Rossi Is Going to Ducati: It’s Official. Here is what I, Yamaha, and Ducati, Have to Say
2010-08-15
Italians are mad at Ducati when Casey Stoner wins (because he beat Rossi), and they are mad at Ducati when Rossi wins (because the Italian bike lost). This will apparently fix that.
Or maybe not: “…if he comes here and he’s not winning, [then] the Italians are going to burn the factory down!” (Nicky Hayden, September 2010 Roadracing World, page 50)
Valentino Rossi in Qatar 2010: image by ScottJones.net/MotoRaceReports. This file was licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
But he just promised to stay!
I really didn’t believe that this was going to happen during the 2010 silly season. On the one hand: the rumor has been going-around for quite some time. On the other hand: Rossi recently announced that he would retire with Yamaha.
It reminds me of an interview with former NY Governor Mario Cuomo (I don’t remember the source). The interviewer kept pressing Governor Cuomo to announce his candidacy for President of the United States. Governor Cuomo said that he had absolutely no intention of running. The interviewer then told Governor Cuomo that we would hold him to that. Governor Cuomo reminded the interviewer that there is a difference between lying and changing your mind.
Valentino Rossi just became interesting again
In Valentino Rossi‘s first year of GP500/MotoGP (2000) racing, the race announcers always talked as if Rossi were the underdog. He would start out by not getting the holeshot and the experts would assume that he was going to have quite the challenge. He was #2 in championship points that year.
2001 was similar: Rossi won his first GP500 Championship that year.
This “he can’t win” story occurred again when Rossi left Honda in 2004. Everyone believed the Yamaha YZR-M1 to be slow. Rossi, Jeremy Burgess, and Yamaha worked to fit the bike to the rider. He was once again the assumed underdog. Rooting for his team when all the experts said that he could not win, was fun. He won the championship that year also.
The past few years the experts have assumed that the Yamaha is the best bike. Not enough credit has been given to Valentino Rossi’s and Jorge Lorenzo‘s skill in that regard. Also: nobody assumes that Rossi is going to lose these days.
Rossi is currently the underdog again in 2010, due to his leg breaking. That’s not how we like the story to go though: yes to underdog, no to injuries.
The Ducati is believed to be only-ridable by Casey Stoner. For sure, Nicky Hayden (Rossi’s former teammate at Honda!) has made some progress, but this is still believed to be the underdog bike. Valentino Rossi’s story just became interesting again…
In Valentino Rossi’s Own Words
I do not know Italian. I will put a translation here when I find one: assuming that I have permission to do so.
Ducati
from Ducati’s Official Press 2010-08-15
The 31 year-old will complete an Italian link-up with the Bologna factory next season having agreed a two-year deal.
Ducati and Valentino Rossi have signed a two-year agreement for the nine-time World Champion to race with the “Rossa” of Borgo Panigale in the Ducati Team from 2011.
The arrival of Valentino in Ducati opens a new and exciting chapter in the Italian factory’s sporting history and, indeed, of the whole MotoGP Championship. The opportunity of lining up such an extraordinary rider and character is considered by Ducati to be of huge value to the whole Ducati MotoGP project.
“We are delighted to announce that Valentino Rossi will be with us from 2011,” commented Gabriele Del Torchio, president of Ducati Motor Holding. “He is a paragon of excellence in the world of motorcycling, coherent with our Italian company which is a standard bearer for ‘made in Italy’ excellence. These are key values for success in technology, design and sportsmanship. In addition to the strong and passionate intent of both parties, this agreement has been made possible by the committed support of our shareholder Investindustrial and all the sponsors associated with the Ducati Team, sponsors which have believed in this opportunity and share and support our choices.”
Filippo Preziosi, Ducati Corse General Director, said: “Firstly, Valentino is a great fan of motorcycles and so it has always been a pleasure for me to listen to his opinions. Until the Valencia GP he will remain a competitor, one so great that he has always given a special value to our victories, but as soon as he rides the Ducati for the first time we will work together on every single detail that will develop a bike capable of showing his huge talent. Working with Valentino is one of the most exciting things for every engineer, and it’s good to know we will have this great opportunity next season.”
