2012

TAS Tyco Suzuki testing ended by rain

TAS Tyco Suzuki testing ended by rain

TAS Tyco Suzuki’s second day of testing at Kirkistown, County Down was hit by rain just after midday but all three riders clocked laps in the morning sunny, but cold conditions. Alastair Seeley tried...

WFR Honda and MSS Kawasaki Alcarras test

WFR Honda and MSS Kawasaki Alcarras test

Pre-season testing continued yesterday (Tuesday) at Alcarras for the WFR Honda and MSS Bathams Kawasaki MCE BSB teams as the riders ended their penultimate day on track. The WFR Honda trio have now...

Swan Yamaha prepare for testing

Swan Yamaha prepare for testing

Swan Yamaha get their 2012 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship underway this week as the team travel to Spain to begin their pre-season testing campaign with a shakedown test at Cartagena.

Laverty makes track return alongside Marino

Laverty makes track return alongside Marino

Splitlath Redmond Racing have completed their first pre-season test on track yesterday (Tuesday) at Oulton Park as John Laverty rode again for the first time since recovering from injury alongside his...

WFR Honda: Cartagena complete, on to Alcarras

WFR Honda: Cartagena complete, on to Alcarras

WFR Honda completed three days on track at Cartagena as Alex Lowes, Graeme Gowland and James Westmoreland attempted to make up for time lost during the second day with the trio feeling positive at the...

Tyco TAS testing at Kirkistown

Tyco TAS testing at Kirkistown

The Tyco TAS Suzuki team braved a cold windswept Kirkistown, County Down yesterday (Tuesday) for their first shakedown test of the 2012 season. Aussie Josh Brookes and local hero Alastair Seeley were...

Yamaha satisfied new 1000 is competitive

Yamaha satisfied new 1000 is competitive

Yamaha is confident its new factory YZR-M1 1000cc machine is competitive to challenge Casey Stoner and Honda for the 2012 MotoGP world championship crown. Stoner and Honda have dominated this year’s...

LCR Honda confident in Stefan Bradl’s MotoGP potential

LCR Honda confident in Stefan Bradl’s MotoGP potential

LCR Honda boss Lucio Cecchinello believes Stefan Bradl is destined for a big future in MotoGP after the German impressed during the latest pre-season test in Sepang last week. The reigning Moto2 world...

McAdoo Racing join forces with Michael Dunlop

McAdoo Racing join forces with Michael Dunlop

McAdoo Racing have issued a press release, announcing that they have signed up with Michael Dunlop for the new road racing season. The team are celebrating their 30th anniversary in 2012 and say that...

Rutter and Hickman testing in Spain

Rutter and Hickman testing in Spain

The newly renamed MSS Bathams Kawasaki squad are now in Spain undergoing three days of intensive training at the Alcarras circuit with all four of their Superbike and Superstock riders. With an all...

Honda’s first BSB test wiped out by rain

Honda’s first BSB test wiped out by rain

Honda Racing’s first shakedown test at Snetterton, today, was wiped out by freezing temperatures, gusting winds and rain. New signings Michael Laverty, Jon Kirkham and the rest of the crew spent most...

First round of Thundersports

First round of Thundersports

Images from the Thundersports meeting at Brands Hatch, March 3. Great racing in variable conditions – misty and wet in the morning to dry and sunny in the afternoon. Organisation was fantastic,...

Yamaha denies switch to seamless shift gearbox in MotoGP

Yamaha denies switch to seamless shift gearbox in MotoGP

Yamaha has denied its new factory YZR-M1 1000cc machine is equipped with a seamless shift gearbox similar to the systems used by Honda and Ducati in MotoGP. Rumours emerged during last week’s rain-hit...

MotoGP weight increase angers Honda and Yamaha

MotoGP weight increase angers Honda and Yamaha

Honda and Yamaha have both condemned the late decision to increase the minimum weight limit for the new generation1000ccc MotoGP machines from 153kg to 157kg. Honda and Yamaha had both invested huge...

John McGuinness to ride Mugen in TT Zero

John McGuinness to ride Mugen in TT Zero

John McGuinness has been chosen to race the new Mugen Shinden in the TT Zero Challenge race at this year’s TT. Mr Shin Nagaosa, President of M-TEC Company Ltd today, at Suzuka circuit, Japan, publicly...

Chatter fails to end Casey Stoner’s winter dominance

Chatter fails to end Casey Stoner’s winter dominance

It is going to take a lot more than a persistent chatter issue to end Casey Stoner’s domination of the MotoGP world championship after he topped the timesheets in Sepang this week. The 2011 world...

Tyre wear concerns Andrea Dovizioso

Tyre wear concerns Andrea Dovizioso

Andrea Dovizioso said Bridgestone’s new soft construction tyres lose grip too quickly after he tried his first distance run on Yamaha’s YZR-M1 machine in Sepang yesterday. The Italian completed...

Lee Johnston to make TT debut

Lee Johnston to make TT debut

Northern Ireland rider Lee Johnston will make his Mountain circuit debut in June when he competes in the 2012 Isle of Man TT Races. The former National Superstock 600cc Champion will contest the...

