We’ve got the usual rider quotes from the team’s press releases after last night’s final pre-season test in Qatar, but a couple of Italian journalists picked up some gossip from the garages that the releases don’t tell.

Valentino Rossi and Loris Capirossi who are both senior and founding members of the Safety Commission, believe that the Qatar race should be put ahead by at least an hour because of the humidity that makes the track dangerous. Marco Melandri was so angry with the performance of his 2010 Honda RC212V that he actually compared it to the Ducati GP bike he rode in 2008.

The MotoGP season opener kicks off April 11th in Qatar.

Casey Stoner - 1st 1′55.352 (51 laps)

“I am really happy with the test and the work we have done right up to tonight. In the first Sepang test we had a few things to work out but we have made constant progress. The latest big step forward with the GP10 came last night and today I was able to set a consistently fast pace. I have been able to work with the tyres without putting too much stress on them and I was able to keep my pace on used rubber. I like the new engine a lot, it is more manageable and I am pleased to see the other Ducati riders, especially Nicky confirming that with fast times.”

Valentino Rossi - 2nd 1′55.860 (57 laps)
“This has been another good day. We’ve concentrated mostly on the race preparation and it feels like we’re now ready for the first race. We did a long run at the end of the session and we got some good information, which will help us in the race. Now that testing is over I am very excited about the season. We’ve been strong throughout the six days of practice and it feels good to have been fast here also, where we have struggled in the past. We have only tested at two tracks so we need to wait for another different one to fully understand the new bike, but we’re in good shape. My M1 feels great and I’m looking forward to racing!”

Continue reading: MotoGP Qatar Day 2 - Rider Quotes

Casey Stoner put a big stop to Valentino Rossi’s domination in the pre-season testing taking the top spot on the final day of testing under the lights at the Losail circuit in Qatar. The Aussie rider exchanged positions with Rossi during the entire test, but in the end with a best lap of 1.55.717 left the Italian rider in second by over five tenths of second.

Andrea Dovizioso made a big jump forward from yesterday and finished in third, he too a little more than five tenths of second from Stoner and just 0.019s from Rossi. Nicky Hayden finished in fourth, up four positions from yesterday.

Loris Capirossi who was feeling better tonight, finished his test in fifth and improving almost a full second from the 1st session while Jorge Lorenzo who is still nursing his injured hand took sixth.

Several falls characterized this evening’s test, Yamaha Tech3 duo Colin Edwards, Ben Spies and Ducati’s Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner all suffered falls at turn 2, while Marco Simoncelli crashed out at turn 6.

Continue reading: MotoGP Qatar Test - Casey Stoner takes Top Spot on Day 2

The night test in Qatar was lead by Valentino Rossi who continues to dominate in this year’s MotoGP pre-season testing. The Italian Yamaha rider led the entire test except when he stopped for dinner and a massage, and Casey Stoner and Ben Spies out lapped him. Finished his dinner break Rossi went out and did a best lap in 1.55.402 in the final minutes of the session in warm, but very damp conditions.

Casey Stoner was second, a little more than three tenths of second from Rossi, but stopped before the end of the test with problems on his GP10 according to Ducati team manager Vitto Guareschi who called in on Italian TV show Griglia di Partenza. Stoner’s best lap was done on a used tire that already had 34 laps on it.

Ben Spies was third with his satellite Yamaha. The American continues to impress everyone in the paddock and finished 0.553s from Rossi, but suffered a small crash in the final hour of the test, but fortunately did not injure himself.

Continue reading: MotoGP Qatar Test : Rossi on Top

With four days of pre-season testing at Sepang already over, MotoGP will be heading to Qatar on March 18-19 for the final two days of tests, before the new season kicks off at Losail for the night race that takes place on the weekend of April 11th .

Here’s what the riders had to say about today’s final day of testing in Sepang.

Valentino Rossi - 1st : 2′00.271 Laps: 39

“I’m really happy to have beaten my pole record, it’s a good feeling to be this fast in testing. I did this with an old tyre but we also got the chance to try a very good new tyre from Bridgestone today, which I hope we will use from the first race. Our bike is in great shape; we need to do a bit more work on the electronics but in general everything is better, especially the rear grip and the engine. Yamaha have been very clever to develop this new bike whilst keeping the best parts of the old one, I’m very happy about it. It was good to get the chance to try the Japanese test bike, hopefully the feedback I gave them will help us in the future. Now we go to Qatar and then we will see our level because it is not one of mine or Yamaha’s best tracks! But we’re in great shape and this is very important at this stage of the season. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang 2 - Final Day Rider Quotes

Valentino Rossi and his M1 led once again the final day of testing in Sepang. The rider from Tavullia who dominated both official pre-season tests in Sepang, put in a scorching best lap of 2’00.271 shattering his 2009 qualifying pole position on the Malaysian track by 0.247s seconds.