Yamaha
from Yamaha’s Official Press 2010-08-15
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. would like to announce that the partnership between Valentino Rossi and Yamaha will come to an end at the close of the season, when Valentino will move on to new challenges.
Yamaha and Valentino have enjoyed seven fantastic seasons of racing, during which time they have won four MotoGP World Championships together.
Valentino has played a huge part in the history of Yamaha and he will always remain an important part of Yamaha’s heritage. Yamaha is extremely grateful for Valentino’s contributions to its racing successes over the past seven years and it would like to wish him the very best in his future racing endeavours.
Yamaha will be putting all its efforts into ensuring a successful and happy end to the partnership over the remaining races.
Lin Jarvis, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing, said “On behalf of the Yamaha Motor Group, I would like to express our sincere gratitude for the amazing seven years that we have spent together. Valentino joined Yamaha in 2004 at a moment when Yamaha was struggling in road racing after eleven seasons without a championship victory. Valentino’s victory at his first GP race for Yamaha in South Africa in 2004 was an incredible moment and was just the first of many more race wins that have thrilled MotoGP fans and Yamaha fans around the world. His unsurpassed skills as a racer and a development rider enabled him to win four MotoGP world titles to date with us and helped Yamaha develop the YZR-M1 into the ‘the bike of reference’ for the MotoGP class.”
“There have been so many wonderful experiences and victories and we are very proud to have been able to make history together. Whilst we regret Vale’s decision to move on, at the same time we fully respect his decision to search for a new challenge and we wish him the very best for 2011 and beyond.
“For the remaining eight races of 2010 Valentino will remain a Yamaha Factory rider. As such he will continue to benefit from our full support and we hope and expect to see some more race wins with him ‘in blue’ before the season is over!”
Rossi stated: “It is very difficult to explain in just a few words what my relationship with Yamaha has been in these past seven years.”
“Many things have changed since that far-off time in 2004, but especially ‘she’, my M1, has changed. At that time she was a poor middle-grid position MotoGP bike, derided by most of the riders and the MotoGP workers. Now, after having helped her to grow and improve, you can see her smiling in her garage, courted and admired, treated as the ‘top of the class’.”
“The list of the people that made this transformation possible is very long, but I would like to thank anyway Masao Furusawa, Masahiko Nakajima and ‘my’ Hiroya Atsumi, as representatives of all the engineers that worked hard to change the face of our M1. Then Jeremy Burgess and all my guys in the garage, who took care of her with love on all the tracks of the world and also all the men and women that have worked in the Yamaha team during these years.”
“Now the moment has come to look for new challenges; my work here at Yamaha is finished. Unfortunately even the most beautiful love stories finish, but they leave a lot of wonderful memories, like when my M1 and I kissed for the first time on the grass at Welkom, when she looked straight in my eyes and told me ‘I love you!’”
FREE Live Timing for MotoGP Races
Go here for FREE live timing of the MotoGP races a throughout the weekend this-weekend. This benefit was provided by the Red Bull Indianapolis GP. Thank you, Indianapolis Motor Speedway! You can see how each rider is doing throughout each race.
Ben Spies Wins 2009 World Superbike Championship and Looks for “Top 10″ in MotoGP
Ben Spies, Tom Houseman (Crew Chief), and team, win Yamaha’s first World Superbike World Championship in 2009! This post includes an exclusive interview by OnTheThrottleTV, quotes from Yamaha Racing Europe, Ducati, and more.
I don’t understand how Suzuki could have possibly let Ben get away. The critics talked of “Ben isn’t ready for MotoGP” last year. Not ready? He came in fifth during the Indy GP. Fifth in MotoGP… On an unfamiliar bike… in severe weather…
During Valentino’s second 500cc year they kept talking about how he met his match during each race, because he would start out behind, but by the end of the race he was always in front. I decided that year that Valentino must be the greatest rider to ever live, and that panned-out. Same with Ben Spies.
