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Jorge Lorenzo is almost certain to take part in next week's final MotoGP test at Qatar. The Spaniard's participation in the test had been in doubt since Lorenzo broke his wrist during a motocross accident in early February. The injury had already caused Lorenzo to skip the second test at Sepang, and with testing limited to just six days before the season starts in April, Qatar would be the final chance for the Fiat Yamaha rider to test before the championship commences.

Lorenzo has spent a lot of time in physical therapy since his injury, squeezing it in between a full program of personal appearances for several sponsors, as well as appearing on a Spanish TV show. But his recovery has gone better than expected: On Thursday, Lorenzo announced on his Facebook page that he would make a decision on whether to ride at Qatar on Monday, but after physiotherapy on Friday, he announced that he thinks he will be able to take part at Qatar.

Lorenzo's injury once again highlights the risks of such a limited testing schedule. If Lorenzo had been forced to miss Qatar, he would have had just two days of preparation for the 2010 MotoGP season this year. With MotoGP featuring the most sophisticated and advanced racing motorcycles in the world, that surely would have been too little.

The future of the Balatonring circuit near Hungary's Lake Balaton is once again uncertain, after the Hungarian Development Bank MFB refused to underwrite a loan needed for completion of the project, according to the Hungarian business news service MTI-ECO. The loan of 15.3 billion Hungarian Forints HUF (around 57.6 million Euros or 79.3 million dollars) was part of a total package of of over 35 billion HUF in government subsidy needed to complete the 40 billion HUF project.

The MFB refused to underwrite the loan after undertaking a due diligence process. Under the terms of the loan, the state would be providing 70% of the financing of the project, while receiving a 30% stake in the Balatonring circuit. Due diligence revealed that no calculations had been done on the return on investment of the project, making it impossible to judge the value of investing in construction of the circuit. A statement issued by the MFB said that the bank had negotiated with investor about the business risks, but that the investor could not accept the conditions which the MFB had put on the loan.

According to MTI-ECO, the Hungarian government is still committed to the construction of the Balatonring circuit. However, the government were now only prepared to fund the MotoGP round itself, leaving the construction firm - Savoly Motorcentrum Fejleszto - to find other sources of finance for the construction work involved.

That may in itself prove a problem. The project has been surrounded by controversy from the start, starting as a collaboration between the Spanish construction company Sedesa and a Hungarian regional development agency, right before the global economic crisis plunged the Spanish construction industry into meltdown and caused the Hungarian Forint to plummet in value. Initial financing delays meant that the race initially scheduled for last year had to be canceled, and the inaugural race there moved up to September 2010.

The project then seemed to be making headway until earlier this month, when the anti-corruption organization Transparency International and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union called for the project to be halted over concerns over the lack of oversight of public funds. The head of Grupo Milton Management Zrt, the company responsible for managing the project, was convicted of corruption charges in 1995, and the feasibility study of the project had not only not been published, but journalists were refused access to the study, despite making applications under Hungary's freedom of information act.

The accusations appear to be what precipitated the MFB withdrawing support for the project, after a leaked memo showed that the heads of Hungary's finance department opposed funding of the Balatonring circuit. The atmosphere surrounding the project even caused Tamas Suchman, the head of the Balatonring Development Agency, to resign on Thursday. "I do not want to participate in such a project where every kind of accusation has been started, from blackmail to the uncertainty of recouping the investment," Hungarian business website RealDeal.hu reports Suchman as saying.

Whether or not the Balatonring circuit is completed by September, at least the MotoGP calendar will not lose a race. The Motorland Aragon circuit has been nominated as a reserve for the season, ready to take the place of the Hungarian GP should it be canceled. That would give Spain a total of four races held on its territory, but given the spectacular nature of the track close to Alcañiz in the Aragon region, this would most likely be welcomed by both fans and riders.

Just over a month ago today, Valentino Rossi vowed to stop talking about his future in the press. But like everyone who has vowed to give up smoking or lose weight at the start of a new year, Rossi has found that such resolutions can be incredibly difficult to maintain. For at the ceremony on Thursday night where Rossi was presented with the "Winning Italy Award" in recognition of his work in improving Italy's public image abroad, Rossi was once again tempted into making statements on where he will be riding next season.