Casey Stoner continued to stalk Rossi, with his 2’00.512, but the biggest surprise of the day was Ducati’s factory rider Nicky Hayden in third with his GP10, who put in a best lap of 2’00.703, axing off a massive 1.5 seconds from yesterday and ending up less than two tenths from team mate Stoner.

The Yamaha Tech 3 duo, Colin Edwards and Ben Spies switched positions from yesterday. The Texas Tornado posted a best lap of 2’00.988 putting him in the fourth slot and the last rider under the 2’01” mark, while the Texas Terror’s best time was 2’01.014. This puts three Yamaha riders in the top five spots and 2009 runner-up and Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo wasn’t present due to his hand injury.

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang 2 Tests - Rossi on Top Again and Breaks Own Qualifying Record

Valentino Rossi once again led testing on the first day of official testing in Sepang, resuming where he left off three weeks ago. The Italian’s led both the morning and afternoon sessions topping the chart with a 2.01.068, which was slightly higher than his best time in the previous test.

Casey Stoner was second, just 0.151 from Rossi and testing different swingarms including a new and updated carbon fiber swingarm. Andrea Dovizioso had a positive day with his third place. His best lap was 2.01.063 which was a big improvement from his previous test where he finished in a lowly th place and a best lap of 2.02.272.

Loris Capirossi , fourth and just 0.056 from Dovizioso with his new GSV-R engine, continued testing numerous new parts that Suzuki brought from Japan.

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang 2 Test: Rossi Leads Day 1

We’ve got more exclusive pics from the final day of testing from Motoblog’s Lallai who was with the Fiat on the Web team in Sepang and all the riders quotes.

Valentino Rossi - 1st 2′00″925 (32 laps)

“After yesterday this second day has been very good as well, even though we lost a few hours to the rain, and the end we were still able to finish all our work. We worked on the new bike to find a better setting and I was happy to be the fastest overall - even though this is just testing this is important for me! At the next test we will have a few more new things but we’re already happy because we’re fast and strong. There is room to improve of course; Sepang is always a good track for the Yamaha so we will have to wait until Qatar to get a better understanding of our level, but we have made a great start.”

Casey Stoner - 2nd 2′01″320 (44 laps)

“We are quite happy with the test. Today didn’t start really well because of the rain and the wet track, which set us back a few hours, but when it finally did dry out we were able to make some progress. We have definitely improved the set-up of the bike, trying some different things with the swingarm. The lap times are still not where we want them to be and we have to work on taking another couple of tenths off on hard tyres, but to be consistently doing 2′01.9 or 2′02.0 laps is a decent pace. Considering that we are using a different engine to the one we’ve had for the last three years and some other new parts that we still need to get the best out of we certainly can’t be unhappy with where we’re at. There is work to do but we have two more test sessions before the season starts for real. In general I am really pleased with how it’s gone.”

Jorge Lorenzo - 3rd 2′01″320 (60 laps)

“I felt much better today and I was able to be fast straight away. It wasn’t a big problem yesterday, it’s just that after such a long break I forget how to ride a little bit! I need a bit of time, but it was much better today. I’m happy about my performance and about my feeling with the new bike. Yamaha have made good improvements without changing the best parts of the bike and this is the best way. They have made some good modifications to the chassis and the engine and this has already improved our pace. We don’t have many days on the bike until the start of the season so we will make the most of the time here next month to continue our good work.”

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang Test Friday: More Pics and Rider Quotes

In the final day of MotoGP testing, and after a very wet start in the morning that saw only eleven riders risking it out on track, Nicky Hayden came out on top, followed by Marco Melandri and Hector Barbera and Jorge Lorenzo.

By 2pm, the track dried out and all the ‘aliens’ were back in action and business was as usual. Jorge Lorenzo hit the top of the chart, with Valentino Rossi, who sat out the morning session and with only nine laps on his Yamaha in second place and Casey Stoner, who also sat out the morning, in third.

Marco Simoncelli highsided in the fast part of the circuit, picking up some grazing his left thigh and elbow and cuts on his little finger. After a visit to the Clinica Mobile, Simoncelli was back on track on his second bike.

Ben Spies who seems to have gotten over his jet lag was in fourth, a little less than 6 tenths of second from Lorenzo.

