MOTOGP
Testing wrapped up last Wednesday at Valencia to finish off season 2009 once and for all (almost), with Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner setting the pace and entering the off-season with his confidence sky-high.

The pressure will be on Simoncelli with the factory bike over Melandri at Gresini Honda.

It’s been an amazing season this year not only with the on-track action, but also with the mysterious illness of Casey Stoner ruling him out of the championship chase midway through the season.

We’ve all read the reports and results of last week’s test by now, and the only testing left this year is for rookies – one at Estoril for Suzuki and Bautista this week and another at Sepang right before Christmas that all rookies are invited to.

One of the more interesting revelations last week was that Marco Simoncelli will be getting the factory Honda RC212V in the Gresini Honda team, while teammate Marco Melandri will be using the customer bike despite being faster in the Valencia tests.

The news that Team Scot has been forced out of MotoGP due to funding has to be disappointing for the newly crowned 250GP champs, but Hiroshi Aoyama will remain in the premier class on a Honda with Interwetten Racing despite using the ex-Scot bike in testing.

Aoyama’s new team is actually the Emmi-Cafe Latte team, which is stepping up to the premier class for next year for the first time in a lengthy international grand prix racing career.

Apart from that there’s not much happening in the MotoGP ranks right now, with riders returning home for the off-season and teams working hard behind the scenes in order to be prepared for season 2010.

Before we wrap up the MotoGP section, Crash.net is reporting that Valentino Rossi could be testing a Ferrari Formula One car again over the holiday season, with the word coming from renowned Italian paper Gazzetta dello Sport.

MOTO2
There is more action going on in Moto2 at the moment it seems, with news filtering through this week that Roger Lee Hayden could be joining big brother Nicky on the world stage with the JiR team using a TSR chassis if he is to find the funds required for the ride.

On an Australian note, Jed Metcher has also revealed that he has an offer to enter the Moto2 ranks next year if he can source $100,000 to $200,000, said to be with the Matteoni Racing team using a Moriwaki chassis.

If you or anybody you know is willing to get behind the talented Victorian then he is available via email at [email protected], noting that all sponsorship and donations are tax deductable.

The Mapfre Aspar Aprilia team has confirmed 125cc Grand Prix World Champion Julian Simon and Mike di Meglio for its Moto2 effort, while Bradley Smith will stay in the 125GP category for another season.

WORLD SUPERBIKE
News has broken in Europe that Aprilia’s satellite effort for 2010 has been confirmed, with the Gaundalini team switching from Ducati for next year and again signing Jakub Smrz to be the rider.

Smrz revealed the news this week and has also said that MotoGP rider Alex de Angelis may be the second rider on the team, with factory equipment equal to Max Biaggi’s putting the team in a very solid position for next year with the RSV4.

Meanwhile, MCN is reporting that the factory team will be announcing British Superbike Champion Leon Camier as Biaggi’s teammate following his successful stand-in races at the end of this season.

Suzuki Alstare was at Phillip Island testing last week in a three-day test, where riders Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli put the GSX-R1000 through its paces complete with a number of revisions over the model used this season. As for times, I have no clue what they did to be frank!

We’re still waiting to see what the Aussie contingent will be doing in the WSBK or World Supersport classes for next year, with Andrew Pitt and Mark Aitchison believed to be fielding offers for 2010. Garry McCoy is expected to be staying with Triumph, while the future of Ant West is unknown. There has been speculation that Josh Brookes has at least one offer to return to the world stage, but he’ll more likely be remaining in BSB.

AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE
Motologic Racing and Team Joe Rocket Suzuki were at Phillip Island testing this week in preparation for the season finale next weekend, taking part in ride days on Monday and Tuesday for some last minute set-up revisions.

Other ASBK teams were also on hand during the two days, and you’d have to guess that teams would be fairly tired of travelling back and forth from the Island since the ASBK Open held there in September.

We published the exclusive outline for the 2010 calendar last week right here, so check that out and let us know your opinion on the series as it currently stands. Good or bad, constructive input would be good to hear from the series stakeholders in our Forum.

BRITISH SUPERBIKE
Former Australian Supersport Champion Jason O’Halloran looks like he’ll be remaining in England for next year and he is still over there after the season has wrapped up, so expect an announcement soon regarding what the future holds for him.

It was announced that Neil Hodgson will be riding for Rob Mac Yamaha next year in his return to BSB, which will be interesting after a couple of years in the AMA with Mat Mladin and co.

There have been rumours of Andrew Pitt fielding offers in BSB but they are far from confirmed, although it does seem that it’s the strongest domestic series in the world right now that’s willing to actually pay riders to do their job.

AUSTRALIAN SUPERCROSS
The big question in Australian Super X right now is who will be replacing James ‘Bubba’ Stewart at the Brisbane round to wrap up the season in Queensland on 5 December?

We spoke to Jeremy McGrath following the Parramatta round and he said that he’s keen to come back for the finale, and he likely will, but there are still whispers that Ryan Villopoto is coming down under alongside Monster Energy Kawasaki teammate Chad Reed.

Global Action Sports has stated that they’re in negotiations with an American rider to make the trip to Oz, and you can bet that they’re pushing hard to make up for the disappointing loss of Stewart.

The good news is that Mike Porra has said he’s locked in Stewart for a round in 2010, but you can bet that interstate fans will be a bit more reluctant to book tickets until the current AMA champion is actually in Australia next season.

GAS is doing great things for Super X in Australia. Image: Sport The Library.

What a job GAS is doing though. Last weekend’s round was epic in many aspects, with great racing and a carnival-like atmosphere that saw pretty much every fan enjoy their night. There was even a streaker (clothed) on the night before the 450 main event!

Reed looked solid in his perfect night as he comes to grips with the KX450F, while McGrath and Jay Marmont did a solid job to step up onto the podium in the nail-biting survival format.

KTM must be thrilled with the performances of Tye Simmonds and Daniel McCoy, both who have slotted their 450 SX-F machines into the top five in the series points against very worthy competition.

Team Rockstar Motul Suzuki’s Matt Moss wrapped up the Pro Lites title with another overall victory to keep his perfect season alive, and we’ll see exactly what he’s got on the 450 this weekend in New Zealand as he steps up with the big boys.

Last weekend wasn’t exactly a walk in the park for Moss as he only won one race of the four in the Quad Challenge format, while Brenden Harrison, Lawson Bopping and Luke Styke all won a race apiece.

Jake Moss was at Parramatta and he revealed that he hasn’t yet done a deal with the Canidae Motorsport Rockstar Suzuki team, possibly even racing in Australia full time with Suzuki. It’s been a hard few weeks for Jake after his disastrous injury, and he won’t be back on the bike for quite some time.

On the Yamaha front, Jay Marmont had his first ride on the 2010 model Yamaha YZ450F at Appin on Monday, setting the bikes up for the media launch and absolutely loving the bike. He may ride it at the Brisbane finale if CDR can get some suspension sorted in time for him. It’s also looking very likely that Jay will remain in blue for next season.

AUSTRALIAN OFF-ROAD
Husqvarna’s Chris Hollis is over in Europe at the moment staying with world champion Antoine Meo, racing an Enduro X race over there in Italy last weekend and taking a very credible fifth place. The practice will do the former AORC winner extremely well come the 2010 season.

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading once again.