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Post by truenorth on Jan 16, 2023 10:13:59 GMT -8
A great read about early bike racing by Hugh Anderson and another by Michelle Duff, Anderson's great rival and friend
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Post by truenorth on Jan 16, 2023 10:40:21 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Jan 17, 2023 7:20:10 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Jan 17, 2023 7:54:20 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Jan 17, 2023 8:16:08 GMT -8
Franco Morbidelli: “I’m looking for redemption this season. I finished with a good sensation. I miss getting on the podium. The Sprint Race? I don’t know what to expect, but an injury would be paid dearly.”
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Post by truenorth on Jan 17, 2023 8:26:42 GMT -8
Matthew Birt: Launch season has started and here’s Fabio Quartararo’s new look for 2023. Looking forward to seeing what El Diablo can do against the Dukes this season.
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Post by truenorth on Jan 17, 2023 9:06:59 GMT -8
‘I'll fight tooth and nail not to have traction control in Moto2!’ When Triumph took over from Honda as the exclusive Moto2 engine supplier in 2019, the class also received a new MotoGP style Magneti-Marelli ECU. The aim was to better prepare intermediate-class riders for the kind of advanced electronics they would need to master in MotoGP. But that doesn’t mean Moto2 got access to all the electronic gadgets possible from the ECU. While a variety of pre-set torque maps and engine braking could now be chosen, a conscious decision was taken not to provide Moto2 with the most well-known electronic aid of all; traction control. Part of the reason was to limit costs and complexity, with MotoGP’s Director of Technology Corrado Cecchinelli telling Crash.net at the time: “Traction control is one of the most famous and effective strategies but unfortunately it's one of the most difficult to tune.” Cecchinelli added: "We didn't introduce traction control because we count on proper engine tuning to make it rideable and we don’t want to add too much complication from the beginning. “[But] it's one of the strategies we could introduce at some time [in the future] if needed, which means if it's needed on track and if it's needed in the rider training process, as one more thing to learn before moving up to MotoGP.” But as Triumph prepares for its fifth season of Moto2 in 2023, the British manufacturer hopes that ‘TC’ continues to stay away.
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Post by truenorth on Jan 17, 2023 10:00:26 GMT -8
miguel oliveira: The new signing of the RNF team explained the reasons for the break with KTM: “He didn't behave badly towards me, but we had different ways of thinking. I wanted the opportunity to become World Champion”
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Post by truenorth on Jan 18, 2023 13:29:49 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Jan 21, 2023 9:44:39 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Jan 21, 2023 9:58:58 GMT -8
^ David Emmett: Most interesting part is Takeo Yokoyama being used to get Japanese engineers ready to work in the MotoGP paddock. Totally different cultural environment.
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Post by truenorth on Jan 21, 2023 11:18:57 GMT -8
Digiantonio and A Marquez Team Gresini 2023
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Post by truenorth on Jan 22, 2023 9:44:06 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Jan 23, 2023 8:32:24 GMT -8
Bagnaia joins Stoner, Lorenzo, Doohan & more in #1 club Take a look at every premier class World Champion to have raced with the famous #1 over the past three decades Over the past 30 years, only eight riders have had the honour of defending the greatest prize in motorcycle racing with the #1 emblazoned across the front of their machines. Greats of the sport from Casey Stoner to Jorge Lorenzo to Mick Doohan all opted to race with the famous number and now there's one more name to add to this elite club: Francesco Bagnaia. The Ducati Lenovo rider will become the first rider in 11 years to race with it and aims to become the first rider in a quarter of a century to defend their premier class crown with the #1. Not since Mick Doohan in 1998 has a rider managed to successfully defend their title whilst racing with the number 1, but Bagnaia will be hoping to end the 25-year curse. Take a look at the eight previous World Champions to race with the #1 in the premier class: CASEY STONER, REPSOL HONDA, 2012 JORGE LORENZO, YAMAHA FACTORY RACING, 2011 CASEY STONER, DUCATI TEAM, 2008 NICKY HAYDEN, REPSOL HONDA, 2007 KENNY ROBERTS JR, TELEFONICA MOVISTAR SUZUKI, 2001 ALEX CRIVILLE, REPSOL HONDA, 2000 MICK DOOHAN, REPSOL HONDA, 1995-1999 KEVIN SCHWANTZ, FACTORY SUZUKI, 1994 WAYNE RAINEY, FACTORY YAMAHA, 1991-1993
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Post by truenorth on Jan 23, 2023 8:40:04 GMT -8
Bagnaia becomes first rider to use #1 in a decade For the first time since Casey Stoner in 2012, the MotoGP™ World Champion will defend his title with the #1 adorned on the front of his bike For the first time in over a decade, the MotoGP™ World Champion will defend his premier class crown with the #1 plate on the front of his machine after Ducati Lenovo Team's Francesco Bagnaia confirmed he will switch across from his #63 in 2023. The 26-year-old will become the first man since Casey Stoner in 2012 to use the famous #1 and only the fourth rider in MotoGP™ history to use it. After both Joan Mir (Repsol Honda) and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) opted to remain with their usual numbers over the past two years, there was much talk as to whether Bagnaia buck the trend and use the historic #1 plate. But an eleven-year wait is now confirmed to come to an end after it was revealed at the Bologna factory's official launch in Italy on Monday morning. "I decided to have both there and the 63 is still on my helmet," said Bagnaia, speaking at the Campioni in Pista event. "But it’s been a long time since we last saw the number 1 in MotoGP. I’ve always admired people racing with the number 1. I’ve always loved it.
