While we thought that Grillini Progea Superbike team wouldn’t be at Miller Motorsports Park for this weekend’s sixth round of the World Superbike season after parting ways with Mark Aitchison, instead they’ve gotten AMA Pro Road Superbike racer Jake Holden as a replacement rider.

29-year old Holden currently races a BMW S1000RR for Evan Steel Performance (Team E.S.P.) and is 15th in the championship standings.

“I am very excited to race with the Grillini Progea Superbike Team in the Salt Lake City WSBK round. Miller Motorsports Park has been one of my favorite race tracks in the US. This race will be a new experience for me because I have dreamed of racing in WSBK ever since I started roadracing. I would like to thank Team Grillini Progea for giving me this great opportunity to race in WSBK championship in front of my friends and supporters. I thank also all my fans, friends and sponsors in particular Sidi Boots, Shoei Helmets, Marshall’s Web Design, Musselman Honda Circuit, Ballistik Leathers, GBehavior, Milestone Wealth Management, Xcel Trackdays, who have helped me out these last years. Without them I wouldn’t be following my dream today”, said Holden.

The first free practice for round six of the championship starts on Saturday May 26th.

Photo Source | amaproracing.com

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Rainband will be performing live “Rise Again” at the British MotoGP at Silverstone next month. The song which will be officially released as a single on June 18th, is a tribute to the late Marco Simoncelli who tragically died during the 2011 Sepang GP last October.

The Marco Simoncelli Foundation contacted the Manchester group to write a single to honour the Italian motorcycle racing star and the music video is being filmed in Marco’s hometown of Coriano, Italy.

Martin Finnigan, singer of The Rainband, said: “Being invited to open the MotoGP is a big honour for us. We’re performing in aid of the Marco Simoncelli Foundation, whose sole focus is to build a specialist hospital for disabled people in Rimini. All proceeds from our single will go straight to the charity. Rise Again is one of our best songs and is a brilliant soundtrack to the Foundation and a fitting tribute to a remarkable man.”

The band also invited two-time Superbike World Champion and former MotoGP rider James Toseland to play piano on the track. All profits will be donated to the Marco Simoncelli Foundation.

While after the jump we have Francesco Bejor’s song “Correndo nel Cielo” (racing in the sky) also dedicated to Simoncelli, Shoya Tomizawa and Daijiro Kato and the proceeds from this song will also go to the Marco Simoncelli Foundation.

Continue reading: Two songs to help the Marco Simoncelli Foundation

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Check out this video from Italy’s super slick Riders Magazine where they got a big part of the World Superbike grid during the Imola round to have some fun on a mini trampoline and posing for a photoshoot called ‘Tutti su per aria’ (everyone in the air) that appeared in their recent edition.

Alex Hofmann who is at Mugello testing for Aprilia and waiting for the track to dry out and pass the time decided to take his own pics from the magazine and is tweeting them. So if you’re interested on how they actually came and see your favourite rider other than in leathers just follow this link back to twitter.com/alex_66.

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We close the 2012 French GP chapter with the usual photo gallery starring the hottest ‘paddock girls’ seen hanging around in Le Mans. This time around we got a 91-pic strong gallery that shouldn’t let anybody down, with the lovely Monster Girls taking by far the lion’s share. Just sit back and enjoy the shots.

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Randy de Puniet’s weird crash at the start of the Le Mans GP was generally thought by many to caused by some sort malfunction on his launch control - or as it has happened in the past just forgetting about - like Dani Pedrosa practicing a start at Phillip Island in 2007 or Jorge Lorenzo highsiding at Laguna Seca last season.

The Aspar CRT rider more than broadly hinted to the French press that he believed something had leaked from Julian Simon’s Moto2 bike when the Spanish rider bravely pushed his Suter across the finish line to bag 13th place and three points, which caused not only De Puniet’s first crash but apparently also Nicky Hayden’s and Ben Spies wobbly bad starts.

To set the record straight, Simon confirmed that he did not crash at the final turn as everyone was led to believe, but his Suter suffered an electrical failure which would make it very unlikely that he was dripping anything but rain from his bike.

Source | crash.net

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Those big black clouds and rain that helped Valentino Rossi at Le Mans on Sunday has followed Ducati across the border to Italy and all the way to Mugello and instead of helping them is now hindering the Ducati team’s important test activities for the umpteenth time.

Rossi and Hayden were supposed to test a batch of new parts, instead everyone from Troy Bayliss to the mechanics are huddled around the espresso machine waiting to see if the track drys out before venturing outside.

Bayliss attempted to write in Italian on his Facebook page and posted this: “Buongiorno A tutti , soon qui a Mugello, tempo di Merda, ma con mia sqaudra e Caffe , Allora non fretta per andre a pista , TB 21″ which translated means Good morning everyone, I’m here at Mugello. Shitty weather, but with my team and coffee. Not hurrying to get on track.

