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Night Racing: The Next Big Thing
2008-03-23 17:09:00
The success of the floodlit MotoGP season opener at Qatar, held at the dead of night local time, has opened up a whole host of new perspectives. After the race finished without incident, and generating some spectacular images, a host of race organizers around the world breathed a huge sigh of relief, and started work on their own plans. The next candidate for a night race is of course Sepang. An announcement on the future of the race is expected in the next couple of days, with talks being held after the Formula 1 race run their this weekend. Dato Mokhzani Mahathir, chairman of the Sepang International Circuit, has denied that he has come under any pressure from Formula 1 supreme Bernie Ecclestone to run the race at night, to allow the race to be shown at prime time TV on Sunday afternoon in Europe, rather than the current unearthly hour of the morning. Unfortunately, such is Ecclestone's reputation that any denial that the F1 boss brought any pressure to bear in a decision is imm...
More About: Racing , Night , Thing

War Of Words, Episode I: Lorenzo vs Pedrosa
2008-03-15 01:02:00
When Jorge Lorenzo entered MotoGP, sparks were sure to fly. Lorenzo is both outspoken and flamboyant, and has never been at a loss for words. He has also never been afraid of confrontation, having spent virtually his entire career engaged in sniping at various targets in the paddock. Such was his reputation, indeed, that as part of his contract, Yamaha banned the "Lorenzoland" celebrations, and forced Lorenzo to work with a psychologist to keep his impetuosity in check. This was all done, of course, because Yamaha were fearing, and MotoGP fans were looking forward to, a potential clash between Lorenzo and his team mate, the equally flamboyant Valentino Rossi. But so far, all has been peace and light in the Yamaha garage, a situation possibly helped by the huge wall splitting the garage in two. But Lorenzo has not quite completed his transformation from sinner to saint. The reigning 250 world champion has a few old scores still open with former 250 champ Dani Pedrosa. And those sco...
More About: Episode , Words

New MotoGP.com Website In Beta
2008-03-15 00:04:00
I am sure that many of you, like me, keep a close eye on the official MotoGP.com website. MotoGP.com is owned and run by Dorna, the organization which runs MotoGP, and contains a host of useful information, images, and videos. Sadly, in its current incarnation, it is also an absolute monstrosity, and a demonstration of the evils of Flash. It is hard to navigate, has limited archiving, difficult to link to, as well as a vast resource hog, slowing even the fastest modern computer to a crawl. Everything, but everything, is animated, making it tiring and irritating to read. Fortunately, the days of MotoGP.com / Flash-induced psychosis are nearly over. Earlier this week, MotoGP.com launched a preview of the next generation of their website, which you can find at http://beta.motogp.com/. The good news is that it is much easier on the eye, uses larger, more pleasant fonts, and boasts a much improved layout. The site appears to be based on Drupal, the Open Source Content Management System ...
More About: Website , Beta

First Glimpses of 2009 Calendar: China Out, Hungary In?
2008-03-12 18:05:00
The 2008 season has barely just begun, but already (and as usual) rumors and speculation has begun about what the 2009 calendar will look like. That we will be coming back to Losail in Qatar was already settled, with Dorna and the QMMF cementing a deal to run the Qatari MotoGP round until at least 2016. And as we suggested here yesterday, the Qatar round will be pushed back to the end of March at the earliest, to allow warmer temperatures, and so that the Jerez round can reclaim its place as the season opener. But the Italian site MotoGrandPrix.it has more interesting speculation on the calendar. Sepang is also seriously considering switching to become a night race, for both MotoGP and Formula 1, something we also predicted. The track in Malaysia is expected to make an announcement about this at the Formula 1 Grand Prix, scheduled to run on March 23rd. The fact that an announcement is due to be made on the same weekend that Formula 1 is due to visit gives the strong suspicion that ...
More About: China , Hungary , Calendar

Some Background On The Qatar Lights - MCN Interview With Musco
2008-03-12 17:11:00
MotoGPMatters writer Rusty's fascinating article on Musco generated a fair amount of interest in the run-up to MotoGP's first ever race to be held at night. Now, Motorcycle News has jumped on the bandwagon, and has an interview with Musco Lighting vice-president Jeff Rogers, in which he discusses the various factors involved in lighting up the track at Losail, and the many difficulties they faced. An interesting read.
More About: Interview , Qatar , Background , Lights

