Niccolo Canepa

As if the Moto2 grid wasn't confusing enough already, the Misano round for the 40-strong Moto2 class features a host of replacement riders and wildcards. Making things even worse, some of the replacements and wildcards are riders who have left one team and gone on to ride for another. Here's a rundown of the Misano Moto2 Musical Chairs:

First of all, the absentees: Aeroport de Castello's Alex Debon is out after fracturing his collarbone yet again, the 4th time in 10 months, after falling at Indianapolis. HolidayGym's Fonsi Nieto is also missing, having cracked his heelbone in the Indy Moto2 mayhem. Nieto has been extraordinarily unlucky: not only did he fracture bones in his foot, but the Spaniard had problems during surgery on his foot which saw him suffer a respiratory arrest as a result of the anesthetics being used. So serious was the situation that Nieto was even in danger of having his foot amputated because of the complications.

Toni Elias' Gresini teammate Vladimir Ivanov is also absent due to injury, as is JIR Moto2's Yusuke Teshima - himself a replacement for Mattia Pasini, who left after a dispute over finances - and Arne Tode of Team Germany, both of whom picked up (further) injuries at Indy.

Scott Jones took too many fantastic photographs at the Sachsenring, so many that we've had to split our review of them over two days. Double the quantity, double the pleasure, and what better way to get 2010 started?

Wheelies whatever the weather

Colin Edwards takes the art of looking through the corner to the extreme

Best helmet of the year for Niccolo Canepa

The weather at the Sachsenring was best described as changeable

Another day, another set of beautiful photographs taken by MotoMatters.com snapper Scott Jones. That weekend saw the weather play a major role, with race day finally drying up and producing three great races, including a scintillating MotoGP contest. Relive it all again in glorious color:

Valentino Rossi had things well under control in Germany

Still probably the best looking bike on the grid

58, the number of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brother

On the third day of looking back at 2009, we return to the July 5th weekend, and the Red Bull US GP at Laguna Seca. The light is always beautiful on the Monterey Peninsula, and Scott Jones knows how to get the best out of. Enjoy some of his highlights from a weekend of racing in California. 

Nicky Hayden sold a shedload of 848s with this livery

Speed

Eddie discusses kart tactics with Vale

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 ride at the end of the 2009 season.

He may be out of a MotoGP ride, but he is not out of the paddock, however. The Scot Racing Team announced today that Niccolo Canepa has been signed a one-year contract to race in Moto2 next season. Like Canepa, Scot Honda found itself out of the MotoGP paddock, after both Yuki Takahashi and his later replacement Gabor Talmacsi found themselves circulating behind even Canepa. Financial problems within the team meant that the team could not afford to provide the support necessary for the bike to be competitive, and having two rookies on the bike reduced their chances even further. In contrast to the Scot Racing team's problems in MotoGP, their 250cc program was triumphant, winning both the last ever 250 championship with Hiroshi Aoyama, as well as the rookie of the year award with Raffaele de Rosa.

It has not been Niccolo Canepa's season. After a long and difficult year struggling with the Pramac Ducati, the Italian is to miss the final round of MotoGP at Valencia, leaving the series without a final chance to prove his mettle. The Valencia round will be the third race in a row that Canepa has been forced to miss, as he is still recovering from the skin transplant necessitated by his crash in practice at the Australian Grand Prix a month ago. 

Canepa's place will once again be taken by Aleix Espargaro, something the Spaniard was due to do anyway as of Monday after the Grand Prix. Espargaro will now get another couple of days extra time on the bike to familiarize himself before testing for the 2010 season starts in earnest after the Grand Prix is over. The Spaniard has shown good progress in his time on the bike replacing both Canepa and team mate Mika Kallio, and is hoping to put on a good show for the Spanish fans.

Canepa, meanwhile, will be concentrating on finding a ride in Moto2 for the 2010 season. The full list of riders is due to be announced at Valencia, though financial problems continue to dog some of the teams, meaning that at least some of the teams with a reserve entry are likely to be given a full time slot on the grid.

Niccolo Canepa's weekend at Phillip Island got off to a bad start. The Pramac Ducati rider crashed during the first session of free practice on Friday, going down at the - literally - scorching Doohan corner at around 200 km/h. The Italian slid a long way on the tarmac, burning a hole through his leathers and removing a big chunk of skin from his right arm and elbow. His injuries were sufficiently serious to require a skin transplant at a Melbourne hospital, and his participation at this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang was put in doubt.

A variety of sources are reporting that Carlos Checa will ride a privateer Ducati for the Althea team in the World Superbike series in 2010. Checa, who was recently voted off the Ten Kate Island, is still capable of running intermittently at the front, especially around contract time. It had been rumored that Checa was in line for a testing gig for Ducati MotoGP, replacing long-time tester Vittoriano Guaresci, who will be allegedly be taking a rider liason position for the company, but apparently racing pays better, especially when your income comes mostly from personal sponsorships and contingency bonuses, as Checa's reportedly has for the last few years.  It has been previously reported that Althea would switch from Honda  to Ducati in 2010 and were pursuing Jakub Smrz and/or Niccolo Canepa.

UPDATE

There was a fairly hefty injury toll at the cool and dusty Phillip Island track on Friday. There were fallers in all of the categories, but the heaviest of the lot were Hector Barbera in the 250cc class and Niccolo Canepa in MotoGP. Barbera highsided, landing heavily on his back and knocking the wind out of him. As he struggled for breath, Barbera told the press afterwards, he feared the worst, the incident bringing back bad memories of his huge crash at Motegi last year. This time he got away with just some very nasty and very painful bruising, but he is currently behind held under observation, just to make sure that the cracked vertebrae he suffered last year have not been injured again.

Niccolo Canepa was not so lucky. The Italian slid a long way after crashing at Turn 1 and burning a hole in his leathers and through his arm. After examination at the Clinica Mobile, he was taken off to hospital in Melbourne for examination, where it was decided he would need a skin graft, though Canepa had suffered no nerve damage as had been feared at first. The injury means that the Italian will not be able to race on Sunday, and will miss the Australian Grand Prix.

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 and Nicky Hayden at Ducati, Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa (albeit reluctantly) re-signed with Repsol Honda, and Loris Capirossi joined at Suzuki by the only newcomer to the factory line up, Spanish rookie Alvaro Bautista. Though next year's seats are settled, plenty of excitement still remains over what will happen next year: Everyone but Andrea Dovizioso and Alvaro Bautista is on a one year contract, which means that the Fantastic Four will all be on the market at the same time next year and looking to move, almost certainly precipitating a bidding war and making a mockery of all the cost-cutting measures already put in place.

Of the satellite teams, only the Gresini and LCR squads are completely set. Fausto Gresini got his Italian Dream Team with the two Marcos, Melandri and Simoncelli, and helping him extend the team's sponsorship contract with snack manufacturer San Carlo, while Lucio Cecchinello has re-upped with Randy de Puniet. But even among the remaining teams, the seats are largely taken. Mika Kallio is back with Pramac, and Colin Edwards returns to the Monster Tech 3 team, though reportedly taking a half million dollar pay cut for the privilege. No official word as yet from Team Scot, but as Gabor Talmacsi is the only person likely to be bringing significant funds into the team, the Hungarian must be a safe bet for that seat.