More in Moto News for Tuesday - Birthdays, Hayden and Rossi

From the mag Road Racer X we get our weekly dose of significant birthdays - and some death-days - in the world of motorcycle racing. This week it belongs to Steve Hislop, David Pingree (of RRX magazine), Ben Thompson, Simon Crafar, Craig Jones, Alberto Puig, and Mike di Meglio. Not a busy week for birthdays, but some very good racers and personalities in this list.


http://tinyurl.com/yd5amlu

It also appears that Nicky Hayden was rather embarrassed at revealing the Ducati Desmosedici GP10 via his mobile phone camera a week or so ago. He posted the photos to his website and it was picked up by the moto press immediately. I think he will be OK...

http://tinyurl.com/yju5prr

Valentino Rossi's visit to India has ignited a storm of publicity from the nation's populace. They are simply mad about the MotoGP Champion and they are filling the Internet with posts about the visit and about the people who were lucky enough to actually meet the race hero.

http://tinyurl.com/yjdzppy

An Interview With Former KTM 125 Racer Marc Marquez

Marquez will not be on KTM next year as they have pulled out of the Grand Prix series. So, the eight place overall finisher in 2009 will be tackling a new Aprilia for 2010 in the 125c.c. class. He will be riding for the AJO Team, who had some success in 2008 with Mike di Meglio. So, hear what Marc has to say...

http://tinyurl.com/yju8w4u

Aspar May Trake Over Aprilia Moto2 Project

Aprilia had been planning to join the Moto2 class with their own chassis (of course, using the spec-Honda engine), but they announced a few days ago that they would be focusing their efforts elsewhere. In comes Jorge Martinez - he of Aspar - to say that he may expand his team by taking on that program. It would not be like creating a new team as Aprilia was nearly finished with their frame, but it would still take some serious work to make the team competitive.

http://tinyurl.com/yhg6dfo

Mike di Meglio and Julian Simon Sign with Mapfre Aspar

Though they will be campaigning in the new Moto2 series in 2010, the same riders will be on the team. Simon and di Meglio have both signed contracts to stay with the Aspar team and ride the spec-Honda 600c.c. engines in the custom chassis. The two riders are both champions in the 125c.c. Grand Prix category, so watch out for the in 2010!

http://tinyurl.com/ybltjyq

Bradley Smith Close to Signing with Aspar Aprilia for 2010

It is not finalised yet, but sources say that Bradley Smith is close to signing with the Aspar Aprilia 125 World Championship team. He had wanted to go into the Moto2 series, but the team already has a full dance card for that series with Julian Simon, new 125GP Champion, and Mike di Meglio. Gresini approached Smith for the Moto2 class, but that team has yet to get their budget settled.

http://tinyurl.com/yhve2u5

Results from 250 Race at Portuguese Grand Prix

The 250c.c. race had a very tight second place finish. The timing screen showed a difference between riders Hector Barbera and Mike Di Meglio to be less than .001 seconds from each other - upon further review, though, it was declared that they tied! Read the link for the final designation. Marco Simoncelli, however, dominated the race; he was in sixth place at one point, but managed to take the lead and hold it by more than 6 seconds through the rest of the race...I sure hope it is shown on TV here!

http://tinyurl.com/ycqfrkb

Basic results: http://tinyurl.com/yazf2hh

More on Simoncelli's 2009 title hunt: http://tinyurl.com/y96onyg

Di Meglio Gets His First Pole at Indy

250c.c. rider Mike Di Meglio managed to get past fellow Frenchman Jules Cluzel to score his first pole of the season at the Indianapolis GP.

http://tinyurl.com/mx8pkw