Riders Niccolò Canepa and Mika Kallio have stickers on their Pramac D16 bikes in memory of the people of Abruzzo, Italy who lost their lives in Monday’s devasting earthquake.

Valentino Rossi will also ride at Qatar with a sticker in support of the people of Abruzzo:

“This weekend I have a special sticker on my bike, which says ‘Forza Abruzzo’. It’s a message from us for the people of Abruzzo. It’s not so far from my home in Tavullia and I want them to know that we are with them at such a terrible time.”

Source | gpone

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LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet and Pramac Racing’s Niccolo Canepa flew to the southern Spanish circuit of Almeria last week to support the media launch of Bridgestone’s Battlax BT-003 Racing Street hyper sports tyre.

This is the video of Niccolo Canepa trying out the tyres and what he had to say about them:

“Almeria has all kinds of corners – fast, slow, chicanes, everything so it is very good to test the tyres here. I am surprised with the level of grip from the BT-003RS as it’s not often I ride a road bike with road tyres and the level is very high. You can lean the bike over very fast, and the lean angle is unbelievable for a street tyre. The BT-003RS is very good – very progressive and you can feel the level of grip very well. You can also push very hard on them – the front tyre especially is very good as you can enter corners very fast and the bike is very stable.”

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The Ducati Marlboro MotoGP team went for testing at Valencia, as did the two newcomers to the Ducati Alice team, getting out for their first experiences. Mika Kallio was impressed by the power of the GP9 and set a good first day result at 15th position with the fastest laptime of 1.34′793.

Niccolo Canepa said: “I already knew the Ducati Desmosedici GP8 but it is the first time that I’ve concentrated on the set up of the bike. In the last season tests we mainly worked on the tyres and we didn’t have much time to modify the bike. For this motive I mainly focused on understanding the bike’s reaction at each modification and I am learning a lot. We have modified the bike many times and we will still have a lot of work to do.” Niccolo’s best laptime was 1.34′995, finishing 17th.

Marco Melandri made his debut with his Kawasaki at Valencia, riding the Ninja ZX-RR with Bridgestone tyres and finishing the day 10th. Team mate John Hopkins said: “The front tyre we were allocated this morning feels identical to the one that Valentino and Casey have been using all year, but we’ve not been able to run on our bike before. Today we’ve had the chance to make some changes to the overall set-up of the bike, and it looks like we’ve made some real progress. I’ve now got a much better feeling from the front than I’ve had for some time, and that’s given me back the confidence to push harder in the corners.”

Source | Alice team and Kawasaki

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After so many rumours about Niccolo Canepa riding next year in World Superbike or MotoGP, the Ducati Alice Team has announced the riders line up for 2009 in MotoGP with the Italian Canepa and Mika Kallio.

Niccolo began his career at young age riding a Ducati in the FIM Superstock 600 Cup, and won the Superstock 1000 Cup with the Ducati 1098. He was involved in developing the 1098R Superbike and became the Ducati Bridgestone test rider on the Desmosedici GP08. His experiences and good performances have opened 2009 MotoGP doors to him.

Mika Kallio, is third at this moment in the 250 World Championship and first of the KTM riders. It’s his second year in the 250 Class and he claimed two victories and a 7th position last year. This year Mika has taken three victories and is currently 3rd in the championship.

Continue reading: MotoGP 2009: Alice Team riders line-up

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Niccolo Canepa must take about 2 weeks rest after his highsider during the SBK test in Mugello. Niccolo broke his clavicle during the nasty highsider and was not able to do anything against the heavy fall.

He also broke his thumb and according to Dr. Costa, Niccolo will not ride for eight weeks. Unfortunately this will cost Niccolo his Wild Card because on September 21 the Vallelunga Round will take place.

Via | motorsport-total

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