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Photo of the Week: In Wheelies We Trust

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MotoGP isn’t the only season about to get under way, and 2010 AMA Superbike champ Josh Hayes will trade his #4 for a #1 on his Graves Yamaha, as he sets out to defend the first title not owned by a Suzuki in…well, nearly too long to count after the dominance of Spies and Mladin.

Hayes was the fastest superbike at the recent weather-plagued tire test at Daytona, but he is likely to face some good competition in 2011, from a slew of experienced Suzuki riders, including Tommy Hayden, Blake Young, Ben Bostrom, Roger Hayden, Chris Ulrich, and 600cc star Martin Cardenas. Add to the suspense veteran Larry Pegram on a BMW instead of his Ducati, and Eric Bostrom on a Kawasaki, and there should be plenty to watch here at home in the AMA.

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Racing

Photo of the Week: It’s Called Marlboro Ducati for a Reason

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Editor’s note: Scott Jones will graciously be running a weekly series of his best photos from the AMA, WSBK, and MotoGP racing events here on Asphalt & Rubber. For more of his work, you can catch him at ScottJones.net.

Besides the Rossi-Ducati situation, how Casey Stoner will fare with HRC’s 2011 bike is on everyone’s mind, not least of all Jorge Lorenzo’s, who was just quoted as saying Stoner, not Rossi, would be his main competition in 2011. Stoner’s rookie MotoGP season showed flashes of brilliance, ruined repeatedly by a Michelin front tire that was not up to the demands Stoner placed on it.

Back on a Honda, Stoner will have the magnificent Bridgestone front tire without the Ducati’s temperament to manage at every corner, plus several years’ experience and a world title in his pocket since that rookie season. Given what Stoner got out of the Ducati, he should be very dangerous indeed on HRC’s final 800cc bike.”

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Racing

Teaser: 2011 Ducati Desmosedici GP11

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Somewhere in a locked room, a select number of photographers are snapping photos of the Ducati Desmosedici GP11, the V4 MotoGP racing machine that Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden will ride in the upcoming GP season. Leaked ahead of its unveiling, this photo has made it onto the interwebs showing a glimpse of the GP11 with some frustrating cropping (aww…nuts!). We’ll have to wait a few more hours before we can unveil the new D16 race bike, so this photo will have to suffice until then, but is that a black and yellow tail we see? Interesting, very interesting.

Source: Valentino Rossi (Personal Website) via MotoBlog.it

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Banter

Jorge Lorenzo Goes Rockstar

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Two interesting things to note today: 1) the internet is an endless source of entertainment, especially when MotoGP Champions take to social media like Facebook & Twitter, and 2) when Jorge Lorenzo starts dressing up like Kid Rock, we can finally see how ridiculous us Americans must look to other people of the world. Observations on life aside, Lorenzo appears to have quietly picked up sponsorship with Rockstar Energy Drink, which resulted in this photo being sent out to his Twitter followers.

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Banter

Photo: A Product of the AMG/Ducati Partnership?

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More of a Friday funny than anything else, but when we saw this matte black Mercedes “E666 AMG” with red accents, we couldn’t help but get the feeling that we’ve seen something like this before. With a paint scheme that looks like it was lifted straight off the 2011 Ducati Diavel, perhaps like some “misguided” newly-made Mercedes AMG owner has really been getting into the the AMG/Ducati Corse partnership vibe, which has seen more than a few photos of AMG’s work standing next to Ducati’s new Diavel power cruiser.

And with the obvious devil overtones being made in this photo, the rest writes itself (Diavel means devil in the Bolognese dialect if you hadn’t already picked up on that)…or some poor bastard joined the occult and wanted to celebrate his initiation to the dark side by murdering a German sedan. Either way, Happy Friday everyone, and thanks for the tip Audrey!

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Racing

Nicky Hayden Goes in for Surgery – Opts Out of Boob Job

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“Getting a boob job… Lol O boy think the drugs are kicking in cuz all these nurses are 10’s…” read a tweet by Nicky Hayden, and under different circumstances we’d be very concerned for the former MotoGP World Champion’s mental health. Here in Northern California today, Hayden went under the knife of Dr. Art Ting at the Fremont Surgery Center for an operation on Hayden’s wrist.

Nicky Hayden had been suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome this season, with his hand and fingers losing feeling and going to sleep during races in the latter half on the season. According to Hayden the surgery went according to plan, and the Ducati rider will be back in Kentucky for Thanksgiving. No word on how things with the nurses worked out.

Source: Nicky Hayden (twitter) & Superbike Plant

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Bikes

Ducati ST1200 Concept by Luca Bar Design – Teasing ST Owners Never Looked So Good

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Ducati ST owners were less than thrilled to learn that their sport-tourer would not return for the 2008 model year, after Ducati sold just barely over 1,000 units of the bike in 2007. Adding insult to injury was the news that Ducati wasn’t looking to revive the ST brand in the coming years, leaving the Italian company without a proper sport-tourer in its model line-up.

With the introduction of the Ducati Multistrada 1200, the Italian brand offered what some ST owners thought was a poor successor for their cult status motorcycle. With the MTS 1200 being more oriented for adventure duty than a pure street/sport tourer, there remains a gap in Ducati’s line-up that some believe should be filled.

One of those persons is designer Luca Bar, who took some time to make a Ducati ST1200 concept, which draws inspiration from the Multistrada 1200, and shows that Ducati could make a convincing sport-tourer that could share heavily from the common parts bin, thus making it a cost-effective model.

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Racing

Rossi’s First Date with the Ducati – As Seen By Gigi Soldano

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Valentino Rossi’s personal photographer Gigi Soldano was on hand for Rossi’s debut on the Ducati Desmosedici this week during the MotoGP test at Valencia. Granted unfettered access to what goes on behind-the-scenes in the Ducati garage, Soldano combined his magic behind the lens with the events that unfolded in front of him, and lucky for us, he shared them with the world on his blog today.

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Banter

Nicky Hayden’s Ducati Diavel Concept

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Are you one of the loyal Ducatisti who is not so crazy about the new Ducati Diavel? Don’t worry, because Nicky Hayden feels your pain, and went as far as to create his own concept bike for Ducati’s newly released performance cruiser. Based off the 800cc V4 motor of the Ducati Desmosedici GP10, Hayden’s low-riding two-wheeled vision uses an all carbon frame, Öhlins suspension, and Brembo monoblocs.

It also comes fitted stock with Bridgestone’s top-of-the-line performance tires, and has numerous carbon fiber bits and pieces, not to mention traction control, launch control, wheelie control, but no ABS. Available only in Rosso Corsa for now, we hear a one-off limited edition white paint scheme may also be available later next year. No word on price, but the above model comes slightly used.

Source: Alex Hofmann (Twitter) via Ducati News Today

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