MotoGP rider Alvaro Bautista of the San Carlo Honda Gresini team met some passionate Indian bikers in New Delhi recently as part of the Castrol Power1 Ride to MotoGP campaign.

Indian bikers were asked what they would do for a chance to ‘Ride to MotoGP’. Bikers responded by posting videos and using a Facebook application that saw 20,000 users and 1,735 entries. Castrol Power1 also connected with a 500,000-strong biker community across India by means of a virtual journey on motorcycle racing and the company’s 100-year association with the same. Bikers aere also invited to watch MotoGP 2012 live race screenings.

Contest winners will be treated to the thrill of a live MotoGP race at Sepang later in October 2012, accompanied by Castrol Power1 Brand Ambassador John Abraham. They will also cheer for the company’s rider Alvaro Bautista, who is looking to reach the podium again this season. Alvaro Bautista expressed his appreciation for Indian bikers’ passion for biking and motorsports, and joined @Castrolbiking on Twitter to remain in touch with Indian bikers. The company plans to bring more such riders to India and allow Indian bikers further chances to experience the fun of riding.

Honda has just unveiled their new CRF450 Rally model at the 2012 International Motorcycle, Scooter and Bike Fair (INTERMOT) in Cologne, Germany.

Honda competed nine times from 1981 in the forerunner of the present Dakar Rally, the Paris-Dakar Rally and this new machine will compete in the 2013 Dakar Rally to be held in January. Frenchman Cyril Neveu got Honda its first victory in 1982, the race’s fourth year, and from 1986 to 1989 Honda won four consecutive titles for an overall record of five victories in nine years. The CRF450 Rally model, is based on Honda’s commercial CRF450X enduro racing model and also features Honda’s Programmed Fuel Injection (PGM-FI) system to ensure optimum fuel efficiency and durability. This year’s race should be interesting as Honda will be aiming for its first rally victory with a model based on a production machine. The CRF450 Rally model is still currently under development but has already undergone testing in Japan, and will be ridden in its first race at the Morocco Rally from October 14th. The five riders set to compete in the Dakar Rally will ride the Morocco Rally mainly to gather data, identify any problems with the machine under actual race conditions, and pinpoint any operational issues. This year 11-time U.S. Baja 1000 champion Johnny Campbell (USA) will join the four riders already announced—Helder Rodrigues (Portugal), Felipe Zanol (Brazil), Sam Sunderland (United Kingdom) and Javier Pizzolito (Argentina) to complete the five-man Honda team.

Honda has just unveiled their new CRF450 Rally model at the 2012 International Motorcycle, Scooter and Bike Fair (INTERMOT) in Cologne, Germany.

Honda competed nine times from 1981 in the forerunner of the present Dakar Rally, the Paris-Dakar Rally and this new machine will compete in the 2013 Dakar Rally to be held in January. Frenchman Cyril Neveu got Honda its first victory in 1982, the race’s fourth year, and from 1986 to 1989 Honda won four consecutive titles for an overall record of five victories in nine years. The CRF450 Rally model, is based on Honda’s commercial CRF450X enduro racing model and also features Honda’s Programmed Fuel Injection (PGM-FI) system to ensure optimum fuel efficiency and durability. This year’s race should be interesting as Honda will be aiming for its first rally victory with a model based on a production machine. The CRF450 Rally model is still currently under development but has already undergone testing in Japan, and will be ridden in its first race at the Morocco Rally from October 14th. The five riders set to compete in the Dakar Rally will ride the Morocco Rally mainly to gather data, identify any problems with the machine under actual race conditions, and pinpoint any operational issues. This year 11-time U.S. Baja 1000 champion Johnny Campbell (USA) will join the four riders already announced—Helder Rodrigues (Portugal), Felipe Zanol (Brazil), Sam Sunderland (United Kingdom) and Javier Pizzolito (Argentina) to complete the five-man Honda team.

James Toseland recently tied the knot with singer Katie Melua at the Royal Botanic Garden in Kew.

James and Katie started seeing each other in April 2011, when James went to one of Katie’s concerts at Sheffield City Hall where the two met for the first time. They announced their engagement in January 2012 and in September 2012 the two got married. When asked about his bride Toseland commented

“Katie has been great. She had no interest in me whatsoever because I was a motorcycle racer. She hadn’t heard of me. She wouldn’t even know what Valentino Rossi looked like.

“It was only because her piano player was such a fan that he kept talking about it on the tour bus after he’d met me. “It was nice and a relief for someone so established to be attracted to me because of my personality.”

James Toseland recently tied the knot with singer Katie Melua at the Royal Botanic Garden in Kew.

James and Katie started seeing each other in April 2011, when James went to one of Katie’s concerts at Sheffield City Hall where the two met for the first time. They announced their engagement in January 2012 and in September 2012 the two got married. When asked about his bride Toseland commented

“Katie has been great. She had no interest in me whatsoever because I was a motorcycle racer. She hadn’t heard of me. She wouldn’t even know what Valentino Rossi looked like.

“It was only because her piano player was such a fan that he kept talking about it on the tour bus after he’d met me. “It was nice and a relief for someone so established to be attracted to me because of my personality.”

Veteran motorcycle racer and former premier class champion, Kevin Schwantz, recently sued the Circuit of the Americas over the promotion of MotoGP race in Texas.

It all began when COTA directly negotiated with Dorna, commercial rights holder for MotoGP, to host the Texas MotoGP round. However, Schwantz claims that he holds a ten-year contract for the promotion of MotoGP in the state of Texas. Recently, Kevin wrote on his Facebook page, “Many of you have been asking about the status of MotoGP in Texas, and I wanted to share this statement: “I have devoted over 25 years of my life to MotoGP, the premier motorcycle road racing world championship. I spent four of those years bringing MotoGP to Texas, my home state. As a result, MotoGP agreed in 2011 to host an annual race at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas (COTA) track.

I’m sorry to say that COTA is now attempting to unlawfully force me out of this project. I believe COTA has committed fraud in doing so. Earlier today, I took legal action against COTA. I was forced to file this lawsuit in order to protect my rights, my reputation, and MotoGP itself. I want to see MotoGP come to Texas, but I cannot allow COTA to take advantage of me. More important, I will not sit idly by while a newcomer to racing discredits the sport I love.”

According to Kevin, who owns 3fourTexasMGP, COTA has illegally negotiated with Dorna for the MotoGP promotion in Texas. In a reaction to Kevin’s allegations, a spokesperson from COTA stated in an interview, “Dorna informed the COTA that Schwantz has no contract to promote a MotoGP race in Texas.” COTA also stated, “Schwantz never had an agreement to conduct a MotoGP race at Circuit of the Americas, and to our knowledge, he has no agreement to conduct an event at any Texas racetrack.” There have not been any negotiations between Kevin and COTA yet however, we will keep you updated with all the latest happenings related to this story.

Veteran motorcycle racer and former premier class champion, Kevin Schwantz, recently sued the Circuit of the Americas over the promotion of MotoGP race in Texas.

It all began when COTA directly negotiated with Dorna, commercial rights holder for MotoGP, to host the Texas MotoGP round. However, Schwantz claims that he holds a ten-year contract for the promotion of MotoGP in the state of Texas. Recently, Kevin wrote on his Facebook page, “Many of you have been asking about the status of MotoGP in Texas, and I wanted to share this statement: “I have devoted over 25 years of my life to MotoGP, the premier motorcycle road racing world championship. I spent four of those years bringing MotoGP to Texas, my home state. As a result, MotoGP agreed in 2011 to host an annual race at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas (COTA) track.

I’m sorry to say that COTA is now attempting to unlawfully force me out of this project. I believe COTA has committed fraud in doing so. Earlier today, I took legal action against COTA. I was forced to file this lawsuit in order to protect my rights, my reputation, and MotoGP itself. I want to see MotoGP come to Texas, but I cannot allow COTA to take advantage of me. More important, I will not sit idly by while a newcomer to racing discredits the sport I love.”

According to Kevin, who owns 3fourTexasMGP, COTA has illegally negotiated with Dorna for the MotoGP promotion in Texas. In a reaction to Kevin’s allegations, a spokesperson from COTA stated in an interview, “Dorna informed the COTA that Schwantz has no contract to promote a MotoGP race in Texas.” COTA also stated, “Schwantz never had an agreement to conduct a MotoGP race at Circuit of the Americas, and to our knowledge, he has no agreement to conduct an event at any Texas racetrack.” There have not been any negotiations between Kevin and COTA yet however, we will keep you updated with all the latest happenings related to this story.

The picturesque destination of Nashik played host to the beginning of the ‘2012 Pit-Stop Two Wheeler rally’.

This year the event took place at the village Paste in Sinnar Taluka of Nashik District and was sponsored by Anjali’s Driving School. A total of 48 riders from Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, etc. were present and their rides included 7 Royal Enfield’s, 8 scooters and 33 motorcycles of different engine capacities 2 & 4 Stroke in total. The route consisted of two stages, the ‘Alfa’ & ‘Beta’ which was both approximately 7 km in length in the charming area of windmill farms near Nashik. The ‘Alfa’ stage was an upward hill climb and the ‘Beta’ was on level ground. The riders had to repeat these stages three times each to make a total of 42 km of competitive distance in the rally. Anil Kumar from Bangalore emerged the overall winner with a time of 35.12 minutes, closely followed by Ganesh Lokhande of J.A.W.S Racing Team with a time of 35.24 minutes.

 

The picturesque destination of Nashik played host to the beginning of the ‘2012 Pit-Stop Two Wheeler rally’.

This year the event took place at the village Paste in Sinnar Taluka of Nashik District and was sponsored by Anjali’s Driving School. A total of 48 riders from Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, etc. were present and their rides included 7 Royal Enfield’s, 8 scooters and 33 motorcycles of different engine capacities 2 & 4 Stroke in total. The route consisted of two stages, the ‘Alfa’ & ‘Beta’ which was both approximately 7 km in length in the charming area of windmill farms near Nashik. The ‘Alfa’ stage was an upward hill climb and the ‘Beta’ was on level ground. The riders had to repeat these stages three times each to make a total of 42 km of competitive distance in the rally. Anil Kumar from Bangalore emerged the overall winner with a time of 35.12 minutes, closely followed by Ganesh Lokhande of J.A.W.S Racing Team with a time of 35.24 minutes.

 

Authorities at the Donington Park race circuit have decided to auction off four landmark items from the track side at the Goodwood Revival on September 15^th 2012.

The auction, which will be carried out by Bonham’s, will include items such as sections of the Dunlop Bridge located on the back straight of the track, the Dunlop advert sign from the bridge, an old timing clock from the hairpin bridge and the wind tunnel model of the famous world land speed record car called the Project Blue Star which is also located at the hairpin bridge. All the proceedings from the auction will be forwarded to Leicestershire-based Hope Against Cancer charity which was supported by the late owner of Donington Park, Tom Wheatcroft.