Personal opinion: hopefully the return to Honda will do him good, he comes a cross as a really nice guy, so I wish him all the luck. And maybe we will get to see him going head to head with vale (well not likely the way things are now, but… a girl can dream…)
from: motogp.com
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Place of birth: Manresa
Date of birth: 26/Mar/1983
Weight: 57Kg.
Height: 163cm.
Growing up in the family bike shop near Barcelona, Toni Elias was destined for a career on two wheels. In 1999 he finished third in the 125cc Spanish Championship and undertook his first Grand Prix season in 2000, although he was largely anonymous during the year.
However, the teenager became the revelation of 2001 after signing up to ride with the junior project run by Alberto Puig, battling for the lower cylinder category title until the end of the season.
Elias’ natural talent and fearless aggression saw him make the successful step up to the 250cc class in 2002, challenging Manuel Poggiali for the title in 2003 until a last-lap crash at Rio cost him victory and the chance of the championship. Elias struggled to reproduce his best form after switching from Aprilia to Honda for 2004, but flashes of brilliance convinced Fortuna Yamaha to draft him into the MotoGP class in 2005. The learning process under the Yamaha banner, forming a team with Rubén Xaus, was curtailed by an injury in France, but in the final third of the season Elias was able to demonstrate his evolution in the category.
The Spaniard rode for two years with Fausto Gresini’s satellite Honda outfit, during which time he continued to show why he is regarded as one of the most exciting riders in MotoGP. His debut victory came at Portugal in 2006, in one of the greatest races of all time against Valentino Rossi and Kenny Roberts Jr., and although injury at his bogey track of Assen severely affected his 2007 season, he still impressed enough for Luis d’Antin to keep him in the category with his Ducati satellite team.
The Ducati venture proved to be a brief sojourn as, one season of mixed results and a pair of podiums after joining the Alice team, Elias was welcomed back to San Carlo Honda Gresini to spearhead their 2009 project. He has a factory Honda RC212V at his disposal in his first season with top-end machinery.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elías won his first premier class race on October 15, 2006 with a fantastic final lap of the Portuguese MotoGP at Estoril. Elías had started the lap in third place, but an aggressive braking move into Curva 1, moved him past Valentino Rossi and the then-leader Kenny Roberts, Jr. into the lead. He actually clipped Roberts while braking, and this loss of momentum meant that Rossi passed Roberts for second position. These positions held until the chicane (turns 9 and 10) near the end of the lap. It looked like Elías had left the door wide open for Rossi and sure enough, the reigning world champion dived to the inside to pass the Spaniard. However, Elías would keep pressuring Rossi, trying to pass him on the run towards turns 11 and 12. Rossi had the line and kept the position, and it seemed as if Rossi would be 13 points clear of title rival Nicky Hayden going to the final round in Valencia. But Elías kept the speed up through the thirteenth and final turn, and tucked in behind Rossi, to draft him alongside the Italian. In a finish that needed a video replay, Elías was given the race by just 0.002 seconds. It was one of the closest finishes in the history of MotoGP, and a great way for Elías to secure his maiden premier class victory. This victory helped secure him a contract extension, which was doubtful prior to the win at Estoril, with Honda and Fausto Gresini for the 2007 Moto GP season.
As it turned out, Elías' victory cost Rossi five points, which was the exact number of points that Rossi would finish behind Hayden in the Championship standings.
Date of birth: 1984-02-26 Place of birth: Rimini, San Marino Residence: San Marino Team: Gresini Honda Race number: 3
San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex de Angelis did not see his collision with Dani Pedrosa as a big deal and felt his sixth place in Qatar was well-earned.
History:
1997 Ranks 6th overall in the Italian Minimoto Championship.
1998 Starts competing in the Italian 125cc Championship. Best result is a 11th place at Misano. Also competes in Honda Trophy, where he ranks 7th overall.
1999 Competes in both the Italian and European 125cc Championship, with Matteoni Team. Ranks 2nd and 8th overall respectively. Competes in his first FIM World Championship event (125cc class) but fails to finish the race.