In response to questions about how much longer he will stay in MotoGP, the Italian living legend put the fears of MotoGP fans and organizers to rest: "I am again enjoying the sport and the desire to compete, so I think I will continue for some more years," Rossi told the press. Rossi could not avoid the question on all of Italy's mind, either. When asked about a potential switch to Ducati, Rossi was very clear: "An Italian on an Italian bike would be nice, yes. But I think I want to stay with Yamaha, which is also a little bit Italian. I would feel like a traitor if I acted any other way, because I feel very good with them."

Rossi also briefly discussed the challenges he faces in 2010, comparing his chief rivals Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner to the rivals he faced in the past. "The young riders in Stoner and Lorenzo seem to me to be more prepared than the old adversaries of [Max] Biaggi and [Sete] Gibernau." When asked who he thought would prove the toughest challenger this year, Rossi replied: "Perhaps Stoner, but only because Jorge is injured and will need a few Grands Prix to fully recover."

The Italian naturally faced comparisons with that other Italian legend, Giacomo Agostini, who was also present to receive a prize, but Rossi waved such comparisons away as impossible to make. "To race where Giacomo raced requires the kind of courage that we simply do not face today."

After Yamaha and Ducati revealed their 2010 bikes, today it was the turn of the smallest of the manufacturers, Suzuki. The Rizla sponsorship remains, with the brand strengthened by having the livery designed by the famous American firm of Troy Lee Designs. The traditional Rizla powder blue remains, but the darker elements make the bike look squatter and rather more brooding. Much more like a MotoGP should look.

Suzuki also released the specifications of the bike, but like the specs provided by every manufacturer in MotoGP, they do not reveal any real information of note, such as bore, stroke, V angle, etc. The engine has received significant upgrades over the winter, to produce more horsepower and better engine characteristics, an improvement which saw both Loris Capirossi and Alvaro Bautista leap up the timesheets during the last test at Sepang. Suzuki has a strong record of testing at the Malaysian track, but they tend to start slipping backwards as the season goes on. With the veteran/rookie pairing of Capirossi and Bautista, perhaps this is the year that Suzuki turns the corner.

Here's Alvaro Bautista's bike:

Specifications

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

Fans of MotoGP are being given the chance to get exclusive access to every MotoGP paddock thanks to Riders for Health and the organisers of MotoGP. The money raised from the sale of the passes will raise funds for Riders, the official charity of MotoGP, in a series of incredible online auctions.

This new MotoGP season is almost here again and in preparation, what will certainly be a fantastic year, MotoGP have donated two pairs of weekend ‘premium paddock passes’ for each race on the 2010 calendar to Riders for Health to auction on their website. To make your bid, visit http://www.riders.org/auction.aspx. 

Forget watching the race at home on the sofa, the two winning bidders and their guests will spend the whole GP weekend behind the scenes in the MotoGP paddock. For a chance to get hold of a pair of passes, just visit the online auction section by clicking here.

The first GP is in Qatar from the 10th-12th April, and the first auction closes at 22:00GMT+2 on 28th March 2010.

These passes aren’t on sale anywhere else. So the winning bidders can be sure they will have a truly exclusive chance to see behind the scenes of MotoGP. Only an extremely limited number of Premium Passes – which grant access to the MotoGP section of the paddock are available – so these passes really are very exclusive.

Each race has its own auction, so fans can bid for the GP closest to them – or the passes could be part of an amazing MotoGP holiday at one of the 18 circuits visited by MotoGP.

In 2009 the auction of paddock passes on our website helped to raise tens-of-thousands of pounds for Riders’ lifesaving work in Africa. The support of MotoGP and its fans is helping Riders to reach millions of people across Africa with regular health care. To find out more about Riders and MotoGP are saving lives with motorcycles, click here.

Please note that the auctions are only for paddock passes and do not include flights or accommodation. These Paddock Passes allow access to the race circuit and paddock for the whole race weekend, they do not give access to any hospitality suites, or grandstands. For more information on the auctions please email auctions@riders.org.

