Japan MotoGP 2016

Year: ALL

HRC: Top six achievable for new production bike

19 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

A top rider on Honda’s new production RCV1000R MotoGP bike will be capable of upsetting the formbook to beat full factory prototype 1000cc machines at some tracks in 2014. Honda’s production bike qualifies for the new non-factory rules, which permits it to run 24 litres of fuel and use Bridgestone’s special soft tyres. That’s four more litres than the factory bikes to be campaigned by the likes of...

Yamaha expected more tension between Rossi and Lorenzo

18 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Yamaha expected more tension between Rossi and Lorenzo

When Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo were together in Yamaha’s factory MotoGP squad between 2008 and 2010, you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. They barely spoke, a wall split them inside...

Cal Crutchlow preparing for winter arm surgery

18 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Cal Crutchlow has revealed he will require end of season surgery on the right arm that he damaged in the first of three fast crashes during a disastrous home round at Silverstone earlier this month. Crutchlow’s right arm swelled to twice its normal size after he suffered a crash at over 180mph in the third practice session at the British Grand Prix. The injury has been slow to heal ever since and...

New riding position boost for Bradley Smith

18 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

New riding position boost for Bradley Smith

A revised riding position evaluated by Bradley Smith during a one-day MotoGP test at Misano earlier this week gave the British rookie a timely boost after difficult recent races. Smith was not as...

Marc Marquez tops Misano test on new 2014 Honda

17 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Marc Marquez tops Misano test on new 2014 Honda

MotoGP world championship leader Marc Marquez delivered an eye-catching performance on Honda’s new 2014 factory RC213V machine in Misano yesterday (Monday) to top the timesheets at the end of a...

Cal Crutchlow boosts confidence in Misano test

17 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Cal Crutchlow boosts confidence in Misano test

Cal Crutchlow set the fourth fastest time in a one-day MotoGP test session at Misano yesterday (Monday) to further build-up his confidence for the final phase of the 2013 world championship...

Dani Pedrosa concentrates on present rather than future

17 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Dani Pedrosa concentrates on present rather than future

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa resisted the temptation to spend too much time giving feedback on the new 2014 RC213V factory prototype in Misano yesterday (Monday). The Spaniard has more pressing...

Valentino Rossi impressed with 2014 YZR-M1

17 September 2013

Valentino Rossi impressed with 2014 YZR-M1

Valentino Rossi made a successful debut on Yamaha’s new 2014 factory YZR-M1 in Misano (yesterday) after clocking the third fastest time during a one-day MotoGP test session. Rossi’s best lap of...

New Bridgestone hard rear tyre gets thumbs up

17 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

New Bridgestone hard rear tyre gets thumbs up

A new Bridgestone hard compound rear tyre made available during a one-day MotoGP test session at Misano yesterday (Monday) was widely praised by the likes of Valentino Rossi and Cal...

Exclusive: Caterham to back new race and road bike project

16 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Exclusive: Caterham to back new race and road bike project

Iconic British car manufacturer Caterham will back a new team in the Moto2 world championship next season ahead of an ambitious bid to break into the two-wheeled production market. MCN learned during...

Baptism of fire for Valentino Rossi’s half-brother in Misano

16 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Baptism of fire for Valentino Rossi’s half-brother in Misano

Valentino Rossi’s half-brother Luca Marini experienced a baptism of fire on his Moto3 world championship debut in Misano yesterday when he high-sided out of last place at the first corner. The...

Rossi and Crutchlow praise ‘fantastic’ Jorge Lorenzo

16 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Rossi and Crutchlow praise ‘fantastic’ Jorge Lorenzo

Valentino Rossi and Cal Crutchlow could do nothing more than stand back and admire a magnificent Misano victory from reigning world champion and fellow Yamaha YZR-M1 rider Jorge Lorenzo. A mesmerising...

Cal Crutchlow upbeat on return to top six in Misano

16 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Cal Crutchlow upbeat on return to top six in Misano

Cal Crutchlow salvaged a hard fought sixth place out of a tough Misano MotoGP weekend to put his recent miserable home race experience at Silverstone behind him. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider...

Nicky Hayden frustrated at Ducati upgrade snub

16 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Nicky Hayden frustrated at Ducati upgrade snub

Nicky Hayden could not disguise his frustration at being denied the chance to test and race an upgraded factory Desmosedici GP13 for the last five races of his Ducati MotoGP career. The American...

Mistakes cost impatient Marc Marquez

16 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Mistakes cost impatient Marc Marquez

Marc Marquez was delighted to collect 20 valuable world championship points with a hard fought second place behind dominant factory Yamaha rival Jorge Lorenzo in yesterday’s Misano MotoGP clash. But...

Jorge Lorenzo rues mid-season mistakes

16 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Jorge Lorenzo fears his painful crashes in Holland and Germany earlier this season will prove crucial in his bid to capture a third MotoGP world title in 2013. The Spaniard produced yet another stunning display at Misano yesterday to romp to a start-to-finish victory that cut the gap in the title chase to Marc Marquez to 34-points with five races left to run. Lorenzo has been in sparkling form...

San Marino MotoGP: Lorenzo dominates to take win

15 September 2013 by Liam Marsden

San Marino MotoGP: Lorenzo dominates to take win

Reigning MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo showed his class in San Marino to take the win by 3.379 seconds from championship leader Marc Marquez. Lorenzo got a terrific start from second on the grid and...

San Marino Moto2: Espargaro closes championship gap with win

15 September 2013 by Liam Marsden

San Marino Moto2: Espargaro closes championship gap with win

Pol Espargaro took the win at Misano today to close the gap to championship leader Scott Redding to 23 points. Redding, who qualified on the second row, was never quite in touch with the front group...