2000 Enters the FIM 125cc World Championship. Ranks 18th overall but, more importantly, wins "Rookie of the Year" award.
2001 Disappointing season with Matteoni in the FIM 125cc World Championship. Mechanical problems prevent him from getting a good overall position.
2002 Switches teams and rides for Lucio Cecchinello, where he gets first podium in career (2nd place at Sachsenring). Ranks 9th overall in the final standings, with 87 points.
2003 Best and last season in the 125cc class of the FIM World Championship, becoming Vice-Champion of the series, with 166 points.
2004 Steps up to compete in the 250cc class of the World Championship and manages a great rookie season. Finishes 5th overall, with 147 points.
2005 Despite scoring more points than the previous season, Alex has to settle for 7th overall (4 podiums and 2 poles). Scores 151 points.
2006 Gets first 250cc win in career and 10 other podiums to finish 3rd overall. Wins the last event (at Valencia) and scores a total of 228 points.
2007 Starts off great in the championship, scoring ten consecutive Top 4 finishes and leading Andrea Dovizioso in the battle for 2nd place. It all crashes down at Brno, when Alex ranks a disappointing 11th place in the race and breaks his good form for ever. As a result, the San Marino rider only scores one podium in the remaining 6 rounds. De Angelis finishes the season in 3rd place, with 235 points overall. Also, he confirms move to MotoGP at the end of the year, signing a deal with Honda Gresini.
2008 Rookie season inside the MotoGP class, riding a private Honda for Team Gresini. Fails to make a podium appearance all season - unlike fellow ex-250cc riders Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo - and highlights two 4th places at Mugello and Sachsenring. Ranks 14th overall in the riders' classification with 63 points.
Ryuichi Kiyonari(清成龍)(born September 23, 1982, in Saitama, Japan) is a professional motorcycle road racer. He is the 2006 and 2007 British Superbike champion, and he currently rides for Hannspree Ten Kate Honda in the Superbike World Championship. He also won the 2008 Suzuka 8-Hour race, teamed with his regular WSBK team-mate Carlos Checa. He has a reputation for being at his best when leading races from the front.
Early years
Kiyonari first raced in 1988 in motocross, which he later stated that he did not especially enjoy. He began circuit racing in 1996, and first raced in the All-Japan 125cc Championship in 1998. He continued in this class until 2001, with a shortage of big results, other than 9th place in the 2000 Suzuka 8-Hour race. However, for 2002 he switched to the All-Japan Supersport championship, which he won with four victories. He also took an All-Japan Superbike Championship victory at TI Aida.
MotoGP
He moved to MotoGP in early 2003 to replace the late Daijiro Kato in Fausto Gresini's Telefónica Movistar team. However, he received little support within the team, especially as team-mate Sete Gibernau challenged for the title, and failed to score much in the way of results. There were eight minor points finishes, leaving him 19th overall with a best of 11th.
British Superbike Championship
After coming 6th overall in the British Superbike Championship in 2004, 'Kiyo' won the first four races of 2005, before injuring his ankle in a heavy crash in round 5. He was back for round 9, and retook the championship lead from team-mate Michael Rutter, but eventually was overhauled by the improving Ducati of Lavilla and he finished the season runner up. He also raced in the Valencia Grand Prix for Sito Pons' Camel Honda team, finishing in the points.
In 2006 Ducati again had the upper hand early in the season, with Kiyonari closest to their riders, Lavilla and Leon Haslam. A double victory at Silverstone in the penultimate round kept him in close contention for the title. However, in the double point final round at Brands Hatch, after a win in race one (he was leading when Shane Byrne's heavy crash caused a stoppage - much to Haslam's visible frustration), Kiyonari only needed to finish third in the final race. Kiyonari finished 2nd in the shortened race behind Haslam, thus winning the championship by 8 points.
The 2007 season started at Brands Hatch, a track Kiyo admits he does not like, and his results there were unspectacular, with Jonathan Rea and Leon Camier performing better on their Hondas. However, he took a double win in round three, and a further win in race 2 at Oulton Park, to lie second to Lavilla after four rounds. Finally defended his British champion status at Brands Hatch to win the championship for the second time in succession.
Superbike World Championship
In 2008 Ryuichi Kiyonari made his Superbike World Championship debut, having reached an agreement with the reigning champion team Ten Kate Honda, to partner Carlos Checa and Kenan Sofuoğlu.
In the second race at Monza, Kiyonari nearly had his first SBK win. Kiyonari was in front as they braked for the final entry into the Parabolica but went wide on the exit and Noriyuki Haga and Max Neukirchner edged him out - Haga for the win and Neukirchner claiming second by a gap of just .009. Kiyonari finished third with a gap of .051, his first Superbike podium. His first two wins came at Brands Hatch, beating Troy Bayliss in race 1 and Noriyuki Haga in race 2. He briefly led the very next race at Donington Park, but fell on lap 2. However, he did win the second race in very wet conditions, visibly sliding the rear end of his bike on many occasions. Kiyonari broke his collarbone in a testing crash at Magny Cours, 2 weeks prior to the event, meaning he missed the race.
For 2009, Kiyo stays with the Ten Kate Honda team, partnering Carlos Checa and Jonathan Rea. His bike is backed by Honda Europe rather than Hannspree.
Personal opinion: a nice guy and a good rider, had a very though year last year, he had a lot of problems with the Ducati, lets hope this year will be better for him even due I expect this year not to be to easy with a new bike and a new team without the full support of the factory.
MCN Sport: Melandri
reveals thoughts on
2009 season
Marco melandri drift
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Nationality Flag of Italy Italian Date of birth August 7, 1982 (1982-08-07) (age 26) Place of birth Ravenna, Italy Website marcomelandri.co.uk MotoGP Record Current team Hayate Racing Team Bike number 33 World Championships 250cc - 2002 Race starts 173 Race Wins 22 Podium finishes 61 Pole positions 9 Fastest laps 16 Championship Points 1885 2008 Championship position 17th (51 pts)
Marco Melandri (born August 7, 1982 in Ravenna Italy) is a MotoGP road racer currently racing for the factory Kawasaki Team. Melandri is also a former 250cc World Champion in 2002. Melandri currently lives 2 miles away from the famous race track, Donington Park, Leicestershire, England.
Early days
Marco Melandri was born in Ravenna. He was introduced to racing by a former rider Loris Reggiani at the age of six. He came through the ranks from minibikes, motocross and then the Italian and European 125cc championship.
In 1997, Melandri won the Italian 125cc championship, also finishing 4th in European 125cc championship. In addition to his European success, he made his debut in 125cc world championship at Brno, Czech Republic as a wild card rider.
125cc (1998-1999)
After impressing in Italian and European championship in 1997, Melandri finally got his chance to compete in 1998 125cc world championship as a regular. He rode Honda 125cc bike under Benetton Honda Team. He went on to impress many as he earned his first podium in the fourth race of the season, where he finished second in his home Grand Prix at Mugello, Italy. His brilliant debut season continued when he won his first grand prix at Assen TT, Netherlands. He won this race at the age of 15 years and 324 days which made him the youngest ever Grand Prix winner, at the time. Since then, Scott Redding has become the youngest winner, having won the 2008 British motorcycle Grand Prix. Overall, he won two Grand Prix in his debut season and therefore he finished the season at 3rd position in overall standings behind champion Kazuto Sakata and runner-up Tomomi Manako.
He remained on the same bike and team in 1999, where he bid to win the 125cc world championship. He went on to win 5 Grand Prix but failed to win the championship, finishing second behind Emilio Alzamora with just a single point difference. Failure in securing his first world championship did not stop his rise to 250cc world championship in 2000.
250cc (2000-2002)
Melandri was signed by Aprilia in 2000 to replace another Italian Valentino Rossi who left the team and 250cc class for 500cc class. He was highly expected to take over Rossi's shoes and to win the 250cc world championship. However, his debut season did not start as well as the expectation. He struggled to adapt to bigger bike and higher competition. He failed to win any Grand Prix in 2000, managing only 4 podiums, all came late in the season. Despite these problems, he still finishes the season at 5th position overall.
In 2001, his performances were improving. He managed to win his first 250cc Grand Prix at Sachsenring, Germany. However, it was his only win in 2001. Despite managing to appear on the podium on 9 occasions, he never really challenged for the championship. He finished the season in 3rd position behind champion Daijiro Kato and runner-up Tetsuya Harada.
2002 proved to be Melandri's chance to shine. With 2001 champion and runner-up, Kato and Harada moved to MotoGP class, he became the strongest contender for the championship. He dominated the season by collecting 9 wins and 3 additional podiums. After challenging for world championship for years, he finally won the 250cc world title. He became the youngest 250cc world champion at the age of 20 years and 74 days until Dani Pedrosa broke his record in 2004.
MotoGP (2003-present)
After securing the 250cc world title in 2002, Melandri moved up to MotoGP class to spearhead Yamaha factory team alongside Carlos Checa in 2003. Unfortunately he had with the Yamaha a worse Bike than Honda and Ducati, and struggled to succeed for the season. He finished the season in 5th position without collecting any wins and only two third Places.
He joined Yamaha satellite team, Tech 3 in 2004 alongside Carlos Checa again. This season, he again struggled to get top results. However, he managed to collect 2 consecutive podiums, but a series of crashes and retirements kept him out of top 10 in overall standings. He finished the season in 12th position.
Released from his Yamaha contract after the 2004 season, Melandri was the surprise choice of boss Fausto Gresini to join Sete Gibernau in the Movistar Honda team for the 2005 MotoGP campaign. Melandri was remarkably successful with Movistar Honda in 2005, with a consistent run of podium finishes early in the season, ultimately taking his first two wins in the final two races of 2005 to clinch second place in the championship. In doing so, he was the first Honda rider to win back-to-back races for nearly two years, winning round 16 of the MotoGP Championship at Istanbul, Turkey, as well as the 17th and final race at Valencia. Although he never really challenged his best friend Valentino Rossi for the title, he finished the season strongly as runner-up, with a total of 2 wins and 5 additional podiums.
Melandri rode for Gresini's Fortuna Honda team alongside Toni Elías in the 2006 season. With Rossi struggling to find consistency, he was a major challenger, along with Ducati's Loris Capirossi and Honda riders Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa. He again won at Istanbul, despite starting from 14th on the grid. He managed further wins at Le Mans, France and Phillip Island, Australia. He finished the season in 4th position, just 1 point behind Capirossi.
In 2007, Melandri and Elias remained in the Honda Gresini team, now sponsored by Hannspree. Honda's 800cc machine was not competitive. As of the race at Laguna Seca in which he finished third, Marco lies sixth overall, with an additional podium at Le Mans . After these 10 races, works rider Dani Pedrosa is the only Honda ahead of him in the standings - he and Pedrosa the only Honda riders with multiple podiums.
Immediately after Melandri's 3rd place finish in the 2007 USA's MotoGP round, Ducati announced that he will join its factory team alongside Casey Stoner for 2008 and 2009 . But 2008 proved disastrous, with a run of uncompetitive runs often leaving him behind the semi-works Alice Team bikes of Toni Elías and Sylvain Guintoli. At Assen he qualified last and ran there throughout. Due to the poor running in the season, speculation persisted with Melandri tipped to move to Kawasaki after the summer break in 2008 to form a three bike team alongside John Hopkins and Anthony West, while his current seat was said to be taken over by Sete Gibernau for the second half of the 2008 season. However, on July 27th Ducati Marlboro team boss Livio Suppo confirmed that Marco Melandri would race at Brno, the first race after the 2008 summer break. On 19 August, however, Melandri confirmed he will be joining Kawasaki Racing Team for the 2009 MotoGP season to ride alongside his new teammate John Hopkins. He then ended the season in a lackluster 17th position. The factory’s decision to scale down their MotoGP operation left the Italian in limbo over the winter. An agreement was eventually found, with the Hayate Racing team now running Melandri in a single-rider effort for the 2009 campaign.
