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In Owensboro, Kentucky, the Hayden family are considered royalty, and its shining star was Nicky Hayden. The town, and the world at large, was devastated by Nicky’s passing a year ago, and in his honor the city of Owensboro will unveil a sculpture dedicated to him. The unveiling will take place June 8, at 5:30pm and will be led by Mayor Tom Watson. There, Watson will also declare June 9th as Nicky Hayden Day, in honor of The Kentucky Kid’s racing number 69.

Valentino Rossi could complete the remarkable feat of riding the equivalent of a lap around the world this weekend at Jerez. Of all the things the nine-time MotoGP champion has accomplished over the years, riding around the world on a MotoGP bike is definitely unique (and surely painful at times!). But hearing this news got us thinking – how long has Rossi been racing at the world championship level, anyway? Think you know the answer? Then tell us what you think below.

With but eight points separating the top five riders, MotoGP storms into Jerez on fire, happy to be back in Europe, the contenders looking for a little separation as Round Four is upon us. Jerez is one of those beloved tracks – along with places like Mugello, Assen and Valencia – where riders aspire to join the great ones. With almost a dozen legitimate podium threats starting the race, of which only four have ever won here (in the premier class), the odds of a fifth rider from this grid finishing Sunday standing on the top step of the podium has never been better. Paging Cal Crutchlow.

To Melissa Paris, racing motorcycles is a genderless activity. The motorcycle doesn’t care if you’re male or female – what matters is beating the person in front of you. She’s carried this mindset throughout her racing career. She hadn’t even ridden a motorcycle until the old (in motorcycle terms) age of 20, but she took to it like a fish to water and rose through the ranks quickly, eventually becoming a regular fixture at AMA, then MotoAmerica competition – beating plenty of men along the way.

By now you already know what happened at the snooze fest that was Austin MotoGP (and if you don’t, I highly suggest you read Mr. Allen’s always wonderful MotoGP recap). Marc Marquez stole the show for the sixth straight year, leaving some fans disappointed with the day’s racing. To be fair, Moto2 and MotoAmerica Superbike provided some good racing; the former with the interesting battle for the lead, and the latter with a tight fight for the podium.

Now that we’ve had 10 days to assess the Argentinian misadventure, a consensus seems to have formed around the BS being widely peddled by a petulant Valentino Rossi that Repsol Honda head case Marc Marquez should be put in front of an Italian firing squad and summarily executed. Marquez, it is true, may need to reconsider his approach to racing. This weekend could offer the opportunity he needs for a solitary retreat off by himself for a while, to ruminate on the sport and his place in it, and take the checkered flag when he’s done.

For 1) riding backwards on the grid before the start of yesterday’s Argentine MotoGP race after his bike stalled, and not starting from pit lane as ordered:

Right now would be a pretty good time to forget most everything you thought you learned two weeks ago in the Arabian Peninsula. This week the sadists at Dorna take us from the desert to the jungle. From them sizzling wide open man-made Qatari spaces to a grueling, tighter Argentinian layout hacked out of triple canopy, deep in the humid heart of nowhere. Marquez and the factory Yamahas like this place.

Before we got married, I took my wife to the stock car races at El Cajon Speedway, east of San Diego. It was kind of a test. I wanted to be sure she could handle my Southern, inbred hick-ness before signing on. This was back in the 1980s when there were still a lot of Chevelle-bodied cars running on America’s dirt ovals. In fact, it seemed like just about all the cars were Chevy Chevelles that night.

Kawasaki has been spotted testing a new KX450F race bike in Japan, suggesting big changes are on the way for 2019. The updates include new bodywork, electric start and, most notably, a brand new engine.

The season opener at Losail went mostly according to expectations, which is to say it was crowded up front. At one point I counted nine bikes in the lead group, a sight normally seen in Moto3. French sophomore Johann Zarco led from pole most of the day, fueling a lot of premature trash talk. Once his tires went up, though, it came down to Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez for early bragging rights. Round One goes to the Italian on points. No TKO.

Nothing like the start of a new racing season to turn the iron in a man’s blood into the lead in his pencil. All the speculation, all the testing, all the contingencies will become moot once the lights go out in far-away Qatar. The Alien class – Marc Marquez, Andrea Dovizioso, Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales – is sharpening their fairings in anticipation. Another handful of riders dream of getting their tickets punched in 2018.

ED: Bruce Allen’s 2018 MotoGP season preview continues with a look at what we can expect from each team and their riders. If you missed it, here’s Part 1.

ED: With the pre-season testing now complete, Bruce Allen previews the 2018 MotoGP season. In this first part, Bruce presents his observations on the tests. Check back here next week for Bruce’s team-by-team analysis.

One of MotoGP‘s longstanding partnerships is coming to an end, as Tech3 announced it will stop being Yamaha‘s satellite racing team at the end of the 2018 season.