15 Apr: Qatar (Losail)
29 Apr: Spain (Jerez)
6 May: Portugal (Estoril)
20 May: France (Le Mans)
3 Jun: Spain (Catalunya)
17 Jun: Britain (Silverstone)
With new all new bikes ( now up to 1,000 cc) it may still not be a classic a la Rossi/Biaggi/Gibernau years.
Other interesting change is the introduction of Claiming Rule Teams (CRT) to allow for participation by independent teams with lower budgets. CRTs will be given twelve engines per rider, six more than the other teams and more fuel – 24 litres instead of 21 litres – but will be subject to a factory team buying, or "claiming", their engines for €15,000.
What is more exciting is the far more competitive Moto2. Much more entertaining racing from these standardised machines.
Bradley Smith has set his sights on winning the Moto2 title this year before making the move to MotoGP. The Oxford-born rider picked up three podiums in his debut season last year - including a second-placed finish at Silverstone - but is confident of ending his wait for a win in the new campaign. But Cal Crutchlow doubts whether Bradley Smith is ready to step up to MotoGP and possibly replace him in the Tech 3 Yamaha team.
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Moto 2 and 3 will be awesome though. Fancy Redding has a lot more chance of making an impact in Moto2 than the likeable but unlikely to succeed Bradders. Can't see either of them living with Ellias, Marquez (if fit) and Crazy Joe
Marquez excepted, Moto2 will be fun in terms of racing and I'm excited about seeing Gino Rea in there; I don't think he'll do too well this year but he'll be a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Moto3 from what I've seen in testing results will be a pretty straight translation from last year, but it's gonna be horrible not hearing any of those screaming little 2-strokes.
I'm looking forward to the start of BSB more, hopefully there won't be much riding on our Walsall game so I'll be there on race day. The last meeting I went to was actually Sepang, I timed my backpacking trip in SE Asia to end in KL... Thankfully I was at Turn 1 on the Sunday.
Haga in BSB may make a trip to Cadwell a must for fans of lunacy.
Been to Sepang circuit - a reall well organised venue - you got the best corner for sure!
Motegi also amazing - will definately get to a few BSB's to see Haga, Laverty's comeback and my favourite Kiyonari. Camping is cheap as chips too!
not a Stoner fan in any way.
Yeah, it's depressing thinking that the only time we'll hear a proper 2-stroke racer is at a bloody Classic meeting now.
It was a very strange day.. There was no PA and the big screen was a fair distance away, so we had no clue how serious it was. Initially I thought Edwards was more hurt and they replayed the incident on the screen so I wasn't thinking too much of it; usually if it's serious then they don't. Then an Aussie guy got a text from his wife saying Sic was actually in a bad way and the race was being delayed. Then the locals started getting angry and throwing stuff, there was no more news apart from the delays, and after a while we decided we should leave as things weren't looking good and the bus queues would be huge.
Leaving the circuit one stall was playing "There's Gonna be a Heartache Tonight" by The Eagles, and I sort of knew then that we wouldn't be seeing Marco again. A Malaysian guy with a phone and net connection confirmed it on the bus back.
Floyd:
Yeah, BSB's finale last year was insane. I only saw it on TV a month or two after but it's the best end to a championship I've seen. I didn't think Sepang was thaaat well organised. Getting in was a 'mare because of a bottleneck effect and rowdy locals, and you could only get to the better food stalls if you had a grandstand ticket. The viewing was excellent though, and it was nice going to a race circuit with hotel like toilets.
Any of you been to the GP at Silverstone? As big a rip-off as my dad reckons?
I've been to a few Thundersport races last year - very relaxed and just makes you want to somehow find the cash and enjoy a season racing as a privateer!
As you say, when there is a fatality, the crowd are the last to know - quite surreal.
I saw some commentators saying Simo would have been the main challenger on the 1 litre bikes.
Done Silverstone but it you are just too far from the track and the prices are silly. Certainly cant afford it this year.
I havn't been to Silverstone since BSB 2000 I think, when Hodgson crashed at the far hairpin and a load of people cheered. I maaay end up going but for the price you may as well get flights to a European round.
There has been a lot of hyperbole attached to Simoncelli since his death but I think he would have fared very well on the bigger bikes. This is one of my favourite races of his, and this was after no/minimal testing:
Might be worth a go?
Haga, Hill, Shakey and Easton in the top two teams with the likes of Stalker Scasa, Laverty, BadBoy Brooks and Ant West, it's definitely the best domestic championship. Bin Ladin is even in it this year!
That vid made me a bit weepy Panda, some cracking passes. I'm not sure Simo would have ever maintained a championship challenge, but he'd have won a good number of races and given us some amazing racing.
On domestic series, it most probably is but I wish they still had WSB in Japan. Seeing someone I'd never heard of that the time destroy Fogarty, Slight et al at Sugo was always a lot of fun.
Yeah, writing that description I was a little bit as well. A few things on Twitter have done the same, eg. Chaz Davies put some photos up from when they were teammates.
This is the new Ducati colour scheme, just made public:
http://distilleryimage9.instagram.com/17dc979271c411e1989612313815112c_7.jpg
Not quite in the traditional mold and it reminds me of the Alitalia Aprilia's, but I really, really like that.