The other day we reported that Mattia Pasini was very unhappy with his Moto2 team and that the Italia rider publically aired his grievances on Italia 1 (6.698.000 viewers watched the MotoGP race) with JIR Moto2 team owner Gianluca Montiron retorting that if Pasini doesn’t like where he is, he can go race in another series.

This sparring between Pasini and Montiron obviously did not go unoticed by the Ducati management. Last year Pasini tested for Borgo Panigale twice, once after the Brno GP and at the Mugello where Filippo Preziosi, Ducati’s General Director and genius behind the Desmosedici, went out of his way to praise the young Italian’s natural talent and determination, even if Pramac Ducati ended up picking Aleix Espargaro to replace Niccolò Canepa in 2010.

Italian website RacerGP.com is reporting that Pasini may end up in Ducati in the World Superbike championship and as a Ducati MotoGP test rider with Franco Battaini and that negotiations will be taking place in the coming days.

As they say only time will tell and we may just see Pasini as a wildcard in a Superbike round, just like Marco Simoncelli with Aprilia last year.

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Finding a ride now a day’s isn’t easy, especially if you don’t have that much to offer in terms of past wins or big sponsorship money. Last year Mattia Pasini went through torrid times with his former Team Toth and when the Moto2 teams started their rider campaign, Pasini was picked up by Gianluca Montiron’s JIR Moto2 team.

Pasini struggled during off season testing on the TSR chassis bike, while his team mate Simone Corsi has had slightly better results and after two rounds is 6th place in the standings, while Pasini who today pulled out after 11 laps in the Jerez race, finds himself in 11th.

Italian network Italia 1 interviewed Pasini during the MotoGP race to find out why he DNF’d and what came out was a rider who was profoundly unhappy with his team, with the Italian declaring that he isn’t going to “risk his life for a 30th place” adding that “or I’ve become a dickhead and have forgotten how to ride or this bike isn’t for me.”

Continue reading: Moto2: Mattia Pasini “I’m not risking my life to ride for a 30th place”

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Roger Lee Hayden, Nicky Hayden’s kid brother may be heading to Moto2 next year according to motomatters.com. Roger Lee would like to come to Europe to race and his objective is Moto2, but will need a sponsorship funding in order to ride.

Nicky jokingly said : “The problem is that everyone is chasing after sponsors and our dad’s Second Chance used cars lot just isn’t big enough.”

Countryboy, as he’s also known, could be teamed up with Mattia Pasini who has already been confirmed in Gianluca Montiron’s JiR Moto2 team.

Roger Lee took the 2007 AMA Supersport Championship and in 2007 during the Laguna Seca GP was a wild card with Kawasaki and finished 10th.

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Another 250cc rider has found a home in the new Moto2 series. This time it’s Mattia Pasini who’ll be with Gianluca Montiron’s JIR Moto2 team next season.

Pasini has had a torrid 2009 season with Team Toth who got their Aprilia RSA’s yanked away from him at the Estoril GP after defaulting leasing payments too many times. The spunky Italian was forced to find a new team to finish the season and thanks to Polaris World who guaranteed the funds and help from Daniel Epp’s Emmi Caffe Latte team, Pasini was able to continue racing with Team Globalgest.

Pasini had been linked to move to MotoGP with Pramac Ducati after testing the Desmosedici twice, but Campinoti preferred the much faster Spanish rider Aleix Espargaro and was also linked to ride for a place in Herve Poncharal’s Tech3 new Moto2 team.

Team JIR will be using a chassis supplied by Tsr, a manufacturer close to Honda.

Source | sportmediaset

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If you happen to be checking out the 250cc free practice at Estoril, you’ll notice that Team Toth’s Mattia Pasini is not classified. Pasini isn’t out sick or injured, he can’t ride because Team Toth is once again in financial difficulties and haven’t come up with another lease payment that they owe Aprilia.

The Toth situation has been going on for months and before every Gran Prix weekend, Pasini never knows if he’ll be racing or not. At Assen, the Italian rider missed half of the first free practice session, when Aprilia impounded the ECU’s, until their bank gave them word that Toth had paid up, but this time no bank draft came through and Pasini got stuck on the sidelines.

Imre Toth’s son is currently using an old 2001 Aprilia race bike that his father personally owns and hopefully has already paid for.

Pasini is currently 5th in the 250cc Championship and has twice tested the Ducati Desmosedici.

Source | gpone

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While Marco Simoncelli was in the media limelight with his two day test on the Aprila RSV4, Mattia Pasini was quietly concluding his three day test on the Ducati Desmosedici GP9, despite two spills, one yesterday and one today. The Italian rider today registered a best time of 1.51.9 out of 40 laps , while test rider Vittoriano Guareschi, testing different updates for the 2010 bike, posted a best time of 1.51.7.

Pasini has received several offers to race in next year’s new Moto2 class, but has yet to decide for which team he’ll be riding for, because he may get an offer to rider in MotoGP from Pramac Ducati.

