The Silverstone Circuit

There is to be 18 races in the MotoGP championship series for 2010 which has released by the FIM, with the return of Silverstone for the British Grand Prix for the first time since the 1980’s.

It has also been stated that if any of the races fail to go ahead the new circuit in Aragon in Spain will host the event.

April 11 *        Qatar              Doha/Losail
April 25          Japan              Motegi
May 2             Spain              Jerez de la Frontera
May 23            France             Le Mans
June 6            Italy              Mugello
June 20           Great Britain      Silverstone
June 26 **        Netherlands        Assen
July 4            Catalunya          Catalunya
July 18           Germany            Sachsenring
July 25 ***       United States      Laguna Seca
August 15         Czech Rep.         Brno
August 29         Indianapolis       Indianapolis
September 5       San Marino         Misano
September 19      Hungary            Balatonring
October 10        Malaysia           Sepang
October 17        Australia          Phillip Island
October 31        Portugal           Estoril
November 7        Valencia           Ricardo Tormo - Valencia

*   Evening Race
**  Saturday
*** Only MotoGP class

Casey Stoner

Casey Stoner took the chequered flag at his home circuit of the Australian Grand Prix while Jorge Lorenzo crashed-out on the first lap.

125CC

Julián Simon was crowned the 2009 champion on Sunday for the Bancaja Aspar team after winning the 125cc race on the final lap at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia.

Aprilia rider Simon was in eighth place at the end of the first lap while Cameron Beaubier on the Red Bull KTM, crashed out.  The front runners made-up of Bradley Smith, Simon, Sandro Cortese, Pol Espargaro, Simone Corsi and Nico Terol, were fighting each other for the podium places, but with four laps of the race remaining the Aspar team riders began to created a gap.

Simon needed to finish the race in front of both Smith and Terol to claim the title which he did on the very last lap at the MG corner.  The two Bancaja Aspar riders had swapped the front position during the race but Smith was forced wide on the final lap as Simon squeezed through up the inside to take the win.

British rider Bradley Smith took the second step of the podium with Sandro Cortese in third for the Ajo Interwetten team.  In fourth place was Derbi rider Pol Espargaro followed by Simone Corsi for Fontana Racing after an earlier coming together with Espargaro nearly saw the pair of them out of the race.

Jack & Jones team rider Nicolas Terol took sixth place ahead of Efren Vazquez on the second Derbi in seventh and Andrea Iannone on the Ongetta team I.S.P.A. machine.  Marc Marquez on the Red Bull KTM took ninth position followed by Sergio Gadea for the Bancaja Aspar team to complete the top ten riders.

Here are the results;

250CC

Marco Simoncelli took his sixth victory of the season in the 250cc series of the MotoGP after taking to the front early on in the race for the Metis Gilera team.

The race was red-flagged after Roberto Locatelli on his Metis Gilera crashed-out heavily on lap 18 at MG corner and was left sprawled across the track, leaving no option but to stop the race.  The results were decided on the standings at the end of the previous lap.  Locatelli was taken to the Clinica Mobile where it is believed he has received no serious injuries but is very badly bruised.

Pepe World team rider Hector Barbera claimed the second position followed by Raffaele de Rosa on the Scot Racing team bike in third.  Alvaro Bautista had been running in second place on the Mapfre Aspar machine but an early crash saw the Spanish rider rejoin the circuit and work his way back up the grid to tenth but he is now out of the championship contention.

Jules Cluzel finished in fourth place for the Matteoni Racing team despite crashing out on the same lap as Locatelli ahead of Mike di Meglio in fifth on the second Mapfre Aspar bike and Karel Abraham on the Cardion AB Motoracing machine in sixth.

Championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama finished in seventh place on the Scot Racing bike followed by Honda SAG rider Hector Faubel in eighth, Rattahpark Wilairot in ninth on the Thai Honda PTT SAG bike and Bautista in tenth.  Aoyama’s lead has now been reduced to just 12 points from Simoncelli.

Here are the results;

MotoGP

Marlboro Ducati rider Casey Stoner took the victory at his home circuit for the third consecutive year at Phillip Island ahead of Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi.

It was Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda that took the lead at the start of the race but was unable to hold-off pole sitter Stoner for long, and once past he dominated the Australian Grand Prix as he stayed ahead of a tailing Rossi.

Spanish rider and team-mate of Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, crashed out on lap 1 of the race after running into the back of Nicky Hayden on the second Marlboro Ducati.  While Hayden ran wide and off track he was able to return to the race and finished in fifteenth but Lorenzo was out as he cartwheeled through the gravel.

Pedrosa finished the race in third place for the Repsol Honda team, over 20-seconds behind Stoner followed by Honda rider Alex de Angelis in fourth.  Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards took fifth place ahead of second Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso in sixth.  In seventh place was Marco Melandri for the Hayate team followed by Randy de Puniet in eighth, Mika Kallio on the Pramac Racing bike in ninth and Toni Elias on the San Carlo Honda Gresini in tenth.

The Rizla Suzuki rider Loris Capirossi was demoted to twelfth place after being moved to the back of the grid due to an engine change.

Here are the results;

Pramac Ducati 2009

The Pramac Ducati rider Niccolo Canepa, has been injured in the Friday practice session of the Australian MotoGP, after only thirty-minutes on the track.

The Italian rider crashed at Turn 1, suffering burns to his arm after sliding across the track causing his leathers to burn through to his skin.  He was initially taken to the track-side Clinica Mobile before being transferred to a hospital near Melbourne.

Canepa had the injury cleaned and checked for any nerve and tendon damage and is now to undergo a skin graft operation and the team and rider will then decide if he will take any further part in the weekend event.

