Misano, Italy

The one place that everyone wants to be at a MotoGP race is in the paddock. Simultaneously, it is one of the most difficult places to get into, as, quite simply, Dorna does not sell passes into the paddock. The usual way - other than in a professional capacity, or working as a marshal - is to purchase a VIP package through one of the very few specialist travel companies authorized to issue paddock passes, such as our friends over at Pole Position Travel.

But now, MotoGP's (and MotoMatters.com's) official charity organization Riders For Health are providing an extra route into the paddock. Today, the charity announced that they will be auctioning off pairs of paddock passes for each of MotoGP's 18 races this season, with the money raised going towards Riders' outstanding work providing primary health care in Africa. If you want to get into the paddock and have a chance of meeting your own personal hero (be it Valentino Rossi, Bradley Smith or even Jerry Burgess), then read the press release below carefully, and dig deep for Riders.

Exclusive MotoGP paddock pass auction for Riders

The weather gods really do have it in for the Moto2 class. The teams that had chosen to skip last week's Moto2 test at Barcelona seemed to have made a wise choice after the rain ruined most of those three days of testing. But the Gresini, Scot and JIR teams -featuring MotoGP refugees Toni Elias, Alex de Angelis and Niccolo Canepa, along with former 250 star Mattia Pasini and Russian rookie Vladimir Ivanov - were given the same treatment that the Barcelona teams had received from the elements: At Misano, it rained just about all day.

The miserable weather saw the Moto2 bikes spend most of the time in the garage. De Angelis and Canepa spent time comparing the Rapid Inside NCR Scot bike against a set of stock Honda CBR600s, and De Angelis came away suitably impressed. "It's hard to fully evaluate the bike after so few laps," the Italian rider told GPOne.com, "but the first impressions from today are that the bike is very good, much more responsive, agile, and lighter than the CBR600. It's easier to handle and has a lot more grip."

At the same time as they announced the provisional entry lists for World Superbike and World Supersport, the FIM also released a revised calendar for the series. The revisions consist of a single change: The British round at Donington has been moved to Silverstone.

The move is the final episode in a long saga, both tragic and farcical in equal measure. It started with the ambitious plans of altering the Donington Park circuit to allow the return of Formula One, and ended with the bankruptcy of DVLL, handing the lease and a torn-up track unsuitable for racing back to the circuit's owners, the Wheatcroft family. It also sees Silverstone completely replace Donington as the main venue for world-class motorcycle racing.

The contrasts between the plans of the two circuits are key to their outcomes. DVLL, the company that ran Donington Park, had a huge and ambitious plan to build a new track and new world class facilities, at a cost of over 130 million pounds. Silverstone, on the other hand, made a few strategic changes to the track layout and spectator areas at an estimated cost of just 5 million. DVLL is bankrupt, and Silverstone has MotoGP, Formula One, World Superbikes and BSB. Such is the price of hubris.

Putting together the calendar for any motorcycle racing series is always a puzzle, depending on a huge number of factors such as circuit availability, travel distance, expense and a host of others. Alongside all of these more obvious factors, the MotoGP calendar also takes into account the scheduling of Formula One. An informal agreement exists between the bosses of Formula One and MotoGP to avoid direct calendar clashes wherever possible, in order to ensure the highest possible TV audiences for both series.

During the last round of changes to the Formula One calendar, the FIA appear to have forgotten about this gentlemen's agreement, as the revised dates have caused three clashes with the provisional 2010 MotoGP calendar announced earlier this summer. The three events that will fall on the same weekend are the Le Mans MotoGP round and the Monaco F1 Grand Prix; the Mugello MotoGP round and the Turkish F1 race; and perhaps most worrying of all, the Misano MotoGP race and the F1 race at Monza, just a few hundred kilometers up the A14 highway in Milan.

The consequences of the dramatic last lap incident at the Misano 125cc race are going to be severe for Ongetta ISPA's Andrea Iannone. After punting Pol Espargaro into the gravel in a no-hope dive into the final corner, Iannone then dished out a headbutt to the Spaniard, after Espargaro smashed Iannone's screen in retaliation at being slammed off into the dirt.

At Estoril, the Ongetta team issued a press release announcing that two sponsors had withdrawn their support for the Italian over his actions at the previous round, and demanded that their stickers be removed from the bike. The press release states that the sponsors "have expressed their disappointment over the behavior of Andrea Iannone," and that they "do not wish to be associated with this type of behavior."

The Lorenzo Saga - several weeks of indecision about which factory Jorge Lorenzo would sign for - has deeper implications than we ever suspected. Obviously, if Lorenzo had gone to Honda or Ducati, that would have catalyzed a serious reshuffle among the top riders, but only now are the motivations of the various players coming to light.

Dani Pedrosa - another key player - was brutally honest in the assessment of his choice to sign a new deal with Honda this weekend. It was, he told Italian TV, his second choice, after the option of going to Yamaha fell through. "Put simply, I signed [with Honda] because there was no room at Yamaha, which would have been a good move." With a move to Yamaha no longer possible, Pedrosa was forced to give Honda one more chance. "I have put my trust in Honda for one more year to see if they can build a better bike. Otherwise, if there is no improvement after the year, maybe it will be finished."

Pedrosa's statement to Italian television explains all too clearly why the Spaniard signed just a one-year deal with HRC. Pedrosa has been openly critical of Honda, expressing his impatience at the factory's inability to produce a competitive bike, a fact that was acknowledged by HRC boss Tetsuo Suzuki earlier this year. There has obviously been a marked improvement in the past few months, but it has not been enough to challenge Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo on equal terms.

With Pedrosa, Rossi, Lorenzo and Casey Stoner all set to be negotiating new contracts in 2010, and all of the riders expressing some level of dissatisfaction with their current employers, next season could see a huge rider reshuffle during mid-season, with the three major manufacturers spending huge sums of money to attract the available talent. All the cost cutting the factories have engaged in this year is likely to be undone in 2011. They will have to hope that the economic recovery is in full swing by then.

After the official announcement earlier today that Dani Pedrosa had signed a one-year contract with Repsol Honda, we predicted that MotoGP's silly season in 2010 would the most frantic ever, as the contracts of all of the Fantastic Four - Pedrosa, Ducati's Casey Stoner, and Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo - are due to expire at the end of 2010. Little did we realize just how prophetic those words would be, or just how soon the hunt would be opened.

The first hints came in a press conference given by Shuhei Nakamoto, vice president of HRC, announcing the contract extension of Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso. During the session, Nakamoto was asked about Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi. If they were interested in joining Honda, Nakomoto said, HRC would be very happy to have them. A statement that seems obvious at first, but given that both Stoner and Rossi have been rather uncomplimentary about HRC since leaving Honda, still an interesting step.

The press conference discussed more than just Honda's rider choice for 2010 and 2011, though. Nakamoto-san was asked about the Bridgestone tires, to which he replied that Honda was only getting about 70-80% of the maximum performance out of the tires. He admitted, though, that Honda could hardly go running to the other manufacturers for advice. As for the choice of Ohlins or Showa suspension next year, HRC had not yet made a decision. The testers in Japan had provided contradictory data and opinions, so a decision on 2010 would have to wait.

One burning question was the role of Alberto Puig inside the Repsol Honda team. Had it changed? A little, Nakamoto told the press. Mike Leitner was the team manager, he said, but Puig was still Pedrosa's manager, and the rumors about HRC wanting to keep Puig out of the garage were not true. As for their personal relationship, "our relationship is not bad," Nakamoto said," But we are not friends."