At the first round of the 2012 World Superbike Championship - which will take place in Phillip Island, Australia, over the last weekend of February - BMW Motorrad’s rider Leon Haslam will debut a new Arai helmet designed by Drudi Performance that will also carry an exclusive “25 years” logo. The ‘25 years’ to which that special label refers to are the time spent by the Englishman with Arai, the world’s leading helmet manufacturer. Not too bad considering that Haslam is only 28 years old.

“I really like the new design and it’s always nice to have something new for the start of a new Championship - said Haslam - This is the pre production design and I’ll now work with the Arai guys in Holland and Japan to finalize the replica.”

He also added: “I’m also really proud to have been with Arai for so long, 2012 will be my 25th year with them. They’ve been looking after my head for a long time now and their product is simply the best.”

It was a tall order for Johann Zarco to try to beat Nico Terol for the last ever 125cc championship title and unfortunately the rider crashed out on lap 3 and couldn’t rejoin the race after cutting open his right little finger, thus giving the title to the Spaniardwho was sixth at that moment and needed just a tenth place finish to take the crown.

The race in itself was a crash fest due to the intermittent rain, but Maverick Vinales won the race scoring his fourth victory in his 2011 rookie season. The Paris Hilton (yes, she was there Tweeting her heart away) Blusens rider celebrated his victory with a Marco Simoncelli dedicated flag as the Bankia Aspar team celebrated both Terol’s title and two podium finishes with Terol a distant second and Hector Faubel in third.

The gaps between riders were immense as Ajo riders Efren Vazquez (AvantAir Asia and Jonas Folger (Red Bull Motorsport) finished in fourth and fifth respectively, followed by Alberto Moncayo in sixth. Luis Salom took seventh, while Nicklas Ajo was more than a minute off pace with his 8th spot, and Luigi Morciano and Louis Rossi closed out the top ten.

125cc Valencia race results:

01- Maverick Vinales – Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing – Aprilia RSA 125 – 24 laps i in 41’44.138
02- Nico Terol – Bankia Aspar Team – Aprilia RSA 125 – + 3.216
03- Hector Faubel – Bankia Aspar Team – Aprilia RSA 125 – + 7.460
04- Efren Vazquez – Avant AirAsia Ajo – Derbi RSA 125 – + 14.560
05- Jonas Folger – Red Bull Ajo MotorSport – Aprilia RSA 125 – + 18.451
06- Alberto Moncayo – Andalucia Banca Civica – Aprilia RSA 125 – + 36.472
07- Luis Salom – RW Racing GP – Aprilia RSA 125 – + 52.614
08- Niklas Ajo – TT Motion Events Racing – Aprilia RSW 125 – + 1’00.138
09- Luigi Morciano – Team Italia FMI – Aprilia RSW 125 – + 1’00.253
10- Louis Rossi – Matteoni Racing – Aprilia RSW 125 – + 1’03.258
11- Manuel Tatasciore – Phonica Racing – Aprilia RSA 125 – + 1’09.892
12- Marcel Schrotter – Mahindra Racing – Mahindra GP 125 – + 1’12.741
13- Alessandro Tonucci – Team Italia FMI – Aprilia RSW 125 – + 1’18.337
14- John McPhee – Racing Steps Foundation KRP – Aprilia RSW 125 – + 1’18.434
15- Giulian Pedone – Phonica Racing – Aprilia RSW 125 – + 1’20.580
16- Sturla Fagerhaug – WTR Ten10 Racing – Aprilia RSW 125 – + 1’21.155
17- Danny Kent – Red Bull Ajo MotorSport – Aprilia RSW 125 – + 1’27.770
18- Peter Sebestyen – Matteoni Racing – Aprilia RSW 125 – + 1’33.406
19- Dani Ruiz – Larresport – Honda RS125R – 1’34.593
20- Jasper Iwema – Ongetta Abbink Metaal – Aprilia RSA 125 – + 1’34.832
21- Marco Colandrea – WTR Ten10 Racing – Aprilia RSW 125 – 1 lap
22- Alexis Masbou – Caretta Technology – KTM RC 125 – 1 lap
23- Kevin Hanus – Team Hanusch – Honda RS125R – 1 lap
24- Jakub Kornfeil – Ongetta Centro Seta – Aprilia RSA 125 – 1 lap

As everyone knows by now Casey Stoner was crowned the 2011 MotoGP World Champion at Phillip Island today and to acknowledge the new champion here are some facts and trivia to pour over and read what the over the moon Australian had to say that we garnered from a batch of press releases.

