Carmelo Ezpeleta will have to open his wallet and buy dinner for the entire MotoGP Safety Commission. Dorna’s CEO lost his bet with Loris Capirossi. The FIM has just announced that the Hungarian Grand Prix at Balatonring has been cancelled.

The Grand Prix of Hungary, scheduled on September 19, is cancelled - the construction work cannot be finished on time - and will be replaced by the Grand Prix of Aragon at the reserve circuit of Motorland Aragon on the same date.

The construction work was depending on a massive loan by Hungarian state owned bank Magyar Fejlesztési Bank, who was expected to underwrite 70% of the construction costs while receiving 30% stakes in return, but the bank baulked refusing to underwrite the loan because due diligence risks showed that no one had calculated a return on the investment and there were also reports of corruption.

Source | motomatters.com

Continue reading: MotoGP: It's Official, Hungarian GP Out, Aragon GP In

We thought we’d see the new Rizla Suzuki livery designed by Troy Lee Designs during the Qatar tests, instead Rizla Suzuki will be unveiling the new livery of the 2010 Rizla Suzuki GSV-R that Loris Capirossi and Alvaro Bautista will be using this season on Friday March 12th.

So check back with us tomorrow to see the official pics, but we guess you guys will have to wait until the first race or maybe even the second, since Qatar has religious problems with scantily clad grid and paddock girls to see what kind of outfits Troy Lee has thought up for the Rizla girls .

Continue reading: MotoGP: New Rizla Suzuki Livery Unveiling tomorrow

Dorna can breathe a sigh of relief, because will be seeing the Suzuki bikes on the MotoGP grid for at least two other seasons.

Suzuki has extended it’s partnership deal with Rizla (owned by Imperial Tobacco Ltd) and we will once again be seeing the Rizla logo on the blue fairings of the Suzuki GSV-R’s for the next two years.

Rizla has been Suzuki’s title sponsor in MotoGP since 2006, but has been tied to the Hamamatsu factory in various championships since 1986.

The team will field veteran Loris Capirossi and rookie Alvaro Bautista this season and will see how the team fares in the first official 2010 two day test at Sepang, that starts on Thursday.

“Everybody involved with the Suzuki Grand Prix project is delighted that the Rizla brand will continue its partnership in 2010 and into 2011, and that we are able to continue with the now iconic Rizla Suzuki image for the next two seasons,” said team manager Paul Denning. “It’s very clear that the 2009 season fell far below our expectations and targets, but Loris, Alvaro, the whole team and the Suzuki Racing group in Hamamatsu will be doing everything we can to take a big step forward and re-pay Rizla’s faith in the project during 2010 and beyond.”

Continue reading: MotoGP - Suzuki and Rizla for Another Two Years

Loris Capirossi takes out Tetsuya Harada back in 1998 at the last Moto GP in Argentina at the Buenos Aires circuit. In the 250cc class, both riders are using the Aprilia RSW 250 and are vying for the championship spot.

12 years later it’s interesting to watch Capirossi’s actions that later led to his squalification for unsportsmanship behaviour, and ultimate removal from the Aprilia team. Afterwards, FIM reinstated Capirossi’s second place and 20 points, in a race that was won by none other than Valentino Rossi.

Capirossi was also vindicated by an Italian court in 2004 who ruled in favour of the rider against Aprilia, saying that his was not incorrect behaviour and that he had caused no intended accident. If you were Capirossi would you have tried the move…?

Source | Racing Cafe

Continue reading: Vintage video: Capirossi vs Harada in 1998

The Hungarian GP that was cancelled in 2009 due to funding problems by track owners (30% controlled by the Hungarian Tourism board, 70 % Worldwide Circuit Management S.L) to continue construction of the 4.650 km racing circuit, has received a much needed loan by the Magyar Fejlesztési Bank.

With this cash injection the Sedesa Group will be able to complete the 90 million euro racing venue located near Savoly, 180 kilometres from Budapest near the Lake Balaton holiday area in time for the scheduled September 19th races. Balatonring has a five year contract to host Gran Prix racing.

In June, the Gran Prix Commission, FIM and IRTA will visit Balatonring to officially homologate circuit and if for some reason or other it has not been completed, the GP will not be cancelled but will be held in Spain’s new Motorland Aragon Circuit.

However if the track should be completed on time, veteran racer Loris Capirossi will loose his bet with Dorna’s CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta and have to buy dinner for all the members of the Safety Commission.

Source | bikeracing

Continue reading: MotoGP - Balatonring Circuit to be completed

Loris Capirossi is one of the experienced riders on the MotoGP grid and has already reached 299 race starts and has said he isn’t ready to hang up his lid yet.

A guest at the Suomy stand at the EICMA show, Capirex met numerous fans and said that he wants to continue racing for another two years, then he’ll dedicate his time in writing his autobiography about his life on and off track.

Commenting on this past season, Capirossi admittted:

“It was difficult because we didn’t get the results we expected, but we’re already looking ahead to next year, we have to keep working and keep believing. We need strong support from the company, and hope to find it in February tests, where we’ll have a completely new bike, because now the bike is uncompetitive and without a competitive bike and advanced electronics you can’t win.”

