MotoGP

Rd 2 MotoGP: Rossi fights back

By Mike Hanlon

April 9, 2006 Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi returned to the top step of the podium after a stunning ride in yesterday’s Grand Prix of Qatar. Rossi’s 54th career MotoGP victory was sealed with a perfectly timed run in the second half of the race, passing early leader Casey Stoner (Honda) on lap 10 of 22 and holding off a late attack from Nicky Hayden (Honda) and Loris Capirossi (Ducati), who completed the podium. The win brings Rossi’s premier-class tally level with that of Mick Doohan, with only the legendary Giacomo Agostini now ahead of him on 68 victories. Casey Stoner's pole position in only his second Grand Prix, followed by leading for the first ten laps indicates MotoGP has unearthed yet another potential star - though Stoner was eventually fifth, he already looks capable of winning a race when he gets some riding condition capable of sustaining his speed for an entire race. Read More

MotoGP Round 1: Ducati leads the world

By Mike Hanlon

March 26, 2006 Ducati’s Loris Capirossi won today's season-opening Spanish GP to put the Ducati Marlboro Team at the top of the MotoGP points table for the first time in history. The race could prove to be a pivotal moment in MotoGP history, as it saw reigning champ Valentino Rossi knocked off on the second corner, and the coming of age of two of Rossi’s much younger rivals in Danni Pedrosa and Casey Stoner. Pedrosa incredibly challenged for the lead in his first MotoGP race and headed a Honda RC211V freight train that stretched from second (Pedrosa) through sixth place (Hayden, Elias, Melandri, Stoner). Stoner was almost as impressive, as his sixth came after missing the pre-season meaning he started his first race on a bike that was well behind in development. With Kawasaki now competitive with race leading machinery and more promise from Suzuki, it’s clear that 2006 will be a far more evenly balanced year of competition. In true never-say-die fashion, Rossi remounted after his first lap crash and finished the race to grab 14th place and two championship points – perhaps a pointer to just how valuable points will be over coming months. Read More

Super-Fast Ducati MotoGP Team tops leaderboard in final pre-season MotoGP tests

By Mike Hanlon

March 14, 2006 A few months is a long time in motor racing and Ducati enters the 2006 season with realistic optimisim considering the poor shape its race effort was in just over six months ago. At that time the company’s perpetual superbike crown was all but lost and the MotoGP race machine had not yet blossomed in the way it did in the final races of 2005 before a Capirossi injury ended a string of poles, fastest laps and race winning efforts. Now the company’s fortunes are following on from that showing with continued speed and now two riders capable of challenging Valentino Rossi for a win. Troy Bayliss has put the factory superbike back on top after four races in the 2006 championship and the two MotoGP riders have finished first and second in the final official tests prior to the commencement of hostilities. Both riders are fit and fast and the bike is “smoking.”

Even better news is that Kawasaki’s big spending is paying off (Nakano was third fastest), Suzuki is running at the front with two good riders and a slew of promising new Honda riders have all showed race leading pace. Everyone is in great shape to attempt the impossible, or at very least highly improbable – beating Valentino Rossi and his Yamaha in what everyone accepts will be his last year of MotoGP. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards experienced tyre difficulties in the final test, but Rossi clearly has what he needs to continue his winning ways. But the big news on the final day of testing was the pace of the Ducati Desmosedici which put Capirossi and Gibernau ahead of everyone, both on race and qualifying tyres, on the final of the three MotoGP test days. Read More

Ducati 2006 MotoGP bike unveiled - 235bhp, 148 kg

By Mike Hanlon

January 20, 2006 – At the beginning of each racing season, just before the engines fire in anger for the first time after the Christmas lull, Ducati’s MotoGP team and Ferrari’s Formula One team share an annual appointment on the mountains of Madonna di Campiglio in Trento with a media and ski get-together - the formula of the event revolves around skiing in the mountains together with a round of press meetings and conferences. This year Ducati took the opportunity to pull the wraps off the Desmosedici GP06, the new MotoGP machine that Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau will be campaigning this season. A rare insight into a new MotoGP machine - 235 bhp at 16,500 rpm and a dry weight of just 148 kilograms Read More

Young Guns Set To Load MotoGP Bullets

By Mike Hanlon

November 10, 2005 Elite motorcycle racing has many similarities to Formula 1 but it also has many differences, and perhaps the starkest contrast became evident on the Valencia racetrack in Spain yesterday just three days after the last race of the 2005 season. Formula 1 driver changes are major announcements in exotic locations. In MotoGP, all of the rider changes that had been rumoured and spoken of in hushed terms for the previous three months were suddenly on display as the first official test session for 2006 got underway. Honda’s big hope for 2005, Spaniard Sete Gibernau, was riding a Ducati. More significant though was the absence of many of the senior names which have monopolised the key factory rides for the last five years and in their place a half dozen or more new riders who have surfaced though 125, 250 and superbike – Pedrosa, Vermeulen, Stoner, Divizioso, Luthi, De Punier, Kiyonari and Neukirchner were among those who got their first chance on the ultimate racing machines yesterday as the Japanese factories (primarily Honda) made it clear they were seeking the next Valentino Rossi. Extensive image library Read More

MotoGP Qatar: Rossi’s tenth victory secures team title for Gauloises Yamaha

By Mike Hanlon

October 2, 2005 Just six days after lifting the MotoGP title with Valentino Rossi in Malaysia, the Gauloises Yamaha Team were celebrating again today as Valentino Rossi’s record-breaking tenth victory of the season secured the Teams’ World Championship at the Qatar Grand Prix. Yamaha is likely to secure the trifecta by winning the constructor’s title at the Australian GP in a fortnight’s time. Once again, Spaniard Sete Gibernau was the front-runner for most of the race, relenting once more when the chequered flag grew near to finally finish fifth. Gibernau has led 111 (32%) of the 347 laps in this year’s 14 races compared to Rossi’s 87 laps (25%) yet Rossi has won ten Gps and a championship compared to Gibernau’s zip and eighth place in the standings. The Spaniard remains the most obviously capable rider other than Rossi and is reportedly negotiating a move from Honda to Ducati for next year. Read More

Rossi takes fifth MotoGP title but Ducati wins

By Mike Hanlon

September 26, 2005 Complete report and image library: Valentino Rossi won his fifth consecutive World MotoGP title yesterday afternoon, though the race was won by Ducati-mounted Loris Capirossi who won his second Grand Prix in a week, giving Ducati its best ever MotoGP result when his team-mate Carlos Checa finished third. Having won a 125 and 250 title prior to his string of five consecutive MotoGP titles, Rossi’s championship t-shirt featured a Barry Sheene-style 7, for seven world titles, and a white commemorative helmet was created by AGV for the moment, also with the number 7 on it. Read More

MotoGP Japan: Rossi crashes, Ducati wins

By Mike Hanlon

September 18, 2005 Loris Capirossi took the Ducati Desmosedici to its second Grand Prix win at Motegi here today, winning at Honda’s own circuit, and relegating the Honda RC211Vs of Max Biaggi (Repsol) and Makoto Tamada (Konica Minolta) into second and third place in front of 68,000 fans. The race was one of massive attrition with nine of the 20 starters failing to finish, among them championship leader Valentino Rossi, and leading contenders Marco Melandri, Alex Barros, Sete Gibernau and Shinya Nakano. For Capirossi, it was a dream weekend – he qualified on pole, half a second faster than anyone else in the field, and a full 1.2 seconds faster than Rossi, prompting the champion elect to pay the ultimate compliment to his friend and countryman when he said after practice, “I think all the riders can only dream about the pace Capirossi had today.” In the race, Capirossi and the Ducati were the best combination on the day and unlike his prior win where he was clearly not as quick as Rossi, this time he would have won the race regardless of Rossi's crash. Congratulations to Loris and Ducati. Read More

