John Hopkins start to the 2012 season will begin with an uphill battle to recover from the broken hand bone he suffered earlier today during World Superbike’s first day of private testing at Phillip Island and as a result, with all probability will have to skip the season’s opening round and try to return for Imola that takes place April 1st.

“This feels so devastating because I was feeling really comfortable on the bike right from the start. I was running the 2011spec bike, with just small mods to the engine and the new Yoshimura exhaust, and hadn’t even got on the full 2012 bike yet. But I felt that the GSX-R had already been improved in the areas it needed to be,” said Hopkins. “The track conditions were not the best and we started the day a bit late because there were some damp patches around from the overnight rain. Having said that, it wasn’t the damp that caused the crash. I was on a used tyre and probably on the last lap before pulling in. I exited turn one and might have been just a little bit too hot for the condition of the tyre going into turn two, when suddenly the rear came round even before I got on the brakes. I was spat off and unfortunately came down on my right hand – yeah, the same one that is missing a bit of finger. The X-rays show that I have fractured a bone in the base of the hand, near what’s left of my fourth finger. I will fly home tomorrow and see my hand surgeon, Doctor Chao, and we’ll decide what has to be done. I would say that my chances of racing at Phillip Island next week are very slim, but the important thing is to get the hand sorted correctly and be completely right before I race. It may be better to miss Phillip Island and then use the six weeks or so before Imola to get back to 100% - we’ll see. I want to say thanks to the Crescent Fixi team for all their efforts and sorry to Suzuki and all the team’s sponsors – we’ll be back and fighting for the podium soon ”

Jack Valentine : “It is a bit more than unfortunate what happened to John today. We had a late start, because of the overnight rain and a bit of sea mist this morning, but everything was going fine. John looked good on the bike. His lap times were right up there with the others and there were no problems with his finger. He was unlucky to highside, but more unlucky to come down on his right hand. We’ll wait to see how he gets on in USA tomorrow and although there is a possibility that he might race, I think we’d all rather that he got his injury sorted out properly and then return when he’s full and ready. The positives are that both riders have already gelled really well with the bike. Hopper looked good right from the start and Leon got comfortable straightway. Leon ended the day really happy with the bike and he’ll carry on the work we’ve got to do and keep improving tomorrow.”

Camier finished 12th and 1.5 seconds off pace on the first day of testing and Crescent Fixi Suzuki has still to decide if they will replace Hopkins for the season opener.

The 2012 Swiss-Moto show will be opening its doors in Zurich on February 16th and BMW Motorrad will be bringing a special edition of the R 1200 GS ABS dedicated to Switzerland’s most famous rider, Tom Lüthi.

This special model of BMW R 1200 GS ABS will be exclusive to Switzerland and limited to just 100 units.

All paint and bodywork, including forks, engine and deck luggage remain in full black on the R 1200 GS ABS Tom Lüthi. The colour accents are made by the three legendary bands in the colours of BMW Motorrad Motorsport on the front cover of the tank by a tinted windshield and brake callipers in the Monte Carlo colours Blau.

GS matte silver logo on the rear fender and the monogram GS Power on the side, along the front fender, refer to the concept of the special model. The edition is marked, with a Tom Lüthi logo on the front fender and his signature is engraved on the lid of the fuel cap. In addition, the lid of the fuel cap features a serial number to remember that this is a special edition model limited to 100, which will be available from March 2012.

For someone who used to profess he wanted keep his public and private life separated, Valentino Rossi has taken to Twitter and Youtube like a duck to water and is revealing much more of what he does when he’s not travelling around the world with the GP circus.

This is his latest video, and again Rossi and friends, Andrea Iannone, Mattia Pasini, and Mauro Sanchini and dad Graziano aren’t at the Italian’s moto ranch the Biscia, but at small speedway track to try their hand with bikes with no brakes.

Enjoy.

Motorcycling isn’t one of the specialities of the Olympics, but that hasn’t stopped nine time World Champion Valentino Rossi from adding his name to the roster of 60 high profile Italian athletes who signed a letter - that will be published today in eight major newspapers - to ask Prime Minister Monti to sustain the candidacy of Rome to host the 2020 Olympics.