Asked about what he thought of Valentino Rossi in Ducati in 2011, Capirossi replied:

“I’m not envious, and I’m sure that they (Rossi and Ducati) could do great things together.“.

Check out the video from Italian show Sfide, even if it’s in Italian around the four minute mark you’ll see some great footage of a very young Loris Capirossi.

Source | romagnaoggi

Continue reading: MotoGP - Loris Capirossi: Another two seasons

The MotoGP riders who are part of the Safety Commission met up with Dorna’s CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta on Friday before the Sepang GP and one of the topics discussed was the Balatonring circuit.

Loris Capirossi, who is one of the founding members of the Riders Safety Commission, specifically asked Ezpeleta whether the Hungarian venue will be ready in time for next year’s MotoGP race scheduled for September 19th 2010.

Capirossi is convinced that the track will not be ready on time and that the race will be cancelled as it happened this year, while Ezpeleta stated he is sure that they’ll be racing in Hungary next year.

Management and rider are betting on it, if Capirossi is right Ezpeleta will have to buy dinner for all of the members of the Safety Commission if not, the Italian rider will have to.

Several representatives of Balatonring circuit were in Malaysia and it seems that the track is almost completely asphalted while work on the other structures is believed to begin this winter, weather, economic crisis and funding permitting.

Continue reading: MotoGP - Bets are on for Balatonring

Chris Vermeulen is another of those 4 or 5 riders who are still looking and fighting to keep a MotoGP ride in 2010, after Suzuki prefered signing up rookie Alvaro Bautista, one of Spain’s most loved riders and keep veteran Loris Capirossi.

Vermeulen has already stated that a satellite bike is his only true option to remain in the series, but with so few bikes on the grid and over abundance of talented but out of a job riders offering their services, team managers can now have their pick at sell out prices.

Rumors have it that the Aussie has even offered to ride for free in Herve Poncharal’s Yamaha Tech 3 team, but Poncharal has riders lining up outside the back door of his garage that will not only ride for free, they’re even willing to bring to bring in their own money.

Talking to the Brisbane Times, Vermeulen has this to say:

“I am disappointed that Suzuki has decided not to renew my contract for next season, but I am absolutely committed to continuing my career in the top flight of motorcycle racing. MotoGP has been my life for the past four years and I still have unfinished business here.”

“I am a fighter and I know that with the right technical package I am capable of battling with and beating the best in this sport”.

Continue reading: MotoGP Chris Vermeulen - 'I have unfinished business here'

While not as exciting as the Jorge Lorenzo and Ducati story, another piece of the silly season puzzle was defined today with Loris Capirossi signing for another season with Suzuki.

Capirossi who has won eight GP races in the top class and won the 250cc world championship in 1998 will be riding alongside rookie Alvaro Bautista who signed with Suzuki for the next two years.

In tonight’s TV show Griglia di Partenza, Carlo Pernat, Capirossi’s manager, calling from Indianapolis, told Italian viewers that Capirossi accepted Suzuki’s offer only after receiving assurances that Suzuki would step up their development on the GSV-R and that they would be shifting some of its resources from AMA and WSBK to MotoGP.

Pernat also stated that Suzuki will be using two test riders during the off season development stages and that his client will use the remaining races of the 2009 season testing new material to better prepare next season.

The Italian manager also confirmed the rumors that Capirossi had been in talks with Ducati’s Claudio Domenicali at Mugello, but the deal didn’t pan out as Ducati lost interest in their former rider.

Continue reading: Loris Capirossi with Suzuki in 2010

I know that this isn’t the greatest pic in the world and you can barely recognize the guy jumping in the sea, but it’s Rizla Suzuki rider Loris Capirossi.

Capirossi who lives in Montecarlo, was photographed by the paparazzi vacationing on one of those super luxury yachts that hit the island of Sardinia every summer.

Since we’re curious, we’d like to know if the yacht belongs to him, because Valentino Rossi could possibly freak out if he sees Capirex’s toy is bigger than his new Titilla II.

More pics found here.

Continue reading: MotoGP Gossip - Loris Capirossi on Vacation in Sardinia

Chris Vermeulen talks about today’s difficult qualifying session at Donington Park. The Aussie besides having problems with his hip is recovering from a grade one acromioclavicular separation of the left shoulder.

According to Vermeulen’s team mate Loris Capirossi who qualified in 14th, Suzuki’s problems may be due to the electronics managed by 2D who and isn’t as up to date like Marelli’s which is used by Yamaha and Ducati.

Continue reading: Chris Vermeulen on Donington Qualifying

Certain races get more hype than others and Laguna Seca is no different. Riders show up with different liveries on their bikes like Niccolò Canepa’s Pramc Ducati, or Randy DePuniet’s Honda and others show up with new helmet designs like Nicky Hayden has for his home race.

Loris Capirossi has a new design on his Suomy, a very sexy lady holding a bottle of some exotic substance.

We’re wondering if Capirex’s wife, Ingrid had to say something about her husband’s helmet?

Continue reading: A "Sexy" Helmet for Loris Capirossi