Ben Spies claimed his first MotoGP pole position on home ground by beating Jorge Lorenzo and Nicky Hayden at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
On the weekend that he was announced as a factory Yamaha rider for 2011, current Tech 3 man Spies initially jumped to pole with a 1m40.465s a quarter of an hour from the end.
Works rider Lorenzo failed to beat him by 0.012sec – but both were usurped when Ducati’s local hero Hayden put in a 1m40.336s lap seven minutes later …Â Details
Nicky Hayden said he suffered no further damage to his wrist injury when he crashed in practice at Indianapolis today, and is upbeat about his prospects for the rest of the weekend.
The American was third quickest today, despite falling at Turn 13 with 15 minutes to go. He was already riding with a chipped bone in his wrist following a Brno crash, but did not exacerbate his injury in the Indianapolis incident … Details
In an effort to expand its grid size, the MotoGP is planning to change the rules and allow 1000cc engines to race in 2012. When this happens, the grid could have its first new entrant from Norton Motorcycles.
Most people don’t think of the Iconic Norton brand when they think of motorcycle racing, but Norton has a long history of success on the track, even if most of it came during the 1950’s. Norton has not raced competitvely for the past decade, but reportedly, Norton has reserved two spots on the 2012 MotoGP grid. Norton is currently developing …Â Details
Valentino Rossi says joining Ducati will be the start of “a new adventure†in his 15-year grand prix career, after speaking about his switch from Yamaha for the first time after testing at Brno on Monday.
The 31-year-old, who has signed a two-year contract with Ducati from 2011 for an undisclosed fee, said that he was curious to see what he could achieve with the Italian manufacturer in MotoGPÂ Â …Â Details