Filed under: Carl Edwards, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sprint Cup, NASCAR
He may have won the two races that dole out the least amount of recognition of the entire season, but Carl Edwards doesn't much care.
Pierfrancesco Chili Gérard Choukroun Pieraldo Cipriani Claudio Cipriani
When the rules for the Moto3 class, due to replace the 125cc two-stroke class from 2012 onwards, were announced, the entry of existing motocross and supermoto manufacturers seemed only a question of time. The new class is to feature 250cc, single cylinder four-stroke engines, with a maximum bore of 81mm and rev limited to 14,000 rpm, and all of the current companies building motocross bikes have an engine which - with a little modification - would fit that bill.
The biggest - by reputation, at least - of the MX bike builders is surely KTM, and when Moto3 was announced, the gaze of the press immediately turned on Mattighofen, KTM's Austrian base. Rumors emerged as early as October that KTM was considering an entry, and now GPOne.com is reporting that the decision has been made, and that KTM's Moto3 project is already underway. According to GPOne.com, the technical details of the Moto3 engine are yet to be finalized, but given that the rules were only published in full at Valencia, with the details of the spec ECU issued just a couple of days ago, it is hardly surprising that KTM wanted to wait before starting work.
Adrian Bernetic Manfred Bernsee Bruno Bertacchini Silvano Bertarelli
With some sense of sanity returning to motorcycle racing paddocks around the world, many of the emergency cost-cutting measures put in place in late 2008 and early 2009 are being reversed. One of the most prominent was the rearranging of the schedules on a race weekend, with practice in MotoGP being cut from four sessions to three, and in World Superbike, having all of the action removed from Friday morning. The WSBK schedule had taken on a rather strange appearance as a result, with two sessions of practice for both the World Superbike and the World Supersport classes jammed into Friday afternoon.
The Superbike Commission - WSBK's rule-making body - has come to its senses once again, and after bitter complaints from the teams - especially the World Supersport teams, who had their first qualifying practice at 5pm on Friday, often in very cold conditions - the change has been reversed. Practice once again returns to Friday morning, bringing qualifying much closer to race time for both World Superbike and World Supersport.
Tetsuya Yamaguchi Yousuke Yamakawa Takehiro Yamamoto Youichi Yamamoto
Filed under: IRL, Indianapolis 500
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Adrian Bernetic Manfred Bernsee Bruno Bertacchini Silvano Bertarelli
Ingemar Bengtsson Johnny Bengtsson Angelo Bergamonti Werner Bergold
Curt-Ivan Carlsson Per-Edward Carlsson Fabio Carpani Phil Carpenter
Alvaro Bautista Lenfranco Baviera Richard Bay Jean-Michel Bayle
Angelo Bergamonti Werner Bergold Jacques Bernard Adrian Bernetic
Garry McCoy Niall Mackenzie Eric McPherson Jeremy McWilliams
Andreas Hofmann Neil Hodgson Hernan Holder Francis Hollebecq
Ratthapark Wilairot, the Thai rider who raced for the Stop&Go Moto2 team in 2010, has been seriously injured in a road traffic accident in his home province of Chonburi, Thailand, according to reports from StayOnTheBlack.com. Wilairot was reportedly traveling as a passenger on a motorcycle piloted by a friend, when the pair crashed at 3am on Monday morning. The accident proved fatal to the rider, while Wilairot was taken to hospital in Bangkok with serious injuries, though the precise extent of his injuries are not known at this time.
The Thai rider is being kept in intensive care, but StayOnTheBlack.com is reporting that Wilairot has now regained consciousness and has spoken to doctors. Doctors at the hospital are expected to issue a statement on Tuesday.
Bernard Haenggeli Philipp Hafeneger Kensuke Haga Noriyuki Haga
More news on the condition of Ratthapark Wilairot, who was seriously injured in a road traffic accident that killed the rider of the motorcycle the Thai Moto2 rider was a passenger on. News emanating out of Thailand, in both the Bangkok Post and the website StayOnTheBlack.com suggests that happily, Wilairot's condition is improving.
According to the reports, Wilairot is now conscious, though the Stop&Go rider is still unable to talk. Fears of brain damage appear to have been allayed, as though Wilairot is not yet capable of speaking, he has been able to communicate with the doctors by a primitive sign language, and answer some of their questions.
Wilairot usually lives in Spain, but had returned to Thailand to attend his father's funeral. Christmas Wilairot, himself a former motorcycle racer, died last week of liver cancer. The service for Ratthapark's father has been postponed, in the hope that Ratthapark will have recovered sufficiently to attend his father's funeral.
