May

Year: 2011

Month: May

Le Mans MotoGP: Stoner maintains pace in FP2

13 May 2011 by Tom Cambio

Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner maintained the pace he set in this morning’s practice session to finish the second free practice session fastest at Le Mans, setting a 1m 33.782s lap. Stoner was 0.404s...

Laverty and Melandri get Aragon test underway

13 May 2011 by Michael Guy

The factory Yamaha World Superbike team of Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty will begin their second day of testing at the Aragon Motorland circuit today. The two riders completed a successful day of...

Casey Stoner denies blocking Valentino Rossi in Estoril test

12 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Casey Stoner has denied accusations from Valentino Rossi that he deliberately blocked the factory Ducati rider during the recent MotoGP test at the Estoril circuit. Rossi has been quoted in the...

Le Mans MotoGP: Valentino Rossi pushes Ducati for more upgrades

12 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Valentino Rossi has urged Ducati to make further improvements to its factory GP11 machine after the Italian was boosted by a positive recent test session in Estoril. The nine-times world champion...

Le Mans MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa expects tough weekend

12 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Dani Pedrosa has conceded he faces another physically gruelling weekend in Le Mans as he battles back to full fitness after recent surgery on his right shoulder. Pedrosa produced a startling display...

Checa back to his best at Misano test

12 May 2011 by Michael Guy

Carlos Checa shrugged of what was a difficult weekend at Monza where by finishing the two day test at Misano fastest to reassert his previous dominance back on the championship. The Althea Ducati...

Dani Pedrosa eager to assess new Honda 1000cc bike

12 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Dani Pedrosa is hoping that Honda’s new 1000cc MotoGP contender will be fast straight out of the crate as he prepares for his debut on the 2012 machine in Jerez next week. The triple world champion,...

Biaggi leads the way at Misano test

11 May 2011 by Michael Guy

Max Biaggi reacted to his extreme disappointment of missing out on victory at Monza on Sunday by dominating the opening day of testing at Misano yesterday. The reigning World Superbike champion...

Hutchinson ruled out of 2011 TT

11 May 2011 by MCN Sportsdesk

Ian Hutchinson has finally been forced to admit defeat in his brave battle to be fit for the 2011 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy. The Yamaha rider, who won a historic five TT Races in...

Cal Crutchlow to assess arm recovery after Le Mans

10 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Cal Crutchlow will wait until the short break after this weekend’s French MotoGP clash in Le Mans to assess the recovery of his right arm after recent surgery. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider had...

Casey Stoner excited by Honda 1000cc debut

10 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Casey Stoner says he’s keen to gauge the performance of Honda’s new 1000cc prototype MotoGP bike he will debut in Jerez after this weekend’s French Grand Prix at Le Mans. The Aussie will complete a...

Marco Simoncelli believes maiden MotoGP podium is close

10 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Marco Simoncelli believes his maiden MotoGP podium and victory is getting ever closer as he looks to bounce back to form in Le Mans this weekend. The Italian is looking to end a disastrous recent run...

Randy de Puniet hopeful on home race fitness

09 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Randy de Puniet is facing a race against time to be fully fit for his crucial home race in Le Mans this weekend. The Pramac Ducati underwent further medical checks on his left knee last Thursday to...

Reed wins battle, Villopoto wins the war at Vegas Supercross shootout

09 May 2011 by Paul Harris

How often in sport does the big showdown not live up to the hype? I’d say most of the time – the big fight that goes to a listless decision, the big match that plays out a 0-0 draw, another American des Nations win. Motocross is not immune, but the Las Vegas finale of the 2011 AMA Supercross season is the exception that proves the rule – it was a belter. Three men – Ryan Villopoto, Chad Reed and...

Then there were three… Villopoto wins again with one round left

09 May 2011 by Paul Harris

There were four men in contention for the 2011 supercross championship heading into this weekend, just two main events left in the long seventeen-race season. All four gated well, occupying the top four places within a couple of laps – the battle for the title was on… James Stewart led from the off, ahead of Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Dungey, after the two Ryans relegated Justin Brayton to...

Monza WSB: Laverty does the double

08 May 2011 by Liam Marsden

Factory Yamaha rider Eugene Laverty has won both superbikes races at Monza today after Max Biaggi was given a ride through penalty. Max Biaggi got a good start and pulled away from the rest of the...

Monza WSB: Davies dominates for second WSS win

08 May 2011 by Liam Marsden

Brit Chaz Davies dominated the World Supersport race from start to finish to take his second victory in as many races today at Monza. Davies was quickest off the line and from then on nobody was able...

