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Racing

Nicky Hayden Injured in Qualifying, Doubtful To Race Sunday in Qatar

By Jensen Beeler 04/12/2009 No Comments

The unluckiest man of the weekend has by far been Nicky Hayden. In the first Free Practice, he suffered a clutch problem, followed by an electrical problem, which cost him testing time in the session and forced him to use his backup bike. The next day in the second Free Practice, Hayden had an engine blow up on his Desmosedici, forcing him one again onto his backup bike. Lastly in the Qualifying Session, Nicky Hayden took a huge highside just a few minutes from the end of the session, and now his participation in the season opener at Qatar is questionable.

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Racing

No Surprises in the Qatar Qualifying

By Jensen Beeler 04/12/2009 No Comments

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that’s been visiting A&R for the past few days when you read that Casey Stoner has won the pole position for the Qatar GP tomorrow. The Australian has been dominating the week and holds nearly half a second over second place rider, Valentino Rossi, who with Stoner, Lorenzo, and Dovizioso are the only riders to break into the 1:55’s this week.

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Racing

Stoner Leads Free Practice 2, But The Field Catches Up

By Jensen Beeler 04/11/2009 No Comments

Casey Stoner continues to be the man to beat in Qatar this weekend, but the rest of the MotoGP field is getting wise, and starting to encrouch on the Australian’s lap times in Free Practice 2.

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News

Riders Remember Those Lost in the L’Aquila Earthquake

By Jensen Beeler 04/11/2009 2 Comments

Riders Niccolò Canepa and Mika Kallio have added stickers on their Pramac D16 bikes in memory of the people of Abruzzo, Italy who lost their lives in the Monday’s devasting earthquake. Joining Capena and Kallio is Valentino Rossi, who will also ride at Qatar with a sticker in support of the people of Abruzzo.

“This weekend I have a special sticker on my bike, which says ‘Forza Abruzzo’. It’s a message from us for the people of Abruzzo. It’s not so far from my home in Tavullia and I want them to know that we are with them at such a terrible time.”

The 2009 L’Aquila earthquake was an earthquake of 6.3 moment magnitude that occurred in the central Italian region of Abruzzo on April. So far at least 289 people are known to have died, and 10 are still missing, making this the deadliest earthquake to hit Italy since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake.

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Racing

Petronas to Sponsor Fiat Yamaha

By Jensen Beeler 04/11/2009 1 Comment

The Fiat Yamaha Team has signed a three-year agreement with Petronas, the Malaysian national oil and gas corporation, who will become a new official sponsor to the MotoGP team. Under the new partnership, the Fiat Yamaha Team will carry the Petronas logo on both Rossi’s and Lorenzo’s bike’s as well as the team equipment and material.

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Racing

Qatar Readies for the Return of MotoGP, Stoner Fastest Man on the Track

By Jensen Beeler 04/11/2009 No Comments

The return of MotoGP racing is just a few days away in Qatar right now, and Casey Stoner has proven himself the man to beat. Stoner was fast from the moment he rolled out onto the track, setting the 1’57 mark within 10 minutes of the free practice, a time he would reduce by a further 0.8 seconds towards the end of the session. Only two other men were able to break in’ the :57’s, Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards. It took Rossi quite some time to catch the Australian, but he was eventually able to close the gap to Stoner by 0.4 seconds. Colin Edwards, the third fastest man in the opening session of the 2009 season finished 0.7 seconds off of Stoner. Outside of that group, Jorge Lorenzo made it 3 Yamaha’s in the top 4, but was still 1.2 seconds behind the time to beat.

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Bikes

Norton NRV588 Rotary Testing at Donington Park

By Jensen Beeler 04/10/2009 6 Comments

You may remember the news that Norton was preparing an entry into this years Isle of Man TT. Visordown has caught up with the British team at Donington Park recently, and has posted a video of the Norton team testing the rotary motor powered NRV588, and running it on their dyno. The bike sounds vicious, and the glowing exhaust pipes, menacing. It won’t be long now until we can see the fruits of Norton’s labor. Watch the video after the jump.

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Bikes

TTXGP Entries Announced

By Jensen Beeler 04/08/2009 5 Comments

Entries for the upcoming TTXGP have been announced, and five teams have entered to run the Isle of Man on electric wheels. Mission Motors, EVO Design Solutions, Kingston University, Brammo, and Motorczysz will make up the field. The teams have just 64 more days to get their bikes ready for competition, which could be a tall order for some of them, whose bikes still only exist as CAD drawings.

We have a very reserved opinion on how TTXGP will go down. While these teams have been able to gain a great deal of attention in the blogsphere about their projects, it would seem virtually all of them haven’t actually built even a prototype yet (excluding Brammo). In the tech industry, we call this Vaporware, and with less than 10 weeks before race day, we have a hard time conceiving how all these teams will be able to deliver in this short of a time frame. Never-the-less, the TTXGP will be a big day not only for electric motorcycle racing, but also for electric motorcycles in general. Continue reading for a description of each team from their press releases.

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Bikes

Zero Motorcycles Adds Electric Supermoto to Its Line-up

By Jensen Beeler 04/08/2009 1 Comment

Zero Motorcycles has made the logical next step in its bike line-up by now offering a Supermoto version of its electric dirtbike, the Zero X. Zero has added 17″ street tires and a projector headlamp to make the transition necessary from dirt-track to city streets. With 31 horses and 62.5 lb-ft of torque instantly available, the clutchless one-speed “S” should make it up to 60 mph. Its four kWh battery lasts up to 60 miles, and can be recharged with the integrated charger, which will charge the battery up in less than four hours.

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News

Max Biaggi To Be A Father

By Jensen Beeler 04/08/2009 No Comments

Max Biaggi’s longtime girlfriend and former Miss Italy, Eleonora Pedron, is expecting to have the couple’s first child later this September. The couple revealed the news to Italian weekly magazine “A”during an interview:

“As soon as we knew that Ele was pregnant we told her mother, her brother Nicola, my father, my sister and my nephew. We don’t like to exploit our private lives to attract attention to our jobs, infact after this interview we won’t give any others. It doesn’t matter, boy or girl, as long as it’s healthy. Because it’s going to have a brother or sister later on.”

The Roman Emperor doesn’t seem to concerned about getting married anytime soon. When asked about it, he responded, “Marriage? It’s not a priority, I’d like things to go on as they are even if it’s not out of the question. Five or six years ago I never thought of a kid and now…”

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Banter

We’re Just Saying…

By Jensen Beeler 04/08/2009 No Comments

There’s long been an on-going joke that motorcycle journalists aren’t exactly known to be God’s gift to motorcycling when on the track. It would also be fair to say that some of us spend too much time behind the desk talking about bikes, rather out riding one.

Now, we here at Asphalt & Rubber don’t get too upset when Ducati doesn’t invite us out to warm and sunny Spain to test-ride the new Ducati Streetfigher. We get it…our invitation must have been lost in the mail. However, had we been invited instead of , we’re fairly certain video after the jump wouldn’t have happened.

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