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Post by truenorth on Jan 23, 2023 8:43:49 GMT -8
Bautista unveils #1 plate as the covers come off Ducati's 2023 challenger
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Post by truenorth on Jan 23, 2023 8:45:25 GMT -8
BAUTISTA WITH THE NUMBER ONE: a familiar sight on a Ducati, but is it always successful? Roche, Polen, Fogarty, Bayliss, Toseland and Bautista: literally ‘1’ common denominator, but not always with the same answer and outcome The 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is less than a month away from kicking off in style at the mighty Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Australia, with excitement building with each passing day. The first motorcycle road racing World Championship to kick off a season of motorsport action, an iconic year awaits as the 35th anniversary of the Championship closes in. However, all the talk coming into the year has been whether reigning World Champion Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) will sport his traditional #19, or showcase the #1. After a spectacular team launch in the Italian Dolomites of Madonna di Campiglio, the Spaniard will indeed go to defend his crown with the #1. The number one is back on the front of a Ducati in WorldSBK, but it’s been a while… RECENT HISTORY: the #1 is a rare sight for Ducati in WorldSBK It had already been 11 years since Ducati’s last WorldSBK crown, coming with Spaniard Carlos Checa in 2011, after a dominant season. However, going into 2012, he opted to stay with his traditional #7. Despite winning races, he wouldn’t retain the crown. Prior to him, Ducati relied on Troy Bayliss in 2008, the three-time Champion’s final season. He wrapped up the title but wasn’t back to defend his crown in 2009. In 2006, he was also Champion but sported his traditional #21 instead, after using the #1 in 2002, only to come up short in an epic showdown at Imola. TURNING BACK TIME: it was previously commonplace So, who was the last Ducati rider in WorldSBK to display the #1 as they went in search of defending their crown? The answer is James Toseland; the youngest-ever WorldSBK Champion took the 2004 title with only three race wins but after receiving the same engine that teammate Regis Laconi had been using throughout the whole season for the final three rounds of the year (Assen, Imola and Magny-Cours), Toseland finished strongly to become an underdog Champion. The curse of the #1 for Ducati was ever-present though, and Toseland couldn’t deliver the goods, finishing fourth at the end of the year. The ‘curse’ had started in 2002, as Troy Bayliss – having dominated the 2001 season – sported the #1 and led the Championship from start until the final round kicked off. At one point sporting a 58-point advantage, arch-rival Colin Edwards put together one of motorcycle racing’s greatest comebacks, winning the final nine races of the year and overhauling Bayliss’ tally in a stunning final lap battle in Italy. Bautista may be with the #1, but who was the last Ducati Champion to successfully defend the title with it? It hasn’t happened in this millennium; Carl Fogarty reclaimed his title in 1998, his third, following two years of being beaten to the trophy by Troy Corser and John Kocinski respectively. So, going to 1999, the #1 was back on the front of a Ducati for the first time since 1995. Fogarty dominated the 1999 season, just like he did in 1995, and the #1 retained its place aboard Ducati machinery, although 2000 would see Fogarty’s career end in a crash at Phillip Island, and the #1 went to Honda and Colin Edwards. Other occasions where Ducati’s #1 was retained are limited, with Doug Polen keeping it going into 1993, whilst he took it from 1990 Champion and fellow Ducati rider Raymond Roche in 1991, the Frenchman also using the iconic #1, the first Ducati star to do so. PREDICTING THE FUTURE: which list will Bautista be on at the end of 2023? Back to Bautista and whether or not we can expect him to defend it successfully, the answer is of course unclear before any racing action gets underway. However, a stunning season in 2022 saw him take 16 wins and 31 podiums, wrapping the Championship up in Indonesia with three races to spare. Even after that, he took two further wins, including one of the greatest tyre gambles we’d ever seen in Phillip Island’s Tissot Superpole Race, when on a wet-but-drying track, he gambled on full slicks whilst the rest opted for intermediates or full wets. Add on to that some classic victories in final lap battles and taking the Ducati Panigale V4R to new heights at circuits it had previously struggled on, it may well be of the same. Or perhaps, as history has shown us before, the opposition fight back.
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Post by truenorth on Jan 23, 2023 8:48:07 GMT -8
WSBK 2022-2023 testing calendar so far (subject to change)
1st – 2nd December: Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto (Done)
13th – 15th December: Circuit de Jerez – Angel Nieto (Done)
25th – 26th January: Circuit de Jerez – Angel Nieto
31st January – 1st February: Autodromo Internacional do Algarve
20th – 21st February: Dorna Official Test, Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
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Post by truenorth on Jan 24, 2023 7:37:02 GMT -8
MotoGP rider salaries: How much do they reportedly get paid? Marc Marquez is the highest-paid MotoGP rider - but how much money is everyone on the grid reportedly earning?
The MotoGP grid has a large disparity of salaries between highest and lowest - according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, here was the money that each rider pocketed last year…
Marc Marquez - €12.5m Maverick Vinales - €10m Fabio Quartararo - €6m Joan Mir - €6m Francesco Bagnaia - €5m Pol Espargaro - €3.5m Jack Miller, Alex Rins , Franco Morbidelli - €3m Johann Zarco - €2m Alex Marquez, Jorge Martin - €1m Aleix Espargaro - €750,000 Miguel Oliveira - €625,000 Takaaki Nakagami, Brad Binder - €500,000 Enea Bastianini , Fabio di Giannantonio - €375,000 Luca Marini - €300,000 Darryn Binder, Marco Bezzecchi, Raul Fernandez, Remy Gardner - €250,000
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Post by truenorth on Jan 24, 2023 7:45:29 GMT -8
^questionable info from Crash
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