Cautious Cal Crutchlow fights back in Misano

14 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Cal Crutchlow produced his best form of a tough Misano MotoGP weekend in this afternoon’s final qualifying session to secure a place in the middle of the second row for tomorrow’s 28-lap San Marino clash. Lacking confidence with his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 machine after a crash-strewn home race at Silverstone earlier this month, Crutchlow didn’t make the top 10 cut for QP2 for the first time...

Bradley Smith slumps to worst qualifying of 2013

14 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

British rookie Bradley Smith will start from the lowest grid position of his impressive rookie MotoGP campaign in Misano tomorrow after the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider struggled to a lowly 13th in qualifying. A run of six consecutive top 10 starts came to an abrupt end as a lap of 1.34.869 meant Smith failed to advance from the opening QP1 15-minute session for the first time this season. The...

San Marino: Marquez in Pole, Crutchlow Fifth

14 September 2013 by Steve Hunt

Marc Marquez continued his assault on the MotoGP World Championship in this, his rookie year with another pole position in qualifying at San Marino. Cal Crutchlow, starting for the first time in the earlier Q1 session claimed a second row start behind a measured Lorenzo, a jubilant Rossi, and an increasingly quiet Pedrosa. In the earlier qualifying session, Crutchlow’s teammate and compatriot...

Cal Crutchlow: ‘I am riding s**t’

13 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Cal Crutchlow: ‘I am riding s**t’

Cal Crutchlow pulled no punches after the British rider endured one of the worst days of an excellent 2013 MotoGP campaign at the Misano track today. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider was left...

Ben Spies ruled out for rest of 2013

13 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Ben Spies ruled out for rest of 2013

Injury-ravaged Texan Ben Spies will not return to MotoGP action for the Ignite Ducati squad in the final five races of 2013. The left shoulder he dislocated in a practice crash for last month’s...

Nicky Hayden still weighing up 2014 options

13 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Nicky Hayden still weighing up 2014 options

Nicky Hayden might have tested Ducati’s factory Panigale World Superbike machine and visited Aprilia’s Italian HQ recently, but the popular American is still to decide whether his future lies in...

Tech 3 in dark over Yamaha’s new seamless shift gearbox

13 September 2013

Tech 3 in dark over Yamaha’s new seamless shift gearbox

Yamaha has yet to clarify whether Cal Crutchlow’s replacement Pol Espargaro and British rider Bradley Smith will race its new seamless shift gearbox from the start of the 2014 MotoGP world...

Slow healing arm troubles Cal Crutchlow

13 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Slow healing arm troubles Cal Crutchlow

British rider Cal Crutchlow’s bid to get his 2013 MotoGP campaign back on track in Misano will not be helped by a slow healing right arm injury he suffered in the first of three bruising crashes at...

Yamaha to race new gearbox in Misano

13 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Yamaha to race new gearbox in Misano

Reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi’s long wait to race Yamaha’s new seamless shift gearbox will come to an end this weekend in Misano. Yamaha has finally confirmed after months...

Cal Crutchlow seeks to regroup in Misano

11 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Cal Crutchlow seeks to regroup in Misano

Cal Crutchlow insists he and his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad will need to regroup in Misano this weekend after a tough recent spell in the MotoGP world championship. After coming within two seconds of...

Scott Redding ripping up history books in 2013

11 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Scott Redding ripping up history books in 2013

Scott Redding’s surge to the top of the Moto2 world championship in 2013 has seen the MotoGP-bound British star break numerous long-standing records. Three wins has moved Redding into a comfortable...

MotoGP crew chief search goes on for Scott Redding

10 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

MotoGP crew chief search goes on for Scott Redding

Scott Redding is still waiting to learn who will be the technical mastermind behind his rookie MotoGP campaign in 2014 after current crew chief Pete Benson declined the chance to move to the Gresini...

Michael Laverty to test Aprilia ART after Misano race

10 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Michael Laverty to test Aprilia ART after Misano race

Michael Laverty will have the chance to compare the British-built PBM frame he has been racing in the 2013 MotoGP world championship against the Aprilia ART machine in a post race test at Misano next...

Yamaha: Essential to keep Jorge Lorenzo beyond 2014

09 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Yamaha: Essential to keep Jorge Lorenzo beyond 2014

Re-signing Jorge Lorenzo will be Yamaha’s number one future priority, with the Japanese factory fearing rivals Honda will try and tempt the reigning world champion into a Spanish super team with Marc...

Scott Redding: Strategy is just to beat Espargaro

09 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Scott Redding: Strategy is just to beat Espargaro

Scott Redding says his only strategy for the remainder of the 2013 Moto2 world championship will be to finish ahead of Pol Espargaro in what is sure to be a tense and dramatic final six races. A...

Suzuki not committed to wild card races in 2014

09 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Suzuki has no plans to thrust its new 1000cc factory prototype into direct competition against Honda and Yamaha in 2014. It was thought that Suzuki would make selected wild card appearances next season to ensure its new 1000cc contender returns race ready and competitive in 2015. By throwing itself into direct competition against dominant Japanese rivals Honda and Yamaha, Suzuki would at least...

Paul Bird reveals ambitious future MotoGP strategy

09 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Paul Bird reveals ambitious future MotoGP strategy

High profile British MotoGP boss Paul Bird has unveiled ambitious plans to run a factory-backed effort for Yamaha or Ducati in the 2015 world championship. Bird currently runs an Aprilia ART machine...

Colin Edwards excited at 2014 MotoGP prospects

06 September 2013 by Matthew Birt

Colin Edwards excited at 2014 MotoGP prospects

Colin Edwards is convinced Yamaha’s new production YZR-M1 racer will re-establish the Texan as a regular top 10 challenger in MotoGP next year. The double World Superbike champion is hotly-tipped to...