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.

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Early last December you saw the pics of Valentino Rossi and his friends having fun (they call it winter training) at the Biscia, his new motocross and flat track ranch near Tavullia, now you get to see the video.

Former Superbike rider, now turned superbike commentator for La7, Mauro Sanchini was in charge of the filming and you also get to see Mattia Pasini and Andrea Iannone in action.

Luckily for Rossi, the Regional Administrative Court recently ruled against several of his neighbours that wanted to stop construction of the track, because of the noise and the ecological impact that the track is having on the area.

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2011 was another rollercoaster year of Moto2 rider Andrea Iannone. The Italian showed some brilliant and aggressive riding, infact he was the only other rider besides Stefan Bradl and Marc Marquez to win more than one race (Jerez, Brno and Motegi) but he was highly inconsistent in qualifying, often having to take off from the starting grid outside the top ten and more often even outside the top fifteen, but he managed to finish third in the championship for the second year running, pipping Alex de Angelis for the spot in the final race of season.

Iannone was rumored to make the switch to MotoGP with SpeedMaster’s CRT team, instead decided to contest another season in Moto2, while the team will be fielding Anthony West in MotoGP.

In an interview with Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport, Iannone said, “Marc is definitely strong, but I do not feel inferior, I am ready to challenge him. But I think it will be a two way fight for the title.”

I was very close to making the switch, but I have no regrets, I’m glad I’m staying Moto2. I want to show all my potential, that I haven’t fully expressed. You saw the real Iannone only when I didn’t have problems with the bike, and that rarely happened. This year I really struggled to ride, even if the team tried to help me.”

SpeedMaster is run by Iannone’s father Regalino, and ‘Uccio’ Salucci and they’ve decided to take a step backwards and will be dropping Suter for a FTR chassis and have also changed his pit crew, hiring back his 2010 mechanics with Eros Braconi as his crewchief, as Tommaso Raponi will be following Anthony West.

“We want to aim for the title and the team has done everything to give me the mechanics and the bike I had two years ago, and they were successful and this is definitely positive. Now we have to simply put their heads down and work.”

Source | andreaiannonefacebook.com

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According to Sportmediaset Premium commentators and confirmed by Andrea Iannone, the Speed Master Moto2 rider will be testing Gresini’s RC213V Honda on Tuesday during the post-season MotoGP official tests.

With Marco Simoncelli’s untimely death, Fausto Gresini has been forced to find another rider and Iannone ,who was to stay in Moto2 for another season, is now being called up to see how he handles a 1000cc bike. An Italian rider would also satisfy sponsor San Carlo. Iannone tested a Pramac Ducati GP11 at the Mugello test last July.

Other rumors coming from the Valencia paddock has Suzuki staying in MotoGP in 2012 with Alvaro Bautista as their rider with the team fielding only one bike, the same as this year and Randy de Puniet moving to LCR Honda.

More news and gossip when we hear it.

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Andrea Iannone won his third race of the 2011 season at the Twin Ring circuit under cloudy skies at Motegi today, while Marc Marquez’ second place has put him in the lead of the Moto2 championship by a single point over Stefan Bradl.

The Italian rider from Vasto, who was third on the starting grid lead the race from the start, fending off attacks by Marc Marquez, but the Speed Master rider rode brillantly losing the lead only twice to the Spanish rookie; on lap 7 but then retook it almost immediately and then with five laps to go and an almost 1 second lead, his bike went into neutral with Marquez taking the advantage, but Iannone wasn’t having it and fought back and overtook the lead once again and set out with a couple of fast laps to win with a 1.999s margin.

The battle for third was between Stefan Bradl, Simone Corsi, Thomas Luthi and Alex de Angelis, but Luthi got the best of the German rider who finished fourth, grabbing the spot from Corsi on the last lap, with De Angelis ending up in sixth.

Continue reading: Andrea Iannone wins Moto2 race at Motegi, Marquez new points leader

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To remember Moto2 rider Shoya Tomizawa who died tragically at Misano a year ago, Speed Master’s Andrea Iannone took out this page in Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport’s on Wednesday September 7th, to dedicate his third place podium at the Italian circuit, to the much missed Japanese rider.

A special Shoya’s Day will be held by his Technomag-CIP team on September 13th at Alès, France and if you’re interested in paying tribute to the late rider just click here for more info.

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Several Moto2 riders have been tipped to make the jump to MotoGP next season, like Marc Marquez, Andrea Iannone and Bradley Smith, however the 20-year old Brit has opted to spend another year in Moto2, as it would be more beneficial to him.

Speaking in his column on Crash.net, Smith wrote: “I’ve decided I will stay in the Moto2 World Championship and push really hard for the title next year. I have some options to consider but hopefully will be able to reveal my plans by the time we race in the next round at Aragon in Spain.

“Racing against the top guys both at Indianapolis and Misano made me realise just how much I’m learning and there is still so much more to come. At my age another year will really benefit my career and so MotoGP can wait although of course it’s my ultimate aim to ride in the greatest Championship in the World.”

Smith had been linked to make a vertical move to his squad’s Yamaha Tech3 MotoGP team to replace Colin Edwards who recently announced he’ll ride for Forward Racing’s CRT team next year, but with Smith backing off this will leave one less rider in contention for the highly fought over M1, which includes WSBK rider Eugene Laverty, Andrea Dovizioso (also linked to ride a 2nd Ducati for Aspar) and Randy de Puniet. Despite interest by Yamaha’s Lin Jarvis for Stefan Bradl, it seems that the German rider will be on a Honda RC213V next season.