- Casey Stoner is the first Honda rider to win the MotoGP title during the 800cc era of MotoGP.

- Stoner last won the MotoGP championship in 2007 and in winning the title this year becomes the first rider to regain the premier class world title after a three year gap.

- He has been on pole 11 times during 2011, which is a new record for most poles in one season in the MotoGP four-stroke era.

- He becomes only the fifth rider to win the premier class title on motorcycles from two different manufacturers. The other riders to have done this are Giacomo Agostini, Valentino Rossi, Geoff Duke and Eddie Lawson.

- Casey Stoner has 32 career victories in MotoGP, placing him fifth in the all-time premier-class Grand Prix winners list, after Valentino Rossi, Giacomo Agostini, Mick Doohan and Mike Hailwood.

Casey Stoner Career Highlights:

2000: British 125cc Aprilia Champion - Aprilia
2001: 29th 125cc World Championship - Honda RS125
2002: 12th 250cc World Championship – Aprilia
2003: 8th 125cc World Championship – Aprilia race wins 1
2004: 2nd 125cc World Championship – KTM race wins 1
2005: 2nd 250cc World Championship - Aprilia race wins 5
2006: 8th MotoGP World Championship – Honda RC211V
2007: MotoGP World Champion – Ducati race wins 10
2008: 2nd MotoGP World Championship – Ducati race wins 6
2009: 4th MotoGP World Championship – Ducati race wins 4
2010: 4th MotoGP World Championship – Ducati race wins 3
2011: Moto GP World Champion – Honda RC22V race wins 9 and counting

“I don’t think anyone could plan things to happen better than they have today! The race was incredibly difficult, the conditions were very tough. I built up an early lead as I saw the rain coming in, but I wasn’t sure if it would hit us. I basically ran into a wall of rain. There wasn’t any warning at the back part of the circuit and I came into the last turn and the rain started hard. I nearly lost control and thought for sure I was going to end up in the gravel. I managed to control it and maintain the gap to everyone and thankfully bring it home for the win, but it was a little bit nerve-wracking for sure. I’m really sorry that Jorge (Lorenzo) had the accident this morning. He’s a great competitor and I think if he’d been here racing today things might not have turned out the way they have. I hope his operation goes well and he’s back racing as soon as he feels fit. I can’t thank everyone enough, my team, Repsol, all our sponsors, everyone that has worked so hard all year, thank you.”

“I don’t think I could fit more things in today! To win like this is really something special; words can’t describe it. It’s been pretty much a perfect season for us, and a big thank you to the team and to everyone. This weekend’s been great for us, but the race threw a few curve balls. They were very, very tricky conditions and there were a few heart-in-mouth moments! I wanted to win this one. Not too many people have so many things align in one day and it’s hard to get a hold of it. Maybe it was just meant to be, but it’s something unbelievable.”

“Everything that could happen happened today.I think the only thing that could happen that’s better than this is having my child today, but I have to wait a little while for that. and that’s something, I guess the next thing we’re really looking forward to. Not too many people have the opportunity to have all these sort of things aligned, your home grand prix, your birthday. To have this many straight wins here and then a world championship, there’s that many things in one day. It’s hard to sort of take hold of it all. Finally with the Honda we found that we had a fantastic package, so it was a chance for us to win the second championship.The first title was a dream, the second one’s reality. Definitely. The first one was a dream. It was hard to realize what had actually happened. But this one, we know we’ve had the chance to win it all season. the fact that we pulled back so many points to arrive at such a point lead and I think the whole team, myself, have done a great job on a new bike in a tough season.”

