MotoGP is looking eastward. As the involvement and interest from and in Asia has continued to grow in recent years, the importance of the region - beyond the historic role that Japan has played in the series, that is - to both the MotoGP series and the manufacturers has become increasingly evident. With Yamaha riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies visiting the region a couple of times over the winter, and Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta hinting at more races in Asia in coming years, the Asian dimension in MotoGP is set to grow in the near future.

The addition of "Semakin di Depan", the slogan used by Yamaha's subsidiary in Indonesia, to the factory Yamaha M1s back in 2010 was the first sign of change, and Honda followed suit in 2011, with the addition of the "Satu Hati" slogan, used by Honda's Indonesian subsidiary, to the factory Repsol Honda machines. Meanwhile, Yamaha's factory riders have been making marketing trips to Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and other countries in the region on a regular basis since 2008.

MotoGP's long winter break is drawing to a close, and the testing season is about to kick off once again. For the last couple of years that's been very easy to follow, as everyone headed to the official MotoGP tests organized by IRTA. With the introduction of the Claiming Rule Teams, however, MotoGP's testing schedule has become a lot more complex, as some of the CRT teams will be joining the test in Sepang, while others will be remaining in Europe.

Below is the schedule as we know it so far. Everyone on a factory prototype (that is, all of the factory and satellite teams) will be heading to the two Sepang tests (Jan 31st - Feb 2nd, and Feb 28th-March 1st), with Colin Edwards on the NGM Forward Suter BMW and the BQR CRT team consisting of Ivan Silva and test rider Robertino Pietri aboard the FTR Kawasakis at the first Sepang test at least. The Aprilia-powered CRT bikes will be firing up their engines in Europe, starting at Valencia on January 30th. PBM's James Ellison will join the Aspar bikes at Jerez on February 20th, while a fuller compliment of CRT bikes is expected at Aragon on March 8th. Testing then culminates at Jerez in late March, as everyone gathers for the final CRT test.

Popular Australian rider Ant West is to retire from motorcycle racing. The popular Australian made the announcement on his personal Facebook page, citing the failure to raise sufficient sponsorship to be able to pay for a ride for 2012. West was signed up to ride an Aprilia CRT machine for the Speed Master team in MotoGP in 2012, but was unable to find the 250,000 euros that the team had demanded he bring to the ride.

West posted on his Facebook page that he had attempted to sell his car, his motocross bike and his house in Switzerland to help fund the Speed Master ride, and had even offered his house as collateral. That had not been sufficient to save his ride, however. The Australian faces similar problems racing elsewhere, as all the other teams are demanding that West bring money to a ride, and West cannot afford to do that.

The BMW World Superbike squad spent two days testing at Valencia, where they worked mainly on electronics strategies and the latest version of the BMW S1000RR engine. Below is the press release issued after the test:

The Kawasaki World Supersport team issued the following press release after their test at Valencia:

There is good news and bad news for MotoGP fans. The bad news is that the MotoGP schedule has been changed - again. The good news is that the season now starts a day earlier, as the Qatar MotoGP round will once again be spread over four days instead of three, and start on Thursday, April 5th, 2012.

The decision sees the race following the same schedule as in 2011. Last year, the race was switched from a three-day to a four-day format to avoid the problems with the track becoming slippery late at night, which had caused several big crashes during testing in 2010. Having an extra day of practice makes it easier to fit all three classes into the period between sunset and the time the temperature starts to approach the dew point. Riders have repeatedly complained of the track becoming treacherous from incipient dew forming on patches of the track between 11pm and midnight. Spreading practice over four days means that all of the riding gets done before 11pm.

Over the hill and far away

King Kenny rode Laguna on an M1. And hated it.

GP Eleven. Point One.

Loris' Last Laguna

The Honda press office issued the following press release, reporting on the awarding of Best Grand Prix of 2011 to Mugello:

Magnificent Mugello takes IRTA Best Grand Prix Honours

Never in the history of the prestigious IRTA ‘Best Grand Prix' has a track won five times. Never has a track won in three different decades. But never has there been a track like the Mugello Circuit, the magnificent Tuscan venue north of Florence, which has been honoured as the winner of the 2011 IRTA Best Grand Prix.

The key to Mugello's success is that it strives to be the best. The track has made continuous improvements every year since 1995 when it won the first of three consecutive awards, a feat no other track has accomplished. The fourth award came in the Millennium year of 2000, with this year's fifth prize early in the new decade. And it certainly won't be the last. Following the successful running of this year's race the track signed a contract with Dorna to continue to host a round of the world championship through 2016.

The major leap forward which Honda's MotoGP bike has taken in the past two seasons has come in two distinct areas, the chassis and the electronics. Much of the work of sorting out the RC212V's chassis was done during the 2010 season, when the factory tried out five different chassis variations and several different swingarms, before getting the bike right early in the 2011 season. Parallel to the chassis, Honda spent two years improving their MotoGP bike's electronics, after poaching two of Yamaha's key staff to work on HRC's electronics package. The resulting machine, in the hands of Casey Stoner, proved unbeatable throughout the 2011 season.