Monza WSB: Laverty takes first WSB win

08 May 2011 by Liam Marsden

Factory Yamaha rider Eugene Laverty has taken his first victory in World Superbikes after dominating race one at Monza today. Laverty took the lead on the second lap, but pole-setter Max Biaggi was...

Monza Superpole: Biaggi smashes best lap record to secure pole

07 May 2011 by Michael Guy

World Champion Max Biaggi annihilated his own best lap record of Monza to secure pole position for Sunday’s two 18 lap races. The factory Alitalia Aprilia rider led the final Superpole session...

Monza WSB: Haslam storms to the front in Monza qualifying

06 May 2011 by Michael Guy

Leon Haslam stormed to the top of the timesheets onboard his BMW Motorrad S1000RR in qualifying at Monza today. The 27 year old Brit held first position for the majority of the session until Max...

Monza WSB: Chaz Davies in control

06 May 2011 by Michael Guy

Chaz Davies stamped his authority on day one of the Monza World Supersport round by setting the fastest time in both free practice and first qualifying today. The ParkinGo Yamaha R6 rider set a best...

Tommy Bridewell's crash

06 May 2011 by Anonymous

I was taking photos at Oulton Park on Saturday and managed to capture these pictures of Tommy Bridewell’s crash.

Ben Spies backs Yamaha to close Honda advantage

06 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Ben Spies is confident Yamaha can improve its factory YZR-M1 machine and bridge the gap to Japanese rivals Honda. Although Spanish team-mate Jorge Lorenzo is currently leading the 2011 world...

Dani Pedrosa explains Spanish success

06 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Jorge Lorenzo, Toni Elias and Marc Marquez’s historic achievement in winning all three Grand Prix classes in 2010 was proof that best road racers in the world are Spanish. Never before in the history...

Portimao won’t replace under threat Japanese MotoGP race

06 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Portimao will not join the 2011 MotoGP calendar as replacement for the under threat Japanese round scheduled to take place in early October. The Twin Ring Motegi race, which was postponed for April 24...

Honda against bike/rider weight limit in MotoGP

05 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Honda will fight any bid to introduce a combined bike and rider weight limit currently under discussion in MotoGP. Marco Simoncelli is at the forefront of a campaign to introduce a combined bike and...

New clutch boost for Andrea Dovizioso

05 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Andrea Dovizioso has hailed a new clutch tested in Estoril earlier this week as Honda continues a long-running battle to cure a corner entry stability issue with its factory RC212V machine. Although...

Alvaro Bautista expects to be much stronger in France

05 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Alvaro Bautista is hoping a period of rest and recuperation will help bring him closer to 100 per cent fitness after the exertion of racing and testing in Estoril last weekend. The factory Suzuki...

Moto3 grid could feature 40 bikes

05 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Moto3, the new 250cc four-stroke class that will replace the current 125GP series in 2012, looks like attracting a bumper entry of 40 bikes. Interest in the new class is booming and MotoGP bosses...

Cookstown 100 pics

04 May 2011 by jamierob

Ryan Farquhar kicks dirt at Michael Dunlop’s Kawasaki at the Cookstown 100

Tech 3 kick off Yamaha talks

04 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Cal Crutchlow’s Tech 3 Yamaha squad kicked off talks over a new deal in Estoril that will see the French team lease YZR-M1 bikes for 2012 and ’13. Herve Poncharal met senior Yamaha management in...

Casey Stoner wary of double Spanish threat

04 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Casey Stoner says it is impossible to single out Jorge Lorenzo or Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa as to which one will pose the biggest threat to his hopes of winning back the MotoGP world title...

Ducati working on new gearbox for GP11

04 May 2011 by Matthew Birt

Ducati is working on a new gearbox to try and emulate Honda’s impressive seamless shift system that the Japanese factory rolled out in 2011. The gearbox development is part of an on-going major...

Yamaha needs more rear grip, says Colin Edwards

04 May 2011

Colin Edwards reckons Yamaha’s YZR-M1 machine needs more rear traction than the horsepower boost that reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo is repeatedly asking the Japanese factory for. The...

Recovering Toseland aims for Monza return

03 May 2011 by Michael Guy

James Toseland will fly to Monza tomorrow (Wednesday) with the intention of riding his BMW Motorrad Italia S1000RR for the first time since suffering his serious hand injury in testing. The former two...

Rossi and Aaron

03 May 2011 by mreasyrider99

My son Aaron at Qatar with Rossi. He was chuffed.