Ben once-again downplays his chances of winning the MotoGP championship next year. He shouldn’t do that. Rossi began 2000 with similar goals, and rode more defensively in order to meet those goals. Rossi finished 2000 in 2nd but admitted that he might have finished in 1st had he set that for his goal. Ben, please stop saying “Top 10″. You did top 6 in MotoGP, on a Suzuki, in the worse weather (Hurricane Ike “remnants”) of any GP in history. Go for #1 in 2010!
Notice in the video below how even Ducati is celebrating Ben’s Championship on the podium, even Noriyuki Haga— the man who had the next-best chance of being World Champion this year— is celebrating Ben’s championship on the podium. An awesome show of sportsmanship from those Ducati guys. (See the manufacturer’s standings below to see how both Yamaha and Ducati can celebrate this year…)
Here is the “Ben Spies 2009 World Superbike Champion Exclusive Interview” Video by OnTheThrottleTV
Rookie Ben Spies wins the World Superbike Championship, becoming the first American to do so since fellow Texan Colin Edwards in 2002. SpeedGreen was on location to capture the emotions as Yamaha celebrated their first World Championship.
Quotes from Yamaha Racing Europe’s Release
Ben Spies and Yamaha made history today, claiming the first ever Word Superbike title for the Yamaha World Superbike Team. In yet another Ben Spies Masterclass of riding, The American rookie sensation took a race win and a well executed fifth place finish to lift the title for Yamaha for the first time. Race one saw a textbook performance from Spies, taking the holeshot on the first corner and leading from the first lap. Perfectly executed lines and smooth riding saw him cross the line nearly two seconds ahead of a determined Biaggi who had stalked him for the entire race. Championship rival Noriyuki Haga crashed out six laps into the race, leaving Spies some breathing room for race two.
With the extra points behind him and less pressure for an outright race win Spies kept himself in check for race two, monitoring Haga’s position and keeping a steady race pace as he counted the laps down to victory. The American let a couple of riders passed then tucked in behind Biaggi for a number of laps. After the Italian rider ran wide a couple of times, Spies turned on some extra speed to pass him and brought his championship winning Yamaha R1 home in fifth place to take victory.
Spies can now claim 14 Superbike race wins and 11 pole position race starts in his rookie year, breaking all records since the championship began. He leads the standings with 462 points, six clear of rival Haga.
Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (1st, 5th)
On the first race: “It was actually a really tough race. At first I was just going for the win, getting to the front and not worrying about anything. Then when Haga was out I had to win to get as many points as possible for race two. Once you have a gap, you don’t want to be stupid and throw it all away.”
” I’ve got to thank Yamaha for giving me the bike I need to win. We had a really good first race, in the second we did what we had to do to win. It was quite difficult to keep it in check as the pace was pretty fast, I saw I had a couple of people behind me and I knew that if Nori won I had to be in sixth and that’s where I was so I tried to get a bit of a gap on them and stay out of trouble. Max came through the inside of me and ran off a couple of times which really freaked me out so I went to get past him and then settled in for some nice fast laps to the end. It’s been a spectacular day and I can’t thank those people enough that have been behind me. It’s been incredible to do it for Yamaha, and especially in my first year here. I don’t think I really realize what’s happening right now but I’m sure it’s going to hit me in a couple of days!”
Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
“I feel great! This is the first time I’ve had this victory feeling. I was so nervous for this whole weekend. Ben showed us that the speed he had was ok but I know Nori very well and Ducati as well so I was always worried that something was going to come. Fortunately we finished very well. I want to thank everyone, not just the people here in the team and Yamaha but the people at home, mine and the team’s families, they give us a lot of support and are patient, I think it is hard for them to so thank you to my wife!”
Laurens Klein Koerkamp, Racing Manager, Yamaha Motor Europe
“A fantastic day for Yamaha! Today was the crown of a year’s hard work for Ben and the team. From the first moment we started to work with Ben it was clear he was something special. He did an amazing job in his rookie season, not knowing many of the circuits in Europe. This victory is also very well deserved for the team who have given 100%. I know how hard we have all been trying and coming close for such a long time. This championship success is a clear testimonial of the competitiveness of the new R1 and a validation of Yamaha’s vision of production bike development and so is also shared with the engineers in Japan.”
