Ago.

Luca di Montezemolo

Neil

Virgil?

Are we not getting pictures from the test on Autosport?

Risil's answer is the most reasonable! ICK!!!!!! You all suck.

CD, I don't think the photog was there? There are pictures on crash.net, and on the ancient Italian's website (not Virgil's, although The Aeneid certainly deserves one. But I digress.)

That would seem to be a first for the Malaysia test. I know there has been in the past as Rossi's famous 'running crash' was caught at this test.

Yes - there may be a lot of "firsts" happening on the journalistic front this year, given all the financial cutbacks.

Superbike planet has a few photos

Having re-read it a few times now whilst sober I have to agree, what was I going on about?

Andy

Jorge Lorenzo has suffered a massive pre-season blow after the 2009 MotoGP world championship runner-up broke his right hand in a motocross training accident yesterday (Thursday). The 22-year-old was riding near Montmelo when he suffered a slow speed crash

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sp...d/?R=EPI-122124

It seems every year there is a rider who get's injured by doing motorcross...

you can write Lorenzo off the title challenge then

*facepalm*

Oh, come on. This is a guy who rode with two broken ankles in 2008, and who went on to take a podium at Laguna (and continued to mount a decent title challenge thereafter) after dislocating his collarbone and smashing his foot at Laguna last year.

He'll be fine. He's probably just sitting out the test to ensure that he doesn't do any more damage. If it were a race, you can be assured he'd be riding.

QFT, why don't they do some track work instead? They do motorcross work then, if they haven't damaged themselves, say they are still rusty when they get back on a motogp bike, so whats the point? Safer and more practical to get something more similar.

Beanoid is right, he will be ok for the season, but only that he will be there. Already Rossi is half a second up, with another test he and Burgess and that side of the garage will look to extend it further. Can't say I am unhappy of course

Andy

Yep. I would guesstimate that 95% of my injured moto-friends are injured on the dirt, not asphalt.

Should be fine before Qatar test! Nothing serious here.

Ssssshh. . . . I know, huh?

we sure that jorge's motocross hand injury isn't a montoya-like coverup after the photoshoot with tatiana?

Strange thing is, she looks more manly than he does. . . .

Dammit, Jorge!

If his hand is not fully recovered i would suggest he should skip the tests and be at the start 100% fully recovered. But yes this really is an advantage for Rossi, 2 more tests then Lorenzo and since they won't be sharing data it's even an bigger advantage.

Of course, it could just be a clever ploy to not wear his very limited supply of engines out too soon. . . .

Are they already on the engine count?
I thought it started only at the Qatar GP.

Yeah, I think you're right--I just read through the rules, and it says they're limited to six engines for the duration of the 18-race schedule. I read somewhere that it started at the last test, but I can't remember where. Obviously, whoever wrote it was on crack.

lol
Okay.

What TV channel in Europe has WSBK? I`m in Astana but I get Eurosport here. I wonder if I`ll be able to watch it.

Here it's Eurosport as well.

But most of the times they only do or 1 race live and race 2 delayed, or it's race 1 on eurosport 1 and race 2 on eurosport 2, or both delayed......

Can you follow it? I can't either, eurosport does do some crazy things i will never understand.

The six engine rule is going to hurt Lorenzo if he can't get testing, so you are part right but the other way 'round

As the engines come to end of life there will be various scenarios, routines, compromises etc he will not have rehearsed. Stoner and Rossi will have an advantage. It's a stupid rule BTW and will cost the factories more money than the status quo at a time when another format change is being prepared. Yet another unforced error from the collective MGP management.

Will it? I'm pretty sure F1 spends less on engines now. They end up spending it somewhere else but at least a private team isn't forced to pay an outlandish amount for a mediocre engine.

If I was a manufacturer in MotoGP I'd be scratching my head/pissed off/confused right about now...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81548

Nah, it`s simple. Everybody wants 1000cc bikes back, but the manufacturers don`t want to throw all their investment in the 800cc away so quicky. So these CRT rules allow for new and relatively competitive entries, basically privateers, to join while also not pissing up the manufacturers and making a waste of their efforts.

Check out what Kropotkin says at http://www.motomatters.com/news/2010/02/17..._more_fuel.html

I've always wondered how one really defines a privateer.. The criteria shall be interesting.

Phew, ok, that really clarified things. Thanks for the link.

No problem.

On a self centered note, my season is nearing kickoff as well. I'm taking the bike that I bought at the end of last year in to have a fuel and ignition map made for this altitude next week then doing 2 trackdays that weekend. After that I'll be pulling the plastics off to paint and I'll be set.. at least my equipment will be.

Goals for this year are to win as many novice races as possible, as well as the novice championship. In the expert races I aim to start the season in the top 15 and make my way up to the top 10 by the last rounds, taking top novice (most points scored in a single class by a novice) honors as well.

I've got the bike and the budget, we'll see if the balls are there.

Give um heck Chubby!
Keep us updated and lets not forget a couple of pics.

All the best Chubby! Do keep us posted and lotsa pics as well.
BTW, what bike are you riding? Very keen on knowing the range of modifications you've done to your ride.

I ride a 180cc tiddler here in India.

Cheers

Nice.
Keep us updated.

Give 'em heck Chubby!

Neil

Good Luck Chubby!

Wow, thanks everyone!

Carbuff: It's a 2006 R6. Supersport legal motor, fancy ECU, titanium exhaust, Ohlins fork internals and shock... The usual racing goodies.

I'll be sure to drop some pictures and news on here every once in a while.

audio clips of your bike chubby if possible. we need some music over here
cheers and good luck!

Keep it on the island Chubby

Thanks again guys.

So awesome to see Cluzel already at the top in Moto2 testing. It was so frustrating to watch him fall chasing the factory guys last year, just riding beyond the machine that he had. Hopefully there's some parity in Moto2 and there should be with the spec engine.

You go, CD!

Okay Chubby.
Looks like you've dobbed yourself in for a regular update in our 2010 bikes thread.
Best of luck.

Hehe, I hope to have a blog up and running with race reports, pictures and video. I have the domain and web space but haven't gotten around to actually setting up the site. Should be up and running by next month though.

Hmmm.... Moto2 times from the shakedown test slower than Spanish Supersport times in Catalunya.... Mind you the Moto2 bikes competed in the Formula Extreme series and they managed 1:48s around the track.

I love little bikes... Shame the manufacturers are only interested in selling the big-margin monsters over here. The racing industry could do a lot worse than helping promote 80/125/250 competition in continental Asia. They could have a grand final in Macau. It would certainly be more sustainable and beneficial than these Rossi/Lorenzo tours around Thailand.

Good luck Chubby_Deuce!

Thanks Risil.

I wish we'd get more small bikes here in the US. Your options are sort of limited if you want anything less than a 600cc sport bike. Really it's just between 250cc twins and 650 twins.. The DRZ 400 is an option but it's a dirt bike single and won't handle much freeway riding. I think there's some 450cc dual sports out there but it's an unattractive package to sell to the average rider. I bet there'd be a market for 400cc I4 or V4 again, with people here being more mindful of gas prices as well as emissions.

I might end up splurging on a last-year's-model-but-new Yamaha WR250X once the weather clears up... wouldn't do it if that single wasn't purpose built for road use, which the DRZ motor is not really. Even so I'm still iffy.