Following the big online success that Valentino Rossi and Dainese had last December where over 5000 fans submitted questions to the former World Champion, Monster Energy has decided to repeat the idea and will have Rossi answering fans’ questions during a special live broadcast on motogp.com, which will be hosted by MotoGP commentator and After the Flag host Gavin Emmett

You can send your questions via twitter using the #AskValentino hashtag or at Facebook.com/MonsterEnergy.

Rossi will be answering questions live on the eve of the Le Mans GP on Thursday 17 May and you’ll be able to follow the interview exclusively on motogp.com via a free video stream at 18:45 local time.

Valentino Rossi has always been tipped to finish his racing career in World Superbikes and the former World champion has always followed the ‘other’ championship with close interest and almost every year rides down from Tavullia (and causing a small ruckus) to see the Superbike round at Misano.

The Italian yesterday commented Race 2 at Donington via Twitter and said “Che razza di gara la Superbike!Che bagarre,bravi tutti,peccato per le BMW all’ultima curva.” (What a Superbike race! What a battle, everyone is so good, too bad about the BMWs at the last turn) but it was his next tweet that will have Carmelo Ezpeleta who has been trying to spice up MotoGP groaning and all racing fans agreeing on “Purtroppo le nostre gare sono diventate molto più noiose” (Unfortunately our races have become much more boring) however after realizing that he personally started even more speculation on his upcoming future, he had to backpedal and tweeted “Ma,detto questo,io voglio correre in MotoGp per altri anni.ci vorrebbe solo un po’ più di bagarre,ecco tutto (Having said this, I want to race in MotoGP for several more years. We just need more battles that’s all).

The Flammini brothers, Maurizo and Paolo who run the Superbike championship are still hoping that Rossi gets bored out of his mind and that not having any results in MotoGP will make him make the switch sooner than later.

Source | valeyellow46@twitter.com

Last March it was announced that Ducati was getting rid of two of their recent family heirlooms, Casey Stoner’s GP1o and one of Valentino Rossi’s GP11s and that they would be auctioned at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco by RM Auctions, well the two bikes went under the hammer last Friday and once again Stoner’s machine beat Rossi’s machine, as the GP10 fetched more than the GP11.

The auction of the two prototypes had a lot of fine print in the contract, with a post sale confidentiality agreement and the Bologna manufacturer’s asking price was around €300,000-€350,000 each, but who bought the bikes got a pretty good deal as the GP10 was sold for around €172,430 while the GP11 went for € 168,420, not bad for two prototypes that usually cost millions in R&D to build.

Source | ducati.net

Paolo “Tex” Tesio is an Italian car designer who got started with his career in 1995 and has always shown a taste for high performance motorbikes. Today we are going to talk about his Ms4R concept, a project that rose from the ashes of a previous 2004 concept code-named S2-Braida that entered a Ducati design competition a few years back. When Mr. Tesio replaced hid old Ducati Monster (still with carburettors) with a ‘03 S4R, he felt that something has to be done in order to update the old model, that became irreparably ‘old’ as soon as the new one came out.

First off, it had to lose weight and become more ‘compact’, more streamlined and more aggressive too, as it also had to live up to its menacing name. So enter the QD ex-Box exhaust system, a small underbelly end-can which freed the tail of the model from its standard and bulky mufflers and gave it a decidedly more modern outlook. The obsolete head lamp of the original model had to go as well in favour of one lifted from the Ducati MH 900, smaller and more modern, which got embedded closer to the body in between the forks. The instrumentation cluster moves closer to the yoke, while the handlebars got replaced as well.

However, the real icing on the cake here is that pair of fork covers: designed to not interfere with the actual work of the front suspension, these original covers (sporting the glorious Ducati logo of the 80s) provide the model with an extra oomph that surely set the MS4R apart from most Monster’s renditions out there. We think that this model is actually quite fascinating, and Tex says that if the response will be good enough, he might actually put this kit into production. To find out more about this designer and his work, check his facebook page out.