MotoGP Brno: Rossi and Yamaha again

By Mike Hanlon

August 29, 2005 Gauloises Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi became the first rider in the history of the MotoGP World Championship to score nine wins for five consecutive seasons, as he clinched victory in the eleventh round of the 2005 campaign at Brno yesterday. Rossi’s record-breaking ride featured an intense battle with Sete Gibernau (Honda) that again came down to a dramatic finale, with Rossi making his definitive pass at the end of the penultimate lap. Gibernau tried to fight back but as Rossi edged clear through the final series of sweeping corners, the Spaniard’s slim hope of a victorious response disappeared completely as he suffered a “fuel starvation” problem and was forced to retire. Read More

Team KTM and Team Roberts acrimonious MotoGP split

By Mike Hanlon

August 21, 2005 Sadly, black litigious clouds have formed over the MotoGP paddock, specifically directly over the pits of KTM and Team KR, whose interpretations of what their relationship has been until now differ enormously. KTM announced a dissolution of the relationship on August 12, stating it was no longer intending to provide engines for the team’s grand prix effort and was cancelling all its activities with the team. Though it had been no secret that KTM was on the verge of pulling out for some time, Team Roberts has subsequently issued a statement refuting a number of KTM’s claims and claiming that it had been informed of the decision simultaneously with the public announcement. Read both parties' conflicting statements inside. Photo: O.Bergamaschi Read More

MotoGP: Yamaha and Rossi sign for 2006

By Mike Hanlon

August 2, 2005 Yamaha Motor and Valentino Rossi signed a contract extension yesterday, ensuring that Valentino will stay with Yamaha for the 2006 MotoGP World Championship. Rossi won the 2004 MotoGP World Championship with Yamaha and is currently competing in his second season with the Japanese manufacturer's factory team. The Italian leads the 2005 MotoGP World Championship by 120 points, following his 8th victory of the season at last weekend's German Grand Prix. Significantly, it was Rossi’s 76th Grand prix victory and moved the 26-year old into equal third place in the all-time victory list alongside the late Mike Hailwood. Rossi rode his victory lap with a flag that read, “Rossi 76, Hailwood 76, I'm sorry Mike,” in deference to Hailwood. Only the greats Angel Nieto (90) and Giacomo Agostini (122) remain for “The Doctor” to conquer should he be able to remain focused for that long given the constant enticements to move to four wheeled motorsport. That said, Rossi’s 76th win last weekend had all the hallmarks of Rossi magic. Read More

British MotoGP: Rossi in a class of his own

By Mike Hanlon

July 24, 2005 Gauloises Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi extended his advantage at the top of the MotoGP World Championship to 104 points, with his seventh victory from nine races this season in the British Grand Prix today. The Italian splashed his way through several centimetres of standing water and lashings of torrential rain to clinch his fourth MotoGP win at Donington Park after a treacherous race that saw no fewer than eleven riders crash. Read More

US MotoGP: Hayden leads American 1-2

By Mike Hanlon

July 10, 2005 Americans Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards struck a major blow for the sport of motorcycle road racing when they finished 1-2 and demoted the world’s best rider into third spot at the Red Bull United States Grand Prix here today. In showcasing the world’s best motorcycle racing event to the American public, Hayden and Edwards did their home country proud and will surely have enhanced the prospects for greater acceptance and coverage of MotoGP in the world’s biggest and most important motorcycle marketplace. For Hayden, with a career just beginning and a rockstar’s good looks and persona, his first MotoGP win is expected by many to move him into the elite and make him a regular contender for the win. For Rossi, it was business as usual because although he finish in third place, he extended his points lead to 79 points, giving him a three race lead (at 25 points for a win) with nine races remaining in the title chase. Read More

MotoGP: Dutch TT to Rossi and Yamaha

By Mike Hanlon

June 26, 2005 Valentino Rossi claimed another win, another record and staked another claim to being the greatest ever when he won the 75th anniversary Gauloises Dutch TT at the famous Assen circuit on Saturday afternoon. In doing so, he became the first Yamaha rider ever to win five consecutive premier-class races and fought off a new challenger to his crown in the form of an ever-improving Marco Melandri. Rossi has always had the ability to find something extra when it counts, but he seems to be regularly performing remarkable feats this year, coming up with several stunners on the weekend to increase his points lead in the 2005 title to 63 points – a buffer of more than two race wins. Read More

MotoGP: The Yamaha M1 wins its fifth race from six starts

By Mike Hanlon

June 12, 2005 Less than two years ago the Yamaha M1 factory prototype racing machine was not considered competitive – indeed, it was considered by most to be a dog. It struggled throughout the 2003 Moto Grand Prix racing year, and in the hands of two of the finest professional motorcycle racers in the world, Spaniard Carlos Checa and Brazilian Alex Barros, it finished an entire season with just one third place as its sole podium from 32 starts. In 2004, Yamaha was fortunate to be able to obtain a rare and frightfully expensive throttle controller for one of its machines (also known as Valentino Rossi), making the machine far more competitive – from 16 starts in 2004, the Rossi-fitted machine won nine times and placed second twice and won the world championship. It’s win, with Rossi aboard this afternoon, is its fifth win from six starts this season and Rossi is now 58 points clear of his nearest rival. A look back at the results makes interesting reading – though the bike is reportedly far better than it was, no-one else is making it go fast enough to be competitive. Read More

MotoGP engine capacity to be reduced to 800cc in 2007

By Mike Hanlon

June 6, 2005 The biggest news of recent years in motorcycle racing broke over the weekend at the Italian GP when it was announced that the engine capacity for MotoGP would be reduced from 990cc to 800cc from 2007. The aim of the rule change is to slow the machines down, though in effect, it is unlikely to slow the bikes down much, and it will certainly make them more difficult to ride, though not nearly to the degree of the 500cc two-strokes which could only be mastered by a handful of riders in the world. If anything, the rule changes are likely to make it more rather than less difficult for the smaller manufacturers to compete with the engineering prowess and financial power of Honda. Honda promoted the rule change, and had a large say in having it passed, as it provides seven of the 21 bikes on the grid each race. Read More

Italian MotoGP - Italian tour de force

By Mike Hanlon

June 5, 2005 World Champion and Gauloises Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi produced one of the best performances of his career today as he outwitted a trio of Italian compatriots to take a stunning home victory at Mugello. Starting from pole position, Rossi was in turn passed by a handful of riders, despatching each in turn until he was left to battle for the victory with his old arch-rival Max Biaggi, eventually finding enough to greet the chequered flag four tenths of a second ahead of his main adversary. Biaggi was Rossi’s main protagonist and antagonist for the early part of his career in the premier class, but had faded from the spotlight in recent years and Rossi’s new arch rival Sete Gibernau crashed out early in the race after fading from the front of the pack to fourth and looking like he was going to finish much further down the points. Read More

MotoGP Rd 4: Gibernau close but Rossi again

By Mike Hanlon

May 15, 2005 World Champion Valentino Rossi extended his lead at the top of the MotoGP World Championship with a victory from pole position at the French Grand Prix this afternoon. The Italian World Champion recorded the fastest ever motorcycle lap of Le Mans in qualifying yesterday and followed it up with a new lap record on the very last lap of the today's 28-lap race in order to hold out fast-finishing rival Sete Gibernau. Rossi’s win makes it three wins and a second from four starts so far this season, and particularly heartening for Yamaha was the competitiveness of Rossi’s team-mate Colin Edwards who started from second place on the grid, led the race until the final laps when he was mown down by the Rossi/Gibernau juggernaut but easily finished ahead of the field to make up the podium. Read More

MotoGP Rd 3 - Rossi wins rain-swept Chinese GP

By Mike Hanlon

May 1, 2005 Gauloises Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi made history once again today, becoming the first rider to take a MotoGP victory at Shanghai, with a stunning performance in torrentially wet conditions at the inaugural Grand Prix of China. Despite starting from sixth place on the grid Rossi took control of the race on the fifth lap, taking over from early leader Kenny Roberts (Suzuki) and opening up a clear gap over the chasing pack.