Career summary
* 1996: 13th in 125cc Honda Trophy with Honda * 1997: 1st in 125cc Italian Championship with Honda, 1st in 125cc Honda Trophy with Honda, 4th in European 125cc Championship with Honda * 1998: 3rd in 125cc World Championship with Benetton Playlife (Honda) * 1999: 2nd in 125cc World Championship with Benetton Playlife (Honda) * 2000: 5th in 250cc World Championship with Blu Aprilia Team (Aprilia) * 2001: 3rd in 250cc World Championship with MS Aprilia Racing (Aprilia) * 2002: 1st in 250cc World Championship with MS Aprilia Racing (Aprilia) * 2003: 15th in MotoGP World Championship with Fortuna Yamaha Team (Yamaha) * 2004: 12th in MotoGP World Championship with Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 (Yamaha) * 2005: 2nd in MotoGP World Championship with MoviStar Honda MotoGP (Honda) * 2006: 4th in MotoGP World Championship with Fortuna Honda (Honda) * 2007: 5th in MotoGP World Championship with Honda Gresini (Honda) * 2008: 17th in MotoGP World Championship with Ducati Marlboro Team (Ducati) * 2009: MotoGP World Championship with Hayate Racing Team (Kawasaki)
Personal opinion: a nice looking guy, did a full season in WSBK in 2004, for Renegade alongside Noriyuki Haga. He was 8th overall with a best of 3rd, but it would be unfair not to mention his impressive victory in a British Superbike race at Brands Hatch on one of the team's 3 ventures into the series. In torrential rain, this was the only Ducati win in the series all year, even though this was the title-winning bike in both 2003 (Shane "Shakey" Byrne) and 2005 (Gregorio Lavilla). And a very impressive career BSB, he already has 1 podium this year, came 3rd in race 2 – Philip Island- Australia.
LEON HASLAM - RD 1 PHILLIP ISLAND
Leon Haslam - Portimao Test 2009
History- from:http://www.leonhaslam.com
NAME: Leon Haslam
DOB: 31 May 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH: England
HOME TOWN: Smalley, Derbyshire
HEIGHT: 5'7"
WEIGHT: 67 kg
MARITAL STATUS: Girlfriend, Oli
HAIR COLOUR: Brown
EYE COLOUR: Green
NICKNAMES: Pocket Rocket or Unibrow
FAVORITE FOOD: Fajita's or Pizza
FAVORITE DRINK: Banana Milkshake
OWN CAR: Ford-Ranger Thunder
OWN MOTORCYCLE: 999 Ducati
FIRST ROAD RACE: Brands Hatch 1997
FIRST WIN: Silverstone 1998
FAVORITE UK CIRCUIT: Cadwell Park
FAVORITE WORLD CIRCUIT: Phillip Island, Australia
MOST SUCCESFUL SEASON: BSB 2006
BEST MOMENTS: Five BSB wins from seven races at the end of 2008
FAVORITE RACE IN YOUR CAREER: Win and last lap challenge at croft wet race 2006 and BSB 2005- Oulton Park, when I had to start from pit lane
AMBITIONS: To be MotoGP Champion
FAVORITE ALL TIME RIDERS: Valentino Rossi, Ron Haslam, Freddie Spencer
MOST RESPECTED RIVAL: Jeremy McWilliams
SPORTS HERO FROM ANOTHER SPORT: Eric Cantona
LIKES: Rambo films and honest people
DISLIKES: Broccoli and people who lie and are two faced
AIMS FOR 2009: To establish myself and team as WSB front runners
THOUGHTS ON WORLD SUPERBIKES: "We've got a tough year ahead but Stiggy has assembled a very good team and very good machinery."
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
1995: National Young Motocross Champion 1997: Scooter Championship at age 14 1998: Young Rider of the Year Award - MCN 1999: Winner Under 23 British Championship 2001: Youngest ever rider to compete in 500cc World Championship 2002:7th in Portugal in debut season in 250cc GP class 2003: 12th in British Superbike Championship 2004: Winner of BSB race at Brands Hatch and named 'Rookie of the Year ' 2005:4th in British Superbike Championship 2006: 2nd in British Superbike Championship Man of the Year 2006 Rider's Rider of the Year 2006 2007: 3rd in British Superbike Championship 2008: 2nd in British Superbike Championship
Personal opinion: a very experienced rider, been racing for a long time, had some good years, and some not so good years, well, some one needs to teach the young guys at the back of the grid how the game is played.
Mugello 2005 - Melandri vs Capirossi
(from MotoGP.COM)
65
Place of birth: Bologna
Date of birth: 04/Apr/1973
Weight: 59Kg.
Height: 165cm.
The oldest rider on the MotoGP grid, Loris Capirossi has a wealth of experience and a pedigree in Grand Prix racing that few can match.
‘Capirex’ was 125cc World Champion by the age of 17, and went on to defend the title before moving up to the 250cc class in 1992. The Italian picked up 16 podiums, including 7 victories, during his time in the quarter-litre category, and switched to 500cc with Honda in 1995, where he was named Rookie Of The Year.
A first 500cc triumph came on a Yamaha at Eastern Creek in his second premier class season, but after 1996 Capirossi chose to move back down to 250cc with Aprilia. Two years later he was lifting the title in the quarter litre class, once more attracting interest from MotoGP team bosses.
Signed by Sito Pons to ride a Honda NSR500 in 1999, Capirossi picked up 15 podiums and a race win in three seasons on the Japanese two-stroke, before switching to Ducati for 2003 to ride the four-stroke Desmosedici. A surprising victory at Catalunya, along with five podiums and fourth place overall, confirmed his quality ahead of a difficult sophomore season.
In 2005 the Ducati team had a hesitant start, but the final third of the campaign marked a new phase in which Capirossi performed at an extremely high level. After a second place finish in Brno, the Italian racked up two successive victories in Japan and Malaysia as he looked to improve his championship position, although a practice crash at Phillip Island cut short his fine run of form.
Capirossi took third in the championship in 2006, and won at Jerez, Brno and Motegi. He was level on points with Nicky Hayden at the head of the leaderboard before he suffered a crash in Catalunya in the first of three consecutive races, robbing him of the chance to fight for the title.
Although 2007 was a comparatively poor year for the Italian, his final season with Ducati did see the man synonymous with the team’s MotoGP project help them to the team and constructors titles. Four podiums, including a win at Motegi and a one-two with Casey Stoner in Australia, salvaged something from the opening 800cc season supposed to bring the elusive world title to the Capirossi household.
Still probably best know for his time on the red bike, Capirossi switched to Suzuki for 2008, placing tenth in the overall standings after a difficult year. Crashes in Catalunya and Assen contributed to a run of three consecutive non-finishes, and also left a sore Capirossi at less than 100%. The highlight of his first season with Suzuki, with whom he continues in 2009, was a solitary podium in Brno.
Personal opinion: a very experienced rider, been racing for a long time, still hasn’t wan a championship, and I doubt he will this year, he may get a few podiums, may even finish the year in the top 10 or if very lucky top 5- but no more then that
World Superbikes from Valencia
Carlos Checa (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda) and Max Neukirchner (Suzuki Alstare) crash on the last lap of the 1st race at Valencia 6th April 2008
(a controversial crash- check went on to win the second race Max Neukirchner went to the hospital with a fractured left collarbone, At the end the winner was Lanzi, followed by Bayliss and Corser. Checa rejoined for 5th., in race 2 Checa came in 3rd)
Carlos Checa (born October 15, 1972 in Barcelona, Spain) is a professional motorcycle road racer. After racing in 500cc and MotoGP for over a decade, mostly on Honda and Yamaha machinery with and without full manufacturer support, he moves to the Superbike World Championship on a Honda for 2008. He has two Grand Prix victories. He has a younger brother, David Checa, who is also a motorcycle racer and also competes in the Superbike World Championship for 2008.
Grand Prix
Checa made his debut in 125cc and 250cc motorcycle racing in 1993 for Honda. In 1995 he moved up to the Blue Riband 500cc class as a replacement for Alberto Puig, a fellow Spaniard who broke both his legs in a horrifying crash in France. Carlos shocked the paddock by being on the pace and nearly winning the Barcelona race.
He continued with the team until 1998, the year he suffered near fatal injuries with a crash at Donington Park. He crashed at Craner Curves and was initially thought to have suffered only scrapes and bruises before complaining of pain. Hours later he had lost his vision and was listed in critical condition. He fought back to ride that year before racing for Yamaha as Max Biaggi's team mate on two and four-strokes. He nearly won many races but unfortunately crashed after taking the lead. One such race was at Rio de Janeiro in 2002 when he stalled on the starting line then, came through to lead before crashing a corner later.
When Valentino Rossi joined Yamaha he was Carlos' team-mate for one year, before Carlos moved to Ducati in 2005. In 2006 he switched to ride for the Tech-3 Yamaha team, proving much steadier than in previous years and comfortably beating team-mate James Ellison but wasn't much a threat to the rest of the field, as they were on Dunlop tyres. He struggled as the sole LCR Honda rider in 2007, with the 800cc Honda proving uncompetitive for many riders. At the Sachsenring Checa got an updated frame, which other non-works Honda riders had found uncompetitive - this is believed to be due to Checa using the same Michelin tyres as the works team, the other Hondas being on Bridgestones.
Superbike World Championship
For the 2008, Checa left MotoGP to join the Ten Kate Honda team in the Superbike World Championship as a replacement for 2007 champion James Toseland. At Valencia he challenged Max Neukirchner for the win at the final corner, resulting in a collision which broke Neukirchner's collarbone. Checa's first two wins (following four podium finishes) both came in the meeting at the Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City on June 1 2008. He did not reach the podium again, but consistent results elsewhere allowed him to finish 5th overall in the series.
2009 so far:
In Australia Phillip Island, 27-28 February 1 March 2009- had a bad start to the season and finished 12th on race one and 13th in race 2.
In Qatar - Losail, 12-13-14 March 2009- Checa took fifth after starting from seventh on the grid, but could do no better than 13th in the second outing after suffering chatter problems in both races.
Suzuka 8 Hours
Riyuichi Kiyonari and Carlos Checa won the 2008 Suzuka 8 Hours. Kiyonari and Checa rode for Dream Honda Racing 11.
Personal opinion: Had a pretty good season on 2008 in a satellite Honda team, with very memorable moments, such as the first race in Qatar where he managed to Pass Rossi on the last race and in the last race of 2008 in Valencia where he want head to head with 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden.And now that Dani is injured, Dovi will need to develop the bike and I personally hope he will do well this year
Dovi and Rossi
From: http://www.andreadovizioso.com
I clearly remember when my father gave me my first bike as a present. It was the Malaguti machine that you can see in the photo. I found it outside the front door when I was four year old after betting with him. If I could ride my bicycle without the stabilisers, he would buy me a bike. I won the bet but I never expected such a beautiful surprise.
I still remember that moment as one of the biggest emotions in my life! My passion for the two wheels started then and when I was young I went and watched my Dad racing motocross every Sunday. I normally kept the timing for him and when he wasn’t riding, I was racing bicycles or mini-bikes challenging other children of my age.
At six years old, I had my first mini-bike and one year later I started racing both on circuits and dirt tracks. You can see on the photo below a mini-bikes race at Forlimpopoli, Italy - of course the little rider with the number 34 in the front of the GRC machine is me!
I have to say that it is also thanks to Antonio Gambarri, the owner of GRC, if I am a rider now. He is an extraordinary person and he helped me a lot when I was 11 and became an official rider. I want to thank him for all that he has done for me. I have ridden mini-cross bikes and mini-bikes until I was 14th years old. I also played football but I chose the track.
In 2000, I raced the Challenge Aprilia, my first championship on a 125cc machine. This was a major success for me as I got to ride a real bike. In 2001, I raced in the Italian Championship (and finished 4th) and I won the European Championship on a GP125. This success opened the door to the MotoGP World Championship, in which I have been racing since 2002 with a Honda bike for the team lead by Cirano Mularoni. 2004 has been a season full of incredible emotions. I clinched 5 victories and 11 podiums in total and at the end I conquered the 125cc World Title.
The following year, I moved up category and over three years I achieved 4 victories, ending up second in the championship twice and third once. These are fantastic results but I am not fully satisfied because my goal was to conquer the 250cc world title before moving to the MotoGP. However, in 2007 I have been very fast considering the lap times done on every single circuit and I am really pleased with that!
Now I am in MotoGP, the top class, where the fastest bikes of the world and the strongest riders ever compete. It is such an exciting challenge, I am so proud to be there... and I think its all started very well in Qatar.
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