The Real Reason Qatar Ran At Night
2008-03-11 18:49:00
Although the first Grand Prix event ever to be run at night produced some spectacular images, MotoGP fans around the world were left with one question: Why were they running this thing at night? A good question. A very good question indeed. Various explanations have been offered, official and otherwise. The official line was that by running the race at night, the riders, bikes and tires would be less troubled by the heat of the desert, which even this early in the year can be tremendous. The events of this weekend soon showed that to be entirely spurious, however, as the riders struggled with to keep warm in the chilly desert nights, and the tires had problems getting up to temperature as a cold and cooling track combined with the damp of evening to make finding any grip a difficult task. The unofficial explanation was that running the race at night served three distinct purposes: The first was to beat Formula 1, who are due to run their own first night race at Singapore in Septem...
More About: Night , Qatar , Reason , Real

2008 Qatar Race Report - Plus Ca Change
2008-03-11 00:44:00
The march of the seasons may well be Mother Nature's way of bringing balance to our hurried and stressful modern lives, but to motorcycle racing fans, it is a maddening annoyance. The onset of wet and windy fall, and the long, dark night of winter, calls an aggravating and nigh-on interminable halt to racing for month upon month. As recompense for such cruel and unnatural punishment, we are given preseason testing. Riders and teams rack up enough frequent flyer miles to qualify for the next Apollo mission as they jet around the warmer parts of the world in their relentless quest for more speed, better bikes and the upper hand once racing resumes. This generates a flurry of news stories, lap times and above all, speculation about the relative pecking order on the MotoGP grid. But, like diet foods and low alcohol beer, it is a very poor substitute for the real thing. Thankfully, one day in March, all that empty talk and hot air comes to an end, and we finally get back to the thing ...
More About: Change , Report , Race , Qatar , 2008

2008 Qatar MotoGP Race Results
2008-03-10 00:06:00
Full results of the 2008 Qatar MotoGP race.
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2008 Qatar Warm Up
2008-03-09 19:12:00
Pos.No.RiderManufacturerFast LapDiffDiff Previous 148Jorge LORENZOYAMAHA1'55.849 21Casey STONERDUCATI1'55.861 0.012 0.012 346Valentino ROSSIYAMAHA1'56.000 0.151 0.139 421John HOPKINSKAWASAKI1'56.161 0.312 0.161 57Chris VERMEULENSUZUKI1'56.418 0.569 0.257 665Loris CAPIROSSISUZUKI1'56.421 0.572 0.003 75Colin EDWARDSYAMAHA1'56.456 0.607 0.035 815Alex DE ANGELISHONDA1'56.482 0.633 0.026 92Dani PEDROSAHONDA1'56.536 0.687 0.054 1014Randy DE PUNIETHONDA1'56.547 0.698 0.011 114Andrea DOVIZIOSOHONDA1'56.829 0.980 0.282 1256Shinya NAKANOHONDA1'56.834 0.985 0.005 1324Toni ELIASDUCATI1'57.101 1.252 0.267 1469Nicky HAYDENHONDA1'57.191 1.342 0.090 1552James TOSELANDYAMAHA1'57.191 1.342 0.000 1650Sylvain GUINTOLIDUCATI1'57.669 1.820 0.478 1713Anthony WESTKAWASAKI1'57.914 2.065 0.245 1833Marco MELANDRIDUCATI1'58.212 2.363 0.298
More About: Qatar , 2008

2008 Qatar Qualifying Practice - Rookies Rock The Grid
2008-03-08 23:41:00
Full results of the official qualifying practice of the 2008 Qatar round of MotoGP.
More About: Rookies , Rock , Qualifying , Practice , Grid

2008 Qatar FP3 Day 2 - Rossi Finds Some Pace
2008-03-08 19:39:00
Once again it was Casey Stoner who was fastest during the early session of Free Practice, ahead of this evening's official qualifying session. And once again, it was Jorge Lorenzo who was second fastest, just as the Spaniard was last night. But behind Lorenzo was his team mate and seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi , who took nearly 8/10ths off his previous fastest lap time. More importantly, it wasn't all the Stoner Show this session, with Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo both holding top spot during the session, albeit briefly. Stoner is obviously fast right from the off, but others seem to be improving behind him. Alex de Angelis was the other rookie to be quick, finishing in 4th, and giving Bridgestone 3 of the top 4 spots. The Bridgestone tires are quicker in the earlier part of the evening, when the track still has some heat left in it, but get worse in the depths of night. Which is unfortunate for the men on Japanese rubber, as that is when the race is due to be wo...
More About: Qatar , Pace , 2008