Full list of GPs and the premium paddock pass auction end dates. All auctions close at 22:00 GMT+2:

Whenever fans talk of their dreams of being a world famous motorcycle racer, they have in their minds the image of travelling from circuit to circuit, and focusing on nothing but racing. Of course, life isn't like that, and one of the duties of a factory World Superbike rider is to turn up at motorcycle shows, corporate PR events and a host of other occasions to help market the brand helping to pay their wages. James Toseland understands this, and performs this task admirably, taking advantage of the situation to practice his second passion, playing the piano, at such affairs.

Toseland is currently in Rome for the MotoDays exhibition, helping Yamaha to launch their brand new FZ8 naked bike. While he was there, our friends over at GPOne.com took the opportunity to catch up with him, and did a short video interview with the Sterilgarda Yamaha rider. In the interview, Toseland talks about the transition from MotoGP to World Superbike, his expectations of Portimao, and why so many British riders are in the World Superbike series. Here's the video from GPOne.com:

Ask some of the veterans of the MotoGP paddock who the greatest racer of all time was, and you'll get a fairly short list of names, usually including Valentino Rossi, Giacomo Agostini, Kenny Roberts, Eddie Lawson and Kevin Schwantz. But the answer to that question is almost always followed up by the words "And then there's Freddie Spencer, of course..." Spencer's career was cut short by a wrist injury, but before he was forced to retire, the young American shocked the world by being the only man to win both the 500cc and 250cc World Championships in the same year. Fast Freddie was precocious, sensitive and blindingly, mind-bogglingly fast.

Since retiring from racing, Spencer's fortunes have been very mixed. The Louisiana native ran a successful riding school and was the motorcycle racing commentator for the US SpeedTV channel, but both of those ventures have gone sour. Spencer's riding school was forced to shut down at the end of 2008, after financial problems saw the instructors go unpaid and the bikes repossessed. Spencer's commentary work also dried up, with Daytona legend Scott Russell taking his place in the commentary booth.

There are signs that things are getting even worse for Spencer. The American has been forced to put two of his championship-winning race bikes up for sale. Specialist dealers RMD Motors have up for sale Spencer's 1983 championship-winning Honda NS500 triple and his NSR250 twin, one of the bikes he won that legendary double title on in 1985. The bikes are to be sold as a pair, and are likely to fetch a handsome sum, due to both their rarity and their historical importance.

Potential purchasers should head on over to RMD Motors' website for more details, including who to contact to arrange a viewing. Interested parties with lottery tickets and hope in their heart should head on over to the website anyway, and take a look at some of the other bikes the company has on offer, including a 1950s NSU 250 racer, a 1988 Schwantz Pepsi replica Suzuki RGV250, and my own personal favorite, a 1976 Yamaha TZ750.

Rain once again ruined testing for the Moto2 test at Jerez, the bad weather chasing the class all over Spain throughout its off-season testing program. Hopes that the weather might brighten up for Monday's session were dashed, the rain falling on and off all day. "These three days at Jerez have been pretty much a waste of time," Tech 3 boss Hervé Poncharal told MotoMatters.com, "Even on Sunday, the track was never really dry, there were wet patches still in places."

Ant West took advantage of the wet conditions in the morning to set the fastest time of the mixed session, ahead of Alex de Angelis and Mike di Meglio, but in the 50 minute qualifying simulation at 4pm, De Angelis moved easily ahead of the rest of the field, ending the session and the day with three quarters of a second advantage over his competitors. Toni Elias confirmed his role as favorite for the title, finishing the day in second spot, the Gresini rider having been at or near the top at every test held so far.

Behind Elias came a surprise. Tech 3's star signing Raffaele de Rosa has struggled to adapt to the Moto2 bikes so far. Along with many of the other former two-stroke riders, the Italian has found it hard to adapt to the harsh engine braking of the Honda CBR600 engine. The standard Suter slipper clutch only mitigates some of the back torque, leaving much more than the 250 and 125 riders are used to dealing with. But De Rosa made a big leap forward at the Jerez test, with a good deal of help from teammate Yuki Takahashi. The Japanese rider raced the first part of the season in MotoGP last year, but perhaps more relevantly, has been closely involved in HRC's Suzuka 8 Hours program, riding a factory CBR1000RR.

