The fastest sport on two wheels in on time off

The runner up to Valentino Rossi was greeted by adoring fans that had him smiling and waving to the crowds for quite a few minutes, before he took the time to be greeted by factory President Frank Nagashima and Chief Operating Officer Praphan Phornthanavasat, and then made his way through the factory to talk to the 3000 employees on hand. This was just before he put on a show on his Yamaha YZF-R1 sportbike by taking it out for a few laps and burn a few tire marks in the pavement for his fans. He looked pretty good on the bike after a break that hasn’t seen him get on a bike since his operation in Barcelona on November 16 to take out the plate in his collarbone.

After his run, he took more time to wave and talk to his fans, which is great to see. The fans are the ones that really pay the bills and he obviously knows this and was energetic and loving while walking among the crowds. He’ll be heading over to Indonesia next to entertain his fans and build more support for his sport.

In other news, Dorna Sports has released their calendar for the CEV Buckler 2010 season and it will consist of seven events, including the new venue, Motorland Aragon during the fifth round of the season. The season will start on April 18^th in Catalunya, before heading to Albacete, Jerez, Albacete again, Motorland Aragon, Comunitat Valenciana, and lastly Jerez, one last time.

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MotoGP Building Fan Base

Valentino Rossi has been spending his downtime behind the wheel of a race car

Valentino Rossi just likes to feel the adrenalin rush of the sensation of speed in his life. During his downtime between seasons and trials, he’s usually found chasing after the adrenalin rush he loves behind the wheel of a race car or something else that goes fast. This week he was on the Vallelunga Circuit taking a Ferrari 430 through its paces, as he and team mates Andrea Ceccato and Alessio Salucci were thrilling thousands of fans as they took turns on the track.

Rossi started the race behind the wheel, before handing the driving chores off to his teammates, and then once again getting behind the wheel for another stint. The trio had problems all day with their car, and the mechanical problems teamed with a fire late in the race to keep the trio from their chance at winning the race. The three gentlemen did manage to finish third in the race, behind a Corvette and another Ferrari 430.

Rossi after the race said it was a great experience, although the fire at the end did scare him a little as he sat in the car, but it was quickly put out and nothing really came of the event. He also mentioned that he wants to do more four-wheeled racing in the future, maybe a few different types and will be looking for rides.

Rossi really is an adventurous type and loves to get behind the wheel of anything that will go fast. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Valentino behind the wheel of many race cars in the future, maybe even after he decides he’s had enough of sportbike racing.

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MotoGP on Time Off

The premier class will get some new blood next year

The 200 laps he’ll be on the bike during this period will go along way to getting him ready for the storm that he’s about to enter. He was even able to experience different weather patterns, from rain to wind, and this will help him get use to how the bike reacts to different or varying weather patterns. They were testing the engine and components on the Suzuki, along with the aerodynamic ability of the bike.

The question for me isn’t whether Bautista has the talent to win it all, but whether his Suzuki has the power and performance to compete with the other bikes on the track. They’ll need to get their Suzuki race bike running a lot faster in order to compete with the best and it will be difficult for Suzuki to get their bike up to standards in time for the 2010 MotoGP season. Bautista seemed to become more familiar with the bike after a few laps and he was running fast laps in the 1:38 mark by the end of the session. They should be happy with the 200 laps they were able to run on the bike and this should help them get the bike ready to compete. In fact, Bautista was very impressive on the bike over the days of testing, and if he can get a bike that can run as fast as the other racers, we should be in for a treat or two.

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Alvaro Bautista Moves On Up

Valentino Rossi decided he wanted to have a party with familiar friends

Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso, Marco Lelandri, Julian Simon and a host of other racers got out on the track and raced for the kids, with Dovizioso coming out the winner in the end, after a three race affair. Dovizioso was second in the first two races to 125 cc World Champion Julian Simon, who had to depart early so he wasn’t able to take part in the third race, but took the overall win by winning the third, ahead of Melandri and Rossi. Over 10,000 fans came out to take part in the affair and help raise money for the kids and the event went so well, we can probably expect more of such affairs in the future.

Rossi released his plans for his time off, he’s decided he still wants to race, and will soon be stepping behind the wheel of a Ford at Monza and the Bologna Motorshow. Once he gets that bug out of his blood, he’s going skiing for awhile, before he has to get back to preparing for the 2010 MotoGP season ahead.

After the event, Dovizioso sat down and talked about the up coming 2010 MotoGP season and his final thoughts on the 2009 season. His second season, 2009 was a up and down affair for Dovizioso, which included his first premier win at Donington Park and the low of being beaten for fifth position in the final standings for the year by a single point in the last race at Valencia by Colin Edwards.

The 2010 season he expects to be a great year and hopefully his break out season. He wants to do better than he did this year and grab a few more wins, but understands the challenge before him. He has to content with a man who is a seven time MotoGP Premier Class World Champion and a field of racers who would all love to be the champion. The question comes down to who wants it more in the end and Rossi has always come out on top in this area.

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Valentino Rossi Calls a Party

Valentino Rossi will be back for a try at his eighth MotoGP Premier Class World Championship for 2010

In other news, Repsol Honda has already begun testing their Honda RC212V motorcycles for the up coming 2010 season. Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso were seen out on the Ricardo Tormo Circuit testing their new Ohlin suspension which they decided to switch to for 2010, from the old Showa suspension which they have been using for a few years. They looked fast and recorded excellent times on the track and are already looking to be contenders for 2010. They were obviously concentrating on the new suspension and trying to get a feel for the new set up and will get to test the chassis later this week. The 2010 MotoGP season is just about the corner and all the teams will begin testing soon and preparing for the 2010 MotoGP campaign.

It was announced that 2009 250 cc MotoGP World Champion Hiroshi Aoyama will be racing for the Interwetten Honda MotoGP team for 2010. Aoyama was recently awarded a letter of recognition by the Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Yuko Hatoyama, which is quite an honour and certainly indicates how much his championship means to the Japanese people. The Japanese people and MotoGP fans have really embraced the young champion, along with his open and inviting demeanour.

Aoyama also got to meet Nakamura during the presentation ceremony, who he presented his championship helmet to, before the two gentlemen spent a little time talking about the future and the MotoGP. We expect big things from Aoyama in the MotoGP and he has a bright future that seems to be on the rise.

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2010 MotoGP Season Preparation

American racer Ben Spies will debut in the MotoGP this weekend at Valencia, in preparation for his first MotoGP campaign in 2010

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that Ben Spies is this racer, but it’s nice to think that he might be and the fun and entertainment that would follow. We have to be careful not to expect too much from Ben at first and let him grow into the racer he’s meant to be. This weekend will give him a chance to get on a MotoGP bike and see how the feel fits and if it’s the racing-glove he was looking for.

Ben Spies will ride this weekend with a smile on his face and a new racing suit that was unveiled by the Sterilgarda Yamaha Team in anticipation of the race. Ben will be on top of the Yamaha YZR-M1 for his first MotoGP, before testing with the Tech3 Yamaha Team on Monday in preparation for the 2010 MotoGP season.

In other news, Valencia was renewed as a MotoGP venue for the near future on Wednesday during a ceremony held at the Palau de la Generalitat Valenciana. The new agreement extends the agreement first signed in 1999 for Valencia to host MotoGP races. This is good news for the racers, fans and industry as a whole as Valencia is one of the better MotoGP venues and has been rated as the best racing venue on the MotoGP circuit.

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Ben Spies Will Debut at Valencia

NASCAR's titles are still up for grabs

On the two-wheeled race circuit, Valentino Rossi has closed the show on his seventh MotoGP Premier Class World Championship and his ninth in all classes and is currently basking in the glory of it all. He had a hard fight all year with his team mate Jorge Lorenzo and deserves all the credit we can give him for taking the pressure once again and coming out on top. The only thing harder than winning it all is doing it over and over again and this is something Rossi has learned to handle well. The real question is if he can do it again or if he’s coming back at all? Could Valentino Rossi be contemplating retirement, it wouldn’t surprise me. After all, what else does he have to prove and what can his motivation be to come back again and put his life on the line. I guess we’ll see next year.

Jenson Button is the newest racer to win his first Formula One World Championship by winning the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship. He had a fast start to the year and was able to keep his momentum and car headed in the right direction and was eventually able to close the show on his rivals. Lewis Hamilton will have to try again next year but it should be exciting to see what happens in 2010. There will be a few new teams on the track next year and it will be exciting and possibly frustrating for many.

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The Year’s Racing Summed Up

Jorge Lorenzo congratulates Rossi on his seventh MotoGP Premier Class Championship

There’s a certain swagger that goes with being a successful athlete, especially one who has achieved at the level of Rossi, who just clinched his seventh MotoGP Premier Class World Championship with his twelfth podium finish of the 2009 season at the race in Malaysia, the 163^rd time he has stood on the podium in his Hall of Fame MotoGP career. Not to say that he has an arrogant walk, because I don’t think that he does, not like an athlete like Alex Rodriguez, a baseball player who is considered by some to be the greatest player to ever play on a field of dreams. Rossi has a calm kind of serenity as he walks around the track that is confident, yet humble in a way, which is something that must come with years of treading the racing paddock.

Winning a single MotoGP Premier Class Championship is a major achievement for any racer, let along seven, and nine in all classes in total. Rossi has been pushed all season by Jorge Lorenzo and in a funny kind of way Valentino owes the young Spaniard a debt of thanks for being as good as he has been and making Valentino rise to the occasion, which is a major one in history. Jorge is learning from the best in the business what it takes to be a seven time MotoGP Premier Class World Champion and in the coming years we’ll see if Jorge has what it takes to achieve the feats of a racer like Rossi. Rossi’s achievements on a bike should never be down played, it’s often hard enough to ride a bike efficiently without doing harm to ourselves and others, let along race at speeds that are commonly hazardous to life and limb for years on end and come out on top time after time.

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Valentino Rossi Gracious in Victory

Casey win the battle but Rossi is about to finish the war for 2009

Valentino Rossi raced smart and fast Sunday on the pavement of Phillip Island amid the beauty of the Australian landscape and finished second in the Iveco Australian Grand Prix. This finish is enough in combination with his team mate Jorge Lorenzo’s crash on the first lap to extend his lead to 38-points over Jorge in their race for the 2009 MotoGP Premier Class World Championship. Jorge touched bikes with Nicky Hayden in the first corner of the first lap and went sailing off the track, finished for the day. Jorge was unable to continue after the fall and did show his frustration with his failure to have a good race. Hayden on the other hand was able to get back on his bike and continue.

This result gives Valentino a little room to manoeuvre during the last two races of the 2009 MotoGP campaign and will make his work a lot easier to complete, now that he has a little elbow room. Rossi only has to make six points in the last two races to secure his seventh MotoGP Premier Class World Championship and my money is on him to complete the task in the next race. Sepang is a race track that he has success on, although there aren’t many he hasn’t had success racing on in the world of MotoGP, and six points is going to be a relatively easy achievement for the six-time MotoGP Premier Class World Champion.

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Valentino Rossi Moves Closer to Title

Jorge Lorenzo is right behind Valentino Rossi with his first MotoGP Premier Class World Championship in his sights

Rossi finished fourth at Estoril to his team mate Lorenzo’s 1^st place finish, but Phillip Island is one of Rossi’s favorite and most successful race venues, so expect him to come out and grab and lead and never look back. If he gets on the lead off the start he’ll be hard to catch, so to beat him you need to get in front and stay there. Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner and a few other riders have the bike and skill to grab the lead and stay ahead of Rossi, but they’re few and far between.

Rossi is a front runner who has finished on the podium eleven of the twelve times he has raced at Phillip Island and he won at Phillip Island from 2001 – 2005. Still, Rossi has failed to finish first in his last three races at Phillip Island and if Lorenzo Jorge can manage to finish first, while Valentino finishes worse than third, we’ll have a new leader in the MotoGP Premier Class standings. The pressure is on once again for Valentino Rossi, will our hero be able to once again rise to the occasion or will the young gun pull ahead of him and then go on to become the next MotoGP Premier Class World Champion and fulfill his dreams of glory. Valentino apparently complained of rear traction problems in his last outing and he and the team have been sorting out the problem.

Lorenzo has tasted victory twice on a 250 cc bike at Phillip Island and he finished fourth last year in his MotoGP debut on this track. He shouldn’t be feeling the pressure that Valentino is feeling right now, after all no one really expects him to beat Valentino.

Either way Fiat Yamaha wins though, as with a win by Rossi or Lorenzo, Fiat Yamaha will match the win total they achieved in 2005. Also, a win for either at Phillip Island would match Fiat Yamaha’s longest streak of consecutive wins in MotoGP’s premier class, which they achieved in both 2005 and 2008.

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Rossi and Lorenzo Coming Down the Stretch