2008 Qatar FP2 Times Day 1 - The Rookies Make A Dent
2008-03-07 23:19:00
Pos.No.RiderManufacturerFast LapDiffDiff Previous 11Casey STONERDUCATI1'55.442 248Jorge LORENZOYAMAHA1'55.4530.0110.011 352James TOSELANDYAMAHA1'55.8120.3700.359 45Colin EDWARDSYAMAHA1'55.9420.5000.130 54Andrea DOVIZIOSOHONDA1'55.9630.5210.021 615Alex DE ANGELISHONDA1'56.1200.6780.157 714Randy DE PUNIETHONDA1'56.2340.7920.114 87Chris VERMEULENSUZUKI1'56.2790.8370.045 946Valentino ROSSIYAMAHA1'56.3950.9530.116 1065Loris CAPIROSSISUZUKI1'56.9221.4800.527 112Dani PEDROSAHONDA1'56.9621.5200.040 1256Shinya NAKANOHONDA1'57.0111.5690.049 1369Nicky HAYDENHONDA1'57.0451.6030.034 1433Marco MELANDRIDUCATI1'57.0911.6490.046 1524Toni ELIASDUCATI1'57.3111.8690.220 1621John HOPKINSKAWASAKI1'57.4161.9740.105 1713Anthony WESTKAWASAKI1'57.9342.4920.518 1850Sylvain GUINTOLIDUCATI1'58.5003.0580.566
More About: Rookies , Qatar , Times , Make , 2008

2008 Qatar FP1 Times Day 1 - Stoner Carries On As Usual
2008-03-07 19:43:00
Normal service was resumed, Friday evening, with Casey Stoner taking the top spot on his second lap, and never properly relinquishing it again. The slightly cooler conditions of early evening have added to the speed, as both Stoner and Lorenzo are inside the existing lap record. The big surprise is Jorge Lorenzo, who is already very fast on his Fiat Yamaha. Lorenzo's arch nemesis Andrea Dovizioso is in third, ahead of Lorenzo's team mate Valentino Rossi. The first of the factory Hondas is Dani Pedrosa in 5th. The other Ducatis are struggling, with Melandri the best of the bunch in 11th, while the Alice Ducatis of Elias and Guintoli are propping up the bottom of the table, with only Ant West between them. Their only consolation is that the Suzukis don't seem to be faring much better, Capirossi in 12th leading from his team mate Vermeulen in 15th. The second practice session starts at 11pm local time. Pos.No.RiderManufacturerFast LapDiffDiff Previous 11Casey STONERDUCATI1'55...
More About: Qatar , Times , 2008

2008 Qatar MotoGP Preview - Star Of The Desert
2008-03-07 01:52:00
At last. The long winter break is over, and a new day dawns on MotoGP with the season opener at the Losail circuit in Qatar . Although it's not so much a new day as a new night, as MotoGP, in its continuing  struggle to win fans over from other forms of motorsport, has scooped Formula 1 to stage the very first night race in motorsports. The fact that racing has been running under the lights for years in the US is being conveniently overlooked, as most Europeans remain blissfully unaware of N
More About: Preview , Star , Desert , 2008

Hayden And Pedrosa To Use 2007 RC212V At Losail?
2008-03-06 15:00:00
After Honda got their predictions of how to build a title-winning 800cc MotoGP bike so utterly wrong in 2007, expectations were raised that they would not make the same mistake again in 2008. If there was ever a year that you might expect HRC to come out with an unbeatable factory bike, surely this would be it. Apparently, those expectations are also wide of the mark, for this afternoon, at Losail, Repsol Honda staff were spotted by our Italian counterparts GPOne.com unpacking the parts for 2007 RC212Vs from flight cases, and cleaning them ready for use. The initial diagnosis is that HRC will be testing the 2007 bikes during Friday's free practice sessions, pitting them up against the 2008 bikes to see which is faster. Such a decision would be a remarkable implicit admission by HRC that their new bike is just not up to scratch yet. However, there are a few mitigating circumstances: the new factory RC212V suffered serious problems with grip during the night tests last week at Los...
More About: Hayden