It was an advantage the reigning World Champion would never let slip, holding his concentration for the next 17 laps despite the attentions of surprise challenger Olivier Jacque (Kawasaki), riding in place of the injured Alex Hofmann. Jacque passed Sete Gibernau (Honda) for second place with seven laps to go and closed in on Rossi at the front, but was unable to seriously threaten the Italian's second victory from the opening three rounds of the championship. Read More

MotoGP Rd 2: Gibernau crashes, Barros/Honda win, Rossi extends title lead

By Mike Hanlon

April 17, 2005 A Honda won the Portugeuse Grand Prix today with World Champion Valentino Rossi second, but it was the Honda of Alex Barros that greeted the chequered flag first not the expected Honda of Sete Gibernau. Gibernau crashed out in light rain while leading the race at mid distance in the first MotoGP race run under the new rain rules which do not allow for race restarts due to rain during the race. Barros’ win was not entirely unexpected. He was the fastest rider in all sessions throughout the weekend, fastest qualifier and appears to have regained the form he last showed at the end of 2002 when he beat Valentino Rossi several times on equal machinery. Read More

MotoGP Rd1: Rossi takes dramatic last gasp win

By Mike Hanlon

April 10, 2005 Valentino Rossi put the gloss on a perfect start to his defence of the MotoGP World Championship at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez today, smashing the lap record by over two seconds and gaining a significant psychological edge over his main rival for the championship, taking a victory on the last corner from a seemingly impossible position. Riding a completely new smaller, lighter and faster Yamaha M1 for the first time in race conditions, Rossi spent almost the entire race stalking Gibernau who led from within a few corners of the start … 27 laps later, the race ended in one of the most controversial incidents for many years. Read More

MotoGP Season Preview

By Mike Hanlon

The MotoGP season starts again next weekend with Valentino Rossi and his Yamaha YZR M1 a raging hot favourite to take the title again. Rossi appears likely to face increased competition this year though, with at least ten riders looking capable of taking a race win during the season and with his most likely rival, Honda-mounted Sete Gibernau, already in fine form. Read our extensive 2005 season preview with in-dpeth coverage of the pre-season testing, bookies odds, links and background. Read More

BMW K1200R for MotoGP Power-Cup

By Mike Hanlon

March 24, 2005 BMW Motorrad hasn't wasted any time in getting its performance-oriented K1200R at the forefront of motorcycle competition, and is replacing the popular BMW BoxerCup that is run in conjunction with each European MotoGP round with a series based on K1200R racers. Powering the new one-make championship is a race honed version of the K 1200 R with some added carbon fibre aerodynamic enahncements and an even warmer version of the bike producing 175 bhp (129 kW). Read More

Ducati unveils 2005 Desmosedici GP5 MotoGP machine

By Mike Hanlon

21 January, 2005 Ducati’s MotoGP season got under yesterday on the Grostè glacier (at an altitude of 2470 metres) as the Desmosedici GP5 appeared in its 2005 livery for the first time amidst the spectacular Dolomite mountains in northern Italy. “The bike that Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa will race this season is the result of an evolution, not a revolution of the GP4” explained Ducati Corse CEO Claudio Domenicali yesterday during the press conference. "We learnt from the mistakes we made last year, when we arrived at the first Sepang tests with a completely different bike from the previous version and with no chance of turning back. Read More

Ducati set to unveil MotoGP-based Roadster?

By Mike Hanlon

Ducati is rumoured to be preparing to unveil a V4 roadster based on it MotoGP-winning V4 Desmosedici, promising the strongest line-up of 1000cc Supersport motorcycles on the showroom floor in years. Read More