Not making a move to MotoGP could also be Marc Marquez, as Emilio Alzamora has repeatedly denied that his rider/client Marc Marquez will be switching to the premier class next season and Andrea Iannone has also hinted of late he may be staying another for a third year in Moto2, despite the fact that his Speed Master team was accepted as one of the six CRT teams expected to debut in 2012.

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If someone had bet on either Marc Marquez or Stefan Bradl would win the Moto2 race at Brno, they would have lost their bet because outsider Andrea Iannone came out of the blue to take the victory and ending his long drought.

Iannone who’s last victory was at Jerez, triumphed after a five way drag out fight, that included Marc Marquez, Stefan Bradl, Alex de Angelis and Thomas Luthi, that almost went almost to the line in a thrilling race which saw a rash of crashes in the first two laps and dozens of overtakes for the lead.

The Italian was almost perfect as he seized the lead from Marquez on the last lap after the Spaniard found himself trying to fending off last attempt attacks by Stefan Bradl who in turn was trying to fend off Alex de Angelis. Marquez managed to slightly shake off the German rider when Bradl ran wide, but the Spaniard just couldn’t find enough power and the right place to pass Iannone and finished the race just 0.161s from the Speed Master rider, with Bradl taking the podium in third.

Continue reading: Moto2 Brno: Andrea Iannone wins last lap battle

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Yesterday’s MotoGP test at the Mugello didn’t leave Pramac Ducati’s Randy de Puniet very satisfied, despite the fact that with his best time of 1:49.384, he was almost one second faster than his best lap during the actual race. The French rider, who many thought could master the Ducati due to his rather loose and aggressive riding style is currently only 17th in the standings and yesterday compared his current Desmosedici chassis against the updated ‘step 1’ version.

Here’s what De Puniet after the test, “I turned a lot today, after yesterday’s race there was a lot problems. At the end I can’t be satisfied, the others riders are always faster than me.We made some progress on the bike used in this weekend, but not enough”.

Sylvain Guintoli who is to be Loris Capirossi’s replacement rider in case the Italian can’t be ready in time for the Sachsenring round, got reacquainted with the Ducati GP11; his last time on a Ducati prototype was back in 2008. The WSBK rider ended his day three seconds slower than Randy de Puniet and five seconds off pace from Casey Stoner, and just slightly faster than Moto2 rider Andrea Iannone who put in a few laps to get a feel of what it’s like to ride a MotoGP machine and even ran off track at the San Donato on his first lap out.

Continue reading: Pramac Ducati talks about Mugello test

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Pramac Ducati has confirmed that WSBK rider Sylvain Guintoli will be testing for the team at Mugello tomorrow (which will not see any 2012 factory bike testing) in the event that Loris Capirossi is unable to recover from his injuries in time for the upcoming Sachsenring and Laguna Seca rounds, and they’ve also announced that Andrea Iannone will also be getting a chance to test the GP11 tomorrow.

Ducati has often allowed lower class riders to test their GP bikes in order to get a taste of MotoGP (while checking them out as potential material), and since Iannone is expected to make the big switch to the premier class with his own CRT team next season, the test will give him some interesting comparisons to make with his future bike.

“I’m sorry that Loris wasn’t able to be with us this weekend at Mugello. Sylvain Guintoli, an old acquaintance of the Pramac Racing Team, will take his place tomorrow,” said Pramac boss, Paolo Campinoti. “The test will help Sylvain in case Capirex isn’t recovered in time to race at the Sachsenring or Laguna Seca, but we’re hopeful that Loris will return soon.We’re also pleased to welcome Andrea Iannone, who will test our bike in order to get used to the MotoGP class.”

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After losing his ride with the now defunct Jack& Jones by Antonio Banderas team (that ditsy Paris Hilton has officially beaten Banderas as a celebrity sponsor after Vinales won his first 125cc GP race) and not wanting to commit to Superbikes with Team Pedercini, Hungarian rider Gabor Talmacsi more or less dropped off the racing radar.

However it seems that “Talma”could be plotting a return to GP racing (if he finds the money or sponsor backing) when he was invited to test Andrea Iannone’s (his team mate in Speed Up last season) Suter at Brno, where Moto2 teams Speed ​​Master and Ioda Racing were carrying out a private two day test last week.

Apparently Talmacsi gave some very useful feedback to the team on the bike’s development, while thanking Iannone and his father for the opportunity to ride again.

Source | talma.hu via bikeracing.it

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Andrea Iannone won today’s Moto2 race in masterful way and taking the lead in the standings from Stefan Bradl. The Italian who was only 11th on the starting grid rode a perfect race on the treacherous Jerez track, that was first damp and then completely wet and caught out more than one rider.

The Speed Master rider neatly carved through the field and halfway through the long race, passed Thomas Luthi on the brakes and from there never looked back to take his fourth win in Moto2 and putting a massive 7.859 seconds between himself and the Swiss rider, who took his second podium of the season.

Completing the podium was Simone Corsi, who started in 18th and was already third on the opening lap with Gianpiero Sacchi’s Ioda Racing team project bike, he was followed by Moto2 rookie Bradley Smith who spent the race chasing and duelling with Stefano Bradl, but finally overtook him in the second to last lap of the race, when the German rider almost lost his Kalex in a near highside.

Continue reading: Moto2 Jerez: Andrea Iannone dominates in eventful race

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