The fans at Mugello were treated to a great battle in qualifying action on Saturday afternoon with Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo upstaging his teammate Valentino Rossi on the World Champion’s home track of Mugello, by taking the pole position at the Italian GP.
World Superbike has landed on American soil with its first stop in the States: Miller Motorsports Park. The track based in Salt Lake City is playing host to WSBK for the second time in its history, and because of injuries a participated in the today’s events. With the AMA series sharing a stop at Miller, it should come as no surprise that one of “dem good old boys” was at the top of the Superpole podium.
Keeping with his personal tradition of having a special edition helmet while racing at Mugello, Valentino Rossi released a new lid at Friday’s Free Practice session. This year’s edition can be considered an answer to , with Rossi replacing his face with his hands.
This year’s theme features Valentino’s gloved hands holding the side of this his head/helmet. On the back of the helmet, Rossi’s two bulldogs Cesare and Cecilia are featured with their paws also on their heads.
For Rossi right now, Mugello feels like more show than go, with the MotoGP Demi-God qualifying only 4th in today’s session.
UPDATE: the FIM is reporting that 47 teams submitted entries for the 2010 Moto2 series, for a total of 91 riders.
Applications for the Moto2 series closed today, with nearly 60 teams making bids to join in on the fun of 600cc prototype racing. Likely, this number will be reduced to somewhere around 36 teams, the typical number of slots on GP circuits.
Of the applicants, all of the satellite teams from MotoGP submitted entries, with the exception of Sete Gibernau’s Grupo Francisco Hernando squad, as well as most of the 250 teams as well, with the Aspar team asking for three places on the grid.
Mission Motors has been out testing their Mission One race bike in the Easy Bay (looks like out by Bear Creek Canyon) with a little help from the California Highway Patrol, and has posted up a video of the electric racer on their site for all to enjoy.
At the end of last year, we announced where if you bought a Sportster motorcycle (sadly, not the XR1200), you could receive the MSRP value of the bike if you traded it in the following year for “bigger” model.
The promotion was such a great success apparently, that now that it has ended, Harley-Davidson sales have slumped off.
This weekend looks to be another tough one for Nicky Hayden, who seems to be struggling again with his Ducati Desmosedici GP9 in today’s Free Practice Session. The American currently sits 15th on the grid, the very last position held by a factory rider. Contrast that with the 5th place Colin Edwards is currently holding on his satellite Tech3 Yamaha, which runs on a .
Mac Motorcycles is entering into the fray as Britain’s latest motorcycle manufacturer. With a cafe-racer/chopper design, Mac is planning to have 4 models: the Spud, Ruby, Peashooter, and Roarer. All four bikes will be lightweight street cruisers, with no plastic, and nothing you don’t need except to just ride for the hell of riding.
Choosing the right umbrella girl is a long and arduous process. It doesn’t have to be that way, but why would you want to rush through such a delightful process? And for the Italian GP at Mugello, the role of the umbrella girl is big business. After all, who doesn’t like a scantily clad women holding a canopoy more than the Italians?
Getting ready for the GP this weekend, various teams have made a spectacle out of their “talent” search, with competitions and club events looking for Miss Right.
It looks like BMW is set to launch a supermoto version of the bullet-proof F800R paralell twin later this year.
The machine, which was inspired by BMW’s stunt world champion Christian Pfeiffer, gains a host of goodies over the F800R, including long travel suspension, revised gearing and the obligatory BMW racepaint colour scheme.
No word on price, but were expecting the bike to weigh in near the $12,000 mark.
The Texas Tornado is putting up his leathers on eBay to benefit Yamaha’s charity fundraising. The auction runs until May 28th, and includes his leathers, helmet, boots, and gloves. The winning bidder also receives a pair of tickets and a hotel room for the duration of the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix held July 3rd-5th.
Edwards will personally hand over the race items in a Saturday ceremony at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. All funds raised will go to Feed the Children.
Source: MotoGP