MotoGP

Pedrosa was faster than the 990s in top speed at Qatar

The opening round of the MotoGP World Championship at Qatar saw the former 990cc top speed record at the circuit broken this year, with Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa hitting a top speed of 338.6km/h at the Losail Circuit, becoming the first 800 to beat Max Biaggi’s former record of 334.4km/h that was set in 2004.

Despite the series switching to lower capacity machines in order to reduce speeds, the bikes are now faster at Losail than ever before. But don’t look into that too much, because imagine if the 990s were still competing in the premier class of motorcycle racing.

The thing is that since Dorna or the FIM have already tried once to slow down the bikes by reducing the capacity and just a few years later the 800s have outpaced the 990s. So what’s next?

A control ECU has been rumoured for a couple of years now, but that would be the ultimate way to implement restrictors in the series – not only for the short term, but it would also prove to be a modification that would be more easily adjustable for the long term rather than trying to change the capacity of the bikes.

Don’t be surprised if regulations continue to chop and change well into the future as Dorna and the FIM try to put their finger on the pulse in order to maintain the ultimate balance of the series being both safe and to put on a show for the fans.

Moto2
The opening round of the Spanish Formula Xtreme Championship at Albacete has over the weekend saw the debut of the BQR Honda and LaGlisse Yamaha Moto2 machines, with the Spanish national series figuring as a development platform for the bikes that are set to take over from the 250cc Grand Prix class in 2010 and ’11.

Both LaGlisse and BQR were allowed to practice with their 600cc prototype Moto2 machines against the regular 1000cc production-based Spanish FX bikes, although they weren’t eligible to compete in the race on Sunday.

LaGlisse Yamaha rider Angel Rodriquez qualified fifth amongst the FX bikes, just 1.344 seconds off of pole position, while BQR Honda’s Daniel Rivas was just 0.091 seconds slower in sixth.

Those lap times in comparison with the FX bikes indicate that the four-stroke 600cc Moto2 bikes will quickly battle amongst the two-stroke 250s if they are to race in a hybrid class together next year, before it’s expected that Moto2 will take over fulltime in 2011.

Interestingly, Rodriguez also races Supersport and set pole position for the weekend, which was a second off of what he managed on the Moto2 bike – not a massive improvement, but better nonetheless.

While we are speaking of the Spanish CEV series, two young Aussies in the 125cc Grand Prix class this year are former Australian champion Glenn Scott and current Australian 125GP points leader Andy Lawson Jr.

Scott qualified 19th and finished a very solid seventh in damp conditions, while Lawson qualified 32nd and then finished 12th in his first outing on an Aprilia grand prix machine.

Australian Superbike
The weekend marked a solid return to racing for former Australian Supersport Champion Shannon Johnson, who took pole position, two race victories and a new lap record at Broadford’s opening round of the Victorian Road Race Championship.

It was a spectacular return to racing for Johnson, who was riding a Procon Racing Honda CBR1000RR prepared by Motologic. The bike was Superstock-spec with slick tyres, making his lap record feat even more impressive. Johnson posted a 56.994, smashing Isle of Man star Cam Donald’s previous record of 57.738 that was set last year.

Johnson will only compete in the Victorian titles this year and not any of the ASBK rounds at this stage, although you can bet he’ll be chomping at the bit to try get a round of two of ASBK racing in before the year’s out.

The New South Wales Road Race Championship is on at Oran Park this weekend and that race will feature reigning Australian Superbike Champion Glenn Allerton, which is a great thing because having these national level professional racers at a state level can only be a good thing for the sport in general.

World Endurance
Australian Steve Martin, commentator on Fox Sports for the Superbike World Championship, won the first World Endurance Championship round of the season at the Le Mans 24 Hours in France on the weekend. Martin was partnered with Igor Jerman and Gwen Giabbani in the iconic endurance event.

While it was a brilliant result for the former Australian and World Superbike star, Shannon Etheridge also had a good result with his RMT 21 Racing Team onboard a Honda with a 10th place finish overall.

Martin and Etheridge were the only Aussies in the race with any luck on their side though, as the Cudlin brothers’ Phase One Yamaha engine expired on the second of the 24 hours.

Former world champion Warwick Nowland sat out the weekend’s racing after his deal for the year fell through at the last minute, but it is expected that he’ll be back on track at least for round three.

McFarlane won the overall over Marmont in Canberra

Australian Motocross
Former world motocross rider Andrew McFarlane took his first overall victory since returning home to Australian soil in the Motocross Nationals at Canberra on Sunday, winning the Pro Open class ahead of defending champion Jay Marmont and Ford Dale. The Pro Lites class was dominated by Shift Motul Suzuki’s Matt Moss.

After checking out the race yesterday, the thing with this year’s series is that there are many talented riders who could win on any given Sunday, including a mixture of both young and old.

Yesterday’s Pro Open class saw a new format tested, with four 15 minute motos with just minutes in between taking over from the traditional 30 minute moto format that we are all used to.

It did ensure much more exciting racing with great battles throughout all the restarts, which is important and obviously works for the sport after the success of Super X last year and its unique formats.

American Supercross
Australia’s Chad Reed (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) finished off of the podium in the American AMA Supercross Championship round at Seattle for the first time this year, finishing seventh after an opening lap crash.

Reed is now three points behind arch rival James Stewart (San Manuel Yamaha) with two rounds remaining, and it’s getting harder by the week to work out who exactly will be the man to beat come the Vegas finale.

The race was won by Ryan Villopoto (Monster Kawasaki), who finally cracked victory in his rookie AMA Supercross season following what has been somewhat of a disappointing year for him – many thought he would challenge Reed and Stewart this year, but this confidence booster may just be what he needs.

Bewley won the A4DE

Good news for Australian fans is that Jake Moss (Troy Lee Designs Honda) won his heat race and finished fifth in the West Coast Lites main event, won by Ryan Dungey (Rockstar Makita Suzuki). After coming back from a broken back earlier this year and only racing three of the seven rounds so far it’s great to see Moss back in contention for top results.

Australian Off-Road
Ballard’s Wellard Yamaha rider Jarrod Bewley won the Australian Four-Day Enduro last week in Orange, NSW, scoring his first victory in the prestigious off-road event ahead of Kawasaki rookie Toby Price and former winner Chris Hollis. This year’s race was one of the closest in the 31 year history of the event.

For the full rundown on the event check out our Press Releases section, or the official A4DE website right here.