Thursday Morning Moto Race News - Dakar and Aprilia WSBK

Rally Dakar has finished Stage 11 now and the teams are now back into Argentina as of the end of this stage. Cyril Despres still holds a commanding overall lead after taking the win in this stage. Right behind him was the American KTM rider Jonah Street, with third place going to French KTM rider Alain Duclos. At least that is what the article says about Stage 11. According to the actual results, everyone is in a different order with Marc Coma taking the win. At least the overall standings match up right. According to one article, Francisco Lopez is in third overall, but the stat page shows him in a solid second place. Apparently, the confusion arises due to a policeman sending riders down the wrong path and they had to loop back around and join the rest of the race later. So, according to reports, the final/corrected Stage 11 rankings are in the first link.

http://tinyurl.com/ylsq82w - official results

http://tinyurl.com/yzaf6v5 - early report on Stage 11

http://tinyurl.com/yfqtnyn - Team Aprilia Giofil report

Early Stage 12 reports: http://tinyurl.com/yffwhgm - http://tinyurl.com/yzuxacf - Lopez looks to have won another Stage

Staying on the Aprilia theme which is part of the Dakar story, let's have a look at a short piece/interview with Aprilia's World Superbike team manager Luigi Dall’Igna. After 2009, we can all imagine that this team will be on top again in the 2010 season...

http://tinyurl.com/yhxkalh

Wednesday Morning News - Moto Style - Dakar

We head to New Zealand before we get to South America to read about Robbie Bugden, who is the current New Zealand Superbike champion is getting ready for the 2010 season. Taking the title is only half the battle in some cases; defending the title is even tougher. Bugden will ride for Triple R Mack Truck Suzuki on a GSX-R1000. The series is only five rounds long, and riders come in from everywhere to compete in the event - most from the U.K. and, obviously, Australia....good story and the season begins this weekend (16 - 17 January 2010 at Ruapuna!


http://tinyurl.com/yhewkd5

Given the weird pace of results coming in from Dakar, it appears that I am behind by a day or so. I am just now reporting on Stage 10, while I have already seen results from Stage 11. So, in an attempt to simplify things, I will be placing the Stage 10 results and stories below and the Stage 11 information I find below that. In SS10, Marc Coma took the victory, but he was followed by some riders who are usually not that close to him - David Fretigne and Helder Rodrigues. The overall standings did not change much, though, but go and have a look...

http://tinyurl.com/ydjjm4o

http://tinyurl.com/ybbpkw2

http://tinyurl.com/yethw9x

Early Stage 11 reports: http://tinyurl.com/yejx8l7 - http://tinyurl.com/ybevgaj

Tuesday Morning Moto Racing News - Dakar and, uh, James Ellison

Yep, we are getting near the final and important stages in the Rally Dakar. Stage Nine ended yesterday and our former champion (who has little chance of winning this year, unfortunately) KTM's Marc Coma won the stage by only four seconds to take his third stage victory in 2010. Right behind him was current points leader - and likely winner of the 2010 event - Cyril Despres on his KTM. Aprilia's Francisco Lopez ran in third for this stage and remains in third place overall. For more, take one or all of the following links.

http://tinyurl.com/y96uz24

http://tinyurl.com/ycebsnd

http://tinyurl.com/y9bxhq6

http://tinyurl.com/ybze7tm

And, in other racing news, we hear that British Superbike star James Ellison has been in Texas training with Ben Spies for the 2010 season. Given his appearances in the final events of the 2009 season of BSB - with Leon Camier, who took first as Ellison took second - one would think he would also have a ride in 2010. But, that is not the case. However, if someone should pick him up, he will be in great shape to challenge for the championship in any series!

http://tinyurl.com/ye86ewr

Monday Morning Moto Racing News - WERA and Dakar

Suzuki mounted Chris Ulrich managed to take two victories at this past weekend's WERA West Races held at Auto Club Speedway in California. He had to take the victories from Honda CBR1000RR rider Jeremy Toye in both of those events - Formula One and A Superbike. Toye then managed to win the C Superbike race riding a Yamaha R-6. There were several races held all weekend and for the full list of results, please take the link.


http://tinyurl.com/yhxx2hy

Though this may have been better posted at the top, I can only go in order that I dig things up. So, on to Stage 8 of the Rally Dakar in South America - they are in Chile now. Aprilia's Francisco Lopez won yet another stage yesterday and put himself into third overall. But, right behind him was Marc Coma - who has decided to continue despite the penalty he was assessed two days ago. Overall leader Cyril Despres continues in first, but the best he could finish in this Stage was fifth due to tire issues. For more, check the links below.

