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The Countdown to V-Day

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No it’s not Victory Day, nor Valentine’s Day, and not even the next showing of the Vagina Monologues, the countdown to V-Day in the motorcycle world is the day that Valentino Rossi announces his move to Ducati in MotoGP racing. Slated to occur at Brno during the Czech GP because of a gentlemen’s agreement, Valentino Rossi’s announcement will be the crack in the doors that opens the flood gates of other announcements. Like a line of domino’s strewn about the MotoGP paddock, Rossi’s plans for 2011 are the tipping stone that sets the rest of the paddock in motion…and we’re sure he’d have it no other way.

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Racing

Thursday Report from Laguna Seca: Rossi Considers WSBK, Stoner Displeased w/ Bridgestone, Hayden Has a Miscommunication

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Sleep is a luxury in the MotoGP paddock. Sunburned, tired, and still with only a rudimentary understanding of Italian, we’re slogging our way through the paddock talking to teams and riders. We’ll try to pick out individual stories during the day…but no promises. Instead you’ll find a daily digest coming your way each morning from the previous day, which will touch on the day’s major events.

Head over to MotoMatters.com if you want more in-depth coverage (or click on the links in the digest), as David Emmett will be making sense of our sloppy handwriting and noisy audio clips, and turning it into MotoGP gold. Thursday’s digest after the jump.

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Banter

Yamaha Gears Up for Laguna Seca with the ‘Most Colorful’ Team in MotoGP

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Yamaha Motor Corporation USA knows how to have a good time when MotoGP comes to Laguna Seca. Last year the American branch of the tuning fork brand amused us with their viral video that showcased Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Colin Edwards, and James Toseland working hard at the Yamaha office. Launching off Seca with this year with an old fashioned photo of their four MotoGP riders, we can only hope that Yamaha has more entertainment lined up this week as we head into the race weekend.

Source: Yamaha USA

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Racing

Red Flag Interrupts Qualifying at Sachsenring

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MotoGP qualifying was underway today in Germany, as riders took to Sachsenring with good weather abounding. With the return of Valentino Rossi to the series, the MotoGP paddock is buzzing with excitement, but the good vibrations would be cut short as the qualifying session was red flagged part-way through.

Seemingly grenading one of his six precious motors, Jorge Lorenzo dumped oil onto the German track, but before officials could the halt the session, Ben Spies and Randy de Puniet experienced a better understanding to what a mu coefficient is, and ended up in the gravel trap. While Spies was un-hurt, de Puniet was seen grabbing his ankle after the crash. The French rider did not participate in the restarted qualifying session, and spent his time in Clinica Mobile.

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Racing

Valentino Rossi Signs Two-Year Contract with Ducati

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UPDATE 3: Ducati has officially announced signing Valentino Rossi.

UPDATE 2: Ducati Motor Holdings CEO Gabriele del Torchio has confirmed that Valentino Rossi will race with Ducati in 2011.

UPDATE: Ducati & Yamaha have made a gentlemen’s agreement to delay the announcement of Rossi’s move until after Laguna Seca, in exchange for letting the Italian test the Desmosedici GP10 at the Valencian Round.

Let’s avoid the the “scoops”, “exclusives”, and “OMG’s”, and just say that Asphalt & Rubber has received word from a trusted source that Valentino Rossi has signed a two-year agreement with Ducati, that’s set to be announced on Monday…and boom goes the dynamite (sorry, we couldn’t resist). The Rossi/Ducati fantasy has been put forth for years, with the fervor on the subject reaching its pinnacle this season, as Ducati reportedly wafted a €15 million salary (almost double Yamaha’s offer) in front of the nine-time World Champion.

Likely less to do with money, and more about prestige and priority, the announcement comes on the heels of Casey Stoner’s exodus from the Ducati team, as the Australian has jumped ship back to HRC, in what is to be some sort of multinational threesome with energy drinks involved. Ok Italy, it’s almost time to change the sheets, this wet dream is nearly a reality. Stay tuned for Monday.

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Racing

Rossi Decision Expected at Catalunya

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News regarding Valentino Rossi is at a fever pitch, as it is expected the Italian rider will announce at the Catalan GP his intentions on where he will race in next season. For weeks, if not months now, Rossi has been linked to a very lucrative €15 million deal with Ducati Corse, while Fiat-Yamaha have reportedly scaled back their offer on the GP Champions from his current €14 million salary to €9 million.

Paddock gossip has said that Rossi has been considering both offers; however, at Barcelona we should finally know the answer to what team Rossi has picked, but some sources are already claiming they know the answer.

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Racing

MotoGP: Hat-Trick Win at Dutch TT

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From the land of windmills, awkward late night television commercials, and mayonnaise covered French fries, comes MotoGP action at Assen. The only MotoGP race to start on Saturday instead of Sunday, Holland played host to its 80th Dutch TT this weekend. Assen saw a few riders making progress on their season, despite only 15 bikes taking to the grid. Check after the jump for race spoilers.

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Racing

MotoGP: Lorenzo on Poll at Assen – Spies Continues to Impress with 4th Place Qualifying Finish

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Jorge Lorenzo continues to dominate in a Rossi-less MotoGP, taking his second pole this season while at Assen for the Dutch TT. Also making waves was American Ben Spies, who after taking a third place finish at Silverstone, finds himself fourth on the starting grid tomorrow for the Dutch TT’s Saturday race day start. Lastly, a big shirt-less high five goes to Randy de Puniet for taking his second second-place qualifying in a row. The Frenchman continues to make the Repsol Honda team look bad with his impressive season, and apparently hasn’t gotten the memo that satellite riders are supposed to be slow.

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Rumors

Silly Season: Ducati Offers Rossi €15 Million & Benefits – Yamaha Reduces Salary to €9 Million

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The Italian press is buzzing about the latest silly season info regarding Valentino Rossi, and where he will be racing next year. According to Corriere dello Sport, Ducati has upped their offer to Rossi to €15 million and has included provisions that would allow the Italian to race later with either Ferrari F1 or Fiat Rally teams once he’s finished with motorcycle racing.

Now…you’d expect Yamaha to up its ante on the nine-time World Champion, right? Not quite. Instead Yamaha has reduced Valentino’s Rossi contract price from the €14 million they current pay him each year to €9 million. More on the reasoning behind that after the jump.

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Racing

Boom Goes the Dynamite! – First Podium For…

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If you haven’t seen today’s British GP at Silverstone, stop reading this article, and go watch your Tivo right now. We can hardly contain ourselves after watching the race, so we’ll keep this intro short. While the race winner is not going to surprise too many GP race fans, it’s the rest of the finishes that had us jumping up and down on our chairs. Spoilers after the jump.

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