Two time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes will be getting a gift from Yamaha America and Monster Energy as he will be allowed to test ride Yamaha’s Tech3 MotoGP bike during the first MotoGP post season test that takes place at Valencia.

“It’s just an opportunity to go ride the machine, no pressure, have some fun. And see what it’s all about, see what I can learn from it and I’m excited for that opportunity,” said Hayes.

Yamaha Tech3’s Herve Poncharal has yet to confirm who will replace Colin Edwards in his 2012 line-up. The latest rumors say that negotiations are still ongoing with Andrea Dovizioso (who is reluctant to lose his Red Bull sponsor), Eugene Laverty, as well as Alvaro Bautista.

Source | cyclenews.com

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It’s not really surprising how well Randy de Puniet did on his debut with the Pramac Ducati. The French rider is known for his wild and aggressive riding style, and the Desmosedici seems to suit his win or bin it attitude, something similar to the way Casey Stoner rode the wheels off the Ducati.

De Puniet in this video on the second day of testing at Valencia, reveals that the new Bridgestone’s are very good and all the riders able to take off from 3 to 5 tenths from previous lap times and that he may have to undergo surgery to repair an incorrect bone alignment after breaking his tibia and fibula during the Sachsenring GP. With the three month testing ban in place, he should have more that enough time to recover properly, than the three weeks it took for his comeback.

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The Italians were beside themselves over the MotoGP Valencia tests this week as Valentino Rossi took to the track for the first time on the Ducati GP11. But after a relatively positive first day, the second day of testing turned into a mini-nightmare for the Desmosedici and its new rider. After seemingly battling front-end problems, Rossi came in 15th in test times, well behind riders with much less illustrious histories.

Many sideliners have weighed into the debate expressing not just disappointment, but serious concerns for 2011 and Rossi’s first year on the Ducati. Rossi himself can’t make any official comment which is okay with us as we’d be more interested to hear the unofficial stuff, anyway. We can imagine that Valentino would have preferred to start with a “bella figura” (good impression) but is the former world champion going to be as concerned as his fans and Ducati management? Rossi is considered one of the best bike developers on the paddock, with plenty of experience and even a few difficult moments years ago when he first starting working on the Yamaha M1.

It’s perhaps not unreasonable to expect a decent performance from Rossi next year given his calibre, but we’re pretty convinced that Ducati didn’t take him on to win a championship in his first year. It’s hard to know what the long-term vision would have been for Ducati, though. Rossi has stated he was ready to move on from Yamaha, to new challenges next year and we’re inclined to believe him (along with some contributing factors from Yamaha and an upstart teammate who just took out this year’s championship).

Continue reading: After the hype: the Ducati GP11 to become Rossi's new M1?

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What we can say about today’s MotoGP testing at Valencia except wow! Casey Stoner adaption to the Honda RC212V is simply amazing. The Australian blitzed the testing field and put down the fastest lap of the day and was faster than both his new team mates Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso, improving a massive seven tenths from yesterday. We can just imagine Livio Suppo’s face right now, but also Alberto Puig’s.

Jorge Lorenzo was fast all morning but called it at day at 1pm having done all his Yamaha testing and some tire testing and if we were to judge Ben Spies lap times, we’d say that Lorenzo is going to have a very uncomfortable team mate when the season starts in 2011.

Valentino Rossi. The question mark on the back of his AGV lid is what all his fans are thinking right now. The Italian was only 15th and slower than Hayden, DePuniet, Barbera and even Loris Capirossi and we’ve already seen comments comparing his debut to Marco Melandri’s in 2008 and he’s a write off for next season and will never gel with that red bike. We expect that those smiles we saw in the Ducati garage yesterday have now turned into frowns and niggling worries with Gabriele Del Torchio already calling Filippo Preziosi and asking him what the hell is going on. It’s going to be a hard, cold and expensive winter for Ducati.

After the jump you’ll find what some of the riders had to say about today’s test and the final lap times. MotoGP test ban now goes into effect and testing resumes at Sepang in February.

Continue reading: Casey Stoner sets MotoGP tests on fire

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Jorge Lorenzo finished his final day of official testing at Valencia on top of the charts beating out Casey Stoner who was fastest on Day 1 with a lap time 1.31.939, more that three tenths faster that Casey Stoner’s Saturday’s pole position.

Bridgestone brought in a new tire spec that several riders tested and have approved.

Nicky Hayden had a little trouble with his Ducati late in the day when it suddenly stopped, but put in twice the number of laps compared to his team mate Casey Stoner, 84 to 44.

Andrea Dovizioso had a highside that left him with a hurting hip and Ben Spies, on his learning curve trying to adapt with the M1, continued to impress and finished the day just 0.414s from Rossi and Colin Edwards picked up a virus and couldn’t test.

Comments from yesterday’s testing and test times after the jump.

Continue reading: MotoGP Valencia Test Day 2- Lorenzo on Top of the Chart, Spies even faster

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