More MotoGP Qatar Test News

There are more stories from the recent night-time Qatar preseason test this past Thursday and Friday, and they will be posted here for your perusal. We all know that Casey Stoner finally took the top spot on the final day of practice, but he was only a few hundredths of a second ahead of Valentino Rossi, and Rossi is well-known to sand-bag. So, let's have a look...

More on Casey Stoner: http://tinyurl.com/yhm6wtx

If you head to this landing page today, you will get all the MotoGP team reports on the Friday practice: http://tinyurl.com/yznyogq

Randy de Puniet: http://tinyurl.com/yfogl7n

Tuesday Morning Moto News - Speed Dating & Aprilia Alitalia

Another edition of Road Racer X's Speed Dating column. This week we have birthdays for Takaaki Nakagami, Jason DiSalvo, Tommy Hill, Chaz Davies, Jim Moodie, John Surtees, Tadayuki Okada, Randy De Puniet, and Manuel Poggiali . Another very long list of great riders who will be one year older at the end of this week...for more details about the above-mentioned personalities, please take the link.

http://tinyurl.com/y9o2wd8

The Alitalia sponsored factory Aprilia team is ready to begin the 2010 World Superbike season. The team has released its livery for this year and they have made the final announcements about who and what and when and why. It will be Max Biaggi and Leon Camier dueling against the best in the world for the title on their lovely RSV-4 machines...

http://tinyurl.com/ya262hj

http://tinyurl.com/yfx8r7v

More Morning Moto News - Duke Video, Randy de Puniet & Andrea Dovizioso

Duke Video's "MotoGP: Evolution of a Species" is reviewed for us in the linked article. If you have not heard of this video, you should be very shocked! It is a very well-done documentary on the technical and engineering side of the MotoGP Championship. If you have ever had questions about the machinery your favorite racer uses, this is a DVD which will help explain the MotoGP motorcycle for you.

http://tinyurl.com/y8mazy5

Randy de Puniet is anxious to get aboard his LCR Honda at the upcoming Sepang test for MotoGP teams. He is looking forward to campaigning the new RC212V in the 2010 Championship. However, he is not losing his grip on reality and expects there to be some work to get the bike working well for him. So, Malaysia will be very useful to de Puniet and his team.

http://tinyurl.com/yep5tf8

Andrea Dovizioso wants Honda to let him help develop the RC212V so that he has a real chance at winning races in 2010. Given his stellar performances at some circuits last year and his failures at other tracks, they might do well to listen. Either way, he will have his chance on the new beast at the Malaysian test.

http://tinyurl.com/ycnezsy

LCR Honda Wants Top Privateer Honor in MotoGP

Colin Edwards and Tech 3 took the honor in 2009, but LCR Honda and rider Randy de Puniet want to take it in 2010. With rider de Puniet at the controls of an even more advanced Honda in 2010, they do have a chance. Honda will be providing the satellite teams with similar support to what the factory team is receiving. We will see how it all works out next season...

http://tinyurl.com/yfqscbv

De Puniet Has Screws Removed from Ankle

The simple operation as successful and de Puniet is doing fine. He had the screws put into his ankle after an August injury; he wanted to finish the season, so he had his ankle fixed with some hardware to allow him to race. Given his 2009 performance compared to 2008, it seems to have helped. Let's see how much better he can be in 2010!

http://tinyurl.com/y9oey83

Word is de Puniet is Fully Recovered From Injury

De Puniet and his LCR Honda team arrived in Portugal in good spirits. The three-week break provided de Puniet with enough time to recover from his injury - a fractured ankle. He says that it still gets swollen, but he can use it fine to race!

http://tinyurl.com/y9rmfu8

Honda Improves Satellite Team's Chances in MotoGP

Honda has moved ahead in at least one aspect of racing. They are going to allow their satellite efforts to 'buy in' to the top of the line improvements to their RC212V during the MotoGP season. This will allow those teams to be more competitive in the MotoGP Championship. This is largely responsible for de Puniet signing with LCR again for 2010.

http://tinyurl.com/llmb6e

Randy de Puniet Has Signed with LCR Honda MotoGP for 2010

This is some good news and another rumor dead and the truth revealed. De Puniet will remain with LCR next year with HRC's full support for the team. Great news for a great competitor!

http://tinyurl.com/m87kw6

De Puniet Proves His Metal - Or, Proves He is Made of Metal

Even with a broken ankle, and after surgery, he will compete in the MotoGP round at Brno in the Czech Republic.

http://tinyurl.com/qg7nnu

MotoGP - Randy de Puniet in Talks with Tech 3 Yamaha Owner

De Puniet may be after the seat of James Toseland or Colin Edwards...

However, Ben Spies, Hector Barbera and Chris Vermeulen are also linked to Tech 3 presently, so who knows what will happen.

Short blurb on MCN (UK): http://tinyurl.com/qgxbk4