The 250cc rider Hector Barbera, high-sided off his machine and landed heavily on his back, winding him and seeing him carried from the track on a stretcher.  The Pepe World Aprilia man still led the session despite the fall with only sixteen-minutes of the practice left.

Barbera is now under observation to make certain that he has done no further damage to the injury he suffered last year at Motegi last year when he cracked a vertebrae.

The MotoGP cost cutting goes a bit further than expected!

The provisional MotoGP Calendar has now been released by the FIM for the MotoGP World Championship of 2010, and hopefully all teams and riders will be on the grid as the economic crisis continues.

Date – Grand Prix – Circuit:
11 April – Qatar* – Losail
25 April – Japan – Motegi
2 May – Spain – Jerez
16 May – France – Le Mans
30 May – Italy – Mugello
6 June - Great Britain – Silverstone
26 June – Netherlands** – Assen
4 July – Catalunya – Catalunya
18 July - Germany – Sachsenring
25 July - United States*** – Laguna Seca
15 August – Czech Republic – Brno
29 August – Indianapolis – Indianapolis
12 September - San Marino & Riviera di Rimini – Misano
19 September - Hungary – Balatonring
10 October – Malaysia – Sepang
17 October – Australia - Phillip Island
31 October – Portugal – Estoril
7 November Valencia Ricardo Tormo-Valencia

* Evening Race
** Saturday Race
*** Only MotoGP class

In the event that one of the circuits is not able to comply with the requirements to hold the scheduled Grand Prix, the Motorland Aragon Circuit would host a reserve “event” on the same day.

Rizla Suzuki

The Crescent Suzuki MotoGP team have still yet to secure a deal for sponsorship for the 2009 season with discussions still on-going with Rizla.

Rizla, after seven successful season in British Superbikes released a statement in October, confirming that they would no longer be sponsoring the factory team.

Paul Denning said when asked if Rizla would be backing the team next year,

“I don’t know yet.  We are in negotiation, it’s not a stalemate, but because it is still under negotiation there is still a chance we may not reach agreement.  I expect to know before the end of this year.”

The team completed a successful completed a three-day test at the end of November at Phillip Island in Australia with the 2009 riders Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen.

John Hopkins - Donington 2008

The Kawasaki MotoGP team, completed a three day test session at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia on Friday.

Marco Melandri, John Hopkins and the test and development rider Olivier Jacque arrived on track in near perfect weather conditions ahead of the test ban which starts on the 1st December.

On the opening day, the three riders clocked up 1000 kilometres between them with Melandri making several adjustments to the Ninja ZX-RR to suit his riding.

Hopkins, was still suffering from the injuries incurred after the big crash at Assen in June.  He had a metal plate fixed to his broken ankle after the crash, but this was causing him problems while riding as the plate was rubbing against tendons when he changed gear leading to a painful and swollen leg.

On day two’s test session was halted due to rain showers but it didn’t stop the riders familiarising themselves with the Ninja.

Melandri was evaluating the revised chassis, tested yesterday by Jacque, and reduced his lap times by almost one second, despite a crash in the afternoon session.

Hopkins was riding with extensive strapping to his ankle for the second day of testing and was struggling to put pressure on his foot-pegs while accelerating out of the turns.  Despite the pain, the 25-year-old continued to evaluate the Brigestone tyres rather than go for the fastest lap.

On the final day of testing began on a damp track after overnight rain, leaving the track temperatures significantly cooler.

Olivier Jacque was caught out by the cool conditions late in the afternoon session, and highsided off his machine caused by a cold rear tyre.  He was uninjured after the crash but admitted to it being a ’scary moment’.

Melandri, continued making changes to the Ninja, with adjustments to the chassis and suspension settings and finished the day with a best time of 1:31.8.

Hopkins was also happy with the way the session had gone and will now fly directly to America where he will be undergoing surgery on Wednesday to have the metal plates removed from his left ankle, left foot and his hand.

He will spend four weeks recuperating after the surgery before beginning a punishing fitness programme to get him back to full strength before the pre-season testing takes place.

The annual six week winter test ban starts from today and the Kawasaki team will not take part in anymore development until they return to Phillip Island in January 2009.

Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki 2008

The Rizla Suzuki MotoGP team along with the Kawasaki squad are heading to Australia’s Phillip Island for the final testing session of 2008.

The remainder of the  MotoGP teams are in Jerez, Spain testing but Suzuki chose the Phillip Island circuit due to it having a track that highlights any lack of engine performance or rear grip.

Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen will be joined for the three day’s of testing by Factory test rider Nobuatsu Aoki, which will start on Wednesday of this week.

The team intends to evaluate new parts and components for the next season’s Suzuki GSV-R, with Aoki helping to assess the prototype chassis and engine parts in readiness for the season ahead.

Capirossi said,

“This will be a very important test for us we will be able to see where we are at, for next year.  Suzuki has been working really hard since the last test at Valencia and we will have lots of new parts to try out at Phillip Island.

We have just done some wind tunnel testing in Japan and with the data we got there it will be interesting to see what the new aerodynamics will be like.  We need to make the most of these three days as we don’t have as many tests over the winter.

It will also be good to have Nobu there to give us some extra info and try out all the newest parts to see there durability and performance.”

Vermeulen said,

“It is good to be going to Phillip Island rather than Jerez, because I am sure the weather will be better and we’ll be able to get a lot more work done.

This is only the second test since the single tyre rule was introduced so it will be interesting to see how the new compound we now have to use performs at a circuit that is always tough on tyres.

We have had some problems at Phillip Island, but if we find something that works will there then it will almost certainly work even better at other tracks.

It feels a long while since we last tested the bike and it will be interesting to see all the new parts that the factory has got for us to try – hopefully they will be a big step in the right direction!”