With contract negotiations and rumours happening on a daily basis I thought it might be a good idea to set out which teams have sorted out their rider line up for 2010.

Fiat Yamaha

• Valentino Rossi

• Jorge Lorenzo

Repsol Honda Team

• Daniel Pedrosa

• Andrea Doviziso

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

• Loris Capirossi

• Alvaro Bautista

Ducati Marlboro Team

• Nicky Hayden

• TBC

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

• Colin Edwards

• Ben Spies

Pramac Racing (Ducati)

• TBC
  

• TBC

San Carlo Honda Gresini

• Marco Simoncelli

• Marco Melandri

LCR Honda MotoGP

• Randy De Puniet (tbc)

• Hiroshi Aoyama (Rumour) – Extra Bike

Scot Racing Team MotoGP (Honda)

• TBC

 

Aspar (Ducati) – New team

• Héctor Barberá

There are also rumours that Honda may be putting another four bikes on the grid, this may include the one Lucio Cecchinello would like to add to his team.

Riders without a confirmed ride for 2010:

• James Toseland
• Chris Vermulen (current seat taken)
  
• Alex de Angles (current seat taken)
• Toni Elias (current seat taken)
• Casey Stoner
• Randy De Puniet (LCR keen to keep him)
  
• Gabor Talmasi
• Niccolo Canepa
• Mika Kallio

Posted in: Bikes , Bikes - Racing  Tags: alex de angles, alvaro bautista, andrea dovizioso, ben spies, casey stoner, chris vermulen, colin edwards, daniel pedrosa, james toseland, jorge lorenzo, loris capirossi, marco melandri, marco simoncelli, nicky hayden, randy de puniet, tech3, toni elias, valentino rossi, yamaha,

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With contract negotiations and rumours happening on a daily basis I thought it might be a good idea to set out which teams have sorted out their rider line up for 2010.

Fiat Yamaha

• Valentino Rossi

• Jorge Lorenzo

Repsol Honda Team

• Daniel Pedrosa

• Andrea Doviziso

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

• Loris Capirossi

• Alvaro Bautista

Ducati Marlboro Team

• Nicky Hayden (TBC)

• TBC

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

• Colin Edwards / Ben Spies (Rumour)

• TBC

Pramac Racing (Ducati)

• TBC
  

• TBC

San Carlo Honda Gresini

• Marco Simoncelli

• Marco Melandri

LCR Honda MotoGP

• Randy De Puniet (Rumour)

• (Rumour) – Extra Bike

Scot Racing Team MotoGP (Honda)

• TBC

 

Aspar (Ducati) – New team

• Héctor Barberá

There are also rumours that Honda may be putting another four bikes on the grid, this may include the one Lucio Cecchinello would like to add to his team.

Riders without a confirmed ride for 2010:

• James Toseland
• Nicky Hayden (option with Ducati) 
• Chris Vermulen (current seat taken)
  
• Alex de Angles (current seat taken)
• Toni Elias (current seat taken)
• Casey Stoner
• Randy De Puniet (LCR keen to keep him)
  
• Gabor Talmasi
• Niccolo Canepa
• Colin Edwards (Staying at Tech 3 / Ben Spies taking his ride (Rumour) )
• Mika Kallio

Posted in: Bikes , Bikes - Racing  Tags: andrea dovizioso, ben spies, monster, yamaha, valentino rossi, tech3, ducati, bikes, nicky hayden, jorge lorenzo, james toseland, chris vermulen, alex de angles, toni elias, casey stoner, randy de puniet, gabor talmasi, niccolo canepa, colin edwards, mika kallio, honda, marco melandri, marco simoncelli, héctor barberá, alvaro bautista, loris capirossi, daniel pedrosa

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The last British round of the MotoGP Championship to be held the Donington circuit was held over the weekend of the 24-26 July 2009. For a farewell the rider put on a show for us, the weather probably helped them make it more interesting than they may have liked.

The weather did play a major part in the weekend with no two sessions having the same conditions. Race day was forecast to rain sometime in the afternoon, the rain started in the morning only gently so morning warm up was wet. By the time of the races it was dry and the 125GP started with a dry track, 15 laps in that all changed and the rain came and the rider started falling before the race was red flagged.

The 125 race hadn’t completed enough laps for a result to be declared so a 5 lap sprint was required to get a result, this time in the wet. The conditions caught more riders out including Marc Marquez from the lead and Bradley Smith from 5th. This left Julian Simon to take the win and Scott Reading to take his best result of the year in 3rd.

The 250GP race was far lest eventful and was won by Hiroshi Aoyama with a sizeable lead.

The MotoGP race saw an action packed 50 minutes with three of the leaders falling in the trick conditions, wrong tyre choices saw the Ducati’s of Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden being lapped before half race distance. Jorge Lorenzo crashed out whilst leading, Toni Elias crashed out having lead the first few laps and Valentino Rossi also crashed out of the lead, although the Doctor did manage to remount and finish 5th after a duel with James Toseland in the last corners of the last lap.

