MotoGPMatters.com (Free subscription) | 11/18/2009
Niccolo Canepa had a very tough rookie year in MotoGP. The Italian joined the Pramac Ducati team after a year as Ducati's test rider, having won the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup a year before. But once he made the switch from test rider to MotoGP rider, he has struggled badly, circulating close to the back of the field for much of the season. So it was no surprise that the likable Italian lost his MotoGP...
MotoGPMatters.com (Free subscription) | 10/16/2009
As we wrote just yesterday, the question of the 7th Honda on the 2010 MotoGP grid is yet to be settled. That bike is currently being fielded by Scot Honda, with Gabor Talmacsi riding it, but the Hungarian has been circulating at the back now for some time. Though Talmacsi was a latecomer to the series, only making the switch from the 250cc class at Barcelona after falling out with the Balatonring...
MotoGPMatters.com (Free subscription) | 10/15/2009
With the announcement at Estoril that Hiroshi Aoyama is to ascend to the MotoGP class aboard a Honda RC212V in a team run by Daniel Epp, the man behind the current Caffe Latte team in the 250 class, the number of Hondas on the grid for 2010 increased from six to seven. The team is to be sponsored in part by the Swiss iced coffee company Caffe Latte, but the effort is also to be heavily supported by...
MotoGPMatters.com (Free subscription) | 09/24/2009
The MotoGP silly season is just about played out. With four races left in the season, the rider line up for 2010 is almost complete. As expected, once Jorge Lorenzo finally made up his mind, the remaining pieces in the puzzle fell into place, leaving just a few gaps to fill. All of the factory seats are now full, and largely unchanged, with Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo back at Yamaha, Casey Stoner...
MotoGPMatters.com (Free subscription) | 09/10/2009
No motorcycle has acquired quite such a fearsome reputation as the Ducati Desmosedici GP9. Though there are no doubts about the speed of the Ducati - Casey Stoner has proved the bike is fast over and over again - there are huge question marks about its ridability. Loris Capirossi went from being a title candidate to an occasional podium visitor on the 800, Marco Melandri turned from podium regular...
MotoGPMatters.com (Free subscription) | 08/17/2009
The rain brought proceedings to an early end at the final day of testing for the MotoGP class for this season. It started to rain shortly after lunchtime, and though it rained only briefly, by the time the track had started to dry out a fresh shower arrived to drench the track again. Only in the final hour did the riders venture back out onto the track again, and then, it was only Valentino Rossi...
MotoGPMatters.com (Free subscription) | 08/14/2009
Yesterday, Dorna released a list of engines presented to MotoGP's Technical Director Mike Webb to be officially sealed. The seals are placed to comply with the engine limit which comes into effect at Brno, which stipulates that each rider is only allowed to use 5 engines until the end of the season. The teams only needed to submit 1, or at most 2 engines to be sealed before practice started, but instead...
MotoGPMatters.com (Free subscription) | 07/30/2009
Valentino Rossi walked away from Donington Park smiling Donington Park, first lap madness Gabor Talmacsi's Honda wastes fuel in an aesthetically pleasing way The men in orange hand Elias his trashed bike back The Ducatis gambled and lost read more
MotoGPMatters.com (Free subscription) | 07/24/2009
The radical drop in the size of the MotoGP grid has everyone inside MotoGP worried. First Kawasaki officially withdrew, leaving only Marco Melandri on the Hayate in the class, then Grupo Francisco Hernando pulled out of sponsoring Sete Gibernau's GFH team, dropping the number of entries from 18 to 17. Add to that the shenanigans surrounding Yuki Takahashi's replacement by Gabor Talmacsi, after Talmacsi...
MotoGPMatters.com (Free subscription) | 07/17/2009
A drying track turned the first session of free practice for the MotoGP riders into a confusing and thrilling chase for times, lap times tumbling throughout. On the damp track, it was the Ducatis of Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner that led the charts, with Marco Melandri and Andrea Dovizioso constantly close. Around the halfway mark the track began to dry properly, and the top spot started swapping...
MotoGPMatters.com (Free subscription) | 07/15/2009
The Team Toth saga seems set to run and run. Three weeks ago, disaster was averted at Assen by an urgent transfer of funds from Mattia Pasini's Team Toth to Aprilia, who then released the ECUs required to operate the factory-spec RSA 250s Pasini is racing halfway through the first session of free practice. Now, that scenario looks set to be repeated, as according to both GPOne.com and the Italian...
MotoGPMatters.com (Free subscription) | 07/12/2009
It's been a tough season so far for MotoGP, with the withdrawal of Kawasaki before the start of the season, the Japanese factory finally yielding to pressure from Carmelo Ezpeleta and Dorna to provide machinery and limited support for a single season for Marco Melandri. Then came the rider switch at Team Scot, Gabor Talmacsi stepping in, bringing Hungarian oil money to rescue the team which was close...
Valentino Rossi - MotoGP 2007 (Free subscription) | 07/05/2009
ull qualifying times from the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, round eight of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship. Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner both suffered huge highsides in the closing minutes and were taken to the medical centre. Mika Kallio is absent due to a finger injury, while Gabor Talmacsi will be Scot Honda’s only rider [...]
MotoGPMatters.com (Free subscription) | 07/04/2009
Valentino Rossi was the fastest man on day 1 of the Red Bull US GP weekend at Laguna Seca, though he didn't secure that spot until the end of the session. As ever, it was Casey Stoner who was fastest in the early running, being the first rider into both the 1'23 and 1'22 bracket, and holding the top spot for most of FP1. With just over 10 minutes to go, Jorge Lorenzo, who had been closing in on Stoner's...
MotoGPMatters.com (Free subscription) | 07/02/2009
Yesterday we reported that Yuki Takahashi would not be racing at Laguna Seca, today the news is even worse. In a statement issued jointly by Team Scot and Honda, the team announced that Takahashi has been dropped for the rest of the season, in favor of Gabor Talmacsi. The reasons for the decision were simple, and stated plainly: It was a matter of money. Team Scot needed the income provided by Gabor...
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