When Dorna first announced that the opening round of the 2008 MotoGP season in Qatar was to be run at night, they were met with a great deal of skepticism. The fear was that the race would be too dangerous, with riders either being blinded by the floodlights, or else not being able to see the track well enough to race safely. To allay those fears, Dorna and the FIM, together with the MotoGP Riders Safety Commission, agreed to organize a test under night conditions at Qatar once the floodlighting had been completed.

The TV schedules have been posted on MTV's website for Friday, November 16th, and the Hayden real life show, The Kentucky Kid, will be screened at 10pm Eastern Standard Time, and repeated a few hours later at 2am on Saturday, November 17th Eastern Standard Time. If you were intending to watch it, then better set your VCR / DVR / TiVo to record.

Reports emerged from Australia yesterday that the Phillip Island circuit has become a possible future venue for the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix. The option was mooted by Andrew Fox, managing director of the Linfox Property Group, the circuit's owners.

When Chaz Davies was named as the replacement rider for Alex Hofmann in the Pramac d'Antin team for the last 3 races of the year, hopes were raised among British MotoGP fans, who have been longing for a Brit on competitive machinery in MotoGP for a very long time, and among US racing fans, who have been impressed by the young Welshman's pace in the AMA Supersport and Formula Xtreme classes.

Ever since the announcement that MTV would be showing a reality TV show based around the life of Nicky Hayden, there has been much hand-wringing among hardcore MotoGP fans that the show might trivialize their favorite sport. Now that the show has been announced, and is due to be screened on MTV in the US on November 16th, speculation has started to rise to a fever pitch about whether the show will do the sport justice.

It has been talked about for a long time, but finally it looks like being a reality. Today, MTV announced that they will be airing the long-awaited reality show based around Nicky Hayden's life in MotoGP. The show, unsurprisingly called "The Kentucky Kid," is a two-hour long special charting Hayden's claiming of the 2006 world title over the last two races of the season, and the ill-fated defense of his title during the 2007 season.

The Valencia MotoGP round is steeped in tradition, despite only having been the final round since 2002. The most interesting part of that tradition is the rolling out of the 2008 MotoGP bikes for the first official test on the Tuesday and Wednesday following the race. But before that can happen, there's the end-of-year test for journalists, former racers and miscellaneous celebrities (this year including Michael Schumacher and Gerhard Berger), who all get to try out some, or for the really lucky ones, all, of the 2007 MotoGP bikes.

Bittersweet. That, in a word, describes the final MotoGP round at Valencia. Riders, teams, fans and followers, all face the weekend of MotoGP's last race with very mixed feelings. The time and place, Valencia in early November, has a lot going for it. The weather is perfect for racing and spectating alike, not so hot that it melts both bikes and fans, but warm enough that the tires get up to temperature, and fans can sit in the sun all day. The track is fantastic for viewing: located in a natural bowl, you can see most of the track from almost anywhere around the banked seating areas.

Bittersweet. That, in a word, describes the final MotoGP round at Valencia. Riders, teams, fans and followers, all face the weekend of MotoGP's last race with very mixed feelings. The time and place, Valencia in early November, has a lot going for it. The weather is perfect for racing and spectating alike, not so hot that it melts both bikes and fans, but warm enough that the tires get up to temperature, and fans can sit in the sun all day. The track is fantastic for viewing: located in a natural bowl, you can see most of the track from almost anywhere around the banked seating areas.