News

Dani Pedrosa is to miss the final pre-season test at Jerez this weekend as he continues his recovery from surgery. The Spaniard's place in the Repsol Honda team for the test in Spain will be taken by Honda's test rider Kosuke Akiyoshi as Pedrosa recuperates from the surgery to insert a titanium screw in his left wrist and also a skin graft on his left knee.Akiyoshi will conclude the team's testin...

UK company FTR MOTO has announced details of a machine for the new Moto2 class which is due to replace the FIM 250cc World Championship.The aim is to produce a customer machine which will be tested in the Spanish championship before being made available ahead of the 2011 season when the 250cc two-stroke class will be phased out and replaced by 600cc four-stroke machines.FTR Moto, which already sup...

Bradley Smith admits the pace of Bancaja Aspar team-mate Julian Simon is causing him a few concerns ahead of this week's FIM 125cc World Championship test sessions at the Jerez circuit in Spain.The 18-year-old Briton is preparing for his fourth season in the 125 category and believes this week's test represents an important period ahead of the season-opener in Qatar on April 12.Smith is hoping to ...

Chris Vermeulen is looking forward to seeing what improvements have been made to his Rizla Suzuki when he returns to the track in Spain. Vermeulen hopes for improvements following earlier tests in Malaysia and Qatar when he arrives at Jerez for two days of testing on March 28 and 29.The Australian will be looking for a competitive machine which he will race when the FIM MotoGP World Championship ...

Former FIM 125cc World Champion Fausto Gresini is confident his San Carlo Honda team will benefit from the highest level of support from Honda in the 2009 MotoGP season.Gresini will field Toni Elias on a factory specification bike from the Honda Racing Corporation and Alex de Angelis will ride a customer Honda.Gresini said: "HRC have carried out excellent work in their preparation of the 2009...

Simon has enhanced his reputation as the rider to beat in the FIM 125cc World championship with impressive form throughout pre-season testing.The Bancaja Aspar Aprilia rider had already been fastest at Jerez and Valencia before setting the best time for a 125cc rider at Estoril.Simon has put his speed down to the information the team was able to gather last season which he has put to good use.&quo...

Loris Capirossi believes there is more pace to wring from Rizla Suzuki's 2009 FIM MotoGP World Championship challenger despite impressive displays in pre-season testing.The Italian was consistently at the sharp end of the standings during recent tests in Malaysia and Qatar.The veteran Italian insists the best is yet to come, however, and pinpointed the engine as an area that the Suzuki engineers n...

Andrea Iannone set the pace on the final day of the FIM 125cc World Championship pre-season test at the Estoril circuit in Portugal. The WWC rider coped well with the windy conditions at the coastal venue on Tuesday, posting a time of one minute 45.969 seconds.The conditions meant that the times were down on the previous days' pace, meaning Julian Simon's lap of 1min 45.046secs set on Monday was t...

Marco Simoncelli posted the fastest time on the final day of FIM 250cc World Championship testing at the Estoril circuit on Tuesday.The reigning world champion set a time of one minute 41.245 seconds on his Metis Gilera bike, good enough to edge Thai Honda's Ratthapark Wilairot into second place by just under three-tenths of a second.Scot Racing Team's Hiroshi Aoyama finished the day in third plac...

Hector Barbera was the fastest rider in the FIM 250cc World Championship class during the pre-season test at Estoril in Portugal.The Spaniard, making his comeback following a serious back injury last season, set a best time of 1.41.113 to edge out Alvaro Bautista by 0.006 seconds.Defending world champion Marco Simoncelli was third fastest, 0.026 seconds slower than Barbera.Gabor Talmacsi, 125cc wo...