Laguna Seca, USA

After already having staged the first race, the World Superbike calendar has finally been updated and lost its provisional status. Today, the FIM issued an official, finalized version of the 2013 World Superbike calendar, confirming the changes we reported on yesterday.

The Silverstone race has been confirmed, and the Subject To Contract status has been removed from the Portimao and Imola rounds. The round originally scheduled for June 23rd has been scrapped, and a new round scheduled for Istanbul Park on September 15th. The replacement of Istanbul Park for the 23rd June round, for which Brno had originally been penciled in, means that the Superstock calendar is reduced by one round, from 10 races to just 9, while the World Superbike calendar now has 15 rounds planned, including two races in the UK, at Donington and Silverstone, and a trip across the Atlantic to Laguna Seca.

Below is the official press release issued by the FIM containing the updated and finalized calendar:

FIM Superbike, Supersport World Championships & FIM Superstock 1000cc Cup

New round on the 2013 calendar

AMA Superbike runner-up Blake Young will ride the Attack Performance CRT machine at all three US MotoGP rounds this year. The former Yoshimura Suzuki rider has signed with Attack Performance owner Richard Stanboli to race at the Austin, Laguna Seca and Indianapolis rounds of MotoGP, aboard the Kawasaki-powered CRT machine designed and built by Stanboli and his team.

The Attack CRT bike has been undergoing some major changes since making its debut at Laguna Seca in 2012, where it was ridden by US veteran racer Steve Rapp. According to Roadracing World, Attack owner Stanboli has modified the chassis to work better with the Bridgestone tires, and has altered the firing order of Kawasaki ZX-10R engine to more closely resemble a Yamaha R1 engine. Rapp failed to qualify at Laguna Seca, at what was virtually a shakedown test for the Attack machine, and finished 14th at Indianapolis, ahead of James Ellison on the PBM machine, and Aaron Yates on the GPTech CRT machine, scoring two valuable championship points.

The FIM today issued a press release confirming the news that the Indian round of World Superbikes has been moved to November 17th, as we reported earlier today. Below is the official press release:

FIM Superbike, Supersport World Championships & FIM Superstock 1000cc Cup

2013 Provisional calendar, updated 15 January (Change in bold)

The World Superbike race in India has been moved from the 10 March to the 17 November due to an insufficient period of time to properly finalise the training of the marshals and medical staff around the racetrack. FIM representatives will be at the Indian track on 19, 20 and 21 this January, in order to carry out the final racetrack homologation and provide the relevant seminars about the different aspects involved in the sporting organisation of the event.

FIM Superbike, Supersport World Championships & FIM Superstock 1000cc Cup

New round on the 2013 calendar

A new round will be included in the FIM Superbike & Supersport World Championships. It will be held on the circuit of Intercity Istanbul Park near Istanbul (Turkey) on September 15, 2013. The 2013 updated calendar is the following:

The FIM today issued a revised version of the 2013 MotoGP calendar. The new calendar is only a minor update to the initial calendar issued on September 21st, with only one real change, the switching of the Sachsenring to a week earlier. That move was forced on the FIM, as Formula One had scheduled the Grand Prix of Germany at the Nurburgring for the same date. Holding an F1 race and a MotoGP race in the same country and on the same date was not a viable situation, and so the Sachsenring race was moved.

The other update to the calendar was not a change, but a confirmation. The Grand Prix of the Americas has been confirmed as taking place on April 21st, at the brand new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. That had been widely expected, but could not be confirmed until contracts were signed. The continuing dispute between the Circuit of the Americas and Kevin Schwantz over the rights to organize the Austin round of MotoGP will not affect the scheduling of the race.

Below is the MotoGP calendar for 2013:

In what will be a popular announcement, InFront announced the return of the crowd-pleasing track Laguna Seca to the World Superbike calendar in 2013. After an eight-year absence, the Californian track, famed for its brutal last corner and the roller-coaster Corkscrew chicane, will once again give the fans unforgettable action. 

Whether it replaces Miller is yet to be seen, but the calendar is shaping up to be a good one.

The provisional MotoGP calendar has taken a little longer than normal to appear. An initial calendar had been expected at Brno in late August, but no calendar was forthcoming at the Czech Grand Prix. The next rumored date for the calendar to be released was the weekend of the Misano round of MotoGP, but once the paddock assembled at Misano, it became apparent it would emerge a few days later - MotoMatters.com was told by an IRTA representative that the calendar would be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday this week. On Tuesday, the Austin Statesman newspaper reported that the calendar would be out on Friday, but the excessive enthusiasm of Loris Capirossi saw the former racer and current MotoGP safety advisor leak the 2013 calendar on his Twitter page on Thursday night.

