MotoGP Features

It had been expected that, as soon as Neil Hodgson wrapped up the 2003 World Superbike championship crown, Ducati would announce that he would ride a semi-factory Desmosedici in MotoGP next year. However, despite the Brit winning the WSBK title at Assen on 7 September, there has been no official announcement of what is expected to be a two-rider team run by Luis d'Antin.

Although it was resurfaced only four years ago, the Rio de Janeiro circuit doesn't have a reputation for offering the traction one would hope for while racing a 220-plus horsepower machine.

It was a simple thumb on a stopwatch button that decided the outcome of close finishing races when motorcycle grand prix racing started back in 1949 on the Isle of Man. Today the thumb has been made redundant as modern technology decides what the eye or the stopwatch cannot - the winner of some of the closest finishes in the history of the sport.

The main news to come out of Honda's Portuguese Grand Prix technical presentation was that there will be one less RCV on the MotoGP grid next season, that Valentino Rossi's contract talks are still continuing and that the V5 RCV is likely to race for at least one more year.

Sources close to Crash.net have indicated that both Garry McCoy and Andrew Pitt could lose their seats at Kawasaki, as team green calls-up AMA Superbike star Eric Bostrom to join Alex Hofmann in 2004.

The FIM has today announced the provisional calendar for the 2004 season, which sees the number of rounds increase from 16 to 17 with the addition of a Qatar Grand Prix on October 2.

Antonio Cobas, technical director of the Camel Pramac Pons team, describes the challenges that will face the MotoGP teams at this weekend's Czech Republic Grand Prix...

Jeremy McWilliams' headline grabbing performances on a 500cc KR3 during qualifying for the German Grand Prix raised some interesting questions about the future of two-strokes in the face of what had looked like being unstoppable 990cc four-stroke technology.

Sympathy is certainly not a word used frequently when Max Biaggi ever discusses the fortunes of his bitter rival Valentino Rossi, but it was on Max?s agenda after the events at Donington last weekend.

The tight and twisty nature of Sachsenring lends itself to close racing. This is partially influenced by it's rather short overall length - while the spaghetti layout itself has the reputation of making passing moves on fellow competitors difficult even at the best of times.

Last Sunday's British Grand Prix proved to be a controversial one, as on track winner Valentino Rossi was stripped of his victory two hours later for having passed under yellow flag, handing Max Biaggi his first victory of the year.