View the full Ducati Monster MS4R by Paolo Tesio photo gallery

It was still pretty cold at Donington Park for the second qualifying practice ahead of this afternoon’s Superpole and Jakub Smrz once again showed his love for the British track by taking the top spot again. The Effenbert Liberty rider posted the fastest lap in 1.280.740, bettering his yesterday’s Qp1 top lap time by almost half a second.

Coming in second and just a little more than a tenth of second adrift was Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes with Carlos Checa right on his tail - despite complaints of not being able to turn his Ducati in certain sectors of the track. BMW factory riders Leon Haslam and Marco Melandri were fourth and fifth respectively - evidently Melandri’s machine is no longer nervous, while Leon Camier continues to show his strong form by taking the sixth position.

GoldBet’s Michel Fabrizio was seventh despite a crash at the Melbourne Hairpin followed by Jonathan Rea none the worse following his two crashes yesterday. Chaz Davies qualified in 9th and outpaced Aprilia factory rider Max Biaggi by a whisker.

Also making it into Superpole will be Davide Giugliano, Sylvain Guintoli, Ayrton Badovini, Eugene Laverty who yesterday had trouble with the crosswinds, Niccolò Canepa and Maxime Berger, making it sixteen riders in 1.2 seconds.

Hiroshi Aoyama was 17th and has never qualified for a Superpole session so far this season, while Kawasaki replacement rider Loris Baz was 18th. John Hopkin’s replacement Peter Hickman took the 19th spot on his debut with the Suzuki machine. The British rider seems to have done a big no-no, as his BSB team MSS Bathams Kawasaki is very pissed off with him, as it seems that they didn’t give him permission to ride for Fixi Suzuki this weekend (and he is wearing his green and black Kawasaki leathers as he didn’t have time to have a new set made up)

WSBK Donington QP2 results:

1. Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R 1′28.740
2. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′28.877
3. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′28.935
4. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1′29.011
5. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1′29.028
6. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′29.101
7. Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1′29.280
8. Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1′29.305
9. Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′29.310
10. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′29.313
11. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′29.354
12. Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′29.411
13. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1′29.557
14. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′29.696
15. Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 1′29.746
16. Maxime Berger (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′29.950
17. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1′30.008
18. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′30.237
19. Peter Hickman (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′30.296
20. Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 1′30.402
21. Mark Aitchison (Grillini Progea Superbike Team) BMW S1000 RR 1′31.102
22. Leandro Mercado (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′31.540
23. Gary Mason (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′33.103

Since it first appeared at the end of 2011, we all got mesmerized by the jaw-dropping beauty of the new Ducati 1199 Panigale, the new flagship model from the legendary Italian manufacturer. In order to emphasize its fascinating lines, USA’s biggest Ducati dealership MotoCorsa has come up with a set of pretty arty pictures featuring the beautiful Panigale with an equally gorgeous model, whose name remains unfortunately undisclosed. Excellent set of pics though, check them out.

View the full seDUCATIve 1199 Panigale photo gallery

via | MotoCorsa.com

No doubt Liberty Racing’s sponsor Effenbert will be happy that in this afternoon’s first qualifying practice at Donington Park was lead by Jakub Smrz. The Czech rider in the final minutes of the session upped his game and posted a best lap of 1.29.336 that left Jonathan Rea (check out his crash sequence from this morning over at Motoblog.it) in second and just 0.057s adrift, but the Honda rider suffered another crash at the Foggy Esses that ruled him out of another chance of bettering himself.

Lap times dropped considerably from this morning with Carlos Checa racing up to 3rd after this morning’s 11th spot and spill and he was followed by two Leon’s, Haslam and Camier who provisionally qualified fourth and fifth respectively. This morning’s leader Tom Sykes dropped to sixth, but he was just 0.383s from Smrz.

