News 2 Jun 2010

Racing Insider #22

Catch up on the latest in World MX, Oz MX, ASBK, WSBK and MotoGP with this week's packed edition of Racing Insider.

An Australian Motocross Grand Prix in Victoria will bring the likes of MX1 World Champion Tony Cairoli down under in 2011.

An Australian Motocross Grand Prix in Victoria will bring the likes of MX1 World Champion Tony Cairoli down under in 2011.

WORLD MOTOCROSS
The hype for World Motocross reached boiling point during last week’s US GP at Glen Helen in California, putting the world championship well and truly on the map after a successful return to the States.

Perhaps the best news to come out of round for Australian fans was Youthstream boss Giuseppe Luongo’s revelation that Australia will commence next year’s series in Victoria on the third weekend of May.

It’ll be a massive return for World Motocross down under at a time when the sport is excelling at an all-time high, so let’s hope that the final pieces of the puzzle are put into place and we can see some of our top domestic riders go at it against Tony Caioli and co. as wildcards at the event.

As for the circuit it’ll be held at? What we are certain of is that it’ll be in Victoria, however the question remains whether the venue will be Barrabool or Broadford – host of the most recent Aussie MX GP in 2001.

With Motorcycling Australia recently acquiring Barrabool then I’d have to say my money’s on McAdam Park to take the reins. It’s an awesome track, close to Melbourne, and offers more accommodation for the internationals.

Bring it on, I say!

AUSTRALIAN MOTOCROSS
More news continues to come out regarding how MX Nationals promoter Williams Event Management plans to make up the lack of motos at Broadford following the death of Andrew McFarlane.

As we reported last week, the final round of the series at Coolum in Queensland is set to host a double-header round with three motos on Saturday and another three on Sunday.

The big news is that we’ll likely see 30-minute motos reintroduced at Coolum in the first motos of each day, before 20-minute motos round out the round in the Pro classes.

Keep in mind that this hasn’t been confirmed and is simply speculation at this point, however sources suggest that format is definitely in planning – making for a massive weekend of motocross action!

And despite the MX Nationals website still featuring Port Macquarie in NSW as the penultimate round, we can confirm that Barrabool will host the seventh round in Victoria (all going well with current negotiations with the council, etc).

How about Brad Anderson’s form at Raymond Terrace last weekend? It was an epic performance and one that took many by surprise as he took a clean sweep of the Pro Open class on debut with a Honda CRF450R that had a stock engine.

The rain leading up to the event made for a super-bumpy track come Sunday, however the clouds disappeared and sun came out for what was an effectively dry round of racing.

American PJ Larsen again asserted his dominance with a sweep of the Pro Lites for JDR Motorex KTM, and we’re hearing that the team will race with 2011 models at the final few rounds if development goes according to plan.

As for Larsen, this month off has enabled him to travel back to California for the first time in months, taking Hart and Huntington Coastal KTM’s Dan McCoy with him.

Manjimup’s 15,000 will take place over in Western Australia this weekend, where you can catch Brad Anderson and Billy Mackenzie continuing their British Motocross rivalry in the sand – an event where BillyMac will no doubt be looking for redemption.

Don’t forget guys, we’re running a competition where you guys can win your very own custom set of Ringmaster Images graphics for your dirt bike, so check it out here and get you entries in! The closing date is coming up quickly.

AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE
International Entertainment Group revealed this morning that it’ll feature online streaming this weekend when the third round of the 2010 series takes place at Queensland Raceway.

The live vision direct from the circuit will be a step forward for the sport to assist those who couldn’t make it to the event in seeing all the action, however we’re still hearing various rumours on the television side for both this year and next.

Admittedly the coverage to date has been sporadic at best with hardly any warning before the Phillip Island round was broadcast on ONE HD, and we’re yet to see Darwin’s Hidden Valley round on the box.

When questioned this afternoon on the television situation, IEG director Yarrive Konsky said we could expect some sort of an update on the television package this weekend so I’ll be sure to chase that up.

Speaking of 2011, check the Breaking News tomorrow morning for the latest on next season’s proposed regulations, amongst other things. I plan on putting the finishing touches on that story this evening.

Don’t forget to check out our Video Interviews on Sunday direct from Queensland Raceway, as well as our Pit Pass image gallery that I’ll upload on Saturday afternoon and the Track Access image gallery that I’ll upload in the days following the round.