After yesterday's interview with Dani Pedrosa, it was just a matter of time before the Repsol Media Service issued their tradition mid-season interview with reigning World Champion Casey Stoner. In the intervew, The Australian talks to the Repsol PR team about his season so far, the difficulties of defending a championship, the intense level of competition at the top of the championship, and what to expect from Marc Marquez when he moves up to the premier class. The full text of the press release interview is below:

“I am World Champion and I don’t give up easily”

Casey Stoner faces the second half of the season eager to defend his Crown as reigning MotoGP World Champion.

Repsol Media Service - Wednesday 01/08/2012

In one of the closest seasons of recent years, reigning MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner has taken four victories to date. His most recent triumph came this past weekend at Laguna Seca, adding to a further three podiums from the opening ten races of 2012. The Repsol Honda Team’s Australian rider is third in the overall standings and will be trying to take a second consecutive title this year to sign off his career on a high note.

Just past the halfway point of the season, how do you evaluate your riding, the team and the bike so far?

Bridgestone issued their usual post-race debrief after the Laguna Seca round of MotoGP. This time, Masao Azuma discusses the different strategies used to make both hard and soft compounds at the US GP. The press release is below:

Laguna Seca MotoGP™ debrief with Masao Azuma

Wednesday 1 August 2012

Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium, Hard. Rear: Soft, Medium (Asymmetric)
Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Hard (Main), Soft (Alternative)

The 2012 United States Grand Prix was won by Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner, the reigning MotoGP™ champion taking the checkered flag ahead of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo in second place and teammate Dani Pedrosa who finished third. The race was run at a fierce pace, with the overall race time being over six seconds faster than last year, while Pedrosa set a new record fastest lap on lap five of the thirty-two lap race.

Going into the summer break, the ever industrious Repsol Media service have issued a press release containing an interview with Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, in which the Spaniard looks back over the season so far. In the interview, Pedrosa also discusses how the 1000s have affected the racing, what it takes to win a race this year, what influence the tires have had and the prospect of sharing a garage with Marc Marquez.

Read the interview in full below:

“This year we are all at the limit of our possibilities”

Dani Pedrosa, satisfied with the first half of 2012 and eager to continue pushing for the title in MotoGP’s extremely tight battle for supremacy.

Repsol Media Service - Tuesday 31/07/2012

The Spanish rider for the Repsol Honda Team has been at his most consistent so far this season, stepping onto the podium at nine of the ten races contested to date and taking victory at the German Grand Prix. Second in the standings, Pedrosa will rest up during the two-week summer break and think about the remaining eight Grands Prix that will decide the MotoGP World Championship for 2012. He remains one of the strongest candidates for the title.

You’re second in the World Championship and 19 points off the lead at the halfway stage. Is the season going as expected?

Laguna Seca has a habit of throwing the championship a curve ball. The epic race between Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi in 2008 was a prime example, a turning point in the championship when Rossi halted what looked like the inexorable rise of Casey Stoner. Last year, too, Laguna proved to be key moment in the championship, when Stoner stopped Jorge Lorenzo's resurgence with one of the bravest passes in racing for a long time, through the ultra-fast Turn 1. With Laguna Seca the last race going into the summer break, winning or losing at the US GP can have a dramatic effect on the momentum of the championship.

Whether the same will be said of Laguna Seca in 2012 will only be clear at the end of the season. But it has all the signs of being a significant moment, for more than just the five points Casey Stoner clawed back from Jorge Lorenzo. The race, if not thrilling, was at least tense: there was little between the two men for most of the race, Stoner shadowing Lorenzo closely, snapping at his heels but not quite able to attempt a pass. The turning point came on lap 18. As the leading pair plunged down the Corkscrew, Lorenzo's sliding rear tire almost threw him out of the saddle. "I closed my eyes during the highside," the Yamaha man said afterwards, "and I was happy to still be in the seat when I opened them again."

Not bad for a first timer

Lorenzo looked like he had it in the bag. But then he didn't

Start the shark music

Press releases issued by the MotoGP teams after the race at Laguna Seca on Sunday: