Where do I start this… lets talk about Canepa and his new 1 year contract with Ducati as the spare rider, should any of the four main riders be injured, and the 19 year old will aid Vittoriano Guareschi with development duties of Ducati’s MotoGP machinery. He has the opportunity to aid in other development programs in other series and hopes to make the wild card appearance for 2008, a decision to be decided by Ducati Corse. He is working on an engineering degree and praised for his calm approach and excellent feedback.

Other news is Rizla Suzuki apparently was on the down-low down-under, conducting secret testing for 2 days at Phillip Island. With a near empty track, Suzuki was able to get a ton of development and testing work done on the latest GSV-R. Riders Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi put in about 200 laps each in their final ride of 2007. Suzuki has yet to make the best times public, but Vermeulen hinted that he bested his best lap from the race there in October 2007. He left Australia content and eager to get more testing and work done so that his Team can be as competitive as possible.

Day two of testing started of relaxed, with better weather than the track has seen in the last week or two. By mid-day Stoner was the fastest man on the track, with good warm weather aiding all. But things went down-hill for the Champion after that, falling hard on turn 3 after falling to 8th fastest on the list, resulting in a suspected ligament damage to his shoulder. Casey Stoner made his way to Clinica Mobile where he was treated and placed in a sling. He later remarked he would rest and see how things were feeling but he may be out for the rest of this testing event in Spain.

And of course Valentino Rossi was the 2nd fastest rider today, going faster than he had on the same track with Michelin tyres onboard his Yamaha M1. All this was aboard the 2007 version of the bike, besting Casey Stoners best from yesterday.

And the fastest man of the day was Dani Pedrosa, the only rider to break below the 1′40 barrier clocking a 1′39.993 onboard his Honda RC212V.

1. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda - 1′39.993

2. Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha - 1′40.134

3. Shinya Nakano - Honda Gresini - 1′40.251

4. Alex de Angelis - Honda Gresini - 1′40.332

5. Andrea Dovizioso - JiR Scot - 1′40.650

6. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda - 1′40.692

7. Randy de Puniet - Honda LCR - 1′40.820

8. Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro - 1′40.833

9. Colin Edwards - Yamaha Tech 3 - 1′40.838

10. Jorge Lorenzo - Fiat Yamaha - 1′40.883

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Stoner was the rider with the fewest laps, but with the quickest times. Stoner did only 28 laps around the Jerez circuit in Spain on the GP08 machine. Pedrosa then followed on his new Honda RC212 machine and Rossi trailing up the top 3. This was Rossi’s first time running bridgestone tires and spent half of the day getting aquianted with the new manufacture, and then spending time on the 2007 bike getting a feel for the new rubber. Stoner had a big crash today as well which caused a red flag. Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo did the most laps during the day still getting used to a motogp bike, he did 91 laps.

Jerez Test Day One:

1. Casey Stoner- 1′40.221 (Ducati)

2. Dani Pedrosa- 1′40.355 (Repsol Honda)

3. Valentino Rossi-1′40.514 (Fiat Yamaha)

4. Colin Edwards- 1′40.790 (Yamaha Tech 3)

5. Nicky Hayden-1′40.923 (Repsol Honda)

6.Alex de Angelis-1′41.111 (Gresini Honda)

7. Jorge Lorenzo-1′41.230 (Fiat Yamaha)

8. Shinya Nakano-1′41.277 (Gresini Honda)

9. Randy de Puniet-1′41.313 (LCR Honda)

10. John Hopkins-1′41.414 (kawasaki)

11. James Toseland-1′41.776 (Yamaha Tech 3)

12. Marco Melandri-1′41.889 (Ducati)

13. Andrea dovizioso-1′42.033 (JiR Scot Honda)

14. Niccolo Canepa-1′42.666 (Ducati tester)

15. Taddy Okada-1′43.051 (HRC tester)

16. Anthony West-1′43.576 (kawasaki)

17. Shinichi Ito-1”44.530 (Bridgestone tester)

18. Vittoriano Guareschi-1′44.588 (Ducati tester)

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The riders and teams of MotoGP will be back on-track next week in the south of Spain for a final 3 day testing event at Jerez before the December end of the year closer. Rossi has his hands full this next week, competing in the rally and also making his debut appearance on 2008 machinery equipped with his new Bridgestone tyres. Rossi will also be riding with new team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.

Rossi has been out the first two testing opportunities due to his wrist injuries at the final race at Valencia.  But Rossi is not the only hot thing waiting to be previewed for the 2008 season, Casey Stoner and Marco Melandri will debut with the Marlboro Ducati Desmosedici GP8 for the first time. Crowds are expected to gather to sneak peeks at Filippe Preziosi’s latest marvel of machinery.

Rookie Toseland will be in everyones mind since he has actually riding at this track onboard a 990 Ducati in 2004.

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MTV did a great job following around the American World Champion Nicky Hayden during the 2007 season, it aired on MTV the other night, here is your chance to see it again!

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

here is the preview on spike:

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Day 2 got underway under an intense heat that dried off the track from this mornings rain.  Hopkins came out on top of the timesheet with a great improvement from yesterday dropping 2 seconds off yesterdays test and a second off his fastest lap in the 2007 race onboard the Suzuki.  Hopkins is getting rapid reaction to his demands for the bike with Kawasaki fulfilling what he wants changed.  Other riders rode the 2007 machines getting used to the new rides with riding the 2008 machine in the later part of the day.  Nicky Hayden rode for 65 laps and took out a snake with his knee on track while working onboard the 2008 RC212V continuing his work on development while his team-mate Pedrosa is sitting out of the test.  While some of the newcomers are still adapting to the changes of rides to MotoGP, Dovizioso has sat in well coming in fourth on both test days.

Sepang Winter Test- Day Two

1. John Hopkins 2′02.200 (Kawasaki)

2. Chris Vermeulen 2′02.344 (Rizla Suzuki)

3. Randy de Puniet 2′02.550 (LCR Honda)

4. Andrea Dovizioso 2′02.591 (JiR Team Scot)

5. Loris Capirossi 2′02.698 (Rizla Suzuki)

6. Nicky Hayden 2′02.800 (Repsol Honda)

7. Colin Edwards 2′02.831 (Tech 3 Yamaha)

8. Anthony West 2′03.093 (Kawasaki)

9. Jorge Lorenzo 2′04.021 (Fiat Yamaha)

10. James Toseland 2′04.278 (Tech 3 Yamaha)

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