allegedly poised to sign a contract with Dorna to be the sole-tire provider with the fledgling Moto2 race class. This rumor seems to put out Dunlop, which has had a long history with the 250GP series.
With Moto2 constantly changing and adopting, we’ll believe this rumor as being possible for now; but, as always, time will tell.
Source: Moto.Caradisiac
With Race 1 in the bag, Race 2 might have seemed a little bit more low-key, with no red flagged restart in sight. Beginning much as the previous race had started, Race 2 showed that it would be another decisive moment in the overall World Superbike Championship. Spoilers and race results for Race 2 at Miller Motorsports Park after the jump.
Race 1 of the World Superbike stop at Miller Motorsports park was red-flagged, after a highside left riders and bikes lying on the track. This hazard left the race directors no choice but to red flag the race. After the track was cleared, and the riders made it off the course, a second starting of Race 1 was to be had, with the winner to be decided on aggregate times (the times from the two races dded together, and the winner being determined by the total time from both heats). Continue reading for all the spoilers of Race 1 at Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah.