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

Valentino Rossi has talked about his future in a long interview in this week’s Motosprint magazine that will leave his numerous fans happy, his haters unhappy and his many racing rivals wincing, because The Doctor has once again said that he would like to stay in racing for another three years and has hinted once again that it could be with Yamaha.

The 9 times World Champion talking about his future said: “I think I can race at the top for another three years. Racing is the thing in my life that I love the best: it’s my passion, I don’t need any other motives.”

Rossi has said that he’ll reveal where he’s going in 2011 only in June, but he feels very good in Yamaha:

“To change, you have to think of going where you can feel better. For me it’s hard to think that there’s something better than Yamaha. Fans would be happy to see me in Ducati, but these decisions can’t be made by factoring in emotions.”

We’ll be getting more of silly season as soon as the championship starts.

Continue reading: Valentino Rossi: Racing for Another 3 Years

While Valentino Rossi may have lost out to Usain Bolt as Sportsman of the Year that the prestigious Laureus World Sports assigns every year, but this afternoon the 9 times World Champion was honoured anyway when he was presented with the “Winning Italy” Award by the Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini at Palazzo Madama in Rome.

The award is given to those Italians who promote the image of Italy in the world, be it economics, research or sports and in the case of Rossi it’s because the World Champion has become an icon who represents the marvellous virtues of Italy on a foreign front, making all his compatriots proud to be Italian and with his 103 wins has sounded the Italian national anthem in the five continents.

After the awards ceremony there was the usual round of questions by journalists and as always the topics were: Ducati - “Going to Ducati would be a sort of betrayal, with Yamaha I share a beautiful story, though I have to admit that with Borgo Panigale it would be a perfect Made in Italy partnership” but also added “never say never.” The never ending story about switching to Formula1 with Ferrari : “I don’t think so, it would be very difficult, I’m going to stay in motorcycle racing for a couple more years.”

Rossi also promised that he’ll try to have the national anthem sounded at least another twenty times to try to beat Giacomo Agostini’s record of a 122 race wins (123 races according to Agostini).

Source | gazzetta.it

Continue reading: Valentino Rossi receives Winning Italy Award

If there were any question about how important emerging markets are to motorcycle manufacturers just check out Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi’s and Jorge Lorenzo’s leathers and YZR-M1 bikes, that see the Semakin di Depan “One Step Ahead logos and the number of visits and superstar reception that these two high profile riders have received so far.

Rossi and Lorenzo just finished another whirlwind three day tour in Indonesia with Rossi came straight from testing in Malaysia last week, while Lorenzo flew out from Spain, where he has been recuperating at home from an injured hand.

Rossi visited Medan first, Indonesia’s third largest city, where he took part in a press conference alongside Yamaha Motor Indonesia top managemen and then visited PT. Alfa Scorpii, Indonesia’s second largest Yamaha Main Dealer, for the opening ceremony of its new show room along with over 400 customers and media and the moved on to Indonesia’s second largest city Surabaya, where he visited PT. Surya Timur Sakti Jatim, Indonesia’s largest Yamaha Main Dealer and finally he visited the DBL Arena to meet around 4,000 Yamaha customers.

Lorenzo meanwhile headed to Indonesia’s ‘Flower City’ Bandung, where he too took part in an important press conference to launch the ‘Semakin di Depan’ sponsorship. As well as the press conference he enjoyed a warm welcome at an exclusive fan meet and greet where he signed hundreds of autographs and met the local media. He moved on to Jogjakarta, the city where the traditional Indonesian art of batik is practiced, to meet more Yamaha customers there and take part in some outdoor activities at one of the biggest malls in Jogjakarta.

Continue reading: Rossi and Lorenzo Superstars in Indonesia

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

No one escapes from Italian paparazzi and their cameras, not even reigning MotoGP World champion Valentino Rossi who’s usually headlined in sports papers more than in gossip magazines and is very low keyed about his love life.

Here’s Rossi in St. Martin with his new babe, Marwa Klebi a 25 year old, who recently graduated from college as an orthodonist and the 10 day trip to the Caribbean was Valentino’s gift to his new girlfriend. According to the gossip rags, the Italian met Marwa in a bar in Pesaro last autumn, where she was working to pay for school and having been dating ever since.

Source | gossipblog and tgcom

Continue reading: MotoGP Gossip: Rossi's new babe

MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi turns 31 today, February 16th and the Fiat on the Web team has prepared this short video for all his fans who in turn can wish Happy Birthday to Valentino by posting a video on Youtube.

Buon Compleanno Valentino from the staff of TwoWheels.

Continue reading: Valentino Rossi 'The Doctor' turns 31

MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi has been nominated again, and for the fifth time, and is on the short list for the coveted Sportsman of the Year by Laureus World Sports Award.

The 2010 Laureus World Sports Awards, which will be televised live from Abu Dhabi on March 10 will see the 9 times Gran Prix World Champion up against very stiff competition including the last year’s winner Laureus winner Usain Bolt, four-time winner Roger Federer which have both been nominated again, along with footballer Lionel Messi, long distance runner Kenenisa Bekele, Tour de France winner Alberto Contador.

The awards are decided by a jury of 46 of the greatest sportsmen and women of all time, from a shortlist put together by a panel of journalists from around the world.

Rossi so far has won the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award back in 2006.

Continue reading: Valentino Rossi nominated for Laureus Sportsman of the Year

A little track action from the first day of MotoGP Sepang testing that took place at the beginning of this month with Valentino Rossi coming out on top on both days.

For those of you who don’t know Italian and are interested, we’ve translated the two very brief interviews that Sportmediaset did with Valentino Rossi and disheveled rookie Marco Simoncelli.

VR: “Yes, the engine is the most important thing. Yamaha has worked very hard to try to have an engine that goes fast, but also at the same time that will also last a lot of kilometers according to the new rules, the first approach was positive because the bike is pretty fast, but we still have to work on it.”.

MS: “It wasn’t bad, I felt pretty good even if we’re still working to try the right set-up for the bike and understand the right geometry to go with.Yeah, I’m happy, both Aligi and I and the other guys of the crew are still learning and it’s important to work well.”

MotoGP testing will return to Sepang February 25-26th.

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang Test: On track video