Rusty Writes: Musco, Lighting Up The World of Sports
2008-03-05 15:25:00
For those of you who did not recently watch the Daytona 500 here in The States, you missed your best opportunity to see the handiwork of Musco Lighting prior to the GP of Qatar. Musco has been the premier outdoor lighting specialists in The States for 32 years. I first heard of them 23 (or more) years ago while I was marching in drum & bugles corps on American and Canadian football fields. For three years in the mid '80s, the annual Finals competitions were held in Madison, WI. Musco is from nearby (relatively speaking) Iowa, and there was quite a discussion about their amazing ability to use temporary lighting stands to illuminate the somewhat large Camp Randall Stadium that played host for the Finals. At the time, that stadium did not have permanent lighting. Musco was beginning to be known for showing up at a football stadium with their large trucks and providing enough light for a live television broadcast where such a thing had not been previously possible at night. ...
More About: Sports , World , The World

2008 MotoGP Season Preview - Won't Get Fooled Again
2008-03-05 02:25:00
As the final few days count down before the first MotoGP race of 2008 , and the tension and excitement starts to swell inside the breast of motorcycle racing fans, it's hard not to get carried away at the prospect of a brand new season. And there is much to get excited about: the entry of some of the most exciting young rookies into motorcycle racing's premier class; the first title defense for another new champion; and a slew of riders and, more importantly, manufacturers out for revenge.
More About: Preview , Season

2008 Qatar Night Test Day 2 - Final Times
2008-03-01 00:47:00
On the second and final day, or rather, night of testing at Qatar , two rookies ended up at the top of the heap. After James Toseland had held the top spot for much of the session, it was Jorge Lorenzo who finished with the fastest time, nearly half a second faster than the current pole record, held by Valentino Rossi. What was surprising was that Yamaha dominated the top of the timesheet, with Colin Edwards in 4th making it 3 out of 4, and only Randy de Puniet on the LCR Honda between the Texan and the Brit. Yesterday's leader, Casey Stoner, could only manage a 5th fastest time, although Stoner was the fastest man on race tires. The men expected to be Stoner's rivals for the 2008 crown did not fare particularly well. Valentino Rossi only managed the 10th fastest time, nearly 3/4 of a second slower than Stoner, while Dani Pedrosa was down in 13th, well over a second slower. As ever, Stoner is the only Ducati to get his Italian steed to fly: the remainder of his colleagues, inclu...
More About: Night , Final , Times , Test

2008 Qatar Night Test Day 1 - Final Times
2008-02-29 11:56:00
Pos.RiderBikeTimeFast LapTotal Laps 1Casey Stoner Ducati1'55.3304161 2Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha1'56.0197677 3Randy De Puniet Honda1'56.0628588 4Andrea Dovizioso Honda1'56.1216381 5James Toseland Yamaha1'56.2514990 6Alex De Angelis Honda1'56.5715669 7John Hopkins Kawasaki1'56.6147171 8Dani Pedrosa Honda1'56.6217272 9Valentino Rossi Yamaha1'56.7497082 10Colin Edwards Yamaha1'56.7626182 11Toni Elias Ducati1'57.0078285 12Nicky Hayden Honda1'57.0108991 13Shinya Nakano Honda1'57.2237879 14Chris Vermeulen Suzuki1'57.5227680 15Loris Capirossi Suzuki1'57.5514266 16Marco Melandri Ducati1'57.5934670 17Sylvain Guintoli Ducati1'57.6444466 18Anthony West Kawasaki1'57.7873451
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2008 Qatar Night Test Day 1 - Times at 10pm - UPDATED
2008-02-28 21:46:00
The first times are starting to appear from the first night time test at Qatar , in the warmup for next week's first ever night time Grand Prix. So far, it's Casey Stoner who is fastest, as usual. Because the session got underway late, the test is due to carry on until 1am local time, which is 10pm GMT. Times from GPOne.com: Times at 10pm local time: 1Casey Stoner Ducati1'55.3304142 2James Toseland Yamaha1'56.2514951 3Andrea Dovizioso Honda1'56.4423345 4Randy De Puniet Honda1'56.5915253 5Colin Edwards Yamaha1'56.8604143 6Valentino Rossi Fiat1'57.0384462 7Jorge Lorenzo Fiat1'57.1003243 8Alex De Angelis Honda1'57.2103442 9John Hopkins Kawasaki1'57.2203132 10Loris Capirossi Suzuki1'57.5514248 11Chris Vermeulen Suzuki1'57.6304343 12Sylvain Guintoli Ducati1'57.6444444 13Anthony West Kawasaki1'57.7873434 14Shinya Nakano Honda1'57.8354646 15Marco Melandri Ducati1'58.0894145 16Nicky Hayden Honda1'58.2083839 17Dani Pedrosa Honda1'58.2563940 18Toni Elias Ducati1'58.5914...
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Nicky Hayden's 2006 Championship Leathers For Sale
2008-02-28 13:37:00
Dean Adams, the driving force behind the outstanding Superbikeplanet.com website, is auctioning off some of the motorcycle racing memorabilia he has collected over the many years he has been working as a journalist, the proceeds of which go to the Merlyn Plumlee scholarship fund. The fund was set up after the sad demise of Merlyn Plumlee, the former Honda AMA crew chief, widely touted as one of the best ever to wield a clipboard and spanner. The latest item to be auctioned off is a unique piece of MotoGP history: a set of leathers worn by 2006 MotoGP world champion Nicky Hayden during his championship campaign. The leathers are signed by Hayden, who won the AMA Superbike title with Plumlee in his garage. Current bidding (as of February 28th) stands at $3,380, which given the continuing weakness of the US Dollar, is a real bargain for a European racing fan. The auction is due to run until March 9th, so you still have plenty of time to obtain a remarkable keepsake. Adams will be auc...
More About: Championship , For Sale , Sale

