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Jonathan Rea Might Miss Phillip Island WSBK Race

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Jonathan Rea could miss the season opening World Superbike race at Phillip Island this weekend after crashing there during testing Tuesday. Rea went off at Turn 3 when his Castrol Honda caught fire from an oil leak. Though Rea has not sustained major injuries, he has broken and dislocated the ring finger on his left hand, and was flown to Alfred Hospital in Melbourne for tests. When combined with the general soreness from getting off the bike at 130 mph and the lingering issues from his fall last week at the Honda private test at Phillip Island, Rea is questionable for the race this weekend.

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Racing

Add WSBK to the List of Series Thinking About Russia

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With red-headed lady spies, the Winter Olympics, a Formula1 race in 2014, and the 2018 FIFA World Cup, it is time to trot out some more James Bond references, and turn to thoughts of Mother Russia. Word is spreading that Infront Motorsports has begun talks to take World Superbike further afield than Western Europe with a future round in Russia. The 2011 WSBK season has only two flyaway races (Miller Motorsports Park in the US, and the season opener at Phillip Island in Australia). Thus, a future round in Russia would help expand both the physical and marketing reaches of the series.

With no track built yet, it is clear that there is still a long way to go before racing could happen. Then there are the always tricky negotiations that could easily scupper plans, no matter how public they might be. Once the F1 track is completed at least one of the obstacles to this dream will be removed, though a F1 circuit built around a Winter Olympics site (yes, that is exactly what is going to happen, complete with February to autumn turnaround) might not be the first choice for two-wheeled racing enthusiasts.

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Racing

KTM Begins Testing Moto3 Race Bike

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At the end of last year we learned that KTM had committed itself internally to competing in the upcoming Moto3 class, which is slated to replace 125GP in 2012. At the time of that news, the Austrian company was still in the early stages of planning for its 250cc four-stroke single-cylinder race bike; but not wanting to let Honda take all of the Moto3 development spotlight with its NRS 250, this past week KTM began testing Moto3 chassis configuration at the Cartagena track in Spain.

Arriving with a modified 125cc chassis and 350cc SX-F thumper, KTM’s IDM Supersport rider Michi Ranseder took to the helm of the prototype race machine over the two day testing session. More of a prologue than the first chapter to KTM’s Moto3 story, this event makes it clear that KTM is still getting its bearings on what direction it wants to take its entry-level GP program.

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Bikes

2011 KTM 125 Duke – The Bike Bajaj Built

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Finally officially debuted at Intermot, KTM took the wraps off its 2011 KTM 125 Duke, a single-cylinder street bike geared towards young riders. While KTM has always included off-road machines in its line-up that are aimed at getting younger riders to ride orange, the company until now has left a gapping hole in its on-road offering for the same demographic. With Bajaj taking a 35% stake in KTM, the Indian company has not only given the Austrian company the capital it needed to expand its line, but is also rumored to be the major driving force behind the 2011 KTM 125 Duke.

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Bikes

2011 KTM 125 Duke Officially Named

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After holding an online contest to name its 125cc four-stroke based learner street bike, KTM has shockingly come to the conclusion that it should stick to its Duke nomenclature. Schedule to be the 2011 KTM 125 Duke, KTM debuted the concepts at the 2009 EICMA show in Milan. KTM’s plan is to engage young riders with the “Ready to Race” mantra, making them lifetime Team Orange riders with this stepping-stone model.

With a sporty street bike and a stunter variant, KTM hopes the pair of bikes will resonate well with actual mischievous teenagers, just as its done successfully with adults who have a healthy go-fast inner-child residing inside them.

Look for the 2011 KTM 125 Duke to hit shops in Europe sometime in March, and hit shops in the United States in…well…never. Let KTM USA know how much fun a KTM 350/450 Duke would be in the comments section, and check out the photos and video of the KTM 125 Duke after the jump.

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Racing

Aoyama Cleared to Race at the Indy GP

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Good news comes from the Interwetten Honda Racing team this week as Hiroshi Aoyama has been cleared to ride this weekend at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP. Aoyama has been siting out MotoGP racing ever since his highside at Silverstone, which fractured one the Japanese rider’s vertebrae. Missing nearly two months of racing, Aoyama participated in MotoGP’s test at Brno two weeks ago, and seemed ready to come back to the sport. In his absence Honda test rider Kousuke Akiyoshi and Alex de Angelis have been carrying the Interwetten banner. Riding at Brno, Aoyama was instantly faster than de Angelis, proving that the Japanese rider’s decision to let his back heal naturally was the better course of treatment than having his vertebrae fused together.

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Racing

Ducati Qualifies 1st & 3rd at Pikes Peak

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Team Spider Grips Ducati has qualified 1st & 3rd at this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, as the team gets set to race a pair of slightly modified 2010 Ducati Multistrada 1200S motorcycles up the 5,000ft ascent near Colorado Springs.

Taking the pole position is Pikes Peak veteran Greg Tracy, with a qualifying time of 5:22:659. Tracy won the 2008 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on a “skunk works” Ducati Hyptermotard, and is the favorite to win this years’ 1200cc class in the motorcycle division.

Taking up the third position is Alexander Smith, who qualified with a time of 5:45:470, just one second behind the second place qualifying Buell.

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Racing

Betti Wins FIM e-Power Championship at Le Mans

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This weekend France played host to the FIM’s first round of the e-Power Championship, which took place in Le Mans. Starting before the Le Mans 24 Hours Endurance World Championship race, only five riders took to the starting line, with Belgian rider de Ridder not making it to venue. Taking the first win in the FIM’s first zero-emission motorcycle race was Thomas Betti, the son in the father-son duo of Betti Moto.

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Racing

Volcano Postpones Japanese GP Round

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While Icelandic volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajökull grounded flights all over the world (most noticeably in northern Europe), the impact to motorcycling seemed negligible. However with the Japanese GP at Motegi scheuled for this weekend, Dorna quickly realized that teams would not be able to leave European airspace to setup camp in Japan for the next round of MotoGP. As such Dorna and the IRTA have postponed the Japanese GP, and rescheduled the event for Octoberd 3rd, between the Aragon and Malaysian GP’s.

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