Ducati is pleased to announce a renewed contract with Nicky Hayden that will see the American rider stay with the Italian factory’s MotoGP effort for a further two years. His signature completes a new look of the Ducati Marlboro Team line-up for 2011, which will see the 29-year-old line up alongside Valentino Rossi.
Darren Fry returned to winning ways in the Ducati 848 Challenge at Mallory Park at the weekend, again doing the double over his rivals. With home advantage at the EMRA meeting, the Daventry-based rider put on a masterclass in getting the best out of the Ducati 848 on the short circuit, topping the time-sheets from early morning free practice through to both mid-afternoon races. Leon Morris, his Buildbase/JHP Racing team-mate who so impressed at the last round at Snetterton, continued his fine form with a pair of seconds, but wasn’t able to match Fry for his local knowledge of the tight track.
We’re sure that none of you saw this one coming, right? To the surprise of absolutely nobody paying even an ounce of attention, Valentino Rossi has officially announced that he will ride for the factory team for the 2011 race season. It’s a veritable dream scenario for Italy, as an Italian rider will take to the track at the pinnacle of motorcycle racing aboard a bright red Italian motorcycle. Bellissima!
It’s expected that American Ben Spies will take over Rossi’s vacated paddock at the Fiat Yamaha factory team, joining 2010 title-leading rider Jorge Lorenzo. Lorenzo himself in an interview ahead of the a few weeks ago. Rossi’s teammate at Ducati is very likely to be American rider Nicky Hayden, giving the Italian team a duo of riders who have each won world championships – in Rossi’s case, an impressive nine of them, in fact.
Of course, we already knew that current Ducati rider Casey Stoner was at the end of the 2010 season, where it’s rumored he could share space with both Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso. Read Vale’s own emotional statement about the move to Ducati, which was made shortly after the end of the latest MotoGP round in the Czech Republic, .
[Source: Valentino Rossi]
originally appeared on on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:30:00 EST.
Ducati and Valentino Rossi have signed a two year agreement for the nine-times World Champion to race with the “Rossa” of Borgo Panigale in the Ducati Marlboro Team from 2011.
Scott Redding and Hector Faubel are both looking for a strong start to the second half of their 2010 championship campaigns, as this weekend’s Czech Republic Grand Prix at the Autodrom Brno brings to an end a three-week summer break for the Marc VDS Racing Team.
The new Ducati Multistrada has already proved to be a remarkable success with sales for 2010 expected to exceed previous sales forecasts by more than 20%.
The weekend of celebrations for the GSX-R came to a close under sunny skies at the Brands Hatch British Superbike Festival this afternoon as Suzuki celebrated the iconic sportbike’s 25th anniversary.
Michael Rutter was in sensational form at Brands Hatch this weekend, scoring three podium places on the RidersMotorcycles.com Ducati to move into fourth place in the BSB point standings.
The Ducati Marlboro Team travels to the Czech Republic this week following a brief summer break that now gives way to the second half of the MotoGP World Championship, starting out at the spectacular Brno circuit.