When was it announced that Stiggy Honda was folding? That might be old news but I wasn't aware of them being out of racing for 2010. Any other notable teams going away?

 

I watched I think every race of AMA, WSBK & MotoGP. I felt the DMG made the races less exciting to watch. Just hope this year DMG works to get the fans back v/s proving ther arrogance.

 

I just got into this stuff about a year and a half ago. I watched the end of MotoGP in 08 and watched every race and some quali's in 09. Some really good racing in there! Although since I'm a new fan to the sport, that may just be par for the course. ;]

This year I started paying a tad more attention, what with Ben Spies moving to MotoGP, and I watched a few WSBK races. ...by the way, I am utterly confused by the superpole rules and haven't had much luck finding any information about it... Can anyone sum up how exactly that works...?

Anyway, I'm a California kid so this coming year I plan to go to Laguna for MotoGP and Fontana for AMA. I'm baffled and somewhat dismayed that WSBK decided to race in Utah. Of all the places they could have picked in this country... really?

 

Welcome Zaarin!!! Glad to have you chime in. Here is the definition of Superpole & the race format below. There will be some modifications from the WSBK 2009 to 2010 season. Check out www.worldsbk.com. AMA & MotoGP have sites also to keep up on whats going on in the Moto world. Plus us droping our 2cents in...

Superpole for Superbike is a timed event to establish starting positions for motorcycle racers in World Superbike races.

A World Superbike weekend consists of:
- One free practice
- Two timed qualifying practices
- Superpole
- Two races (preceded by 20 minute warm-up sessions)

 

How long is the Free Practice session?

 

World Superbike class is that the timing of Superpole has been changed. Instead of three 12 minute sessions, the sessions will be different lengths. Superpole 1 will be 14 minutes, Superpole 2 will be 12 minutes and Superpole 3 will be just 10 minutes long. In addition, there will be a 25 minute break between the end of Free Practice 2 and Superpole, instead of the current 15 minutes. Don't have a time limit for Free Practice.

 

Those are really short sessions. Little time to learn the circuit.

 

I think Free Practice is longer. Plus, they race on the same tracks each year for the most part & testing...

 

MotoGP just announced that they will be going back to 1000cc engines in 2012! Here's the link:

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/749/52...c-in-2012.aspx

What's interesting is that they are limiting engines to a maximum of 4 cylinders, so Honda is going to have to give-up the V5. Hopefully this will allow more teams in the grid with cheaper, more production based, engines.

 

It's confirmed: http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/wsbk-stiggy-out/