The former World Champion speaks better Italian than he writes it (like yours truly) and like everyone who picks up a second or third language, cuss words are the first that you learn.

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An official press release issued by Team Gardner Racing (TGR) has informed fans that Remy Gardner who currently races in the CEV Buckler Moto3 championship will be missing this weekend’s round at the Motorland Aragon circuit.

The reason? What almost every rider sadly has nowadays … sponsorship problems due to the economic climate.

Here’s the press release signed by Wayne Gardner:

It is with great regret and disappointment I advise TGR’s decision to cancel our entry to the next CEV Buckler race at Motorland this month.

Unfortunately, our media partner Twenty Four Seven Entertainment has been unable to fulfil their financial commitments to the team due to economic hardship. Team Gardner Racing were appointed Ambassadors for the company’s Freestylers brand which included brand awareness throughout Team Gardner Racing’s activities.
We are working on many different levels and with the help of supporters around the world to find a new suitable partner. In the meantime our current situation necessitates the difficult decision to miss the next race, and investigate alternative ways to operate in order for my son Remy to contest some of the races left in the CEV calendar this year.

Continue reading: Sponsorship problems hampers Remy Gardner's CEV partecipation

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Casey Stoner’s retirement announcement shook the world and opened a whole new can of worms for the 2013 silly season. Speculation of who is going where is starting to pop up left and right. We’ve heard rumors that Ducati is taking a good hard look at Cal Crutchlow - to replace whom is left up to your imagination. MCN has a story of why Crutchlow could end up in Repsol Honda on its cover. Valentino Rossi could wind up on either a Yamaha factory bike or back to where it all began for him in MotoGP, on a Honda, with Yamaha’s Lin Jarvis and Honda’s Shuhei Nakamoto no longer counting out the Italian, something that would have been impossible for either of them to imagine just a few months ago.

Spanish website ‘AS’ has published this interview with Livio Suppo - the man behind Casey Stoner’s arrival in Honda - who now will have find a new top rider to replace his beloved Australian. Here’s the translation of the interview that we hope you’ll find interesting.

Mela Chercoles: Will you renew with Pedrosa?
Livio Suppo: “We are only beginning to talk now.”

MC: In a month, Repsol Honda has gone from holding three titles to navigating in a sea of doubts about the future, and this because of Stoner’s retirement ..
LS: I don’t see it in these terms: the immediate future is this year, with two riders who can win races and also the MotoGP world title.”

MC: Could Stoner be influenced somewhat by the fact that he will retire end of the year ?
LS: No, he wants to win another title, and other races: at Le Mans we didn’t win because Yamaha was better than Honda. Dani has had the same rear grip problems as Casey, but in the dry things would have turned out differently. ”

MC: Without Stoner, will Lorenzo will be the strongest rider on the grid in 2013?
LS : The last year seems to confirm it, but in 2010 before his Motegi accident Pedrosa was still faster than he was.

Continue reading: Livio Suppo: "Rossi ending his career in Honda would be a nice story"

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After just five rounds into the World Superbike season, Grillini Progea Superbike Team has announced with a very brief press release that they have parted ways with Mark Aitchison.

Aitchison debuted last season in World Superbikes with Pedercini Kawaski and has some decent results and was able to take part in several Superpole sessions. This season he decided to race for debuting Grillini Progea team and ride their BMW S1000RR, however his lack of results (he has only three points with a best place finish of 14th at Donington) may behind the divorce with the Italian squad.

The press release doesn’t indicate who will replace Aitichison, nor does it state if they will continue in the championship, but with all probability they won’t be present at this weekend’s round at Miller Motorsports Park.

According to bikeracing.it the Australian could be headed for the British Superbike championship with rumors of him replacing axed Peter Hickman in MSS Bathams Kawasaki.

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Yesterday we did a post on Italy’s viewing audience for all three classes of Le Mans GP, wondering if Valentino Rossi’s second place in the race had anything to do with the rise in the numbers and if in other countries the trend was the same.

We still don’t know, but motoworld.es has published Spain’s audience numbers so we can take a look at what Sportmediaset’s Telecinco, who broadcasts the races in Spain did.

Riders of Spanish nationality populate a big part of the grid - thanks to the massive number of riding schools, excellent talent scouts like Alberto Puig, Emilio Alzamora and Jorge ‘Aspar’ Martinez - and Spain’s Motorcycle Federation and Dorna’s backing the CEV. Spanish riders in GP racing this season are 25 - 9 in Moto3, 10 in Moto2 and 6 in MotoGP.

Down to the nitty gritty: 3.4 million viewers watched the Le Mans GP with a share of 29.7% up, compared to the 2,803,000 who watched the Estoril GP. Moto3 garnered 1,398,000 viewers and a share of 22.6% while Moto2, the audience grew to 2,022,000 viewers and a share of 28.1%. Those numbers for the two lower classes are pretty good and shows how popular the two championships are becoming, which in Spain’s case is probably due to rising Spanish stars Maverick Vinales and Marc Marquez.

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