Michel Fabrizio finished in seventh with Aprilia’s Max Biaggi right behind him. Two other Italian’s closed out the top ten, Davide Giugliano and Ayrton Badovini on their Ducati and BMW machines. The GoldBet rider also suffered an a crash in the session

Marco Melandri finished 11th after an error on his last flying lap dropped him out of the top ten and he was the last rider to be within a second from Smrz, while Eugene Laverty was only 16th.

WSBK Donington Park QP1 Results:

01- Jakub Smrz – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – 1’29.336
02- Jonathan Rea – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.058
03- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 0.171
04- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 0.268
05- Leon Camier – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 0.278
06- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 0.383
07- Michel Fabrizio – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 0.582
08- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.637
09- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 0.641
10- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 0.650
11- Sylvain Guintoli – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 0.889
12- Marco Melandri – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 0.909
13- Chaz Davies – ParkinGO MTC Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 1.056
14- Hiroshi Aoyama – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 1.186
15- Maxime Berger – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 1.203
16- Eugene Laverty – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 1.241
17- Peter Hickman – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 1.568
18- Lorenzo Zanetti – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 1.699
19- Niccolò Canepa – Red Devils Roma – Ducati 1198 – + 1.863
20- Loris Baz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 2.289
21- Mark Aitchison – Grillini Progea Superbike Team – BMW S1000RR – + 2.667
22- Leandro Mercado – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 3.470
23- Gary Mason – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 4.748

Apparently everyone misunderstood the first one and they were not hitting out at Infront or Pirelli for the fiasco, but were criticizing that small group of riders and teams that seemed to have made the decisions on whether to race or not.

However it seems that the media wasn’t the only one to misinterpret their words as Infront has their lawyers looking into it and the Race Direction has taken Marco Melandri off of the list of riders who they consult with in case another difficult situation should happen in the future.

In another statement, the team confirmed that they will present at this weekend’s event, but there are rumors that sponsor Effenbert has not brought their hospitality to England and the team livery could be without the Effenbert banner as a protest for the lost media visibility they sustained at Monza, as Liberty Racing continues to hint that they could lose their title sponsor all together.

The Liberty Racing Team, following an interview released by La Gazzetta dello Sport with team owner Mario Bertuccio, would like to further point out that the press release issued by the team on Sunday, May 6, has been unambiguously understood by some media and given the wrong interpretations to the concepts expressed.

The clear disappointment was directed to a small number of team managers and riders that conditioned the development of the Monza race for their specific sports interests, and not against Infront Motorsport, to which the Czech team has great respect and trust, and thanks to which the team’s image has grown over the years.

When the Sunday race one was cancelled at Monza, the team was damaged: “Our sponsor has invested heavily in the Effenbert Superbike project” said Bertuccio. “On Sunday we had Guintoli on and with such a result we couldn’t properly take advantage of the media visibility. And now we risk losing the title sponsor. ”

At Monza the team was ready to run, also thanks to the guarantee given by Pirelli about the perfect integrity of the tyre’s performance, something that was supported by our riders who would have no hesitation in competing.

Mario Bertuccio also says that Liberty Racing will continue on its path of professional and sports growth in the World Superbike Championship.

World Superbike is a passion and is the expression on two wheels which are closer to the real fans. Team Liberty attempts to give aim to this thrill every time it takes the track with its riders.

Dedication, enthusiasm and the will to compete with opponents shoulder to shoulder, without distinction between “official and unofficial”, is the indissoluble element that urges the Czech team to compete more strongly motivated, without underestimating to the sense of respect for significant economic investments without which it would be impossible even compete.

You’re Italy’s most famous motorcycle racer (after Giacomo Agostini) and you wake up around noon and before you drink your first coffee of the day, you turn on your phone only to find out that the entire world is spinning Britain’s Daily Telegraph story that you are retiring at end of the season, and maybe even before.