http://tinyurl.com/ygbtp3h

http://tinyurl.com/yg92ouk

http://tinyurl.com/yfzajhm

Video: http://tinyurl.com/yentbow

Sunday Morning Rally Dakar Update - Rest Day News

So, yesterday was the rest day at the Rally Dakar, thus we only have some news from the event in South America. The usual suspects are in the lead at the half-way point, so nothing new there. Well, except for Marc Coma's penalty, which may have dropped him from the competition altogether (he will certainly not win now). And, Cyril Despres is in a commanding lead while all the other riders are now fighting for second and third behind him.

http://tinyurl.com/ydfguxr - Some truck and car news as well.

http://tinyurl.com/yeb8dpu

http://tinyurl.com/yb8syh4 - The President of the Republic of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, visited the bivouac during the rest day.

Rally Dakar Update from Stage 7 in Chile - Marc Coma Penalized

KTM rider Coma was assessed a 6 hour penalty by the organizers for what they say was an illegal tire change during Stage 7. Moto course director Marc Ducrocq has stated that they have photos of him changing his wheel behind a house along the route. Coma is claiming innocence and says that the organizers cannot prove anything at this point. Either way, he will suffer for the 6 hour addition to his time and that leaves KTM rider Cyril Despres more likely to take victory.

http://tinyurl.com/ylovxj6

Saturday Morning Moto News from Dakar

Out of Rally Dakar we now have Stage 7 results. KTM's Cyril Despres and Marc Coma took the 1 -2 positions on the day and proved why they are racing in this event. Despres now has a commanding lead on all the motorcycle racers, with Coma right behind him in the overall points. Aprilia's Francisco Lopez has now fallen back to 5th place overall. Take the links to learn more...

http://tinyurl.com/y9ef82l

http://tinyurl.com/yb7mhsg

http://tinyurl.com/yeaw3xa

Welcome to Wednesday! More Rally Dakar News for All of Us

It is a rather news-filled morning, so not all of it will make it into the first post - there will be more news in the next one or two.

Starting out, of course, you will probably want to get updated on the Rally Dakar. They have entered Chile now. First of all, let's look at the raw results:

http://tinyurl.com/yfq2cke

Next, on the same site, we have a story about the Aprilia contingent, Team Aprilia Giofil. Apparently, they are starting to get some good results - at least with Francisco Contardo Lopez, who sits in seventh overall. But, they keep running out of fuel - not good in the Dakar.

http://tinyurl.com/yb7f5ro

And, of course, KTM's Marc Coma has finally won his first stage of the event by beating out Sherco's David Casteu.

http://tinyurl.com/y853nzw

That's about it for the Dakar information for today. If there are more stories which come in during the day, I will add them here.

Rally Dakar Update from Day 1 in Argentina

Day one is finished in the Rally Dakar and we have an interesting finish on our hands. David Casteu, who is running the Rally with his own Sherco-based team, took victory in the first race of the two week event. Behind him were the KTMs of Frenchman Cyril Despres and Spaniard - and 2009 champion - Marc Coma. So far, the event has had no major problems and it all seems to be going smoothly, at least from the spectator side of things. We will see more results throughout the Dakar and I will post all I see.

http://tinyurl.com/y9cwv8t

Tuesday Morning News from the Moto World - Part 2

Now, we head on over to the second part of this morning's news...

First story here is an interview with current Rally Dakar champion Marc Coma. He is getting ready for the 2010 running of the event and the author caught up with him to ask him how it is all going. The 450c.c. limit - and the restriction of bikes with larger displacements - is a major area of discussion. Have a good read...

http://tinyurl.com/ylx8p2h

Apparently, earlier reports of John Hopkins joining the MotoGP FB Corse team are not accurate. His manager has now related that Hopper is considering many options and he is working with FB Corse now, but has signed nothing.

http://tinyurl.com/yg9jbzx

We also hear from some of his companions (Cal Crutchlow and Troy Corser) in the World Superbike Championship for 2010, James Toseland will enjoy and prosper in the series. They state that the culture there is much better suited to Toseland, even if it has changed since the last time he raced there.

http://tinyurl.com/ygx3v4j

Marco Simoncelli and Hiroshi Aoyama have finished up with their testing at the Sepang track in Malaysia. The first days of testing were hampered by bad weather, but the remaining time was very useful for both riders as they prepare for their first year in MotoGP in 2010.

http://tinyurl.com/yfp75d8