Polita tests Panigale in Italy

Polita tests Panigale in Italy

Jentin Doodson Motorsport’s Alex Polita tested the Ducati Panigale at the Italian circuit of Vallelunga yesterday (Wednesday) as the preparation continues for their respective debuts in the...

Valentino Rossi deflated after Sepang test

Valentino Rossi deflated after Sepang test

Valentino Rossi struggled to hide his disappointment after he slipped to a bitterly disappointing 10th place on the timesheets at the conclusion of the second Sepang MotoGP test in Malaysia today. The...

Tyre management key in 2012, says Jorge Lorenzo

Tyre management key in 2012, says Jorge Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo believes the rider who can save his tyres the longest in the inaugural 1000cc campaign will have the best chance of success after he completed an eye-opening race simulation on Yamaha’s...

Stoner back on top at Sepang

Stoner back on top at Sepang

Factory Honda rider Casey Stoner returned to the top of the timesheets on the third day of the Sepang MotoGP test after engine failure kept all Hondas off track yesterday. After all Honda riders –...

Valentino Rossi faces wait for Ducati improvements

Valentino Rossi faces wait for Ducati improvements

Ducati has told Valentino Rossi a range of improvements for the radically revamped GP12 will not be ready in time for the start of the inaugural 1000cc MotoGP world championship in early April. The...

Ben Spies quickest at rain-soaked Sepang

Ben Spies quickest at rain-soaked Sepang

Ben Spies ended another rain-hit day of testing at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia on top of the timesheets after Honda failed to complete a lap. An engine failure suffered by Dani Pedrosa in the final...

Jorge Lorenzo: “We’re closer to Honda”

Jorge Lorenzo: “We’re closer to Honda”

Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo is confident that Yamaha’s new factory YZR-M1 1000cc machine will be a bigger threat to Honda and Casey Stoner in 2012. The Australian dominated the final 800cc world...

Engine failure sidelines Honda quartet in Sepang

Engine failure sidelines Honda quartet in Sepang

An engine failure experienced by Dani Pedrosa on the opening day of MotoGP testing in Sepang yesterday forced HRC to prevent all four of its riders from participating on a rain-hit second day in...

Casey Stoner predicts much faster times in Sepang

Casey Stoner predicts much faster times in Sepang

Reigning MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner expects lap times to fall sharply over the remainder of the second Sepang test in Malaysia after he dominated a rain-hit opening day. The Repsol Honda rider...

Valentino Rossi aims for big progress in Sepang

Valentino Rossi aims for big progress in Sepang

The start of Valentino Rossi’s second test on board Ducati’s heavily revamped GP12 MotoGP machine proved to be a frustrating affair for the Italian after he finished in a lowly eighth on the opening...

Cal Crutchlow needs more time to evaluate revised Yamaha motor

Cal Crutchlow needs more time to evaluate revised Yamaha motor

Cal Crutchlow ended the opening day of the second Sepang test in Malaysia with the seventh fastest time as scorching hot temperatures and then torrential rain thwarted his bid to properly assess a...

Casey Stoner quickest as storm disrupts first day in Sepang

Casey Stoner quickest as storm disrupts first day in Sepang

Casey Stoner topped the timesheets on a rain disrupted opening day of MotoGP testing at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia. The reigning MotoGP world champion needed only three laps in baking hot...

Karel Abraham withdraws from Sepang test

Karel Abraham withdraws from Sepang test

Karel Abraham has withdrawn from the Sepang MotoGP test with the right shoulder and back injuries he suffered in a big high-side crash at Jerez last week proving too painful to continue. The Czech...

New kids on the block!

New kids on the block!

These three new hot shots flew in from the UK to the Circuito de Almeria for a pre-season test: Ben Gilbert, 18 and brother Jordan, 15 winner of the 2010 Bemsee Most Promising Newcomer Award and...

Valentino Rossi to focus on new electronics in Sepang

Valentino Rossi to focus on new electronics in Sepang

Valentino Rossi will use this week’s second Sepang test in Malaysia to concentrate on new electronics aimed at improving stability under acceleration with the radical new Ducati GP12 machine. Rossi...

Honda and Yamaha ready chassis updates for Sepang

Honda and Yamaha ready chassis updates for Sepang

Honda and Yamaha are both likely to roll out new frames at this week’s second Sepang test to try and solve a chronic chatter issue with their new 1000cc projects. The new safer rear Bridgestone tyres...

James Ellison eyes big step in Aragon test

James Ellison eyes big step in Aragon test

British rider James Ellison is confident he will be able to get much closer to the pace of the fastest CRT machines when he returns to the track on the new Aprilia ART 1000cc bike at the Motorland...

Phillip Island WSB: Checa bounces back to win race two

Phillip Island WSB: Checa bounces back to win race two

World Superbike champion Carlos Checa won the second race at Phillip Island after a high-side in the first race. Checa bounced back from his first race misery to put an a dominating performance,...