Besides Rossi, other signers include Francesco Totti, Gianluigi Buffon, Federica Pellegrini, Yuri Chechi, Josefa Idem, Valentina Vezzali, Antonio Rossi, Deborah Compagnoni, Igor Cassina, Alex Zanardi and Fiona May.

Since the new and non elected Monti government has been busy trying to solve other much more pressing problems (sovereign debt and put in place wide sweeping reforms) the candidacy of Rome hasn’t been their top priority, hence the ‘Dear Monti, Sign’ letter.

The government has less than a week to inform the International Olympic Committee whether Italy will be able to financially support hosting the 2020 Olympics.

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 looks like Anthony West has changed his mind regarding retiring from motorcycle racing. The Australian was dropped by Speed Master’s CRT team after he couldn’t come up the sponsorship money to fund his MotoGP ride late last month - they’ve already replaced him with Mattia Pasini - and bitterly added that he would be likely ” not race any more and will return to australia to find a normal job. Sorry to my fans.”

This sad comment has probably touched a couple team owner’s hearts because West is now claiming that he has received offers to continue riding and is currently thinking them over:

“To keep people up to date, I have had some offers to ride BSB, AMA, IDM and endurance racing. Of course I want to be in GP but all rides are taken and same in WSBK. I’m just looking for the best way to go, and a team that can win. And I will start now to try to raise the money to come back into GP or WSBK for 2013.”

If you were in West’s shoes would you choose the highly popular BSB that helped rejuvenate John Hopkins or the AMA and try to be become the next Mat Mladin?

Source | bikesportnews.com

Lin Jarvis, Managing Director for Yamaha recorded this brief video yesterday during the second day of testing at Sepang, and seems pretty optimistic for the 2012 season and talks about riders Ben Spies, Jorge Lorenzo, Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso, but also about rivals Casey Stoner and Ducati.

Yesterday three of the four Yamaha riders were in the top five.

This video interview with Valentino Rossi posted by website Moto.it for Italian TV show Griglia di Partenza was filmed during the recent Ducati Wrooom event and no doubt will take the media rivalry between Rossi and Casey Stoner to another level of dissing in 2012, especially if Rossi should be competitive with the GP12.

Even if this interview is prior to Stoner’s interview with Motosprint, where he said that the Italian belittled his and Honda’s efforts, Rossi laughingly throws off any criticism from Stoner and continues to play his usual head games.

The interviewer Giovanni Zamagni tells Rossi that he received some criticism from several of his rivals, and asks if he was expecting it or not -especially from Stoner - and how he judges it.

“Yes, I’m happy, in the sense that when someone is in difficulty and another rider wins, like in Stoner’s case, you can see his true nature. In every interview he never stops talking about me, in a negative manner. Pratically he says that he has to set the record straight because, I think it was at Misano that I said that he wasn’t pushing enough. The reason he’s so ‘mean’ to me, is that he still hasn’t gotten over getting beat at Laguna Seca in 2008 and he needed two years to get over that … because he thought he could win five consecutive races, like I did instead I stopped his plans and now that he’s winning, he never loses the occasion to ‘murder’ me. I’m sorry for him as he should look forward, because he’s winning, he’s number one in the world, he’s moving up, he has to get over it. I’m sorry for him,” commented Rossi.

Let’s get those handbags out of the closet and poised.

Finnish enduro legend and five-time world champion Mika Ahola died because of severe internal injuries on 15 January 2012, at a hospital in Barcelona, just a few weeks after crashing while training in Girona, Spain, and two weeks after the announcement of his retirement from racing because of the injuries sustained on that accident. He was 37 years old. The sudden passing of the reigning champ left the enduro world as well as the whole motorcycle community shaking heads in disbelief, while a few days ago Ahola’s wife confirmed in a statement that the late champion died because of “internal injuries not immediately diagnosed“, following a “troubled hospital course, because of the occurrence of serious complications“.

Announcing his retirement from racing at the very beginning of this year, Ahola said: “I have given everything I’ve got for this sport and although it has taken much, it has given me back more than I could have ever imagined when I started racing“, then adding that “My ambition for this sport has been completely satisfied and I feel like it’s time for me to move on and see what else the world has to offer than racing.”

