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The news is a bit obvious, but Lin Jarvis, the Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing, has confirmed that the factory MotoGP squad intends to retain the services of Jorge Lorenzo, and bring Ben Spies into the squad for the 2011 season.

The news comes on the heels of Valentino Rossi’s decision to move to Ducati for next season, and has been assumed to be a done deal once Rossi’s announcement was made public. This is however the first time that anyone at Yamaha has spoken about the team structure for next year in such a direct tone, likely because of the need to keep Rossi’s departure under wraps.

Rumors have been swelling for the past few months about the state of MotoGP in the United States, as both Laguna Seca and Indianapolis Motor Speedway were up for contract renewal with Dorna and the FIM. Laguna Seca has always been the more popular American venue for MotoGP, and during the Red Bull US GP stop, the famous Californian track and the premiere motorcycle series again solidified their relationship, extending the GP’s presence at Laguna Seca into 2014. But what fate bestills IMS and the timing of the US GP weekends after 2010?

It’s been a good year for Yamaha Motors in racing, with riders James Stewart, Valentino Rossi, and Ben Spies all taking championship titles home for the tuning-fork brand. As a holiday gift to race enthusisats, Yamaha has put together a quick documentary on another rider that took the checkered flag home for Yamaha…in 1975. At the Indy GP this year, Kenny Roberts re-lived his 1975 flat track victory on the 125bhp, 750cc two-stroke Yamaha TZ750 flat-tracker of death. Video after the jump.

On display at Indianapolis this weekend was Moriwaki Engineering’s latest iteration of their MD600 race bike. Fans could see both their Mk. V, and Mk. VII bikes on display, and were also treated to seeing the Moto2 bikes take to the GP course at Indy.

Moriwaki is one of several companies that hopes to provide chassis and full bike solutions to Moto2 teams in 2010, and have also been developing a consumer oriented version of the MD600 that would be available to privateer racers and track day enthusiasts alike.

The second running of the Indianapolis GP found much better weather than last year, with a bone dry track this time around. With a strong showing from Dani Pedrosa all week, the Americans on the second row, and a lot of contracts still up in the air, the 75,000 fans at The Brickyard were treated to a great showing of GP racing as the Championship takes another step to completion.

MotoGP returns to the USA for the second time this year, this time trading in the heat and surf of Laguna Seca for the rain of Indianapolis. Riders battled a wet then dry track this week, and a shrinking number of spots for rides next year. With that pressure starting to ramp up, it comes as no surprise that we see some lurkers making their move on the grid. The end result thus far: one broken pole record.