“It’s an incredible day, we’ve been waiting for it for sometime now and we knew we had the opportunity to make it happen here. This morning’s crash of Jorge was not the manner in which we wanted to win, no racer would ever wish this on anyone else especially someone I respect this much and I wish him a safe and speedy recovery. Going into the race we had the momentum and it was more or less our Championship to lose so we were going to do everything we could to win the race today, but to come away with the Championship today is just fantastic. A huge thanks to Honda, my team, all our sponsors especially Repsol and everyone that has worked so hard this year, it’s a great achievement for us. Now for the remaining few races I just want to enjoy my racing and enjoy knowing that I’m World Champion”.

John Hopkins will be getting a fresh start in racing after seven years in MotoGP, less than a season in WSBK’s and a somewhat sticky and controversial injured season in the AMA .

The Anglo-American rider according to Crescent Suzuki team manager Jack Valentine, will be racing in the British Superbike Championship in 2011 for his one rider squad.

“The guy has raw talent and has been on podium in MotoGP, so he has more pedigree than anyone else on the BSB grid. That’s why we started chatting to him. He is really focused and sees BSB as his stepping stone to get back to world level.” said Valentine speaking to Crash.net

Official announcement should be made at the end of the month along with the name of the title sponsor, and bets are on that the Monster Energy logo will be somewhere on that GSX-R 1000.

The first round of the BSB championship kicks off at Brands Hatch, April 22nd.

Fifteen year old Maverick Vinales (his parents must have loved Tom Cruise’s call sign in Top Gun) won the Spanish 125cc GP Championship last weekend at Jerez, taking the title from Miguel Oliveira by just two points.

Oliveira, however won the last race of the season and had stopped to celebrate his victory, but what happens is an epic fail as Johnny Trallero Rossel crashes and the riderless Honda flys into the celebrating Portuguese rider, just barely missing him and wipes out a photographer and amost a fan while he’s at it.

17-year-old Marc Marquez has won the 2010 125cc World Championship with a smart and careful ride to fourth in the last race of the 2010 season at Valencia, which was won by Bradley Smith.

Marquez needed only an eighth place to cinch the title, controlled his position in the race and even let one of his title contenders, Pol Espargaro take his third position on the 9th lap and then he coasted for the rest of the race to grab the title.

Bradley Smith in his last race in the 125cc series before switching to Moto2 next year, dominated the race from the first turn to take his first win of the season and the third of his career and breaking the Spanish brigade dominion in the series for the first time since 2009

Second went to Espargaro, who will also be in Moto2 in 2011 and third to Nico Terol who will remain with the Aspar team in the last season 125cc season before Moto3 takes it’s place in 2012.

Marquez is the youngest Spaniard to have won the title with ten victories this season and was on pole position 12 times equalling Mick Doohan’s 1997 record number of poles and the youngest ever rider to win five successive Grand Prix races.

125cc Valencia Race Results:

1 25 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Bancaja Aspar Team Aprilia 142,7 40′25.648
2 20 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Tuenti Racing Derbi 142,5 +2.786
3 16 40 Nicolas TEROL SPA Bancaja Aspar Team Aprilia 142,5 +3.149
4 13 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Red Bull Ajo Motorsport Derbi 142,2 +8.326
5 11 11 Sandro CORTESE GER Avant Mitsubishi Ajo Derbi 141,2 +24.375
6 10 12 Esteve RABAT SPA Blusens-STX Aprilia 141,1 +26.743
7 9 71 Tomoyoshi KOYAMA JPN Racing Team Germany Aprilia 141,1 +26.823
8 8 7 Efren VAZQUEZ SPA Tuenti Racing Derbi 141,0 +27.634
9 7 35 Randy KRUMMENACHER SWI Stipa-Molenaar Racing GP Aprilia 140,3 +41.211
10 6 39 Luis SALOM SPA Stipa-Molenaar Racing GP Aprilia 140,3 +41.279
11 5 23 Alberto MONCAYO SPA Andalucia Cajasol Aprilia 139,1 +1′02.540
12 4 78 Marcel SCHROTTER GER Interwetten Honda 125 Honda 139,0 +1′02.999
13 3 55 Isaac VIÑALES SPA CBC Corse Aprilia 138,7 +1′08.522
14 2 15 Simone GROTZKYJ ITA Fontana Racing Aprilia 138,7 +1′08.798
15 1 84 Jakub KORNFEIL CZE Racing Team Germany Aprilia 137,8 +1′24.798
16 99 Danny WEBB GBR Andalucia Cajasol Aprilia 137,7 +1′27.614
17 56 Peter SEBESTYEN HUN Ongetta Team Aprilia 137,1 +1′38.939
18 58 Joan PERELLO SPA SAG Castrol Honda 137,0 +1′39.356
19 32 Lorenzo SAVADORI ITA Matteoni Racing Aprilia 137,0 +1′40.387
20 63 Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN MAL AirAsia - Sepang Int. Circuit Aprilia 136,4 1 lap
21 73 Taylor MACKENZIE GBR KRP MMCG Honda 135,9 1 lap
22 70 John McPHEE GBR KRP Bradley Smith Racing Honda 135,5 1 lap

The official celebration saw his sponsor Air Europa christen one of their Boeing’s 737-800 planes with the name “Lorenzo’s Land.” The Spanish champion was then escorted by hundreds of enthusiastic bikers to the Balearic government building where he was received by Francesc Antich, the president of the Balearic parliment with “We are the Champions” playing in the background.

An emotional Lorenzo said: “Being a two time 250cc World Champion is a lot, but to be the MotoGP champion is completely another thing! I am proud to have been successful and will aim to repeat myself next year, even if I know that will be difficult to reconfirm myself as # 1, my intention is to win again to show that this title was not a one time thing only in 2010, but the result of many seasons of work. ”

Source | mallorcaconfidencial.com

To celebrate their titles, here are the 2010 MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo and Moto2 World Champion Toni Elias giving a wild celebration party at the Luna Bar in Kuala Lumpur, where everyone ended up in the pool naturally singing “We are the Champions.”

Source | jorgelorenzoofficialfanpage

Send your funny, bizarre or surprising pics to us and we’ll post them, with your name. We’d love to share what you guys find in the world of motorcycling! Send to pics@twowheelsblog.com

Fifteen rounds, three races to spare Jorge Lorenzo took the 2010 MotoGP World Championship with seven race wins, six pole positions and was off the podium only twice this season and here’s what a very emotional Lorenzo had to say:

“This is my first title in the premier category and my dream has come true! This is really the maximum a motorcycle rider can achieve in his career so we have to celebrate and enjoy these hours, minutes and seconds like it’s the end of the world. You imagine this moment in your head your whole life but when it comes you don’t know how to act or what to say. I am trying to be relaxed, to speak clearly and not say anything crazy! I’m so tired right now; I just need to be alone in a room for a few minutes, just thinking about what I’ve done!

I want to thank so many people, it’s difficult to find the words but I have to mention Yamaha, all my team, Bridgestone and everyone involved. And of course thank you very much to my fans, who have been with me every step of the way.

The perfect situation today would have been to win, but it wasn’t to be this time. I made a good start and was riding well and I thought I could go away from Andrea at one point, but then he overtook me and then Valentino as well, and I thought there were too many risks today to fight for the victory; it was better to wait until the end of the race.

Motorcycling is my passion and my job but it’s also a game, and this is what I was saying when I held up the sign saying ‘game over.’ Today it’s over for this season because I am the World Champion! I don’t think about the future now, I just want to celebrate my first MotoGP title and I can’t think beyond this night. The future will be tough and exciting, with giants for my rivals, but we don’t need to think about that now, we can just enjoy the moment.

Phillip Island isn’t my best track for MotoGP but I want to try to win because I haven’t won there. I want to win some more races this season and I will try my hardest to do so.

