March

Year: 2011

Month: March

Ducati looking to mount stronger challenge in 2011

16 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Ducati hope the arrival of Italian icon Valentino Rossi will help the Bologna factory sustain a longer challenge for glory in the 2011 MotoGP world championship. Ducati never really seriously...

Wayne Gardner dismisses Suzuki podium aspirations

16 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Suzuki has got no chance of ending its long search for a podium in the 2011 MotoGP world championship, according to Wayne Gardner. The Japanese factory hasn’t scored a top three finish since Loris...

Honda excited by Stoner and Pedrosa battle

16 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Honda bosses reckon the intense internal battle between Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa will provide a fascinating sub-plot during the 2011 MotoGP world championship. The Repsol Honda pair have been is...

Chris Walker gets BSB Kawasaki

16 March 2011 by Gary Pinchin

Chris Walker will race a new Kawasaki ZX-10R in BSB this year with backing from haulage firm Enviro and precision engineering company R&G. Both businesses are based in Northampton and the team will...

Japanese MotoGP date change confirmed

15 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

The 2011 Japanese MotoGP race, originally scheduled to take place on April 24, has been moved to October 2. The FIM has just confirmed the switch, which follows a devastating earthquake and tsunami...

Japanese MotoGP race postponed after earthquake

15 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

The Twin Ring Motegi MotoGP race, scheduled to take place on April 24, has been postponed following an earthquake and tsunami that caused widespread devastation in Japan last week. MCN understands the...

Casey Stoner oozing confidence ahead of season opener

15 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Casey Stoner signed off his 2011 winter testing preparations in emphatic style last night in Qatar, the Repsol Honda dominating the timesheets to cement his status as overwhelming pre-season...

Valentino Rossi: “I’m not fast enough’

14 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Valentino Rossi admitted he simply isn’t fast enough at the moment after he ended another tough test on board Ducati’s factory GP11 machine in Qatar tonight. The Italian crashed at Turn 7 when he...

Jorge Lorenzo: ‘My grandmother could have been faster’

14 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Jorge Lorenzo will kick off the defence of his MotoGP world title this weekend wondering how he can halt the domination of Honda duo Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa. It may have only been testing, but...

Cal Crutchlow suffers nasty hand injury

14 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Cal Crutchlow lost the tip of his left little finger after a heavy crash during the final night of testing at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar. The British rider lost control of his Monster...

Qatar test times: Stoner continues Honda dominance

14 March 2011 by Liam Marsden

Casey Stoner ensured Honda continued dominating pre season testing by posting the fastest lap on the second day at Qatar. The Aussie set a lap time of 1:55.681, just over half a second slower than the...

Night delight for Cal Crutchlow

14 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Cal Crutchlow made an impressive debut under the Losail International Circuit floodlights, the British rider finishing 16th quickest on the opening night of MotoGP testing in Qatar. The Coventry...

Valentino Rossi brushes off first Ducati crash

14 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Valentino Rossi brushed off his first crash on board a factory Ducati machine in Qatar as the Italian finished eighth quickest on the opening night of testing under the Losail International Circuit...

Casey Stoner hails new Honda gearbox

14 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Casey Stoner hailed the impact of Honda’s new 2011 factory Honda RC212V gearbox after he finished the opening night of testing at Qatar in second place. The Aussie was in control for long periods of...

Villopoto takes third win on the bounce

13 March 2011 by Paul Harris

Ryan Villopoto took his third win on the bounce at the Indianapolis super cross on Saturday to put a serious dent in the hopes of his title competitors. Kawasaki’s ginger ninja came into the race with a handy 23 point lead after a couple of inherited wins when the competition imploded in front of him, but was in no mood to wait for fate to push him towards the title – this one he won all on his...

Qatar test times: Pedrosa on top after day one

13 March 2011 by Liam Marsden

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa finished the first test under the floodlights at Qatar on top to conitune Honda’s dominance of pre season testing. Team-mate Casey Stoner set the second fastest time...

John Hopkins back on a Suzuki MotoGP bike

13 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

John Hopkins rolled back the years in Qatar yesterday (Saturday) when he rode a factory Suzuki GSV-R machine for the first time since the end of 2007. The American was drafted in by Suzuki to help out...

Kevin Schwantz backs Valentino Rossi to come good

11 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Kevin Schwantz is in no doubt that Valentino Rossi will be a force to be reckoned with in the 2011 MotoGP world championship. But the Texan legend doubts the 32-year-old will be in a position to win...