Quote from Noriyuki Haga
“All weekend I have had problems with the set up of the bike, mainly with the tyres that didn’t give me total confidence. Usually we have a package that works well at every track and here too we didn’t change so much with regard to the setting, only really tyres. In Race 1 we mounted two hard tyres and they didn’t perform as we’d hoped, they didn’t give me the necessary grip so it was hard to brake and unfortunately I fell even though I wasn’t pushing so hard. We changed bikes for Race 2, just to be sure, as well as changing tyres of course. This time I had more grip and was able to make a good race. Unfortunately second in the race was not enough to take the title and it’s a real pity, but I must say that I have had a great first year with this fantastic team that always provides me with a good bike. I thank my whole technical team, Ducati, the sponsors and the Clinica Mobile who have taken good care of me throughout the season. My compliments go to Ben who has been such a strong rival this year and even though he is going to MotoGP next year, I am sure we will remain friends. This week we’ll start testing in preparation for next year. This year was a new adventure with Ducati and we’ll continue to give 100% in 2010.”
Results
RACE 1
1. B. Spies (Yamaha WSB)
2. J. Rea (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda)
3. M. Biaggi (Aprilia Racing)
4. S. Byrne (Sterilgarda Ducati)
5. M. Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox Team)
6. L. Camier (Aprilia Racing)
7. C. Checa (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda)
8. R. Xaus (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
9. M. Lagrive (Honda Althea Racing)
10. M. Baiocco (Guandalini Racing)
RACE 2
1. M. Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox Team)
2. N. Haga (Ducati Xerox Team)
3. J. Rea (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda)
4. S. Byrne (Sterilgarda Ducati)
5. B. Spies (Yamaha WSB)
6. M. Biaggi (Aprilia Racing)
7. L. Camier (Aprilia Racing)
8. J. Smrz (Guandalini Racing)
9. T. Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
10. S. Guintoli (Team Suzuki Alstare)
Final Points
1. Spies 462
2. Haga 456
3. Fabrizio 382
4.Biaggi 319
5.Rea 315
6. Haslam 241
7.Checa 209
8. Byrne 192
9. Sykes 176
10. Smrz 169.
Manufacturers Standings
Yamaha wins the championship, but Ducati wins the most points…
1. Ducati 572
2. Yamaha 505
3. Honda 431
4. Aprilia 329
5. Suzuki 173
6. Bmw 141
7. Kawasaki 76
MotoGP: A Closer Look At The Title Fight Video
MotoGP: A Closer Look At The Title Fight Video
The MotoGP.com videos are not free, but the FIM occasionally puts promotional videos up on youtube. This one called “MotoGP: A closer look at the title fight” shows just how close Jorge Lorenzo has been to beating Valentino Rossi this season.
Señor Lorenzo has not only stalked Signore Rossi all season, but he also stages end-of-race Lorenzo-land celebrations similar to those pioneered by Valentino. Señor Lorenzo has a comic book, just like Valentino’s. The man obviously respects and emulates Rossi. Simultaneously he pushes Valentino to be his best, by being right-there. Right-there where he can take the championship at any moment. Rossi’s comments about Yamaha show how shaken Lorenzo is making him.
The greatest motorcycle rider that ever lived, and someone that can beat him in an even race (on the same freakin’ team)? I’d like to see some of that action. Here you go:
Harley-Davidson Discontinuing Buell Motorcycle Line
Eric Buell has announced the discontinuation of Buell Motorcycles this morning. This is after winning their first AMA Championship, giving even many non-Buell-riders a sense of pride in the company.
“May you ride-with-pride into the future, and may your roads ahead be as adventuresome and rewarding as mine have been for the last 26 years.” Eric Buell
Ducati sponsors Marlboro have called on Casey Stoner to apologise for his three round absence from MotoGP racing due to illness.
Image from, and links-to, Casey Stoner's Web site.
