As the Ducati Factory World Superbike team finalizes its plans for the introduction of the 1199 Panigale into the series, two things are certain: 2011 champion Carlos Checa will be the team’s lead rider, and Team Althea Racing, who have worked with Ducati since 2010, will not be the team’s sponsor. Continue Reading »
Josh Hayes will make his MotoGP racing debut at the Nov. 6 Valencia Grand Prix in Spain as an injury replacement for fellow American Colin Edwards.
Already set to test the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 M1 after the season-ending race, Hayes was a logical choice to ride in Edwards’ place. Edwards will be sidelined with injuries sustained in the crash at the Sepang round that claimed Marco Simoncelli’s life.
Two-time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes has been invited to test Colin Edwards’ Tech 3 Yamaha YZR-M1 at the MotoGP post-season test.
Tech 3 principal Herve Poncharal told MCN Hayes will get to ride a few laps on the Yamaha M1 Nov. 7 at the end of season test at Spain’s Valencia circuit.
Hayes won the 2010 and 2011 AMA Superbike champion with the Graves Yamaha team, which is sponsored by Monster Energy. The energy drink company also sponsors the Tech 3 MotoGP team, making Hayes’ invitation to the test natural fit.
Carlos Checa has won the 2011 World Superbike Championship and secured Ducati its 17th manufacturer title.
The Althea Ducati rider secured the title with a win in Race One of the Oct. 2 Magny-Cours round in France, and then captured the manufacturer title with another win in Race Two.
Two-time World Superbike Champion James Toseland announced his immediate retirement from motorcycle racing due to a debilitating injury to his right wrist.
Signed with the BMW Motor Italia racing team, Toseland has been limited to just seven of 20 races in this season’s WSBK Championship due to the wrist injury initially suffered during a private test at Spain’s Aragon circuit in March. After undergoing an operation for the injury, Toseland made two attempts at returning to racing, first at the Miller Motorsports Park round in May and again at the Silverstone round in July.
The comeback was again cut short after crashing at the Sept. 2-4 round in Germany’s Nurburgring round. The crash re-aggravated Toseland’s injury, restricting the range of motion on his right wrist. According to BMW, the injury makes it difficult for Toseland to control the throttle and almost impossible for him to navigate right turns.
Quebec teenager Stacey Nesbitt has won the Canadian Superbike Championship’s 2011 Honda CBR125R Challenge title. We’re still checking, but organizers are already calling Nesbitt the first woman to win a national road racing championship (excluding women-only categories).
The 14-year-old from St-Lazare, Quebec, swept both Honda CBR125R Challenge races in the season finale at Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ontario, to win the title with 421 points, 52 points ahead of runner-up Austin Shaw-O’Leary. Nesbitt won five races of ten races over the season including the final four races to cement the title.
The Honda CBR125R Challenge is a national spec racing series introduced to the Canadian Superbike Championship in 2008 following the introduction of the CBR125R sportbike to the Canadian market.
2008 was an interesting year in the world of motorcycles. But the biggest stories of 2008 have left some big questions for 2009. What’s in store for the New Year? We’ll soon find out. Here are some of the top news stories for 2008. Continue Reading »