This experience, along with Takahashi's extremely methodical way of working, has allowed the Tech 3 rider to be close to the front during testing, while helping develop the chassis the team has built itself and give advice to teammate De Rosa. "Yuki has been a very important asset for us," Hervé Poncharal said. "He has helped Raffaele a lot, and he has developed the bike a lot."

The most notable absentee on the final day of testing was Kenny Noyes. Noyes and Toni Elias have been the only two riders to be consistently in the top three, in every test they have attended, and the Jack&Jones Banderas rider has surprised a lot of observers who are less familiar with the Spanish championship. Noyes and teammate Joan Olive - another former two-stroke rider struggling with the back torque of a four-stroke engine - decided to pack up early and head back to the team's Barcelona base, having already put in plenty of wet weather testing.

In the 125cc class, Tito Rabat headed the severely thinned field in the wet, ahead of the Bancaja Aspars of Bradley Smith and Nico Terol. Of the riders who had dominated in what passed for dry weather at the Andalucian track, Marc Marquez had packed up early due to the weather, while Pol Espargaro could not match his blistering dry pace in the wet.

The Moto2 and 125cc teams now head back to their respective bases, to work on the data they have gathered so far. In a little over two weeks' time, from March 27th to 29th, the support classes will once again convene at Jerez, to continue testing. In the meantime, they will be providing burnt offerings to every deity connected with the climate they can find.

Overall Moto2 times from the final day of testing at Jerez:

Times for the 1st and 2nd sessions below the 125 times.

Overall times for the 125cc class:

Moto2 Times for session 1 (10am to 4pm):

Moto2 times for Session 2 (4pm to 4:50pm):

Testing continued for the Moto2 and 125cc class at Jerez today under considerably better conditions than prevailed yesterday. The morning saw the best of the weather, the sun coming out to dry a still damp track, but the afternoon saw intermittent rain making the track damp from time to time, and complicating testing.

Toni Elias was the rider who best used the conditions to his advantage, setting a strong lap in the early afternoon of 1'45.024, about 1.7 seconds off the fastest time set during last year's 250 race here, in much sunnier, hotter conditions. Elias was half a second faster than the Colombian Yonny Hernandez, and nearly seven tenths quicker than American Kenny Noyes, who had led during the morning. Alex de Angelis continued his strong form from yesterday, setting the 4th quickest time, ahead of the Forward Racing Team of Jules Cluzel and Claudio Corti. Julian Simon, the fastest man at the previous test at Valencia, crashed early in the session, but walked away unhurt, and could manage only the 10th fastest time.

In the 125cc class, Marc Marquez got the better of Pol Espargaro and Efren Vazquez, the three Spaniards continuing their very strong form during testing. Bancaja Aspar riders Nico Terol and Bradley Smith continue to be off the pace, despite the Bancaja Aspar team winning the championship last season, Terol giving up 1.7 seconds to Marquez while Smith cedes nearly 1.9 seconds. The Andalucia Cajasol team of Danny Webb and Alberto Moncayo are not far behind in 6th and 8th respectively, just a couple of tenths behind Webb's compatriot Smith.

Testing for both classes will conclude on Monday, with hopes of the weather smiling on the class at least in the morning. The drizzle and heavy wind should subside a little, as the storm system which has lashed Spain's southern coast heads towards the northeast, though rain is forecast to fall later in the afternoon.

Photo copyright Banderas Racing

Results of day 2 for the Moto2 class:

Results of day 2 for the 125cc class:

Here's a treat for the many fans nostalgic for the days of the 500cc two strokes: A three-part documentary about Wayne Gardner's 1986 season in the then 500cc Grand Prix class. It features much to enjoy: A much younger and bearded Jerry Burgess, a much younger and slimmer Stuart Shenton, and interviews with Randy Mamola and Eddie Lawson. It also serves to remind the viewer just how much more dangerous racing was back then: Note the armco and lack of runoff at many of the tracks shown in the documentary. A fascinating look back at the past in 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3