Evs7

That had to hurt. He was out for the count. Those Yamaha's seem good but when they bite back they really bite. I guess thats Toseland's testing finished for the week then. With a concusion they won't let him back out on track. I think he's put himself up against it now. At the start of last year no one was expecting anything. Now people expect and he has the crew chief he wants. I just think he's pushing too hard to try to get a result like Lorenzo was and all he's doing is hurting himself and losing confidence. Hopefully he'll bounce back quickly if not the way Spies is going in WSB he might be swapped out in 2010.

very good product mate, I may be a little biased as I used to work there. But that also means that I know the levels of detail that they put into their products. The Gore-tex products are waterproof and windproof and breathable. It's all to do with the structure of the membrane. it's too small to let water through but large enough to let heat vapor particles out so your hands won't get too sweaty either. I haven't tried this particular glove on the road but one of my mates let me borrow his when we went snowboarding and my hands weren't cold well not till I took one off then I was frozen. So should be good for the UK I think it came in at number 2 in MCN's list of top 10 best gloves last week too, so don't just take my word for it.

yeah but who to replace Byrne with. must say I'm a bit shocked by his sudden loss of pace. But who to replace him with? Rea? Sykes? Kiyonari. Haga is too expensive. I know the MotoGP season hasn't started yet but anyone fancy going into a bookies and getting odds on Spies being in MotoGP in 2010?

I reckon that one of tracks that got axed in recent years might get a one year extension. I would expect to hear something over the next few weeks or months. I could be wrong of course maybe the loss of the race might be welcomed by the teams that are struggling with budget. We will see.

nice to see that my curse from the 2008 season has followed me into the 2009 season. 2008 Season ------------- Bought Pedrosa - He fell off and got injured Bought Stoner - He fell off and got injured Bought Byrne - He stopped winning I think I even bought Rossi for the race at Assen 2009 Season ------------- Spies and Byrne - well at least my team got pole and one win. Hoping for better this weekend.

MotoGP bikes over the mountain probably would fly a bit further. apparently the inital acceleration of a MotoGP bike to a SBK is the brutal bit.

I'd just like to point out to all those people who claim this guy has no talent and its all traction control. Take a look at the photo. proper drifting. I know he gets a bad press but then anyone who competes against Rossi seems to get a bad press. I'm a Rossi fan but still got time to admire this guys talent. He's still the only guy who can get that Ducati running at the front of the pack.

I know everyone is saying "..that will serve Donington right" but am I the only one that is a bit disappointed? Personally I've been to Silverstone and for one you can stand in one place and see a lot of the track. two, in 2007 the second WSB race had to be called off because of poor drainage, and three, yes everyone was complaining about Donington and the facilities but they have just received a s*** load of money to do it up..... AND NOW they have received the money Dorna decides they want to move. Errr that was a smart move surely. I really hope I'm proved wrong but a 5 year contract is a long while... maybe if Donny proves to be a success then Dorna will put two rounds on the calendar. God knows the economy could use it.

I can't believe someone hasn't organised a mass ride by....Every week. there is nothing that can be done about it as we all pay road tax. I really find that story distressing, people keep sueing people and outlawing all the fun stuff. eventually we will all wake up and watch 12 hours of X-Factor because everything else will be banned. IF ANYTHING NEEDS TO BE BANNED it's REALITY TV.... come on people it's BORING.

You can now sign up... just thought I'd let you know.

The idea got canned. Yamaha said they would allow Rossi to race, don't think Dorna were too pleased and Bayliss obviously wanted a large some of money for putting his SBK reputation on the line. To be honest why should he bother. He finished in perfect style with a double win at Portimao end it there. why come back for one race and ruin a great ending. I agree with Bayliss if they want him to do it, then pay up. Not entirely sure why Rossi wants to do this unless it still smarts that a SBK rider beat all the MotoGP guys at Valencia in '06. Or maybe he is seriously considering switch with Spies.

rumours are circulating that Kawasaki are about to pull the plug on their MotoGP effort. The story has been reported on MCN and Autosport so there must be some truth behind the story. Apparently Hopkins has confirmed that the bosses have announced their intentions of a possible pull out and was unsure of his future. Early rumours state that the two contracted riders might be pulled into the Kawasaki WSB effort which would be cool. Although losing Kawasaki is a huge blow for MotoGP leaving the field down at just 17 riders for 2009. with WSB teams reportedly costing 10% of the budget of a MotoGP team is MotoGP doomed?

