October 2002 All-Moto from the web

* (October 27) The Foggy Petronas team, which has Briton James Haydon and Australian Troy Corser as riders, has been testing in Spain recently - its first serious foray outside Malaysia. According to Corser, "I haven't ridden on the Almeria track before so I used the first day to complete as many laps as possible to familiarise myself with the circuit. The whole test has been very productive as we've made some important steps forward with tyre testing and with various elements of the Foggy FP1's overall development. I'm also happy with the lap times I was achieving considering I was riding as you would for a test rather than pushing to the limit."

* (October 27) Honda's withdrawal from World Superbike competition seems to be certain, according to South African site www.sasbk.co.za

* (October 27) USA superbike rider Scott Russell is set to make a return to the world series after a five-year absence, with the American HMC Ducati crew that he currently rides with.

* (October 26) Victorian road transport authority VicRoads has released its latest draft motorcycle safety strategy for public comment. It was released Thursday and its creators have asked for comments by Monday. The VicRoads document has all sorts of entertaining ideas, like requiring lights on while riding, conspicuous clothing, zero BAC for all riders, etc.

* (October 24) Spotted by reader Ron Grant, on Aussie ex-pat Craig Connell's adventures last weekend in Florida: "With his fast lap in qualifying for Sunday's Pro Honda Oils Sportbike race, Craig Connell today walked away with the pole and the series championship. "The extra point Connell was awarded for taking the pole with a time of 1:54.527 in the timed qualifying for the Pro Honda Oils Sportbike race, gave the Aussie rider the edge he needed to secure the series championship."

* (October 23) Front number plates are coming for motorcycles in NSW. Thanks to reader Mark Carmichael, we have an admission from the NSW government that this is on the way.

* (October 20) Barros rolls dice, Rossi wins: Alex Barros rolled the dice on the last lap of the PI MotoGP race as he and Valentino Rossi dived into Honda corner for the final time. Barros overshot, though the pair was so far ahead of the rest of the field that he was able to retain second place. Rossi's team-mate, Tohru Ukawa, filled out the podium. It was a lack lustre race that was affected by the oddball mix of machinery, a result of the switch-over from the old two-stroke 500s to MotoGP four-strokes.

* (October 20) Marco Melandri and Fonsi Nieto hosed the rest of the field to put on a wild tussle in the last lap of the 250 race at Phillip Island. Melandri came out ahead by half a wheel, picking up his first world championship along the way at the age of 20. Porto, who had been dicing with Rolfo, came third.

* (October 20) Reigning 125 GP champion and Gilera rider Manuel Poggiali kept his championship hopes alive by winning today's thrilling race at Phillip Island ahead of Cecchinello and Nieto.

* (October 20) Valentino Rossi is to get a test drive in a Honda-powered BAR F1 car early next year.

* (October 20) The GP Corp says its race-day crowd for Phillip Island was 40,000.

* (October 20) With Red Bull sponsorship moving from its present team, WCM, there's some uncertainty over what happens to Garry McCoy in 2003. Until recently it looked like he's be on a Honda V5, but that's up in the air again until the money side of things is settled.

* (October 18) Police in the Tallangatta/Corryong district in northern Victoria earn our Wooden Spoon Award. We're told they had a roadblock up on the Murray Valley Highway today and were pulling up everyone who had the temerity to be riding a motorcycle - obviously timed to trap folk traveling to the GP. Gee, welcome to Victoria... We thought this sort of thing only happened in third world dictatorships.

* (October 17) The withdrawal of Telefonica Movistar sponsorship from Suzuki's MotoGP team for next year has left riders Kenny Roberts Junior and Sete Gibernau pondering their futures. Roberts has said he is sticking with Suzi, but Gibernau may follow the sponsorship and jump ship to a Honda team.

* (October 17) In the USA this week: the 1921 promotional film, "Beverly Hills Board Track Racing," produced by the Indian Motocycle Manufacturing Company, will be restored through a partnership grant awarded by the National Film Preservation Foundation to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum. The grants are intended to help save culturally significant American "orphan films" not preserved by commercial interests.

* (October 16) Colin Edwards, speaking today to various media, including MotoGP.com, "I am 99% sure I will be riding for Aprilia in MotoGP next year. I’m just sitting here waiting to get the okay from Michelin and then the contract will be signed."

* (October 16) The world superbike championship franchise folk have signed up a new TV deal, but we were more interested in their audience claims: 13 Rounds on the 5 continents - 2 billion worldwide TV viewers- 85 TV networks covering 171 countries - 1670 hours during 2001 with a TV media value of US$552 million - 1,000,000 race spectators during 2001- 25 million internet page views.

* (October 14) Max Biaggi returned to second place in the MotoGP championship after a win in Malaysia yesterday. Rossi and Barros filled out the podium.

* (October 12) Qualifying for the Malaysian MotoGP has seen the usual order of things thrown out the window: Barros, Biaggi, Kato, Capirossi, Checa, Ukawa, McWilliams, Rossi, McCoy, Goorbergh.

* (October 10) Young Australian motorcycle GP racer Casey Stoner today beat world champion, Valentino Rossi, in a go-kart race. Stoner, 16, from NSW's Hunter Valley, beat a line-up of MotoGP stars in the kart event at a promotion in Kuala Lumpur ahead of this weekend's Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix. Stoner - the youngest rider to have finished in the top five in a 250cc GP - took the chequered flag ahead of Italian Max Biaggi and Brazilian Alex Barros (winner of last weekend's Pacific GP in Japan). Rossi finished fourth, with Spaniard Carlos Checa fifth and then Fonsi Nieto. Rossi is planning another form of four-wheel racing next month when he drives in Britain's final round of the rallying world championship.

* (October 10) Australian Damon Buckmaster will join fellow Aussie Aaron Gobert in a Yamaha factory-backed team in the USA AMA Formula Xtreme and Supersport series for 2003 - they will be racing R6s and R1s.

* (October 10) Spaniard Ruben Xaus is expected to sign up to ride alongside Briton Neil Hodgson in the factory Ducati 999 team for the 2003 world superbike championship.

* (October 10) Norick Abe will field an M1 Yamaha four-stroke MotoGP bike at the last two rounds of the championship: Australia and Valencia.

* (October 10) Motorcycling Australia, the national controlling body for bike sport, has added former GP racer and Gold Coast resident Kevin Magee, plus Sydney lawyer Beach Thomas, to its board.

* (October 10) Just as his Year 10 classmates return to school from holidays, Josh Waters is going overseas to become Australia's youngest Grand Prix motorcycle racer. The 15-year-old Waters, from Mildura in northern Victoria, makes his world debut this weekend in the Malaysian 125cc Motorcycle GP. A week later he will ride in the Skyy Vodka Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

* (October 10) From Vietnam via Deutsche Presse and reader Jim Carden: In 2002, the number of motorbikes on the roads has increased by 2 million. The total number of motorbikes nationwide on Vietnam's roads at the end of June was 9.4 million, compared to 500,000 a decade ago, said Nguyen Dinh from the National Drivers Managerial Board. However, there are only 3.9 million Vietnamese who have the legally required motorbike driving license, said Dinh. Vietnam has a population of 79 million.

* (October 9) It's been confirmed that Australia's Phillip Island grand prix circuit is for sale, with estate agents Colliers Jardine seeking expressions of interest. The Age newspaper reports that a figure of about $20 million (Australian) is hoped for. The property includes the circuit, visitor centre, farm and permit for a hotel. Expressions of interest close on November 8.

* (October 9) Australia's 2001 Supersport world champion, 26-year-old Andrew Pitt, will make his MotoGP debut for Kawasaki at the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, after being called up to deputise for the injured Akira Yanagawa for the remainder of the 2002 season. The Australian's last minute call up came about as a result of Akira Yanagawa's seventh-lap crash at last weekend's Pacific Grand Prix at Motegi. Iinitially thought to have been uninjured in the crash. Yanagawa was later diagnosed with a fractured bone in his hip, which will rule the Japanese rider out of the final three rounds of the championship in Malaysia this Sunday, Australia on October 20 and then in Spain.

* (October 8) From Ducati: yesterday saw a double debut for Ducati Mugello as Troy Bayliss and Neil Hodgson stepped on to their 2003 bikes for the first time. The 33-year-old Bayliss, WSBK champion in 2001 and runner-up this year, completed 30 laps on the new Ducati prototype, which will make its debut next year in the MotoGP championship. "It's a completely new toy!" Bayliss declared. "The last few months I've been seeing the bike and I've wanted to get on it for a long time. It took a while before we got going this morning because it was so foggy and the track was quite wet and we didn't really start until after lunch.

* (October 7) Aprilia has a major rework of its Mille sports twin in the pipeline. Rumour says it includes a redesign of both the engine and the chassis, and the company initially hoped to have it ready in time for the recent Munich Show. However it now seems the machine will be held for further development and a debut in the 2003 Milan Show.

* (October 6) Alex Barros led home a Honda one-two-three in the Gauloises Pacific Grand Prix of Motegi, after a thrilling late battle with Valentino Rossi saw him outwit the 2002 MotoGP World Champion, as he took his first victory of the year. Capirossi completed the podium.

* (October 5) Former world champ Kenny Roberts has signed on for another two years with Suzuki. According to team manager Garry Taylor, "A year ago the GSV-R didn't even exist and now we are already in a position where we can lead races and win podium positions. We've come a long way in a very short space of time and we are totally committed to making the GSV-R a race winner. With Kenny now agreeing terms, a major part of the program is now in place and we can get on with the job."

* (October 4) Australian MotoGP rider Garry McCoy is aiming for his third front row start in four races at the Pacific Grand Prix at Motegi in Japan this weekend - and hoping he can then match his qualifying form in the race. Over the past six weeks McCoy has posted all-time outright lap speed records for 500cc two-stroke bikes in qualifying on the front row for the Czech and Rio Grands Prix.

* (October 3) The Paris-Dakar Safari international raid could be a thing of the past. News wires say the event may be in financial and organisational trouble, and has been struck off the international car rally championship list. The event became famous in motorcycle circles when BMW used it to publicise its GS series in the hands of Belgian legend Gaston Rahier. Things started to go downhill for the event when its French creator, Thierry Sabine, was killed in a helicopter crash some years ago.

* (October 2) Tour operator David Milligan says he and partner Maggie Wolfenden have overcome insurance problems for privately-owned bikes touring the UK. For a while there it looked as though you couldn't get cover at any price, which made things difficult for their Isle of Man tour. The company can be found via this link.