MotoGP News

Valentino Rossi achieved his 69th premier class win yesterday at the rain soaked Indianapolis grand prix, with Nicky Hayden second and Jorge Lorenzo in Third.

Hurricane Ike hit the circuit as predicted at midday, forcing the 125 race to be red flagged, the 250 race to be re-scheduled and later cancelled. Luckily for the fans the storm stopped to allow the MotoGP race to start on time. Continue Reading »

From a season of up and downs, De Angelis has signed with the San Carlo Honda Gresini team for a second season. De Angelis has had mixed results over the course of the season with some crashes and some impressive results at Mugello and Sachsenring. The signing is a result of the commitment and confidence De Angelis has shown throughout this season.

De Angelis is now part of a list of riders signed up to continue with their current teams for next year. This list includes three yamaha riders; James Toseland, Colin Edwards, Valentino Rossi and the Rizla Suzuki Riders Vermuelen and Capirossi.

Alex De Angelis currently sits in 13th position in the MotoGP championship while team mate Shinya Nakano is 8th overall.

Suzuki Motor Corporation announced that both Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi will continue racing for the Rizla Suzuki team for the 2009 MotoGP season.

Both riders are delighted to be staying with Suzuki for 2009 and are pleased everything has been finalised, so they can concentrate on winning and achieving podiums for the team. Continue Reading »

Valentino Rossi wins at Brno extending his championship lead by 50 points. The race looked as if it was going to be a two horse race, as the two championship contenders left the rest of the pack, until lap 6 when the current world champion crashed his Marlboro Ducati leaving Rossi to take the win.

Toni Elias placed his Alice Ducati second on the podium after a good race starting from 13th on the grid and Loris Capirossi finished third giving the Rizla Suzuki team three podiums in as many races.

The main talk of the weekend was the tyres, as once again the Michelin runners were badly affected by the performance of their race tyres, particularly Dani Pedrosa finishing the race second from last.

Good performances came from Shinya Nakano on the factory spec Honda finishing fourth and Anthony West finishing fifth, both their best results of the season.

Results:

1. Valentino Rossi — Fiat Yamaha
2. Toni Elias — Alice Ducati
3. Loris Capirossi — Rizla Suzuki

Full Brno Results here and more MotoGP Results here.

Due to a foot injury sustained riding a supermoto at the X Games, Nicky Hayden will be unable to participate in this weekends MotoGP race at Brno.

The decision to not race this weekend was advised by Dr. Arthur Ting, Hayden’s trusted surgeon, and other specialists. Hayden was riding a Honda CRF450 and landed heavy after a jump, causing the injury to his calcaneus, which is the heel of the foot.

Hayden added: “The injury is to a weight-bearing part of the foot and the doctors say that using too much pressure on the pegs could very easily give me some big problems.”

“I went to Dr Ting and got the opinion of other specialists. I´ve done a lot with Ting, he knows the sport very well and he feels it would be quite risky to ride.” continued the American.

“As hard a decision as it is and as bad as I feel about it, I think I´m better off staying home doing rehab and physio, then come back fit at Misano and try to finish the season strong.“

Nicky currently sits eighth in the world championship standings, with his team mate sitting in third and Andrea Dovizioso, riding a satellite Honda in fifth. Hayden’s future at the Repsol Honda team is uncertain for next year with Dovizioso tipped to take his seat.

Unfortunately Craig Jones, aged just 23, lost his life this morning from the injuries sustained in yesterday’s supersport race at Brands Hatch.

Jones was sitting in second place, battling with Rea and Pitt up until the end of lap 7, when Jones seemed to have lost the rear of his Honda and fell off. Jones was then immediately and unavoidably struck by the following rider, sustaining serious head injuries.

The race was red flagged and Jones received immediate expert medical attention and was flown to the Royal London Hospital. Continue Reading »

The stalker will be riding back into the world superbike championship aboard the Vent Axia VK Honda. Paul Bird Motorsport announced that Walker will ride at this weekend’s race at Brands Hatch and continue until the end of the 2008 season.

Walker is relishing the opportunity to ride a world superbike again after a disappointing half a season in world supersport aboard the Kawasaki. Walker is a well established rider with 138 WSB starts and thirteen podiums and is well capable of good results, especially at brands this weekend. Continue Reading »

Shinya Nakano currently riding for the San Carlo Gresini team will be using a factory Honda from the Brno Grand Prix on August 17th. Honda wants Nakano to assist in the development of the 2009 satellite Honda and hopefully to improve his own results in the process. Nakano has finished every race in the points this season.

From the next round of MotoGP at Brno, Nakano will get the factory standard bike currently being used by Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa in the Repsol Honda team.

Fausto Gresini confirmed to motogp.com: ‘Shinya will have a new bike in Brno, which will basically be the base for developing the satellite version of 2009 Honda. HRC will rely on our team and Shinya, as it´s much easier in terms of communication with the Japanese engineers.’

Nakano currently holds 10th with 71 points in the MotoGP championship standings with 7 rounds left of the 2008 calendar.

The 2009 provisional road racing world championship grand prix calendar was released by the FIM last Friday. The calendar is as follows:

April 12 — Qatar — Doha/Losail*
April 24 — Japan — Motagi
May 3 — Spain — Jerez
May 17 — France — Le Mans
May 31 — Italy — Mugello
June 14 — Catalunya — Catalunya
June 27 — Netherlands — Assen**
July 5 — United States — Laguna Seca***
July 19 — Germany — Sachsenring
July 26 — Great Britain — Donington Park
August 16 — Czech Rep– Brno
August 13 — Indianapolis — Indianapolis
September 13 — San Marino & Riviera Di Rimini — Misano
September 20 — Hungary — Lake Balaton
October 4 — Portugal — Estoril
October 18 — Australia — Phillip Island
October 25 — Malaysia — Japan
November 8 — Valencia — Ricardo Torma - Valencia
*: Evening Race
**: Saturday Race
***: Only MotoGP Class

Stoner probably expected to run away with a win from his practice and qualifying pace at Laguna Seca, but the Doctor used his skill and determination to keep stoner behind him throughout the race and then go on to win the race.
The U.S grand prix turned out to be one of the best races this season, with Rossi and Stoner dispaying how motogp should be. Dani Pedrosa should have been mixing it with the best, but injuries sustained at the sachsenring ruled him out of the race.

Tom Cruise was one of the spectators at the circuit, meeting Rossi and Stoner from a guided tour of the paddock with his wife Katie Holmes.

View the full MotoGP Results of the Laguna race.