Guest Column - Why Big Bang Engines Work
2008-02-24 22:46:00
The piece we ran by Sean McConnell on an alternative approach to big bang engines kicked up quite a lot of debate about the merits of big bang engines vs screamer firing orders. As luck would have it, this week's episode of Bob Hayes' utterly outstanding MotoGPOD podcast featured an excellent discussion on the history and theory of big bang engines by Scott Jones. The segment was so well-written that we asked Scott if we could run it here, as a counterpoint to Sean's article.
More About: Work , Column , Bang , Big Bang , Engines

More Regulatory Madness - This Time, It's Rev Limits
2008-02-24 01:28:00
It seems that Ducati's first world championship title has upset the major Japanese manufacturers a very great deal. After Honda got the FIM and MSMA to reduce the capacity to 800cc, they fully expected to be able to dominate the MotoGP class as they had after the previous change, the switch to four-stroke engines in 2002. They had not reckoned on a tiny Italian factory stealing their thunder by gambling on maximum horsepower, and humiliating the big players, and natural heirs to the MotoGP crown. So it seems like the big players - or more specifically, Honda and Yamaha - have hit upon a quick way to neutralize the threat posed by Borgo Panigale: Autosport is reporting that Honda and Yamaha are pushing for rev limits to be introduced in MotoGP. Under the scheme, engines would have an artificial ceiling set on the maximum number of revs per minute they could spin at. More interestingly, the figure quoted is a maximum of 19,000 rpm. The fact that the Ducati is the only bike to rev ab...
More About: Time , Limits , Regulatory , Madness

Guest Column - The Big Bang vs. Screamer Debate in MotoGP
2008-02-21 23:09:00
With the MotoGP teams switching back and forth between "big bang" and "screamer" firing orders, there is a lot of discussion about the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two engine configurations. On the one hand, Ducati has elected to switch back to the screamer configuration, with a great deal of success, while Kawasaki is working hard on its own version of the screamer, their task made more complicated by the fact that the Green Machine is an inline four. In the other camp, Yamaha are utterly convinced of the merits of the big bang engine, and have declared that they will not use a screamer again. And there are those who believe there are even more options that this. An Australian physicist and motorcycle racer called Sean McConnell sent us a piece exploring some of the rationale behind the big bang, and offering a suggestion on how to get the benefits of both firing orders. We hope you enjoy it. The Big Bang vs. Screamer Debate in MotoGP by Sean McConnell I haven...
More About: Column , Big Bang , Guest

Ten Kate: MotoGP An Option For 2009
2008-02-20 16:47:00
As the World Superbike opener in Qatar approaches, the media is focusing its attention on some of the more unusual aspects of the World Superbike paddock. One of those anomalies is the HANNSpree Ten Kate Honda team, which is fielding not 2 but 3 top names in the Superbike championship: former MotoGP veteran Carlos Checa, double British Superbike champion Ryuichi Kiyonari, and reigning World Supersport title holder Kenan Sofuoglu. An unusual step, as every other team consists of either 2 riders, or a senior team of 2 experienced veterans, and a junior team comprising 2 up and coming talents. This unusual team line up has had the Dutch motorcycling press asking questions. In an online interview (in Dutch) with team boss Ronald ten Kate, the magazine MOTO73 asked whether the three-man team was part of a plan for a MotoGP entry in 2009. Ten Kate's response was interesting: Instead of flat out denying it, as you would expect, the Ten Kate team boss was flustered, telling the interviewe...

