MotoGP

Austin Round of MotoGP At The Circuit Of The Americas Canceled

Submitted by David Emmett on

The Grand Prix of the Americas will not happen in 2020. Today, in a post on social media which has since been deleted, the Circuit of The Americas announced that the Austin round of MotoGP had been canceled, and a date set for the 2021 edition, to be held on April 18th.

The news hardly comes as a surprise, given the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Texas, and the growth in cases in the US in general. That has prompted the EU countries to put the US on a list of countries from which all non-essential travel is still banned, with no sign of that being lifted.

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Quartararo's Paul Ricard Practice Bike - Will The Punishment Fit The Crime?

Submitted by David Emmett on

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

20 jours et ça sera sur la MotoGP 🔥🤪 / 20 days and back in the practice with my M1 🔥🤪

A post shared by Fabio Quartararo 🇫🇷 (@fabioquartararo20) on

One of the many good things about being a MotoGP rider is that you get offered a lot of free stuff. Take a careful look at the social media feed of any rider and you will see stickers and logos on display, discretely or blatantly, on all sorts of items: caps, sunglasses, t-shirts, jeans, jackets, bicycles, underwear, motorcycles, leathers, MX gear, helmets. You name it, and some brand or other will have given it to a rider to show off on their social media.

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Guest Blog: Mat Oxley - ‘Anthony Gobert wanted a dancing girl in the pit!’

Submitted by Mat Oxley on

More gripping racing yarns from Stuart Shenton, the man who helped Kork Ballington, Freddie Spencer, Wayne Gardner and Kevin Schwantz to world title glory. And he might’ve done the same with Anthony Gobert…

In 1984 Stuart Shenton had been with Honda for 18 months when HRC engineer (and later HRC president) Satoru Horiike wandered up and asked a question.

“He said, if Honda were to build a 250, what should it be like?” says Shenton, who had already played a crucial role in Kawasaki’s domination of the 250 and 350 classes during the late 1970s and early 1980s. “So I asked him straight: are you building a 250? No, no, he said, this is just a casual question. Going back to my experience with Kawasaki, I told him a 250 must be on the minimum weight limit, it will need this much horsepower and it will need twin front discs. So at the end of 1984 I went to Japan and there was this 250, a fabulous piece of kit.”

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Andrea Dovizioso Has Collarbone Plated, Expects To Be Fit For Jerez

Submitted by David Emmett on

Andrea Dovizioso has been discharged from hospital after having surgery to fix the collarbone he broke in a regional MX race on Sunday. The Italian broke his left collarbone on a landing after a jump, and was taken to hospital in Modena, where he was operated on by a group of surgeons led by professor Giuseppe Porcellini on Sunday night.

Dovizioso suffered a displaced fracture, meaning the collarbone was broken completely at the end closest to the sternum, and the two sections had separated. Surgeons inserted a plate and six screws to bring the collarbone back to its original position and size, and declared themselves to be very happy with the outcome.

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Andrea Dovizioso Taken To Hospital With Suspected Collarbone Fracture After MX Crash

Submitted by David Emmett on

Andrea Dovizioso has been taken to hospital with a suspected broken left collarbone after crashing during a regional motocross race in Faenza, Italy.

The Italian had been given permission to take part by Ducati. The race, at the MX track in Faenza, was part of the regional MX championship of the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy. He had crashed on a landing after a jump, injuring his left shoulder. Dovizioso was taken to hospital in Forli, his home town, for further examination, and to confirm whether the collarbone is broken or not.

Dovizioso becomes the second rider to injure himself training ahead of the (re)start of the 2020 MotoGP season. Last week, Marco Bezzecchi injured his leg in a training accident.

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Money, Power, Expectations: Why Andrea Dovizioso And Valentino Rossi Have Yet To Agree A Deal

Submitted by David Emmett on

With three weeks to go to the official start of the 2020 season for the MotoGP class (Moto2 and Moto3 have already raced at Qatar back in March, lest we forget), the 2021 grid is starting to fill up. Of the 22 seats available next year, 12 have already been filled: Maverick Viñales and Fabio Quartararo in the factory Yamaha team, Alex Rins and Joan Mir at Suzuki, Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira, and Danilo Petrucci and Iker Lecuona in the factory and Tech3 KTM teams respectively, Marc Márquez at Repsol Honda, Jack Miller in the factory Ducati team, Aleix Espargaro with Aprilia, and Tito Rabat, who already had a contract before the start of the season.

There are a few more seats we can pencil in as near certainties: Pol Espargaro at Repsol Honda, Franco Morbidelli at Petronas, Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin in Pramac Ducati, Alex Márquez at LCR Honda. Cal Crutchlow is almost certain to be back, whether that be with LCR Honda or Aprilia – the Englishman appears to be giving serious consideration to what might be an attractive payday before he retires. Johann Zarco is likely to be on a Ducati again in 2021, the odds being that he is forced to accept another season at Avintia.

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Misano Private Test: Aleix Espargaro Fastest On Final Day, Redding Smashes WorldSBK Record

Submitted by David Emmett on

Testing has concluded at the Misano private test, with a few changes to the riders present on Thursday. KTM skipped the final day, while a group of WorldSSP riders entered the fray.

Aleix Espargaro was the fastest rider on the final day, getting to within a couple of hundredths of Miguel Oliveira's best time from the day before, demonstrating the potential of the 2020 Aprilia RS-GP. Espargaro was happy with both the speed and the pace of the bike, though the reliability of the bike remains a question mark, which will only be removed once the racing begins. The Aprilias were the lone MotoGP bikes on track on Thursday.

Bradley Smith closed the gap to the front by half a second, the Englishman preparing to take the place of Andrea Iannone for the first races of 2020, while the Italian is waiting for his appeal against a doping ban to be heard.

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MotoGP Silly Season Update: KTM Confirms Line Up, Stalemate At Ducati

Submitted by David Emmett on

KTM sporting director Pit Beirer (left) and Danilo Petrucci

That Danilo Petrucci was heading to KTM was an open secret, after the Italian and his manager, Alberto Vergani, visited the Austrian factory's race department in Mattighofen. That he would not be replacing Pol Espargaro in the factory Red Bull KTM team is a huge surprise. Instead, Petrucci is to switch to the Tech3 satellite team, and take the place of Miguel Oliveira, who is to be moved up to the factory squad.

According to Italian media, the reasons Petrucci is headed to the Tech3 team are twofold: firstly, as the KTM press release makes clear, because all four KTM RC16s will be full-factory spec, and with full factory support. And secondly, because Brad Binder had a clause in his contract stating he would be in the factory team in his second year.

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