Naturally Valentino Rossi denied the story first via Twitter, but Radio DJ (the guys who towed Rossi’s M1 with a 1963 Fiat Cinquecento from New York to Indianapolis in a promo event back in 2009) called him up while he was having lunch (he was eating cuttlefish with peas) and had a brief chat with him (podcast link here) and the Italian was in good spirits laughing away the story saying that it isn’t true and that it was invented and that he doesn’t who the journalist’s sources are.

The Ducati rider also said that every year someone has him retiring and towards summer someone reports that he is going to become a father and someone always says he’s going to Ferrari. He was asked about his post race Qatar interview and admitted it was to shake up Ducati and make them move.

Ducati is expected to bring in a new spec engine for the Silverstone GP if Rossi and Hayden are happy with it following their upcoming private test at Mugello later this month and a complete package upgrade for Laguna Seca (July 29th).

Effenbert Liberty has been under the spotlight since their controversial press release following World Superbikes Monza round debacle.

Rumors were already floating around Sunday evening that the team would be cutting back their partecipation at Donington Park by sending only riders and technical staff and not their mega hospitality as some form of protest over how the whole decision making process was handled and that the English round could be their last.

Yesterday we posted the story that Infront had passed the Liberty Racing hot potato to their attorneys adding that the team could show up for the round with no sponsor banners (especially their title sponsor, Effenbert) on their fairings as a further sign of their indignation. Apparently this last rumor could actually be true, as the team has issued another press release, very brief and carefully worded where their sponsor is not even mentioned.

“The Liberty Racing Team would like to communicate that its own riders Sylvain Guintoli, Jakub Smrž and Maxime Berger supported by their technical staff, will take part in the Europe GP, 5th round of the Superbike World Championship, that will be held at Donington Park this weekend.”

An eventual pullout by the four-rider strong team before the end of the season would be a big blow to the championship which Infront could weather out, but they’ll have to go into damage control to protect their image, especially as this could tarnish their silver anniversary.

It took very little time for Sportmediaset.com who is very close to Valentino Rossi, to shoot down The Telegraph’s article regarding Rossi’s retirement, calling it a ‘balla colossale’ (a big lie).

The Italian website immediately contacted members of Rossi’s entourage who naturally denied the entire story and laughed off the entire thing confirming that the MotoGP rider still wants to make his Ducati work.

So after last week’s retirement rumors on Casey Stoner, this week it’s Rossi’s turn and next week we’ll probably hear something regarding some other rider, silly season is certainly taking off with a bang.

Rossi has yet to personally comment the story on his Twitter account, but you can bet it’ll will be very soon, probably when he gets up and turns on his phone.

Updated:

Rumor denied by the man himself: @TobyMoody @MOTOCI_Maroto ciao guys, the rumors about my retirement at the end of the year are not true!see you in Le Mans. but don’t expect that this already over and done with, the La Mans pre-race interviews will include more of the same.

While rumors regarding Casey Stoner retiring at the end of the season came from the Spanish and Italian press - and was shot down by the 2011 World Champion, this new rumor regarding Valentino Rossi comes from the English media.

According to the The Telegraph’s inside sources Rossi is going to retire at the end of the 2012 season before his legendary status is even further tainted.

Apparently the rumors are based Rossi hasn’t gotten over his 2010 injuries (more likely his shoulder, than his leg) and that Jeremy Burgess will be leaving for personal reasons.

This speculation however clashes with the damage control interview that Rossi did with father Graziano on Le Iene following his post-race outburst at Qatar, where Rossi Sr. said his son would continue for two, three or more years in MotoGP before switching to World Superbikes.

Rossi is at crossroads in his career, he can’t ride the Ducati to its fullest potential, sponsors are getting impatient and he is getting older in a young man’s game and neither Yamaha or Honda top brass seem willing to have him back in their line-up.

Expect to hear a firm denial to these rumors in the next few hours - just as soon as an out scooped Italian media catches up on the Telegraph’s story and contacts Rossi.