Mattia Pasini:

“It was really a great and positive experience and I think I could have recorded a faster personal best.Unfortunately I fell this morning at the “Correntaio”, having made a strong start to the day with a good feeling due to the changes we had made towards the end of yesterday’s session. The changes made a difference as today I immediately went a second faster in the first exit. I didn’t injure myself too badly but hurt my neck which perhaps affected my riding; I think that otherwise I would have been able to drop another second before the end of the day. Anyway, I repeat that it has been a fantastic experience and I thank Ducati and the team who have looked after me during these three days. We will see each other again at Estoril next week.”

Continue reading: Mattia Pasini Concludes Testing with Ducati

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It looks like that Mattia Pasini is trying out for a Ducati GP ride next year. The Italian will again be testing the Desmosedici GP9, during a three day test that was already organized at the Mugello race track this week.

He will be riding alongside Ducati’s official test rider Vittoriano Guareschi, under the watchful eyes of Filippo Preziosi.

Pasini debuted on the Ducati after the Brno GP, accepting a long standing offer from Livio Suppo to try out their bike. The test was cut short by rain, but apparently Pasini impressed Ducati enough with his riding and work method, that they decided to give the rider another chance.

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During Italian post-race TV show Fuori Giri a couple months back, Marlboro Ducati team manager Livio Suppo showed his public appreciation for 250cc rider Mattia Pasini by promising him the opportunity to test a Ducati and it was this promise that started the speculation that rookie Niccolò Canepa would not be finishing the 2009 season and that Pasini would be taking his place in Pramac.

Suppo has kept his word and Pasini’s dream will come true because on Monday, during the official one day test session at Brno, when he’ll try his hand on Mika Kallio’s Pramac Ducati as officially announced by Paolo Campinoti.

The GP9 satellite bike will not be used since Kallio will be using the factory Ducati, Pasini thinks that this test will be important for him so he can see if he can physically handle a MotoGP bike.

Pasini is racing with a handicap that limits the mobility of his right arm, a nerve was permantely injured during a motocross accident years ago.

Continue reading: Mattia Pasini gets to test a Ducati

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There will be no repeat of what happened in Team Toth at Assen, and Mattia Pasini can take a deep breathe this weekend, and concentrate only on his riding at Sachsenring,
Team Toth has come up with the 100,000 euros to pay Aprilia for the RSA’s.

Mattia Pasini is currently fifth in the 250cc Championship.

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Mattia Pasini may not be competing in this weekend’s 250cc Sachsenring GP race and we may see another embarrasing repeat of what happened to Pasini and Team Toth during the Assen free practice last month.

According to Gpone, Team Toth is already setting up at Sachsenring, but Aprilia has once again impounded the electronic units, because the Noale based manufacturer is still waiting to recieve still another payment on the bikes and will release the units only on proof of payment as in Assen.

Pasini will have to wait to see what happens, but rumors are flying that the Italian rider may be heading to MotoGP to replace Niccolò Canepa in Pramac Racing.

Paolo Campinoti and Ducati have been reported as saying that they believe in Canepa, but that hasn’t stopped speculation that the rookie will be under close scrutiny at Sachsenring and Donington and unless he has a sharp improvement in the next two races, his Ducati could end up in Pasini’s hands for the rest of the 2009 season.

Source | gpone

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Curious about what happened to Team Toth at Assen yesterday?

Aprilia returned the bikes to Team Toth to have them undergo the pre-weekend technical checks, minus the electronic units. Without the units the bikes were useles and Aprilia would return them only on confirmation that Toth had paid up the outstanding debt.

Free practice was about to start and Toth’s bikes were still sitting silently in the garage with Mattia Pasini and the entire team nervously waiting for last minute news with Pasini hanging out a sign for journalists with “No moto, non parti” (no bike, no start) written on it, as the session started without them.

The session was almost half way over, when Aprilia’s Luca Boscoscuro arrived at Toth’s box bringing with him the impounded units, in a flurry the mechanics immediately mounted them on the bikes and Pasini tooke off like an banshee with team mate Imre Toth Jr. following, both trying to get in some of the remaining practice time.

Continue reading: Team Toth Story - Assen Free Practice

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The story regarding Team Toth is getting more complicated and mysterious as the hours go by.

According to Gpone.com ,who first reported the news about Toth’s financial difficulties, is now writing that Mattia Pasini’s #75 Aprilia is not in in Team Toth’s trucks as Toth declared to Motogphirek, but are under lock and key in one of Aprilia’s trucks as they have been since the Catalunya GP when Aprilia placed the bikes under precautionary seizure.

Mattia Pasini is not even sure if he will be able to take part in this Saturday’s Assen TT Race. Here’s what he had to say to GPone:

“I found out about this story after Barcelona. I was supposed to go to Valencia to test and instead we ended up with no bikes. The worse thing is I don’t know what to expect. I’m here, the trucks are here, the mechanics are here, even our hospitality is here, but we don’t have our bikes. I haven’t been able to to talk to Imre, but Aprilia … I don’t understand. Maybe they’re afraid of me, and even with their cast offs I can still beat them.”

Source | gpone

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