Stoner has missed the last three rounds of the championship due to an illness that remains undetermined, much to the displeasure of the Ducati title sponsor, with Maurizio Arrivabene, deputy chairman for the tobacco giant has reported claimed that he is expecting an explanation from the 23-year-old.
“I hope that Stoner at Estoril will have the decency to apologise to the team,” Arrivabene told Italian television website Sportmediaset.
Obviously Arrivabene doesn’t know the meaning of “chronically ill”. He, and Marlboro (do you see the irony there?) should be ashamed.
Casey Stoner you ROCK! Get better man!
Open letter to riders from the FIM President
Here at dangerismymiddlename.com we have to wonder what the FIM President is referring-to? Most critics in the United States describe MotoGP as a parade-of-bikes. This is a side-effect of there being such a small grid. The small grid means that there is less passing than in competing series, such as World Superbike SBK. What has been said, or done, that would reflect badly on the sport? Don’t we want classic rivalries to come back? What follows is a Press Release from the FIM:
FIM President Vito Ippolito delivers ‘Race with Fair Play!’ message to riders.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Following many incidents between riders that have taken place during races since the beginning of the season and comments made by riders that were published by the media, as FIM President, I would like to make the following remarks:
Our sport has the privilege of being seen on TV by millions of viewers and covered by hundreds of media worldwide. Our fans admire the riders’ courage and talent. These are two key ingredients that make us one of the most popular sports in the world.
Riders must also be highly focused, have very strong nerves and make correct decisions in order to make a successful career. Of course, this supreme effort exhausts physical and mental reserves and, as a consequence, it is possible to make mistakes. But this state of “agonistic trance” cannot excuse unfair behaviour in competition, as we have seen recently. This is precisely why this kind of behaviour must be severely punished. But worse yet is what has just happened when the lack of fair play extends beyond competition, with vulgar and offensive remarks towards the opponents. This is even more unforgivable.
We must show to our huge audience not only how spectacular our sport is, but also how important fair play is to us. Most riders are respectful of sporting, moral and ethical values. Therefore, we cannot allow anyone achieve victory or act unfairly or dishonestly. I really hope that this will not happen again and that the spirit of chivalry which has always distinguished our champions will prevail.
If such incidents take place in the future, it is clear that the FIM will not hesitate to intervene and take necessary disciplinary action against the riders concerned.
Yours sincerely,
Vito Ippolito
President
Press release courtesy of Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme
AMA drafts model on-highway motorcycle sound legislation
September 28, 2009
The AMA has developed model legislation for use by cities seeking a simple, consistent and economical way to deal with sound complaints related to on-highway motorcycles within the larger context of excessive sound from all sources.
The model legislation offers an objective method for municipal jurisdictions to evaluate motorcycle sound through science-based measurement. It’s based on the Society of Automotive Engineers’ (SAE) new J2825 standard, “Measurement of Exhaust Sound Pressure Levels of Stationary On-Highway Motorcycles.” The AMA produced similar model legislation for off-highway motorcycles several years ago.
“Many cities and other jurisdictions already have excessive sound laws on the books, but when they get citizen complaints about loud motorcycles, they sometimes decide to single out the riding public with unfair or overly restrictive ordinances and laws,” said Imre Szauter, AMA government affairs manager. “We believe that motorcycles shouldn’t be singled out, but should be regulated as part of a comprehensive sound management policy that also addresses cars, trucks, leaf blowers, generators and other sources of excessive sound.”
The J2825 standard, issued by the SAE in May, is based on a comprehensive study of a wide variety of on-highway motorcycles. It establishes instrumentation, test site, test conditions, procedures, measurements and sound level limits.
“Too many times, jurisdictions responding to citizen complaints about excessive motorcycle sound create laws that simply don’t work in the real world,” Szauter said. “They either set an unreasonable decibel limit, leave it up to a police officer to subjectively decide whether a bike is too noisy, or come up with another plan that is arbitrary or unworkable. Our model legislation is objective, workable and fair.”
The model legislation adopts the SAE J2825 standard for stationary on-highway motorcycle sound testing, specifies the type of sound meter to be used, and allows for each city to specify the penalties for violating the law. Szauter stressed, however, that the sound-testing procedures and decibel limits established in the SAE J2825 standard should remain unchanged to ensure that the law remains objective and fair.