very true Techno, your right there lad. But I wonder if Palmer got his figures wrong. I mean he was probably basing it on this years figures. I reckon this year would have been a bumper crowd especially if Shakey, Rea, Sykes, Hill or Haslam can put in a few good results and compete for the title. Happy New Year Techno and thanks for all the Racing updates over the year. but I will beat you in the MCN competition in '09

Could always make a trip to Assen. That should be a good one. Can't believe they have canned Brands either. I mean they reckon that the crowd was down this year with no British Entries in the championship. Next year we have about 5 and a couple in supersport as well. They keep talking about this rescue plan for Brands although I'm not sure at present what is going to happen. To be honest if you were going to cancel a round this year it would have been better to cancel Donington and allow the builders more time to get that ready for 2010. Still can't see how that will be ready on time.

well as stated before, Don't ask me why because I think Rossi will win the title again. BUT I'm going to the bookies to put some money on Dovizioso and Hayden to win the title. I have a feeling something strange will happen next year. Either Honda will come out with a bike that is s*** hot and then Dovi will ride away with it. Or the Ducati and Hayden will work and with everyone else tripping everyone else up he'll win. I may be wrong but last time I was going to put a crazy bet on was Dec 06 and I was going to put a bet on Stoner.

actually I suppose I had forgotten that Guintoli and Brookes will be in the field so there should be some good racing. I still think that Camier will take the title.

well its not a big thing really, just that all the other racers seem to keep their numbers, for instance Rossi has always been 46, Melandri is always 33, Hayden (unless champion is always 69) Stoner was running 27 in the tests again. so it just seems weird that Dani is going to hop around from number to number year after year. What if he finishes fourth next year... could be another bust up in the Repsol garage.

but Dovi never finished in 4th place but he'll still be number 4 and I'm fairly sure that Casey is going back to number 27 as it's a number he has raced with his whole career. I do understand your post above but I'm fairly confident he could of keep number 2

Ok, I noticed in testing that Pedrosa has changed from number 2 to number 3. Obviously he finished 3rd in the championship so he has decided to change his number, but why? every other rider seems to keep their number year after year. If Pedrosa finishes fourth is he going to want Dovi's number? Also is he doing this to get under Rossi's skin? as 3 was Biaggi's old number?

I reckon Sete will ride for the team in 2009 and I'm sure he may have a hard time, I mean no offence to him but he quit at the end of the 990cc era, the bikes have changed the riding style has changed, and he's had two years off. No doubt Gibernau is still one hell of a rider and will do well but I wonder if he might be moved out for 2010 for a younger Spanish rider now they have the team set up. If so Gibernau should go to WSB this time instead of retiring, he could go win the title probably.

Rookies : Canepa, Kallio, Takahashi, and (not really a rookie) but Gibernau

Yep, I reckon he would be a smart buy unless MCN decide to stick an annoying large price on him.

I don't want to sound harsh but for some reason I'm really not looking forward to BSB in 2009. over the last two seasons it's had a lot of talent ripped from it's roster. Rea Kiyonari Lavilla Halsam Crutchlow Byrne Sykes I hope I'm proved wrong but just doesn't sound too interesting so far. my pick for the title would have to be Camier, who will then also probably leave for World Superbike.

Ok I know a wheel hasn't been turned in anger yet in the 2009 season but anyone want to make any predictions for the new season? I reckon it will be Capirossi's and Edward's last season in the top class. too many young guys coming through. I reckon Toseland will have another good year. Will land a ride on the Factory Suzuki for 2010. Top three will be Rossi/Stoner and either Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Dovi or Hayden. I have a funny hunch something strange is going to happen. Last time I had this feeling I said to myself Stoner would win the title on the Ducati and he did. So I'm off down the bookies to put £5 on Hayden and Dovi each to win the 2009 title. Don't ask me why, just a funny feeling.

Well we've got to that time of year again where we all hibernate for a few months as there is a testing ban. One promising thing I noted before the testing ban was that Hayden seems to be getting to grips with that Ducati pretty quickly. He was only 1 second off Rossi's pace (which was almost 1 second under lap record pace) at the end of the test, plus add to that the fact that Jerez was a bit of a bad track for Ducati in 2008. Looks like the Kentucky Kid could of made a smart move leaving Honda for the beast of a bike from Bologna. Ciao