Here is our little tribute, a couple of photo galleries dedicated to one of the greatest enduro’s riders ever, winner of five consecutive world-championship titles from 2007 to 2011 (in all three classes) and seven International Six Days Enduro with the Finnish national team, being the fastest overall in the competition in three occasions. The funeral will take place in Hämeenlinna, Finland, on February the 4th. May he rest in peace.

View the full Mika Ahola tribute photo gallery
View the full Mika Ahola tribute at the 2012 Motor Bike Expo photo gallery

Even taking an ad out in a newspaper hasn’t helped Anthony West find the sponsors he needed to ride for CRT team Speed Master.

The popular Australian rider has announced via his Facebook page that his search turned up zilch and that he even tried put up his house, car and bike as collateral but it wasn’t enough, so he’ll no longer be able to ride this season also bitterly adding that his racing career (he’s only 30) is now likely over.

“I (ANTHONY WEST) will not race in moto gp this year or any other race because I can not find sponsorship to pay the SPEED MASTER team, Because all teams are asking for money from the riders only the rich can race in motogp / moto2 / moto3, I can not even afford to ride a year for free, As i have YET to be payed from my former team MZ Germany Moto2 team. I had my car mx bike and my house for sale trying to keep the ride and even gave the house as a guarantee if I did not find the money but was not enough. I will most likely not race any more and will [return] to australia to find a normal job. Sorry to my fans.”

Except for veterans Colin Edwards and Randy de Puniet, the CRT riders entry list is looking more like an auction sale to the highest bidder; you’ve got the money, you get the ride. Period. Experience, podiums, wins and making a name for yourself based on merits alone no longer counts … and they have the gall to continue calling it the premier racing class with the best racers in the world.

Casey Stoner is basking in the limelight of being the 2011 World champion and the official MotoGP website got together with the Australian champion while he’s at his second home in Switzerland for an interview that was published last Friday and now have posted a follow up video with Stoner also answering a number of questions from fans via Twitter.

You’ll find out a little more about his time in Ducati, like when he asked for the 2009 carbon chassis to be implemented into the second half of the 2008 season, but didn’t get it and while he did receive new parts he always got got them six to eight months later. His excitment about becoming a father, the bikes he owns, tips on riding, how he relaxes, why he is taking the #1 plate and much more.

To see the video just follow this link.

Casey Stoner is the most successful rider of the 800cc MotoGP era, he was won two titles, the first and last one and has more victories than Valentino Rossi who also took two championship titles during this period.

It’s commonly known that Stoner has little use for the media especially the Euro ones (who are more biased and often defend their countries riders even beyond belief) and detests all the PR that surrounds MotoGP and it’s no secret that he doesn’t like Rossi (which is an understatement) and European riders in general.

So it won’t come as a surprise that after a nice and rather bland interview with the official MotoGP website that an interview with Italy’s Motosprint magazine would be more revealing and much more biting.

On the media: “Everything has changed very quickly. Previously I’d get nothing but mistrust from the media, and generally very little consideration for what I was doing and all the effort I was putting in and then Valentino and I switched bikes. He was on the one that I used for four years, and I was on the bike of my dreams to show the world what I’m capable of doing. This allowed me to let everyone understand that I could have also fought for the title and that I could have won at least another one.”

On arch rival Valentino Rossi: “Valentino is saying and doing everything to belittle what I, my team, Honda did last year. It’s not true that Honda spent a lot of money, because it’s not a company of stupid people. It would have made no sense to invest a lot on a bike, the 800cc, that would soon be retired, while the new 1000cc was being developed. As a matter of fact in 2011 Honda didn’t do much more than usual and the proof is that the 2011 bike wasn’t so different from the 2010 one, except for the gearbox and my bike remained practically the same throughout the season. The truth is that Honda already had a good bike even before my arrival, they just needed someone new to make the difference.”

If this interview doesn’t stir up Rossi and Pedrosa fans I don’t know what will and while I don’t expect some backlash from Pedrosa and Alberto Puig, I do expect something from Rossi.