We have come such a long way; some things happen very slowly in your career and some very fast. When I started in the World Championship I was almost last in the 125 class but in only eight years I have become MotoGP World Champion. It’s incredible how life can change. We have fought so hard and for this. I’ve been fortunate because I’ve had good luck, good bikes and good teams. I’ve always been surrounded by people who want to best for me and I am very grateful for this. The pre-season didn’t start so well with my broken finger but in the end it’s been a fantastic year. If I had to pick the three best races I would say the number one was Jerez, because it was the first time I won there in MotoGP and it’s maybe the best place to win a race. Plus I enjoyed my jump in the lake! Silverstone was maybe the best race I made, because I was aggressive and fast. Then finally here, not for the riding but for the importance and the World Championship. I don’t know yet if I will use the number one next season. If I can think of a good design then yes, if not I stick with 99!

World Champion - it sounds unbelievable to hear these words, it is such a pleasure, you feel like you’re king of the world. We will enjoy this night to the maximum.”

Masao Furusawa - Executive Officer, Engineering Operations

“First of all, I want to congratulate Jorge Lorenzo for clinching the 2010 MotoGP World Championship title here at Sepang, with three rounds still remaining in the season. As a member of the Yamaha Factory Racing Team, I am very proud to have had the pleasure of watching Jorge progress from Rookie of the Year in 2008, when he first moved up to MotoGP, to finishing second in the 2009 series to now becoming the 2010 MotoGP World Champion. In Japan last week Jorge signed a new two-year contract that will see him continue to ride for Yamaha in 2011 and 2012, and we hope to see him win the championship again in the two years to come.”

Lin Jarvis - Managing Director, Yamaha Motor Racing

“Firstly let me say it gave me great satisfaction today to see a young athlete achieve his dream! I would like to congratulate Jorge on his excellent season, resulting in him winning his first MotoGP World Champion title. Today was a super result for the Fiat Yamaha Team, with Valentino winning the race and Jorge coming home safely in third spot, giving us two important victories at the same moment. The points haul today is also very important for the Team and Manufacturer Championships. “I would also like to take this opportunity to say congratulations and a big thank you to all of our corporate and team staff who have worked so hard and to all of our sponsors, partners and the Yamaha fans around the world that have supported us on and off the track to bring us victory again this year; this is our 3rd MotoGP rider’s title in a row. “Now that the first, and most important, title is ours we will try our best to win the next three races and hopefully in the process the Manufacturer and Team titles to complete another ‘triple crown’ year.

Wilco Zeelenberg - Team Manager

“This is a wonderful day for our team and I can’t believe what an amazing first year I have had with Jorge in MotoGP! Jorge has proven over and over that he is a winner and our tactics this season - to always go for the podium - have paid off and here we are, World Champions! As usual Jorge was clever today and he knew that he had to be careful, as he has been many times this season, and it was the right move. He has won seven races and been on the podium many more so it really has been a wonderful season. Thank you to everyone for working so hard and well done to Jorge.”

An all Italian speaking podium saw Roberto Rolfo win his first race in Moto2 and Toni Elias nab the the first ever Moto2 championship title with a fourth place finish after title rival Julian Simon made two huge mistakes and definitely handing the title to Elias in Sepang.

Rolfo, who won his last race in 2004 was able to take the win for his S.T.R, Italtrans team (and not included in next year’s Moto2 entry list) after battling it out with Alex de Angelis who took the second spot on the podium after just four races with the JiR racing team.

Elias also battled it out for the third spot on the podium with Andrea Iannone finally prevailing, but the Spanish rider was already the world champion with seven race wins and a second place podium and giving Fausto Gresini his second title after Daijiro Kato’s 2001 title in 250cc.

Alex Debon, who will be retiring at the end of the year, was fifth after Scott Redding pulled out with six laps to go due to heat exhaustion. Karel Abraham who was on the Motegi podium last week, finished in sixth after a tough battle with Stefan Bradl and Dominique Aegerter, while Jules Cluzel was 9th and Simone Corsi who started in 39th completed the top 10.

