Honda Road Racerhead #47

So with five weeks remaining in the year, we go from feast to famine in terms of road races to talk about, but that just means we get to explore some off-the-beaten-path areas of the sport through the winter months.

For example, this weekend marks the end of Spain’s 2009 CEV series, and a couple of names familiar to the ears of American road racing are on hand at the finale in Valencia. As usual, American Spaniard Kenny Noyes is competing in the Extreme class, preparing to make the switch to Moto2 for next season. Last weekend in Jerez, Noyes finished fourth after being rear-ended and running wide in a turn early in the race. Also in action (both last weekend and this), in the Moto2 class, is Venezuelan Robertino Pietri, who also be in Grand Prix racing next year.

Yesterday, Spanish website www.motocuatro.com posted a fairly complete (though still unofficial) list of Moto2 riders for next year, although the number of racers has dropped from thirty-eight to thirty, Roger Lee Hayden is still on it, with Matteo Pasini under the JiR team, apparently sponsored by Kino Racing. No word on whether Kevin Schwantz will be involved as a team principal, but when I spoke to him at Valencia last week, it sounded like the chances were about 50/50.

(Speaking of young-gun Americans racing overseas, check out the new web series on the U.S. participants in this year’s Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup—Jake Gagne, Benny Solis, and Hayden Gillim.)

That Moto Cuatro list didn’t specify which chassis the various teams would be riding, but it was nonetheless a little surprising to hear of Mapfre Aspar riders Julian Simon and Mike Di Meglio circulating on a BQR machine at Valencia yesterday, given that team’s close relationship with Aprilia and the assumption that they and others will be racing an Aprilia chassis next season. That Moto Cuatro site says the outing was innocent, but according to another Spanish site—www.motoworld.es—it’s a sign that Aprilia may be withdrawing from the class and instead taking on MotoGP in 2012!

There’s been no shortage of interest in Moto2, and despite the fact that the class’ lap times are thus far considerably slower than those of the now-defunct 250cc Grand Prix division, it’s deserved. The number of teams and riders it’s attracted is impressive, and has no doubt helped prompt the newfound momentum behind a sort of Moto1 format for the premier class, which looks likely to adopt production-based engines in 2012. That very momentum, however, may end up inadvertently hurting Moto2, if there’s anything this report, which has Aprilia setting up a second World Superbike team (possibly with Alex de Angelis as rider; though he’s on that aforementioned Moto Cuatro list as a Moto2 rider for the Quereseno squad) and using the RSV4 engine from that project as the basis for a return to the premier class.

There’s another group of Americans on track overseas this weekend, testing themselves on the infamous Macau Grand Prix circuit, which threads through the streets of Macau, China, and is celebrating its forty-third running this year. Here’s Laurel Allen with an update on them:

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Thanks, CJ. Macau earns that “infamous” label thanks to a lot of guardrails, the kind of debris you’d expect on actual streets, and its tradition of running both motorcycles and F3 cars on the same weekend. In fact, the official info sheet given to participating riders and teams ends with a section labeled “ONE FINAL WORD” that begins like this:

“The Macau Circuit is challenging but DANGEROUS. Please treat it with respect. In particular, on the first day of practice, there is usually a lot of dirt on the track making it very slippery. Please take particular care during this session. We have organised practice so that the first Thursday practice is untimed for the purposes of qualifying so that you can use it for learning the circuit without pressure to put up times. The circuit will get better once the cars have had a full day on the track.”

If you’re thinking that sounds like a good event to bench race instead of actually race, you’re not alone: while past events boasted names like Kevin Schwantz and Carl Fogarty, Macau has increasingly become the domain of tough privateers and career “real roads” racers, and this year’s U.S. representatives—organized by team manager Henry DeGouw—is a case in point.

Riders Mark Miller, Michael Barnes, Jeremy Toye, and Scott Jensen—all familiar to the AMA Pro paddock—make up this year’s brave team, and thanks to Miller’s Road Racer X blog, you can get the skinny on other-side-of-the-world happenings straight from the rider’s mouth.

Unfortunately, the weekend’s already over for at least one of our guys: Jensen tucked the front in final qualifying and ended up with a bike that’s “fixable, but not with what I brought for spares.” The main thing, obviously, is that Jensen is himself intact after the crash: “Managed to get spun around before hitting the wall,” he told his Facebook friends this morning, “so I hit it square with my back. Luckily it was covered with tires and a lightweight deflector wall, so I walked away. Pretty sore but will be fine … no real injuries.”

Our best to Jensen and to all the riders competing this weekend. These guys aren’t doing it for the coin (Macau’s first-place finisher earns about $2,000)—it’s all about the glory.

Now back to CJ:

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Thanks, LCA.

So quiet have things been on the AMA Pro front of late that the test at Auto Club Speedway largely flew under the radar, with only Yoshimura Suzuki and Graves Yamaha in attendance. As expected, Yosh ran a two-rider effort with just Tommy Hayden and Blake Young, while Graves was represented by Josh Hayes, Josh Herrin, and Tommy Aquino (no word on whether Ben Bostrom—who was still in Costa Rica for a mountain bike race—will be back in blue next year). David Swarts has a nice write-up from the test on Roadracing World.

Fontucky wasn’t the only quiet test this week. After a last-minute rule change to allow a special rookie outing, Rizla Suzuki was at Estoril for three days with test rider Nobuatsu Aoki and new signee Alvaro Bautista. The team continued trying out the Akrapovic exhaust systems that they’d tested at Valencia, so don’t be surprised if they’re not with Yoshimura next season. The winter test ban comes into affect at the end of this month, and the next all-teams MotoGP outing isn’t scheduled until February, in Sepang.

In other MotoGP news this week, the series schedule was slightly modified from the version released just one week earlier, with the Czech Grand Prix bumped forward one week to August 15. That’s good news for the Red Bull Indianapolis GP, because it means the two races are no longer back-to-back, which should help with promotional activities.

None other than Valentino Rossi is also in action this weekend, only he’ll be on four wheels, trading in the Yamaha YZ450F that he raced in a charity motocross event last week for a Kessel Motorsport GT3 Ferrari 430 in the Vallelunga Six Hours. The car, which is adorned with his signature #46, will also be piloted by Rossi pal Uccio Salucci and GT racer Andrea Ceccato during the endurance race (in today’s practice sessions, Vale was faster than his two teammates, despite taking a detour off-course at one point). Rossi warmed up by testing the car on Wednesday at Mugello. The race takes place on Sunday.

Even Rossi’s team manager, Davide Brivio, is racing a car this weekend, though his outing is as a navigator for rally veteran Michele Gregis in a Citroen Xsara WRC competing in the Rally Ronde “Citta dei Mille.” Last year, the two finished second in the same race.

Road Racer X publisher Scott Wallenberg returned from the EICMA show held in Milan last week and posted this slide show from the event.

Have you seen this amazing video of a self-assembling Suzuki GSX-R yet?

Thanks for reading Road Racerhead. Talk to you next week.