February 28th, 2008 by R.J.

It was a great night of testing, especially for the MotoGP Ducati Marlboro team. Their rider, Casey Stoner (1:55.330), was able to come away from the testing with not only the quickest lap of Night 1, but also to beat the Losail circuit record by more than a second. The circuit record was set by Stoner himself in 2007 with 1:56.528.

Here are the results for Night 1:

01 - Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro - 1:55.330
02 - Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team - 1:56.019
03 - Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP - 1:56.062
04 - Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP - 1:56.121
05 - James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha - 1:56.251
06 - Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini - 1:56.571
07 - John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing - 1:56.614
08 - Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP - 1:56.621
09 - Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team - 1:56.749
10 - Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha - 1:56.762
11 - Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team - 1:57.007
12 - Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda - 1:57.010
13 - Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini - 1:57.223
14 - Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki - 1:57.522
15 - Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP - 1:57.551
16 - Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro - 1:57.593
17 - Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team - 1:57.644
18 - Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing - 1:57.787

February 23rd, 2008 by R.J.

I don’t report on WSBK as much as I’d like. It’s a great series, but there’s so much MotoGP news that trying to cover them both is a little daunting. So I basically just pick and choose what I want to cover…

You may remember the post I did about Troy Bayliss breaking his collar bone on Philip Island. Initial reports were that he would be ready for the season opener, and he proved that to us in Race One at Qatar.

Aboard his Ducati 1098 F08, Bayliss came away with the top podium position in Race One with a time of 36:11.468. More than a half second better than his nearest competition, Max Biaggi.

Bayliss placed fourth in Race Two, but was less than 2 tenths of a second from a podium finish. A great start to the season.

February 21st, 2008 by R.J.

Samuel Cravin, 22, of Albany was injured when he lost control of his motorcycle and crashed around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

The accident happened at Bear Creek Road north of Orinda. Cravin regained consciousness at the scene but suffered a broken leg in addition to head and other injuries.

CHP believes that speed was a factor in this accident. And because Samuel crashed his Honda 600cc sportsbike with no other vehicles involved, I tend to think they’re right.

February 20th, 2008 by R.J.

On Sunday, a motorcyclist that was riding a wheelie on interstate 805 rode straight into the back of a Chrysler van.

The 25-year old man, whose name has not been released, is an active duty sailor. Today, he remains hospitalized on life support.

He was riding his motorcycle north on the 805 at Olympic Parkway in Chula Vista, when witnesses say he did a wheelie and rode it all the way into the back of a van and fell from the motorcycle.

SignOnSanDiego.com had previously reported the man had died from his injuries, but as of Wednesday afternoon, he is still alive on life support according to the Navy.

February 19th, 2008 by R.J.

Nicky Hayden has made it no secret that he plans on becoming the 2008 MotoGP World Champion.

He proved that today. In the final hour of testing Hayden laid down the quickest lap of any rider for the week - 1:38.848. He has also been the only rider in the top 3 or the entire 3 days of Jerez testing (1st on Day 1, 3rd on Day 2, 1st on Day 3). Not only did he have the fastest lap, but he’s also logged more laps for the week than any other rider. He is determined.

Hayden was the only rider to break the 1:39.000 barrier for the week. In fact, the next fastest lap set all week was Hayden himself with 1:39.200.

Here’s to Nicky for a great performance and what promises to be an awesome 2008 season.

Day 3 Results:

1. Hayden (Honda) 1:38.848
2. Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1:39.252
3. Dovizioso (Honda) 1:39.313
4. De Puniet (Honda) 1:39.351
5. Rossi (Yamaha) 1:39.568
6. Toseland (Yamaha) 1:39.727
7. Stoner (Ducati) 1:39.845
8. De Angelis (Honda) 1:39.932
9. Nakano (Honda) 1:40.333
10. Capirossi (Suzuki) 1:40.442
11. Vermeulen (Suzuki) 1:40.576
12. West (Kawasaki) 1:41.026
13. Guintoli (Ducati) 1:41.615
14. Melandri (Ducati) 1:41.292
15. Elias (Ducati) 1:41.311
16. Pedrosa (Honda) 1:41.699
17. Canepa (Ducati) 1:42.160
18. Hopkins (Kawasaki) 1:42.970
19. Jacque (KawasakI) 1:43.496
20. Guareschi (Ducati) 1:45.597

February 18th, 2008 by R.J.

Read an interesting article today from Florida about paramedics using decommissioned CHP motorcycles to respond to injury calls.

Ken DeSantis, 42, of Wellington Flordia is firefighter/paramedic veteran of 22 years and is part of a 2-man motorcycle team stationed in Fort Lauderdale. His team uses donated CHP motorcycles to respond to accidents in the heavily trafficked seaport, Port Everglades.

The program was modeled after a similar one in Miami-Dade county. “We cut response times to life-threatening calls by more than 58 percent,” said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Capt. Roman Bas, who started his agency’s team in 2002.

Both members of the Ford Lauderdale team had to complete the same 80-hour motorcyclist course required of police.

On average, the motorcyclist paramedics have a three minute response time. Awesome, right? Now lets go ahead and get this implemented all over the country.

February 17th, 2008 by R.J.

It was a windy and wet day at the Spanish Circuito de Jerez, which made the times today about 10 seconds slower than yesterday’s results.

Stoner, aboard his Ducati Desmosedici GP8, took just 5 laps to set his fastest time of the session - 1:49.236 - and guarantee that the BMW Z4 M roadster would be headed home to Australia.

Rounding out the top three were Valentino Rossi (1:50.580) and Nicky Hayden (1:50.785). I predict this season is going to be a lot closer than last year.

Here are today’s results:

01.-Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro -1:49.263
02.-Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team -1:50.580
03.-Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda -1:50.785
04.-Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing -1:50.799
05.-Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP -1:51.312
06.-Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini -1:51.594
07.-Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP -1:51.894
08.-Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP -1:51.979
09.-Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team -1:52.058
10.-Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro -1:52.238
11.-Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini -1:52.463
12.-James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha -1:52.755
13.-Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki -1:52.779
14.-Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha -1:52.826
15.-Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki Racing -1:53.283
16.-Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team -1:53.292
17.-Vittoriano Guareschi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team -1:54.694
18.-Niccolò Canepa (ITA) Ducati Test -1:57.453
19.-Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team -1:57.698

February 16th, 2008 by R.J.

A female motorcyclist was killed Friday morning when she ran her motorcycle into the back of a pickup on a rural road southeast of Visalia.

The identity of the rider, who was pronounced dead at the scene, was withheld pending notification of her relatives.

The man she ran into, Steve Ferris, 59, of Visalia, was trying to make a left turn when the motorcycle slammed into the rear of his truck, said CHP officer Rick Bravo.

Witnesses at the scene say the woman was traveling between 85 and 95 mph when the accident occurred.

February 16th, 2008 by R.J.

Today was the first day of testing at Spain’s Circuito de Jerez and Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden was the fastest rider with a time of 1:39.200.

Aside from Hayden, the riders finishing out the top 3 were nobody that I would expect: Randy DePuniet with a 1:39.444 and Jorge Lorenzo with a 1:39.528.

‘The Doctor’, former World Champion Valentino Rossi set his best time of the day on lap 32 of 92 with a 1:40.641, placing him in 8th place and one spot ahead of last year’s champion, Casey Stoner (1:40.651).

The MotoGP official testing continues tomorrow with a 40-minute timed session taking place at 2:05 local time.

Here are the complete results:

01 - Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda - 1:39.200
02 - Randy DePuniet - Honda LCR - 1:39.444
03 - Jorge Lorenzo - Fiat Yamaha - 1:39.528
04 - Colin Edwards - Yamaha Tech 3 - 1:39.629
05 - James Toseland - Yamaha Tech3 - 1:39.678
06 - Alex DeAngelis - San Carlo Honda - 1:40.165
07 - Shinya Nakano - San Carlo Honda - 1:40.192
08 - Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha - 1:40.641
09 - Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro - 1:40.651
10 - Andrea Dovizioso - Jir Team Scot - 1:40.767
11 - Loris Capirossi - Rizla Suzuki - 1:40.843
12 - Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda - 1:41.352
13 - Marco Melandri - Marlboro Ducati - 1:41.392
14 - Toni Elias - Alice Team - 1:41.703
15 - Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki - 1:41.763
16 - Anthony West - Kawasaki - 1:41.821
17 - John Hopkins - Kawasaki - 1:41.901
18 - Sylvain Guintoli - Alice Team - 1:42.698

February 16th, 2008 by R.J.

The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Department has identified a man killed in a motorcycle accident on Tuesday.

Authorities say Marine Pfc.  Peter Masdonati, from Thornton, CA., was assigned to a security force at the Bangor Naval Base.

Around 11 p.m. Tuesday, a Kitsap Country Sheriff’s deputy attempted to pull Masdonati over for speeding. Moments later his motorcycle careened off the main thoroughfare and slammed into a tree. The crash thrust Masdonati’s body into two steel guy wires.

The deputy said he lost sight of the motorcyclist near the 14300 block of Silverdale Way Northwest, in an unincorporated area between Silverdale and Poulsbo.

Investigators say the rider most likely lost control of his bike due to the curve of the road and his high rate of speed.