Moto2 Sepang Race Results:

01- Roberto Rolfo – Italtrans S.T.R. – Suter MMX – 19 laps in 41′09.412
02- Alex De Angelis – JiR Moto2 – MotoBI – + 0.040
03- Andrea Iannone – Fimmco Speed Up – Speed Up S-10 – + 5.915
04- Toni Elias – Gresini Racing Moto2 – Moriwaki MD600 – + 6.322
05- Alex Debon – Aeroport de Castello Ajo – FTR Moto M210 – + 11.912
06- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – FTR Moto M210 – + 12.458
07- Stefan Bradl – Viessmann Kiefer Racing – Suter MMX – + 12.519
08- Dominique Aegerter – Technomag CIP – Suter MMX – + 12.589
09- Jules Cluzel – Forward Racing – Suter MMX – + 15.100
10- Simone Corsi – JiR Moto2 – MotoBI – + 16.707
11- Hector Faubel – Marc VDS Racing Team – Suter MMX – + 20.179
12- Alex Baldolini – Caretta Technology Race Dept. – I.C.P. Moto2 – + 20.462
13- Yonny Hernandez – Blusens STX – BQR Moto2 – + 21.638
14- Michael Ranseder – Vector Kiefer Racing – Suter MMX – + 22.388
15- Claudio Corti – Forward Racing – Suter MMX – + 24.512
16- Ratthapark Wilairot – Thai Honda PTT Singha SAG – Bimota HB4 – + 26.366
17- Axel Pons – Tenerife 40 Pons – Pons Kalex – + 30.730
18- Kenny Noyes – Jack & Jones by Antonio Banderas – PromoHarris Moto2 – + 31.080
19- Fonsi Nieto – Holiday Gym G22 – Moriwaki MD600 – + 32.239
20- Valentin Debise – WTR San Marino Team – ADV AT02 – + 33.804
21- Julian Simon – Mapfre Aspar Team – Suter MMX – + 39.448
22- Mohamad Zamri Baba – Petronas SIC TWMR Malaysia – Moriwaki MD600 – + 46.031
23- Joan Olive – Jack & Jones by Antonio Banderas – PromoHarris Moto2 – + 47.257
24- Anthony West – MZ Racing Team – MZ RE Honda – + 50.058
25- Kazuki Watanabe – Racing Team Germany – Suter MMX – + 50.830
26- Mike Di Meglio – Mapfre Aspar Team – Suter MMX – + 51.971
27- Robertino Pietri – Italtrans S.T.R. – Suter MMX – + 59.155
28- Hiromichi Kunikawa – Bimota M Racing – Bimota HB4 – + 1′16.759
29- Mashel Al Naimi – Blusens STX – BQR Moto2 – + 1′43.949

Jorge Lorenzo has won his first MotoGP Championship title finishing in third at the Sepang circuit in one of the most exciting races of the season and becoming Spain’s second premier-class champion, after Alex Criville’s 500cc title in 1999.

‘Porfuera’ debuted in MotoGP in 2008 after winning the 250cc title twice and after a very hard rookie season with numerous crashes and injuries that left the Spaniard doubting his capacities, but in 2009 came back stronger than ever and contesting the title with Valentino Rossi and finished second in a highly competitive season.

In 2010 the Fiat Yamaha rider, won of seven of the 15 races in an almost perfect season and ended off the podium only two times so far (Aragon and Motegi) and celebrated with a card saying ‘Game Over’ and ended up with the Spanish flag getting caught in the rear chain on the slow down lap.

Lorenzo’s title gives Yamaha’s it’s fifth rider championship and the third in a row.

Max Biaggi, the Roman Emperor, conquered his first ever World Superbike title yesterday at Imola after three years of racing in the WSBK Championship.

Biaggi on an Italian bike, sponsored by an Italian company and on Italian made tires, is also first Italian ever to win a WSBK championship, giving this country an All Made in Italy wet dream.

However it was Carlos Checa, galvanized by a brand new two year contract with Althea Racing in his pocket, who shone at the famed Imola circuit with a magnificent double win.

Enjoy these exciting highlight videos or watch both races courtesy of La 7 network here and here.