Under the SAE J2825 standard, decibel limits range from 92 dBA at idle for all motorcycles, to up to 100 dBA at certain RPMs for various motorcycles, depending on the type of engine.
In 2003, the AMA organized the National Summit on Motorcycle Sound to bring together riders and user organizations, representatives of the motorcycle manufacturers, the aftermarket industry, racing promoters, government agencies, law enforcement and others to develop proposals regarding the increasingly controversial issue of excessive motorcycle sound. The creation of a new on-highway motorcycle sound measurement procedure was a top recommendation of the summit’s Motorcycle Sound Working Group.
“The motorcycling community, local governments and police officers have sought a practical sound field test for streetbikes for many years, and now it exists, thanks to a collaboration between the Motorcycle Industry Council and the SAE,” Szauter said. “The next step is for jurisdictions struggling with motorcycle sound complaints to adopt fair and objective laws, and the AMA is providing the tool for them to do that.”
Szauter encourages motorcyclists and government and law enforcement officials to download the model legislation from the Rights section of this website.
Note from dangerismymiddlename.com: We did not find the model legislation. We did however find these resources there:
- http://www.amadirectlink.com/legisltn/positions/sound.asp
- http://www.amadirectlink.com/news/2005/soundsummit.asp
- Appendix B (of http://www.amadirectlink.com/news/2005/soundsummit.asp). (“SAE J1287 Measurement of Exhaust Sound Levels of Stationary Motorcycles”) doesn’t appear in the electronic version of Sound Advice. To order a copy of SAE J1287, contact the Society of Automotive Engineers at 877-606-7323 or visit www.sae.org.
- Appendix C (of http://www.amadirectlink.com/news/2005/soundsummit.asp)(“AMA Position on Motorcycle Sound” ) as of May 14, 2005. For the current AMA position statement on motorcycle sound, visit www.amadirectlink.com/legisltn/positions/noise.asp.
- For the latest information on engine test speed data for stationary sound testing, see the Motorcycle Industry Council downloads page.
Indy Mile 2009 Stories: Kenny Roberts’ and Ben Bostrom’s Yamaha TZ750 Rides, Larry Pegram Race, Valentino Rossi “Ride”
Kenny Roberts
Apparently Dunlop created this video and uploaded it to YouTube. Dunlop had this to say:
In 1975, Kenny Roberts rode a fearsomely fast Yamaha TZ750 flat tracker to a stunning victory at the Indy Mile. After just three races, the AMA banned the bike from further competition—because it was too fast. In 2009, KR rode this famous TZ750 flat tracker once again, at the Indy Mile.
For sure Kenny Roberts felt that the bike was dangerously fast, but here’s another way of looking at it: why have Harley Davidsons dominated 2-cylinder Flat Track? Because anything faster gets banned as too-dangerous. A 750 doesn’t sound too-bad does it? It’s a 750 two-stroke though— that’s twice as many firings-per-revolution as with a four-stroke— making it more like a 1500cc bike. Please enjoy the video, and if you are wondering: no, we don’t begrudge Harley Davidson, or any manufacturer, their racing success. If its on two wheels, then its fine by us. In fact we would definitely like to see more Harley Davidson motorcycles in roadracing. Something like Spain’s BBQ series would be nice. AMA Pro hinted at something like this last year. Let’s hope.
Ben Bostrom
Ben asked if he could ride the TZ750 this year, and they let him do it after the Indy Mile races!
This image and text were from Ben Bostrom’s Twitter Feed: “Ahh. Happier daze. Running KR’s TZ700 into turn 1 at Indy this year at midnite The smell of 2stroke 
.” This was after the Indy Mile races this year.
Larry Pegram
Aaron King on is on #40 and Larry Pegram is on #72f
Larry Pegram raced a Ducati… a… Ducati… in the Indy Mile. Yes, Virginia there is a non Harley Davidson v-twin flat tracker! The back-story here is that Larry began his racing career in Grand National Championship Series. He eventually moved to road racing, but he did make special Ducati-based Indy Mile attempts in 2008 and 2009.