James Toseland made amends for last years disappointment with 6th place, and without a few scary moments could well have finished higher. Rider of the day has to go to Colin Edwards who got off to a slow start and was down in 15th place on the first lap but made it all the way up to 2nd on the last lap and had there been one or two more laps could of made it all the way to the top step. The honour of the win for the last Donington MotoGP was to got to Andrea Dovizioso for his maiden MotoGp win and his first podium of the year.

Photos from Donington MotoGP 2009

Posted in: Bikes , Bikes - Racing , Photography - iStockPhoto  Tags: jorge lorenzo, grand prix, gp, donnington, motogp, photos, photo, valentino rossi, james toseland, colin edwards, casey stoner, 125 gp, bradley smith, scott redding, andrea dovizioso, nicky hayden, ducati

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The eighth round of the World SuperBike Championship took place at Misano on Sunday, Race one started wet and Britain’s Shane Byrne got a flying start from the second row of the grid to take and stretch the lead on lap one. Byrne’s lead was almost 20 seconds at one point, until the track started to dry out and riders started switching to their dry bikes. Ben Spies managed to get his dry bike at the right time as he made his way through the pack up to Byrne before passing him in the closing stages. Jonathan Rea was looking good having qualified second, however stating from the pit lane and receiving a ride through penalty he still made it home in seventh ahead of Tom Sykes in eighth.

Race two saw Jonathan Rea start from his qualifying position and taking advantage of it spending most of the race battling with Noryuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio with the first three places swapping throughout the race and sometime lap. But at the flag it was Rea who came across the line first to take his maiden Superbike win. The day was made better by having Byrne, Sykes and Haslam in the top eight.

With Donnington and more British riders courtesy of wildcard rides next weekends round should be one to watch.

Posted in: Bikes , Bikes - Racing  Tags: misano, jonathan rea, michel fabrizio, tom sykes, wsb, shane byrne, leon haslam, noriyuki haga, ben spies

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Coventry’s Cal Crutchlow took a leaf out of Valentino Rossi’s book on his way to winning the Misano round of the World Supersport Championship. Cal used Rossi’s one foot off the peg nearly on the ground technique when storming back through the field after getting swamped at the start. From second on the grid to eighth in one corner and then back to the front before the race was halted due to crashes, before taking the win to go 14 points clear of Ireland’s Eugene Laverty.
With the British round at Donnington next weekend we should be in for a thrilling race, Cal and Eugene fighting for the championship and wild cards rides from the British Supersport guys.

Posted in: Bikes , Bikes - Racing  Tags: cal crutchlow, valentino rossi, yamaha, wss, supersport, misano, eugene laverty

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Wow what a couple of races, we started at Mugello with another wet / dry race with a tight finish the top five within 3 seconds of each other. With the win ultimately going to Casey Stoner, James Toseland made a step forward finishing seventh and the closest to Colin Edwards all season. Moving onto the Circuit de Catalunya the weekend just gone and the racing got closer, well at least between the Yamahas of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. It was a close battle for pole with Rossi holding it for most of the session until the closing minutes when Lorenzo clinched pole. The race just got better it cams down to the last corner of the last lap Lorenzo had the lead but Rossi made the closest move in a place no one would ever expect to be able to pass but Rossi being Rossi did and crossed the line 0.095 seconds in front. This left Rossi, Lorenzo and Stoner tied at the top of the championship on 106 points.

In 125 Britain’s Bradley Smith lead the championship after his second win of the season at Mugello, he slipped to second after only coming eighth at Catalunya. However it is still very tight a the top and he is only 1.5 points of the lead of Julian Simon who made the most monumental cock up in the race. Crossing the line with one lap to go Simon thought he had one and started early celebrations before realising that he had one more lap to go. He nearly made it to third spot but was beaten by he team mates Sergio Gadea by 0.001 seconds.

The next race will be one to watch as the championships hot up, can Bradley regain the lead in the 125s? Can James bounce back from a bad result at Catalunya? Who will come out on top between Rossi and Lorenzo? Or will Stoner or maybe even Andrea Dovizioso interrupt their battle?

Posted in: Bikes , Bikes - Racing  Tags: sergio gadea, jorge lorenzo, colin edwards, catalunya, mugello, andrea dovizioso, 125 gp, bradley smith, casey stoner, james toseland, julian simon, valentino rossi, yamaha,

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The first start to race one saw the first corner claim five bikes and riders and the race stopped. Makato Tamada, Tommy Hill, Troy Corser, Max Neukirchner and Brendan Roberts all went down in two crashes. Neukirchner and Roberts both sustained serious injuries, Neukirchner suffered a broken right Femur and a dislocated left foot, whilst Roberts has a break high on his left Femur and also sustained a heavy blow to his throat. Tamada suffered a broken left wrist, whilst Corser and Hill both walked away and were able to join the restart.