We’ll also be interviewing the standout performer from the round in a Moto Talk interview to be posted online on Monday.

While much of the focus this weekend is on the Aussie Superbikes in Queensland as I’ll be at the round on duties for AMCN, readers from Victoria be sure to check out the second round of the Formula Xtreme Championship Series at Winton this weekend.

There’s a bunch of talented riders and professional teams lining up to take on the factory Yamaha might in the FX this year, so let’s see if anyone can stop Kev Curtain come Sunday afternoon.

We’ll try to keep you posted on the television times when they’re released as well, but expect it to be shortly after the event on Speedweek in the coming weeks.

While the ASBK's on in Queensland, don't forget the FX action at Winton on Sunday with YRT's Kevin Curtain (21).

While the ASBK's on in Queensland, don't forget the FX action at Winton on Sunday with YRT's Kevin Curtain (21).

WORLD SUPERBIKE
I’ve been a big fan of World Superbike so far this season, and watching Carlos Checa get robbed by an electrical fault on his Althea Racing Ducati at the Miller round last weekend was absolutely heartbreaking for the Spaniard.

Aprilia’s Max Biaggi has to be the favourite for the title after Suzuki’s Leon Haslam crashed out of race two, picking up his third double win of the season on the beautiful RSV4.

I hate to admit it, but if you would have told me before Phillip Island’s season opener that Max Biaggi would be dominating the series at the halfway point then I probably would have laughed. Aprilia deserves massive props for their work with both Biaggi and Leon Camier this year.

Another thing that I also never would have believed is the form of Kawasaki so far – namely Queenslander Chris Vermeulen. Yes, he’s under an injury cloud, but man it must be frustrating for Team Green to be struggling so much at this point.

Let’s hope their radically revised 2011 model is a great improvement, however you do have to credit American Roger Hayden, who rides for the underfunded Pedercini team, for pushing the factory bikes of Vermeulen and Tom Sykes before crashing out late in race two at his home round.

The Supersport World Championship is destined to receive a massive overhaul in time for the 2011 season after low grid numbers and factory support have plagued the series so far this year.

It’s believed that the series will undergo a series of changes for next year in a bid to boost entries, with the well-informed Italian press reporting that a single engine rule per rider for the season could spearhead to regulation changes for next season.

Allowing teams to use just one engine for the season would limit the modifications made, however other revisions to the rules in an effort to save money are also under consideration at the moment.

Another major change to the series could be the limitation of fly-away rounds, with insiders indicating that World Supersport may hold its majority of rounds in Europe next season with just two fly-away rounds in countries that are popular in 600cc motorcycle sales.

While the series lost both the 2009 championship-winning Yamaha team and the Stiggy Motorsports Honda team at the close of last season, speculation out of Europe continues to surround MV Agusta’s brand new triple-cylinder F3 – a model that has been spotted on various occasions during private testing in Italy.

Compared to 30-plus rider grids that have proven the spectacle in year’s past, this season has seen just 20 riders per round approximately.

The word is that the Superbikes will be undergoing minor changes to save costs as well, possibly banning the use of selected expensive materials that factory teams currently take advantage of.

Another point that may be of interest to Aussie riders is that the age limit for the Superstock 600 and Superstock 1000 categories in the FIM Cup series that run alongside WSBK are set to be raised to around 26 so riders have more time in their national series to develop before taking on the international title.

MOTOGP
This weekend’s Mugello round of the MotoGP World Championship could mark a massive turning point in the series if a few scenarios ring true.

Firstly, can Casey Stoner repeat his victory from last season and rid of any troubles causing him to crash out of two rounds from three contested so far in 2010? If he can then expect a massive surge for the remainder of the year. If not then expect a contract signed with Honda sooner, rather than later.

Secondly, if Jorge Lorenzo manages to beat Fiat Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi on home turf at Mugello then that could be the first major cracking point in Rossi’s title pursuit against his determined younger teammate.

Those are my two points of interest for this weekend, set to be another intriguing battle for supremacy between the greatest road racers in the world.

That’s all for this week’s Insider, thanks again for reading and be sure to sign up as a member on MotoOnline if you’re not one already – we have some pretty cool things coming up for members.

Aussie Casey Stoner has to bounce back at Mugello on Sunday.

Aussie Casey Stoner has to bounce back at Mugello on Sunday.

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