And, More Morning Moto News - Alitalia and MotoGP

The Aprilia World Superbike team has secured sponsorship from Italian airline Alitalia. It was an inside deal, though, as the CEO or Piaggio (who owns Aprilia) is also CEO of Alitalia. However, it is good to see more sponsorship in the motorcycle racing world - there is not near enough money there these days.

http://tinyurl.com/y8foxc5

And, we have a nice piece on Valentino Rossi and his forays into the four-wheeled racing world. Full disclosure - I wrote it! So, please take the link below and go and have a quick read. I enjoyed writing it and I truly believe that Rossi will be in WRC and not F1, unless he encounters something - like tons of money - and changes his mind.

http://tinyurl.com/y9xvklf

Saturday Moto News - Blackhorse Kawasaki and Valentino Rossi

Team Blackhorse Kawasaki - Ian Lougher's Kawasaki team - has now signed David Pearce and re-signed Conor Cummins for the 2010 British Superbike Season. Pearce will contest the Junior 600 Superstock class for his first foray into BSB racing, and Cummins will continue in the Superstock 1000 class (Cummins will also continue riding for the McAdoo Racing team in 'real roads' events). Lougher has put together a great team and we will benefit from the challenging racing...

http://tinyurl.com/yatddyb

Apparently, Valentino Rossi had to be rushed to the hospital on Thursday (14 January 2010) for pain in his abdomen. The reports say that he had an inflamed appendix, but there is no information on how it was treated. (In the US, they would operate and take it out for safety.) However, it does appear that his ride in the Ferrari F1 car is still on.

http://tinyurl.com/ye8mpdr

A Busy Wednesday Morning - Moto Race News from All Over, Part 4

Valentino Rossi has accepted another offer to drive in a Ferrari Formula 1 machine. He will be testing the Ferrari F2008 at Barcelona during 20 - 21 January 2010. It was promised to him if he picked up the 2009 MotoGP championship, so they are now delivering. Must be nice to get such promises...

http://tinyurl.com/yjjyopt

Further Rossi news involves an Italian sports poll. The poll found that Rossi tops a list of athletes, also containing Michael Schumacher and Sébastien Loeb, as the leading athlete of the decade (of course, we all know that the decade is yet to be over). That is huge as he is placed well above the two mentioned here and another very long list of incredible sports personalities...Go Rossi!

http://tinyurl.com/ydtpzjd

On 17 March 2010, the newly minted FB Corse racing team will be attending the Qatar MotoGP test. They will not make the Sepang test, but they will certainly be ready for Qatar in March. (Some of this was in a previous post about the rider selection.) It appears that FB Corse is sure to compete in the 2010 MotoGP Championship - I hope you will join me in telling them 'Good Luck!'

http://tinyurl.com/yeeyq3r

Marco Simoncelli will not be making nice with Alvaro Bautista or Hector Barbera in the MotoGP paddock this season. Given all of the feuds between them in the 250 World Championship series, he has stated that they are still behaving the same way towards him, so he will return the attitude their way by ignoring them. Sounds a bit childish, but racers have to be competitive and maybe this will help drive Simoncelli harder in MotoGP...

http://tinyurl.com/ychwv8y

Rossi's Team Finishes Third in Class at 6-Hour Vallelunga Endurance Event

True, he was not on his trusty motorcycle, but confined inside a Ferrari which had its own host of mechanical problems. The issues with the car did cause them to lose ground to the other teams, but they still managed third in class and eleventh overall. Very good considering everything, but I am sure that Rossi wanted first place!

http://tinyurl.com/yavt3d5

Rossi Excited About Racing Ferrari in Italian Endurance Race

Rossi spent much time getting to grips with the Ferrari 430 GT3 at the Vallelunga circuit near Rome. Apparently, he had a very good time in practice and is quite ready to get to the race on Sunday. It will be a 6-hour endurance race and many teams will be competing, including professional endurance teams. It should be fun to see!

http://tinyurl.com/ylc7qy8

Rossi to Drive Ferrari at Vallelunga 6 Hours!

Wow, we have heard about his next test in a Formula 1 Ferrari, but we did not know he had this lined up. Valentino Rossi will be racing in the Vallelunga 6 Hours race this coming weekend. He will run the #46 and drive a Ferrari 430 in the event. Sharing driving duties will be Alessio 'Uccio' Salucci - Rossi's longtime friend - and fellow Italian Andrea Ceccato. First practice is this Friday...

http://tinyurl.com/ybgmgnj