The Indy Mile is an extra-special event for the road racing world, because so-many great American Grand Prix and Superbike stars started out racing Flat Track. So here we have a new MotoGP event— the highest-profile road racing series in the world— and it coincides with the Indy Mile Flat Track Grand National Championship Series event: same weekend, same town. Some of the world’s best racers, and most vociferous fans, were on-hand to see turn-left-only racing American style, and they had two European marques to root-for: Larry Pegram on the Duc, and Aaron King on the Aprilia.
Flat Track racing is heat racing. Each event is a mini-championship. The Ducati and Aprilia raced in the same ten lap heat. Larry Pegram almost finished third, but ended up 18th due to an incident. He goes on to explain:
I was running fifth for the last three laps right behind Joe Kopp and Aaron [King]. I am pretty sure that I could have definitely drafted by Joe if he was behind a Harley, but Aaron’s bike was fast enough to pull Joe along in his draft. Going into turn 3 on the last lap I knew I needed to get Joe to go directly to the main. I ran it in there really hard on the outside of Joe and when I went to bring the bike back down on the groove I was going to run into the back of Aaron. I did not want to chance knocking Aaron down so I laid it down. I was joking with Rich [King] (Aaron’s father) that I can’t be racing with these guy’s kids. If it was Rich I would have bounced him right off of the groove, but I couldn’t chance it with his son. Rich laughed and thanked me at least 3 times!
The Ducati was repaired, but a win was not in the cards that night. Larry went from 18th to fourth in the semi-final, which is very respectable, considering that the semi final only allowed-him 8 one-mile laps to take care of business.
I am obviously disappointed to not make the main, but making a Grand National Main is a very difficult thing to do. Laying it down in the heat race put us behind for the semi. I would be more disappointed if the bike wasn’t so good. We all worked really hard building this bike in a very short time. It would be unfair to say that it has potential to run up front because I think that it is already capable of racing at the front. I am hoping that we can find some good support for the program and come back next year with a full time rider and then I can ride a few of the miles again as my road race schedule allows.
Valentino Rossi
Journalists spread rumors about Valentino’s eminent TZ750 demonstration lap via Twitter. Then, when we all learned that he wasn’t going to ride, people started saying that the TZ750 was too-dangerous for Rossi. How did these rumors start? Reporters noticed a flat track bike wearing Rossi’s livery on-display. Ahem.
Every two-wheeled vehicle is a potential Valentino Rossi race-replica. Here are images of a 125cc (no, that is not a typo) Valentino Rossi race-replica motorcycle, a Valentino Rossi Race replica scooter, and a Valentino Rossi race-replica child’s bicycle with training wheels. Yamaha Racing also built a one-off custom Valentino Rossi race-replica factory motocross bike with the best-available racing parts. Seeing a Valentino Rossi flat track bike on-display doesn’t mean that Rossi is planning to ride-it. It simply means that someone chose to display a Valentino Rossi race-replica flat track bike.
(Updated on 2009-10-11) According to RoadRacerX October/November 2009: it was “built by the crew at Van’s Yamaha in Central Illinois.” It appears that the folks that built the bike were hoping that Rossi would ride it. Still: he is Valentino Rossi, just because he has the option to ride a given bike, doesn’t mean that he has plans to.
The real story here was written on Rossi’s face (see above).
NICKY HAYDEN TAKES DELIVERY OF HIS OWN NICKY HAYDEN EDITION 848
The real news here is how awesome the Nicky Hayden 848 looks. Unfortunately there are no more available at Ducati. If you see one in a dealership, then buy it. Really. Before its too late. Thanks.
From Ducati North America News…
At the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix, Ducati MotoGP rider Nicky Hayden received the surprise gift of his own personal Nicky Hayden Edition 848. On track, Nicky rode his Desmosedici GP9 with matching US livery to his best finish of the year and first podium aboard the Ducati. Take a look as Nicky takes delivery of his Nicky Hayden Edition 848 and rides it for the first time.