2008 Irta Test Jerez Day 3 Times FP4 Final - Hayden Finds A Flier
2008-02-18 19:43:00
The final day of testing at Jerez started blustery but dry, the wind thankfully drying the track out quickly whenever showers passed over. Once the sun came out early in the afternoon, the track soon dried out completely, and the many riders who had stayed inside all morning were quick to come out and get some laps in. The enforced inaction was not good for everyone. James Toseland, for one, took a nasty tumble on just his 2nd lap out of the pits, badly twisting his ankle. Despite his injury, Toseland rejoined the session after a visit to the Clinica Mobile, eventually finishing the day with the 6th fastest time. The Michelins dominated the timesheet at the end of the day, with Nicky Hayden setting an incredibly fast time, 0.2 seconds faster than the existing pole record, and equaling the time he set here during testing in November, which was itself 0.3 seconds slower than the time Dani Pedrosa set at the same session. Hayden's time was indicative of the quality of the Michelin ...
More About: Final , Times , Test

Ducati And Dorna Quash Schumacher Rumors
2008-02-18 19:36:00
The rumors that Michael Schumacher was preparing to race in MotoGP as a wildcard, which we reported here earlier, are turning out to be just that, rumors. According to Autosport.com, both Carmelo Ezpeleta, the CEO of Dorna, and Ducati team boss Livio Suppo rejected the suggestion out of hand. Suppo denied ever having spoken to the German Formula 1 champion about the matter, and Ezpeleta dismissed the rumor with a joke: "Maybe we'll have him racing with Kimi Raikkonen in a sidecar!" Any prospect of Schumacher turning his hand to professional motorcycle racing is looking increasingly improbable. MotoGP is very much a young man's game, and with Schumacher due to turn 39 this year, he has his age against him.
More About: Rumors

2008 Irta Test Jerez Day 3 Times - 1:30 pm Preliminary
2008-02-18 14:56:00
Pos.RiderFast LapDiffLapTotal laps 1Casey Stoner1'41.68549 2Valentino Rossi 1'42.4670.78288 3Nicky Hayden1'42.6670.9821212 4Loris Capirossi1'42.9631.27879 5John Hopkins1'42.9701.2851718 6Shinya Nakano1'42.9831.29835 7Toni Elias1'43.3311.6463435 8Ant West1'43.7612.076814 9Dani Pedrosa1'44.0882.4031116 10Sylvain Guintoli1'44.3552.67055 11Alex de Angelis1'44.8083.12333 12Olivier Jacque1'45.0643.37967 13Chris Vermeulen1'45.1483.46399 14Vittoriano Guareschi1'45.5973.9122829 15Andrea Dovizioso1'46.2294.54433 16Marco Melandri1'46.7665.0811313 17Niccolo Canepa1'48.5726.887 18James ToselandNo time11 -Colin Edwards0 -Randy de Puniet0 -Jorge Lorenzo0
More About: Times , Test , Jerez , 2008

L'Équipe Gets Caught Out Too - Schumacher To MotoGP Rumor Resurf
2008-02-17 21:07:00
The problem with practical jokes is that they can all too easily get out of hand. At the end of December, rumors first started emerging that Michael Schumacher was poised to make the switch to MotoGP, riding a Ducati. The rumor was based on the time Schumacher is alleged to have set at Valencia after the final Grand Prix of 2007, with the German former F1 champion riding the Ducati GP7 to within 5 seconds of the MotoGP lap record. The story was so convincing that we even ran it here at MotoGPMatters.com, and it provoked heated discussion about the role of electronics in modern racing motorcycles. Rather predictably, and rather disappointingly, the story turned out to be a hoax perpetrated by DailyMotos.com. The Spanish website had run the story for "el Dia de los Santos Innocentes", the Day of the Innocent Saints, the Spanish equivalent of April Fools' Day, a day on which practical jokes are played on friends and family, and newspapers publish seemingly plausible but entirely u...
More About: Rumor , Caught

2008 Irta Test Jerez Day 2, FP3 Called Off Due To Weather
2008-02-17 20:46:00
The weather stopped play during the final session of day 2 at the official IRTA test at Jerez , after the rain returned and the wind damaged advertising signs around the track. Officials red-flagged the session after less than an hour, with parts from the damaged signs forming a hazard for the riders. Only 4 riders had been out prior to the red flag being shown, completing a total of just 15 laps between them. Frenchman Randy de Puniet was the fastest in the meaningless session, in a time of 1'55.568.
More About: Weather , Test , 2008