Kenny Noyes

After being ousted by the Arguiñano Moto2 team by a paying rider, American Moto2 rider Kenny Noyes has finally found another ride. Noyes is to race with Palmeto Kawasaki in the Spanish CEV Moto2 championship aboard a factory-backed Suter. The American - who scored a pole in 2010 and a best result of 5th in 2011 - will be hoping to attract the attention of the Moto2 teams racing in the World Championship as a potential replacement rider in the series.

Below is the press release from Palmeto Kawasaki:

Kenny Noyes Signs with PL Racing for Spanish Moto2 Championship

After the FIM released the provisional entry lists for MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 for 2012, Indianapolis Motor Speedway issued the following press release commenting on the upcoming MotoGP season:

The FIM today released the provisional entry lists for all three Grand Prix classes, and the grids are looking remarkably healthy. Some 21 riders will line up in the MotoGP class, the Moto2 grid has been shrunk to a more manageable 33 entries, and 32 riders will be at the start for the inaugural season of racing in the Moto3 class, the grid the same size as it was for last year's 125cc class, which Moto3 replaces.

There are no surprises in the MotoGP class. As expected, there are 21 entries: 12 factory prototype entries and 9 CRT entries. Of the factory prototypes (which includes satellite machines), the three factory teams remain unchanged with the exception of the reduction of the Repsol Honda squad from three riders to two, Andrea Dovizioso having been dropped, despite finishing 3rd in the championship in 2011 ahead of Dani Pedrosa, who retains his seat. Dovizioso joins Cal Crutchlow at Monster Tech 3, Yamaha maintaining its commitment at 4 YZR-M1 machines. Both Honda and Ducati have cut back to just two satellite bikes apiece, with the bikes spread over four different teams. Stefan Bradl, whose usual number, 65, was retired in honor of Loris Capirossi, has elected to use the number 6.

The latest provisional entry list of Moto2 riders for the 2012 season:

Press releases from the 125cc and Moto2 teams after the race at Le Mans:

There has been much lamenting of late that the MotoGP paddock has been full of talk and not much action. There have been plenty of complaints about the dangerous riding of certain riders, and not much evidence to back the accusations up with. Well, that certainly changed at Le Mans.

But before we get to the controversy - and there was plenty of it, and this time, it was real, not artificially stirred up by the media (mea culpa) - it behooves us to talk about the race. For there was a lot of interesting data that got buried under the polemic, which may prove key for the rest of the season.

The winner was entirely predictable, though the difficulty Casey Stoner had in securing the win, at least for the first third of the race, was rather less expected. Stoner, he said, had had about as near a perfect weekend as it was possible to have, blitzing every session and going on to win the race by an obscene amount - though obviously assisted by the removal of Dani Pedrosa and Marco Simoncelli from the proceedings. The Casey Stoner we saw at Le Mans this weekend was the Casey Stoner that most pundits had backed at the start of the year, after he had dominated much of preseason testing. With the 2011 Ohlins forks now working for him, Stoner looks like being a very hard rider to catch.

Another couple of press releases from the people behind Moto2 for the Jerez race. One from Bel Ray, who sponsor the Tech 3 Moto2 squad, the other from FTR, one of the major chassis suppliers for the Moto2 grid:

Ever since Valentino Rossi joined Ducati, the burning question of just how competitive the Desmosedici GP11 is has been clouded by Rossi's shoulder injury. The weakened shoulder - a result of training accident in which Rossi hyperextended his shoulder, fixed by surgery in November of 2010 - has made it very difficult to judge how fast Rossi could be on the bike if he could ride the Ducati unhampered by his shoulder. As a consequence, debate has raged among fans and pundits over how much or Rossi's deficit to put down to the shoulder, and how much to the bike.

Such shoulder injuries are relatively common in motorcycle racing - at Qatar, the list of riders recovering from post-season shoulder surgery was alarmingly long - as being thrown from a moving motorcycle at speed almost invariably causes some kind of damage to shoulders, arms and hands. Add to this the fact that the shoulder is one of the most complex joints in the body, and certainly the one with the largest range of motion, and you begin to understand just how big an effect a shoulder injury can have.

The Usual Suspects

Don't walk away

The tale of MotoGP so far: Where is everybody?

Testing and racing, two different things. Valentino Rossi suddenly made up a good few positions during FP1

The announcement that the Jack&Jones team was pulling out of the Moto2 World Championship came as a something of a shock, for several reasons. Firstly, European fashion retailer Jack&Jones had been involved in motorcycle racing for several years; secondly, the withdrawal left both Kenny Noyes - Moto2's only American competitor, and a popular figure in Spain, where he is based - and Gabor Talmacsi - still a huge star in Hungary - out of a ride for 2011; but perhaps most surprising of all was the loss of face for Antonio Banderas, the Spanish / Hollywood actor who had backed the team.

The reason given was unsurprising; title sponsor Jack&Jones had pulled out of the project, leaving no money to run the team. Since the announcement, further stories have emerged that the team's finances were not in order throughout 2010: the team's press officer has issued a number of statements in which she claims that team manager Dani Devahive has failed to pay her, and the lack of development the riders complained of has been put down to an apparent financial dispute between Promoracing (the organization behind the team) and Harris, the UK-based chassis builders who supplied the frames for the team's Moto2 effort.

The Moto2 entry list remains a work in progress, as teams granted starting places struggle with finding sponsorship, and alter their entries accordingly. The latest victim of sponsorship woes is the longest named team on the grid, the Jack&Jones By Antonio Banderas Racing team. The Jack&Jones squad had signed Kenny Noyes and Gabor Talmacsi to campaign the 2011 season, but after their title sponsor, the urban clothing brand Jack&Jones, decided to pull out of racing sponsorship, the team has been left without sufficient funds to continue.

With the weather greatly improved from Friday, our shooter-on-the-scene Andrew Gosling of TBGSport ventured beyond the confines of pitlane, and sent us back the following shots:

Peek-a-boo part 1: Randy de Puniet

Strong winds, torrential rain and flooding, and one of the fastest tracks in the world. Kenny Noyes has his work cut out learning Phillip Island.

Looking to the future: Karel Abraham will be in MotoGP next year

Valentino Rossi's leg has healed sufficiently to perform his pre-ride rituals again

Kenny Noyes' homecoming did not go as the likeable American had hoped

That faux-hawk hairdo didn't work out for Nicky. It was gone by Misano

We should have known that the writing was on the wall when Valentino Rossi debuted his "Farewell" helmet at Laguna Seca

Jorge Lorenzo is redefining "unstoppable" this season

Kenny Noyes, one of three US riders crowding the Moto2 class at Indy