Archive - Feb 2008 - News Item

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

If there were any lingering doubts about who is favorite for the 2008 MotoGP title, Sunday's qualifying practice at the official IRTA test in Jerez should have laid these well and truly to rest. Within just 11 minutes of the start of the session, one rider had stamped his authority on qualifying with such force that the 2nd place rider at that moment was nearly three and a half seconds behind. Three and a half seconds. And though his lead was reduced, after the 40 minutes were up, the winning margin was still over 1.3 seconds. This wasn't a contest, it was a massacre.

The first day of testing at Jerez was yet another object lesson on ignoring the headline times and focusing on the big picture. If you were to judge Saturday's times just on the timesheet printed at the end of the day, then it would be simplicity itself to fall into the gaping trap laid by a smattering of qualifying tires.

Even MotoGP addicts such as myself can't keep track of every single fast lap at every single racetrack round the world, so as an aid to our collective memories, here's a list of the fastest laps set at Jerez over the past few years. Whenever you see times posted on this or other websites around the internet, you have a yardstick against which to measure them right here.

The 2007 times were or course set at the second race of the 800cc era, while the circuit record and pole record were both set on the old 990s.

With the season not yet even started, beds in the MotoGP sick bay have already been filling up. Kawasaki's John Hopkins suffered a very painful groin injury after a fall at Phillip Island, and Dani Pedrosa had even worse luck, breaking a bone in his hand in a huge crash on the first day of testing after the winter ban ended. Both men had question marks hanging over the start of their seasons, but luckily for them, their recovery has been remarkably swift.

In 2007, just as everything seemed to be going against Valentino Rossi, with the Yamaha M1 too slow and the Michelin tires seemingly unable to last an entire race, the Italian tax authorities added insult to injury by slapping a monster fine of 112 million Euros. Coming as it did just prior to the Brno round, the media attention distracted the Italian from racing, adding yet another obstacle in his path to regain the MotoGP title.

There had already been plenty of speculation, but now there's yet more confirmation: Ben Spies is getting ready to make the switch to MotoGP. On Thursday, he told Roadracing World that he'll be racing both US MotoGP rounds, at both Indianapolis and Laguna Seca. He also told Roadracing World that he hopes to have two tests lined up on the Suzuki GSV-R MotoGP bike before the races.