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang Test Friday: Valentino Rossi On Top Again

To accompany today’s riders quotes, we’ve got a batch of pics from today’s MotoGP test in Sepang, some official and some from Motoblog who has its own blogger who’s reporting directly from Malaysia.

Valentino Rossi - 1st 2′01″411 Laps: 54

“Today was very important because this year we have just six days of testing in which to set the bike, so we can not waste any time. This first day was very positive, we tried the new bike for 2010, with a different chassis and a new engine, which can do more kilometres, and it is quite fast. Yamaha has worked very well over the winter. Now we need to spend time on setting some electronics and other things. This is only the start but it seems we’re already in good shape.”

Casey Stoner - 2nd 2′01″902 Laps: 42 laps

“This first day was a bit difficult to understand: we started off with a setting that was quite good and that allowed us to make reasonably good lap times. We thought we would improve as the day went on but we had a few problems with chatter. We tried a lot of different combinations trying to make the bike feel a little bit better but we couldn’t really get an improvement. To be honest it was difficult to work out why because the track conditions were particularly difficult — it was so hot that it was actually hard to understand if you were make an improvement on the bike or not. In any case I’m really happy with the new engine, I think that with the other one we would have struggled more. Now the bike in general feel very good, very balanced and I’m happy with it. Hopefully the weather will be a little cooler tomorrow so that we can understand better if the changes we try are the right ones”.

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang Test Thursday: Pics and Rider Quotes

The MotoGP riders are finally on track, shaking off the winter blues and back in action in a hot -32°C and humid - 60% Sepang, and fortunately the weather forecasters were partially wrong, because it started to rain only in the final minutes of the test session.

Valentino Rossi was the fastest in today’s testing with Casey Stoner just under 0.5 sec behind the reigning World Champion and Colin Edwards, on his Tech 3 Yamaha, posting the third best time. They were the only three riders that were able to go under the 2′02 mark, but only earlier in the afternoon before the heat began to take its toll on the riders.

Lap Times at 3pm:

1 #46 Valentino Rossi 2′01″411
2 #27 Casey Stoner 2′01″902 +0″491
3 #5 Colin Edwards 2′01″932 +0″521
4 #65 Loris Capirossi 2′02″102 +0″691
5 #99 Jorge Lorenzo 2′02″596 +1.185
6 #4 Andrea Dovizioso 2′02″630 +1.219
7 #69 Nicky Hayden 2′02″792 +1.381
8 #36 Mika Kallio 2′03″078 +1.667
9 #26 Dani Pedrosa 2′03″176 +1.765
10 #11 Ben Spies 2′03″ 302 +1.891
11 #41 Aleix Espargaro 2′03″412 +2.001
12 #19 Alvaro Bautista 2′03″558 +2.147
13 #58 Marco Simoncelli 2′03″563 +2.152
14 #33 Marco Melandri 2′03″609 +2.198
15 #7 Hiroshi Aoyama 2′03″651 +2.240
16 #40 Hector Barbera 2′03″657 +2.242
17 #14 Randy De Puniet 2′03″722 +2.311
18 #100 Yamaha T 2′05″732 +4.321
19 #101 Yamaha O 2′06″206 +4.795

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang Test: Thursday -Riders in Action - Rossi Leads

While Casey Stoner may not earn $ 35 million a year like his rival Valentino Rossi , the Aussie motorcycle champion does hold his own in his native country.

Stoner was ranked 8th in the Top 10 for Australia’s Business Review Weekly magazine’s Top 50 Sports Earners of 2009.

The 2007 MotoGP World Champion moved into the top ten with $ 5 million in earnings last year, up from 16th place in 2008, while motocross star Chad Reed was the fifth biggest sports earner last year, with $8.8 million, falling from number 3 the year before.

Check out the Top Ten List after the jump.

Continue reading: Casey Stoner Ranked No.8 In Australia's Top Sports Earners

Here’s a last video of the combined Ducati/Ferrari teams Wrooom 2010 launch at the Madonna di Campiglio ski resort.

Besides a mini ski race where even beginner Nicky Hayden who isn’t exactly a snow lover got into the act. The riders and drivers then faced off in a pair of exhibition ice races on a specially prepared ice course in the center of town.

The first was on Fiat 4×4 Pandas that was won by Formula 1 driver Felippe Massa, but Casey Stoner who would like to switch to V8 supercars when he retires, came in second with Nicky Hayden third.

The second race was on shifter go-karts with spiked wheels where Nicky Hayden strutted his talent dominating the entire race and lapping the entire field and beating Brazilian F1 driver Felippe Massa. New Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso was unable to finish after he crashed into the barriers.

Continue reading: Wrooom 2010: Skiing, Car and Kart Racing