Motourage

Prior to the British Superbike season opener at Brands Hatch this weekend, Simon Andrews will be swapping his MSS Colchester Kawasaki Superbike for the WSB machine of the Paul Bird Kawasaki Racing Team during their two-day test at Valencia this week.

The twenty-five year old Evesham rider will step in for the injured Chris Vermeulen during the test. Andrews has a year of experience on the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R Superbike and knows the machine extremely well.

Simon Andrews will swap his MSS Colchester-liveried Kawasaki for a Paul Bird-branded model this week at Valencia

The test is extremely useful to the MSS team, giving more track time to Simon ahead of the British Superbike opener this Easter weekend at Brands Hatch. The test also shows the very close relationship between the two teams which was highlighted over the winter as MSS inherited the WSB squad’s Magneti Marelli advanced engine management system.

Andrews has impressed the Kawasaki racing family, having given the UK squad their best recent British Superbike Championship position of sixth last year and regularly mixing it with the top riders through the season. Andrews said, “This really is a great opportunity and I intend to give the team as much feedback as possible. It also gives me valuable track time prior to the season opener at Brands next weekend.”

MSS Colchester Kawasaki Team Owner, Nick Morgan, added, “We’re supportive of Simon helping with the testing at Valencia and we think it’s a win-win situation. Ultimately it helps Paul Bird to have another viewpoint on the bike, it gives Simon a great opportunity to showcase his skills and it will possibly give us more direction and a race focused rider.”

Simon has a very busy period ahead as he tests at Valencia, races at the Easter Friday-Monday meeting at Brands Hatch, before the second British round at Thruxton, all in a two week gap.

Team Blusens by Queroseno Racing

Team Owner: Raul Romero
Team Manager: Ricard Jove
Chief Technicians: Josep Oliva and David Thomas
Rider: Dani Rivas

The BQR Moto2 project began at the end of the 2006 racing season. The Würth/BQR Honda 250 team had just finished a 15^th-place 250cc season with current AMA Team Hammer rider – and Motourage favorite – Mártin Cárdenas. Team owner Raul Romero and then-manager Kino Contreras began development of a four-stroke MotoGP engine. Both Romero and Contreras understood that the days of the 250cc two-stroke class were numbered; however, they entered into their new experiment with little insight into the future of the GP support class.  BQR, which had been mating its chassis with 250cc Honda engines for several seasons, came on board at the beginning of the project, and its two technicians – David Thomas and Josep Olivia – have been instrumental in its coordination.

In February, BQR became the first team to unveil a Moto2 machine

BQR had originally planned to enter the MotoGP World Championship in 2011; however, the early announcement of the Moto2 class and significant successes in testing allowed the team to unveil the first Moto2 bike back in February and field a Moto2 prototype at the 2009 CEV Buckler Spanish Road Racing Championship.  In November and December, Julián Simón and Mike Di Meglio tested in Valencia onboard a machine loaned to Team Aspar by BQR. The teammates consistently lapped at the top of the sheets for those riders onboard true Moto2 machines (Ant West lapped on rebadged Stiggy Honda CBR600 Supersport bike).  No official word yet, but there are rumors circulating that Aspar may decide to run BQR-supplied chasses due to the pullout of Aprilia from Moto2.

If you’d like a quick listen of how the new Moto2 bikes will sound, here’s a short clip of the BQR Moto2 bike in action at Jerez.

FTR MOTO will continue its research in readiness for the 2010 Moto2 World Championship with further tests of the M209 prototype machine at the Valencia circuit in Spain tomorrow, Friday Dec. 11.

As interest in the FTR machine increases, riders from three more Grand Prix teams will put the M209 through its paces around the 2.951-mile circuit.

During Friday’s action the last three 125cc World Champions – Julian Simon (2009), Mike di Meglio (2008) and Gabor Talmasci (2007) – will all test the machine with a view to challenging for the 2010 World Championship aboard the FTR M210 racer.

Graeme Gowland rode the M209 to an impressive finish at the Spanish Championships at Jerez earlier this year

“Friday will be a good gauge as to how far we have come with the project,” said FTR director Steve Bones. “And by tomorrow evening a total of seven teams will have tested the M209 with a view to using our next generation machine in the 2010 World Championship.  What we have now is very much a prototype and has been built primarily for research and development purposes. At present we have around 30 improvements – some major and some minor – in progress for next year’s race machine.”

Cardion AB Grand Prix rider Karel Abraham tested the FTR machine at Valencia on Thursday and was impressed with the performance. Bones added: “Karel really enjoyed the test and wants to test again tomorrow. He did well to adapt to the four-stroke motor and the engine braking and improved throughout his time on the machine.”

Testing is expected to continue with the FTR M209 at Valencia and at the Almeria circuit throughout next week.

The Sterilgarda Yamaha Team have unveiled the special one-off livery for 2009 World Superbike Champion Ben Spies ahead of his wildcard ride at the final MotoGP race in Valencia this weekend. Spies will be riding the Yamaha YZR-M1 prior to joining the Tech3 Yamaha Team next Monday to start testing for the 2010 season.

The American rider has achieved astonishing success in his rookie year in World Superbike, bringing the first ever World Superbike Championship victory for Yamaha. Over the 2009 season he scored 14 race wins and 11 pole position starts in the class, becoming the all-time greatest rookie in the process.

“I’m really excited for the opportunity to race at Valencia this weekend,” said Spies. “I’m fully aware that MotoGP is a big step up from World Superbike and realize it’s not going to be possible to achieve the same results in my first year there. I see this weekend as an opportunity to spend some time on the bike and start learning it for next season, and to have some fun as well!”

Yamaha Setup Report – Valencia

Fiat Yamaha Team aiming to confirm triple crown at Valencia season finale

The highs and lows of another stunning MotoGP season draw to a close this Sunday at the traditional season-ending finale at Valencia in Spain. The Fiat Yamaha Team of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo have swept all before them this year, dominating the season by taking ten race wins between them and putting on some of the most entertaining racing displays of recent years. Rossi clinched his ninth World Championship title last time out in Malaysia and, with the Teams’ title already in the bag and Yamaha looking odds-on to confirm the Manufacturers’ title this weekend, the Japanese marque is hoping to take its second consecutive ‘Triple Crown,’ the third since Rossi joined in 2004.

A ninth world title shows that Rossi’s star shows no sign of waning yet but the 30-year-old admitted in Sepang that this season has been one of his toughest, due largely to his determined young team-mate. His six wins this year are less than he has taken in any of his other eight championship-winning seasons but he will be determined to try to increase that by one and round off the season on the highest possible note this weekend by finishing on top of the podium. The Italian hero admits that the tight and twisty track is not one of his favorites but he has two wins to his name there and a further three podiums, including third place last year.

Lorenzo’s second season in MotoGP has been even more spectacular than his first, with four wins and some stunning battles with his much older and more experienced team-mate. The 22-year-old has never won at the Ricardo Tormo circuit but has some great memories from the track, having finished as runner-up in 2005 before clinching the first of his two 250cc titles there in 2006. The Mallorcan needs just one point from this last race in order to confirm second place in the championship, which he says will be more than enough of a prize for him in just his second MotoGP season, but he, too is determined to end the year on a high note and will be aiming for the podium at the very least.

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