MotoGP

A new rider will take over Pedrosa's Honda in Jerez

Repsol Honda will have a new rider on Dani Pedrosa’s factory RC212V at the Jerez test this weekend as Japanese Superbike rider Kousuke Akiyoshi will take over the number three bike for the final test of the pre-season.

If the name rings a bell it’s because Akiyoshi is a former Rizla Suzuki test rider who was instrumental in development of the GSV-R and also completed wildcard races with Suzuki in MotoGP.

The 34-year-old Japanese star signed with the F.C.C Technical Sports Racing Honda team for All Japan Superbike for this year, and will now fill in for Pedrosa during what is a critical time for Honda if it wants to regain the world championship and catch up to the likes of Yamaha and Ducati.

The new Hayate Racing Team with Marco Melandri has shunned any outside support from external engineering companies, set to soldier on by themselves after Kawasaki ceases its technical development following this weekend’s Jerez test in Spain – the final official test of the season.

While Kawasaki will service the engines and keep them running throughout the year, there will be little development happening behind the scenes unless there are catastrophic failures that need urgent technical changes.

The interesting thing about Hayate not looking to gain any support or outside assistance is that the team will gradually fall back from the continually developing factory teams, and that will be magnified come the 2010 season. It is believed that the team will be doing its own engineering to an extent, although nothing too sophisticated that will all of a sudden make the ZX-RR a Yamaha YZR-M1 beater.

Hopper won't have number 21 when he rides in WSBK

World Superbike
Stiggy Racing Honda World Superbike newcomer John Hopkins will wear the number 121 in his 2009 Superbike World Championship campaign, unable to use his signature number 21 for the first time in his international career. The reason for Hopkins entering under 121 is because 21 has been retired with SBK hero Troy Bayliss. The ironic thing is that when Bayliss competed in MotoGP he always had to use the number 12 because Hopper had the 21 in the premier class.

American Superbike
This year’s AMA Superbike Championship looks to be heating up already under the new guise of DMG, with a press release yesterday announcing that Daytona SportBike points leader Jamie Hacking has been suspended indefinitely and five other riders, including Mat Mladin, have been put on probation.

Hacking found himself in strife following a heated post-race press conference after race two when it was obvious that he wasn’t happy that the 1125cc twin-cylinder Buell of Danny Eslick won against his 600cc four-cylinder Kawasaki, and a brief argument with third place finisher Jason Disalvo during the press conference was probably enough to cap his anger off.

It is believed that Hacking swore on his way out of the media centre following the press conference, which the AMA believes was detrimental to the sport – and it probably was depending on what media representatives heard it. On the other hand, a bit of heated rivalry is always a good thing in motorsports.

According to the AMA, Hacking will be considered for reinstatement pending payment of a $US4000.00 fine and delivery of a public apology to AMA Pro Road Racing officials. Subsequent to payment of the fine and receipt of an apology acceptable to AMA Pro Road Racing, Hacking will also be suspended for one full event weekend.

In Mladin and co’s case, they were simply put on probation for missing a mandatory autograph session. It looks like DMG are taking the series and the behaviour of the riders very seriously as they impose these strict guidelines.

Australian Superbike

Could we see the RC8 R in ASBK sooner or later? Photo: G Freeman/KTM Images

Shannon Johnson’s test on the KTM RC8 R at Eastern Creek yesterday has sparked rumours of a KTM assault in the Australian Superbike Championship, with sources revealing that Johnson was called up to evaluate the competitiveness of the new 1200cc twin-cylinder in order to see if there was any real possibility of the Austrian manufacturer joining the ASBK.

In speaking with Johnson yesterday afternoon he said that the race version of the RC8 was stuck in customs so he had to ride the production version of the new R model, although he was very impressed with the performance and his lap times were very comparable to those set by the regular 1000cc four-cylinders at AMCN’s AUStest sportsbike shootout last year.

KTM’s interest comes just weeks after it was revealed that BMW was considering entering the series in 2010, so now all that we need is Aprilia to express its interest with the new RSV4 and ASBK could turn into the most factory-supported domestic series in the world. The key thing in all of this, though, is how competitive any of these manufacturers will be. All will test before they commit to the series, and it’s likely that they will only enter if they are competitive with the regular Japanese distributor-backed teams.