After a lengthy delay race one was restarted and the battle at the front was between Ben Spies, Michel Fabrizio and Noriyuki Haga. This three way battle carried on for all 18 laps with the leaf swapping several times a lap, Spies looked to have broke Fabrizio and Haga, until with metres to go Spies Yamaha R1 ran out of fuel at the Parabolica. Speis misfortune allowed Fabrizio to take his maiden wins in World Superbike. Spies coasted home to get the final point in 15th. Jonathan Rea brought his Ten Kate Honda home in fifth, Tome Sykes claimed sixth on the second Yamaha R1, to make up for a slightly disappointing qualifying having been constantly on the pace in practice. Shane Bryne came home in 14th on the Sterilgarda Ducati, Tommy Hill brought his Althea Honda home in 20th place after getting tangled at the first corner during the first start. Lean Haslam ended the race disappointed when hi Stiggy Honda ran out of fuel.

Race two went a bit more as planned for Ben Spies as he managed to break away early and make his fuel last until the end to take victory in race two. Michel Fabrizio came in second with Ryuichi Kiyonari third, Jonathan Rea managed to claim fourth with Tom Syke sixth again and Lean Haslam getting seventh. Further back Saw Tommy Hil in 17th and Shane Byrne in 18th.

The standings at the top remain unchanged with Bot Noriyuki and Ben dropping point to each other maintaining a status quo, Michel leapfrogged Lean for third and Tom did the same To Max to move up to fifth.

Standings

1 Noriyuki Haga Ducati 200
2 Ben Spies Yamaha 146
3 Michel Fabrizio Ducati 125
4 Leon Haslam Honda 103
5 Tom Sykes Yamaha 90

8 Jonathan Rea Honda 77
14 Shane Byrne Ducati 41
20 Tommy Hill Honda 6

Posted in: Bikes , Bikes - Racing , Motor Sport  Tags: ben spies, honda, leon haslam, monza, qualifying, shane byrne, superbikes, tommy hill, tom sykes, jonathan rea, yamaha, wsb, makato tamada, troy corser, max neukirchner, brendan roberts, michel fabrizio, noriyuki haga

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Cal Crutchlow extended his lead in the World Supersport championship to 18 points by winning a thrilling race on Sunday. Not getting the best start Cal had to fight his way back through the pack to fight for the lead, and fight he did. First Cal had to get past Kenan Sofuoglu, which he did with a hard but fair pass, then it was pretty much a three bike battle for the lead all the way until four laps from the end. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha World Supersport), Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) and Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport) swapped the lead constantly sometimes several times in one lap. With four laps to Go Cal broke away from the group and the battle for second. third and forth was now on with Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Provec) going the battle. The hard battle for the final podium positions allowed cal to get away and seal the win. The Battle for the podium came down to the line and finally ended Joan Lascorz, Fabien Foret, Eugene Laverty.

Standings

Cal Crutchlow Yamaha 99
Eugene Laverty Honda 81
Kenan Sofuoglu Honda 72
Andrew Pitt Honda 54
Anthony West Honda 52

Posted in: Bikes , Bikes - Racing , Motor Sport  Tags: bikes, cal crutchlow, eugene laverty, kenan sofuogulu, fabien foret, joan lascorz, monza

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After 50 125GP starts Oxfordshire’s Bradley Smith takes his maiden 125GP Victory after leading from the start. A blistering star saw Bradley get an early lead over his team mate Julian Simon, who started to catch him but crashed after losing the front end. From then on it was relative plain sailing for Bradley winning by a margin of 13.5 seconds.

Further back Scott Reading had a good battle and did look as though he could have made it onto the podium and possibly even second but it wasn’t to be and forth was a good result. The battle for second stretched all the way down to eight with any of the riders able to clinch the final two podium positions. Danny Webb put in a credible performance to finish eight, unfortunately Mathew Hoyle didn’t make to cut to qualify.

A very close exciting battle in the 125 Spanish GP only wets the appetite for the 250’s and Moto GP, and the rest of the season can we have another British victory at the final Donnington?

Posted in: Bikes , Bikes - Racing , Motor Sport  Tags: bradley smith, 125 gp, donnington, bike, bikes, danny webb, motogp, scott redding, matthew holye, jerez

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This weekend is one which petrol head and race fans can spend the entire weekend watching motorsport. The second round of the 2009 MotoGP continues at the twin ring Motegi in Japan, can Rossi show Stoner how it’s done and get back on his winner form of 2008. Rossi made a good start to the weekend by going fastest in Friday practice, but only by 0.05 seconds. We also have the 250s and 125s Can Bradley Smith stay at the sharp end? Will Scott Redding show his form? Can Marco Simoncelli return to 250 with a win?

Round three of the F1 championship sees the drivers in Bahrain can Jenson and Brawn GP regain their winning form.

In Assen the World Superbike boys are back for the forth round the Dutch TT. Can Haslam and Sykes take the fight to Haga and Spies? In world Supersport can Cal Crutchlow take another win and extend his lead in the championship?

The weekend should provide more close racing action, 2009 is looking like being the year of the motor race.

Posted in: Bikes , Bikes - Racing , Motor Sport  Tags: brawn gp, bikes, ben spies, cal crutchlow, casey stoner, 125 gp, motogp, racing, f1, shane byrne, superbikes, tom sykes, wsb, yamaha, scott redding, rubens barrichello, honda, jenson button, james toseland

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