Wayne Gardner backs Ben Spies to star in 2011

11 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Former world champion Wayne Gardner has backed Ben Spies to emerge as a major threat to Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa’s domination of MotoGP in 2011. The top quartet,...

Nicky Hayden seeking more consistency

11 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Nicky Hayden reckons he’s still got to find a more consistently fast pace to mount a regular podium challenge in the 2011 MotoGP world championship. Hayden made a drastic improvement in his second...

Suzuki boss expects brutal racing in MotoGP

11 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Factory Suzuki boss Paul Denning reckons MotoGP fans will be treated to some ‘brutal’ racing in 2011, with competition in the 17-rider field stronger than it has ever been. Many expect a seven-rider...

Honda buoyed by internal competition

11 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

The fierce internal competition between Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso and Marco Simoncelli is a major positive for Honda in 2011, says HRC boss Livio Suppo. Honda hasn’t won the premier...

Honda has no big advantage, says Dani Pedrosa

10 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Dani Pedrosa has denied that Honda will start the 2011 MotoGP world championship in Qatar with a big technical advantage over Yamaha and Ducati. The new Honda RC212V has been the dominant bike in...

MCN’s BSB pre-season testing blog: Viva Espana - the final day

10 March 2011 by Gary Pinchin

There’s no such thing as downtime for the technical staff in a professional race team. Even on a disgusting wet, cold day in the middle of nowheresville Spain, when the track’s too slippery for the...

Suzuki unveils new 2011 GSV-R

10 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

This is the new factory Suzuki GSV-R that Alvaro Bautista will race in the 2011 MotoGP world championship. Sporting a striking blue livery inspired by Troy Lee Designs in the colours of title sponsor...

Re-live classic MotoGP races on British Eurosport

09 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

MotoGP fans will be able to re-live some of the best races of the modern era in a special series of ‘Best Battles’ to be screened on British Eurosport during 2011. British Eurosport will screen a...

Andrea Dovizioso expects to mount title challenge

09 March 2011

Andrea Dovizioso believes he can mount a serious threat to win the 2011 MotoGP world championship. The Italian has been in impressive form during the winter testing campaign with the new factory Honda...

Valentino Rossi’s best mate unveils Moto2 squad

09 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Valentino Rossi’s lifelong best friend Alessio ‘Uccio’ Salucci unveiled the new Moto2 squad he is helping run in 2011 in Milan yesterday (Tuesday). Salucci helped show off the new Speed Master Team...

MCN BSB blog: First day at Guadix

09 March 2011 by Gary pinchin

After driving down from Cartagena to Guadix yesterday and kicking around the town, having a lazy afternoon, today it was back to business as usual – or so we had hoped. Guadix is a beautifully...

Casey Stoner against extended Qatar MotoGP weekend

08 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Casey Stoner says he is against the new format for the season opening night race in Qatar, with the schedule extended to four days for 2011. Five pratice sessions will take place on Thursday night...

Casey Stoner predicts wide open title fight

08 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Casey Stoner says he’s expecting the 2011 MotoGP world championship fight to be a wide open contest. The Aussie has made an impressive switch to the Repsol Honda squad for the new season and he...

Ben Spies won't be fazed by Jorge Lorenzo threat

08 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Ben Spies won’t be fazed at all by having current MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo as his team-mate in 2011, according to former team boss Herve Poncharal. Spies hasn’t been defeated by a team-mate...

Yamaha more united without Valentino Rossi

08 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Yamaha will attempt to win a fourth successive MotoGP crown in 2011 as a much more united force, according to new factory rider Ben Spies. Following the departure of talisman Valentino Rossi to...

Alvaro Bautista: 'I'm better off alone'

08 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Alvaro Bautista reckons it will be more beneficial for him to operate as the lone rider in Suzuki’s factory MotoGP squad for 2011. The Spaniard will be Suzuki’s single entry this year following the...

Norton continuing MotoGP talks for 2012

07 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Norton continues to be in regular contact with Dorna about a potential 2012 entry in the new 1000cc MotoGP class. But Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta said there was still no guarantee that the legendary...

Rossi's potential tough to gauge, says Colin Edwards

07 March 2011 by Matthew Birt

Valentino Rossi’s true potential on Ducati’s new factory GP11 will be difficult to fully understand until the Italian has regained 100 per cent fitness. That’s the view of Colin Edwards as Rossi...