Petroleum brand Valvoline struck a deal this week with Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, which sees the American company selling its global products business for $2.65 billion.
The deal sees Aramco taking ownership of Valvoline’s products used globally, while Valvoline would retain its global rights to the brand name itself for use in retail services, except in China and certain countries in the Middle East and Africa.
Ex-MotoGP rider Danilo Petrucci made headlines at the Dakar Rally today, winning Stage 5 of the 2022 Dakar Rally.
Petrucci took the honors after teammate Toby Price was levied a six-minute penalty for speeding in the neutralization zone, and thus was dropped in the day’s rankings from first to fifth.
Episode 62 of the Brap Talk motorcycle podcast is out with another “weekly” episode, for your two-wheeled listening pleasure.
This is our follow-up episode that explains why we’ve been slow to get shows out (as well as articles on A&R). Spoiler alert: Jensen broke his collarbone, again.
Naturally then, we start the episode by talking about Jensen’s recent on-track crash. This gets us into a conversation about the mental side of the sport, and probably why this podcast is going to come out late (which it did).
From there, we take a look at the new Suzuki GSX-S1000 street bike, as well as Valentino Rossi’s decision to take money from the Saudi Arabian government.
We finish the show with a fun discussion about our favorite bikes with different engine configurations.
As you can tell, it’s a packed show, and we think you will find it to be an interesting. As always, keep checking back for our “weekly” chats.
You can find the latest episodes of the Brap Talk Podcast on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, SoundCloud, or via your RSS feed. If you would like to become an A&R Pro member, you can do so here.
And if you’re not already, you should also listen to our sister podcasts, the MOTR Podcast and the Paddock Pass Podcast.
Source: SoundCloud
There is good news and bad news for MotoGP. The good news is that the VR46 team will, as expected, make the full-time leap to the premier class for 2022, replacing the departing Esponsorama team.
The VR46 team has signed a five-year deal with Dorna to compete in MotoGP during the next contract period, from 2022-2026.
Which bikes the VR46 team will use is still to be determined. The choice appears to be between Ducati and Aprilia, with a decision to be made in the next month or so.
Given that VR46 are already fielding Luca Marini in MotoGP via a collaboration agreement with the Esponsorama squad, alongside Enea Bastianini, the most logical step would be for the team to continue working with Ducati.
If you tuned into the Dakar Rally today, you may have noticed an odd name at the top of the overall standings, as American privateer Skyler Howes is leading the bike category overall.
Though it is still early days at the Saudi Arabian race, the Utahn has found his way to the top by being a pillar consistency, in a field that has been anything but.
The route for the 2021 Dakar Rally has been announced, as the iconic race once again traverses the country of Saudi Arabia.
There had been hope that this year would see The Dakar leaving the Saudi Kingdom, but with COVID-19 restrictions, opening borders is not a viable option at this time.
That is okay, because the Arabian country has more than enough terrain to challenge the Dakar competitors, and this year we see roughly 3,000 miles of special timed stages being used.
In case you haven’t been following every day of the Dakar Rally – held this year for the first time in Saudi Arabia – you might want to keep your eyes on this iconic off-road racing tonight/tomorrow.
This is because American rider Ricky Brabec is on the verge of winning The Dakar, as he holds nearly a 14-minute lead over his next-closest competitor, Pablo Quintanilla.
A win from Brabec would be a huge disruption to the order of things, for several reasons.
As we expected, the Dakar Rally will head to the Middle East for its 2020 edition. The move is a radical departure from the South American continent, which has hosted the iconic race for the last 11 years.
Perhaps over-staying its welcome, the Dakar organizers could only convince Peru to host the 2019 race, and for next year, a new host was picked, with Saudi Arabia’s bid winning out.
As such, the Dakar Rally will be in the Middle East for the next five years, with the 2020 race being exclusively in the country of Saudi Arabia. And now this week, we get our first glimpse of the route for next year.
Multiple rumors and reports are suggesting that the Dakar Rally will be headed to Saudi Arabia next year, with the iconic rally raid signing a five-year deal with the Arabian country.
This news will mean that the Dakar Rally will leave South America after 11 years, when the race moved from Africa amongst concerns of terrorism.