Aprilia will likely debut its gear driven camshaft at the Miller WSBK round in the USA this weekend.

WORLD SUPERBIKE
Shock rumours emerged at the French Grand Prix last weekend that former MotoGP number two Marco Melandri has received an offer from a factory team to enter the Superbike World Championship in 2011.

Melandri’s manager Alberto Vergani confirmed at Le Mans that the former 250cc Grand Prix World Champion has in fact been in discussions about a WSBK switch next season, although he stopped before revealing the team according to Italian media reports.

It is believed that the most likely team in talks with Melandri is the BMW Motorrad effort, managed by Italian Davide Tardozzi and currently fielding Aussie Troy Corser alongside Spaniard Ruben Xaus.

Tardozzi denied that the team has held discussions with Melandri, although it’s unlikely that the inconsistent Xaus will remain on the S 1000 RR for another season.

While on the subject of BMW, it seems that the German manufacturer is eager to host a variety of riders on the bike at a test in Italy at Mugello early next month.

Current Guandalini Ducati rider Jakub Smrz will test the S 1000 RR, although it’s believed that his test is more to do with the possibility of the Guandalini team switching manufacturers for 2011.

One of the more interesting rumours coming out of Italy this week was that BMW has offered Ten Kate Honda’s Max Neukirchner a test – highly unlikely considering he is under contract with Honda. He is German though…

In a busy week off-track for WSBK, the word is that Aprilia will debut its gear driven camshaft at the Miller round in the USA this weekend.

Commenting on the highly controversial configuration, which was first tested in Australia earlier this season, Aprilia technical and racing director Gigi dall’lgna says he is confident it will be yet another improvement for the RSV4.

“We are the newcomers in this great championship and, while adhering to the regulations, we are obliged to explore every technical possibility to help us close the gap between us and our rivals, who have years of experience and success behind them,” he said back in April.

“We have worked intensively on the gear driven camshaft system and its development is still a work in progress, with the main focus on improving power delivery. We could be ready to race in a couple of months, possibly for the US race at the Miller Motorsport Park.”

Aprilia says it will also make the gear-driven camshaft available to the public on its RSV4 Factory road bike in a bid to stay true to the production-based regulations.

Speaking of WSBK engines, rumour has it that Ducati is pushing for an engine limit from the 2012 season onwards (next year’s rules are already finalised), something that is implemented in MotoGP with just six allowed per year, but not yet in WSBK.

The new Motorland Aragón circuit n Spain is set to host a round of WSBK for the next three years, following an agreement signed last week. The circuit, which was designed by German architect Hermann Tilke, will also host a round of MotoGP in September.

MOTOGP
There’s nothing worse as a racer than to crash out of a race with no real idea as to why the incident happened. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s been happening to Aussie Casey Stoner this year, something which could trigger a shock switch to Honda sooner, rather than later.

While the big four of Stoner, Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa remained tight lipped on the subject of switching at Le Mans last weekend, there’s no doubt that there are many discussions taking place behind the scenes.

Vice president of HRC, Shuei Nakamoto, touched on the subject in Italian paper Gazzetta dello Sport this week, simply adding fuel to the fire in some ways.

“We have not decided yet for next year – maybe in July,” he commented. “We are interested in the four pilots, including Valentino. Because the Honda can not be satisfied with podium, because we want to win, we asked Colin Stoner and Casey if they wanted to come here.”

Yamaha losing either Rossi or Lorenzo seems highly unlikely to me, but stranger things have happened. The one guy who must be feeling kind of nervous in all of this is Pedrosa, as it would seem he is coming very close to Honda’s chopping block.

Melandri raced to a season-best sixth position at Le Mans on Sunday, the Gresini Honda rider finally making headway on the satellite RC212V after a frustrating season to date. And the key to Melandri’s finish? He switched back from Ohlins suspension to Showa for the French GP.

Casey Stoner is becoming increasingly frustrated in 2010 after a spate of crashes.

AUSTRALIAN MOTOCROSS
What is it with this season and injuries in the MX Nationals so far? We’ve seen Billy Mackenzie suffer a broken hand, Todd Waters break his collarbone, and now, Tye Simmonds has broken a bone in his foot!

Simmonds suffered the injury while competing in a club event at Dubbo last weekend, the race being held to assist in raising funds for injured local racer Jesse Rutherford.

The good news is that Simmonds will still be racing this weekend at Raymond Terrace if all goes to plan, but with rain expected it’s going to be a super difficult weekend for both he and Waters.

Since the Broadford round of the MX Nationals was called off after practice due to the death of Andrew McFarlane, it looks as though Coolum’s season finale in July will be a double header event.

The Sunshine Coast Junior Motorcycle Club has stated on its website that the last two rounds of the series will be contested over Saturday and Sunday, making for a massive weekend of racing if the event does go ahead as a two-round affair. An update from series promoter Williams Event Management is expected in the coming weeks.

Don’t forget to enter our MX Nationals Tipping Competition for this weekend at Raymond Terrace, available in the Forum right here.

Also, click here for your chance to win a custom set of Ringmaster Images Custom MX Graphics! Don’t miss out…

WORLD MOTOCROSS
We saw Mike Alessi debut KTM’s astounding new 350 SX-F with a moto win at Hangtown’s AMA Motocross opener last weekend, finishing second overall for the round behind Australia’s defending champion Chad Reed.

Well this weekend will see the World Motocross Championship return to the States for the first time in 11 years, and Alessi will be the leading American wildcard to contest the round at Glen Helen in California.

It’s going to be interesting to watch, as will all the American-based wildcard riders who are entering for the weekend. Meanwhile, Reedy will have a weekend off while focusing on his AMA title defence.

Also, keep an eye out for Kurt Nicoll in the Veteran’s World Cup at Glen Helen. I was lucky enough to go riding with the four-time 500cc Grand Prix Championship runner-up while he was here in Australia for Nitro Circus last week as he came and did some motos along with the Marmont brothers.

Kiwi Daryll King will also be good to watch as he is pretty fresh after riding a 250cc two-stroke in the Lites class during the opening rounds of this year’s MX Nationals.

AUSTRALIAN OFF-ROAD
This weekend will see the AORC back in action for rounds five and six of the 2010 series at Moruya in New South Wales, even though Conondale’s rounds three and four were cancelled due to the recent weather in Queensland.

It’s expected that the series will visit the Sunshine State later in the year to replace the rounds that were missed, however let’s hope that the sun shines on the guys this weekend instead of another mud-fest like the season opener!

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

Tye Simmonds and Todd Waters will both enter the MX Nationals round at Raymond Terrace nursing injuries this weekend.