This has been a great week in for Americans in MotoGP. In the last test Hayden finished with the 3rd fastest time followed by Americans Ben Spies and Colin Edwards. This was a big relief for Hayden fans as day one he was down on the testing times almost 2 seconds off the pace. The final testing times below are from MotoGP.com

	Valentino Rossi	Fiat Yamaha Team	2:00.271	-	-	39
2	Casey Stoner	Ducati Marlboro Team	2:00.512	+0.241	+0.241	33
3	Nicky Hayden	Ducati Marlboro Team	2:00.703	+0.191	+0.432	42
4	Colin Edwards	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	2:00.988	+0.285	+0.717	35
5	Ben Spies	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	2:01.014	+0.026	+0.743	44
6	Loris Capirossi	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	2:01.320	+0.306	+1.049	50
7	Andrea Dovizioso	Repsol Honda Team	2:01.439	+0.119	+1.168	46
8	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	2:01.478	+0.039	+1.207	57
9	Hiroshi Aoyama	Interwetten-Honda MotoGP	2:01.692	+0.214	+1.421	50
10	Alvaro Bautista	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	2:01.732	+0.040	+1.461	25
11	Randy De Puniet	LCR Honda MotoGP	2:01.980	+0.248	+1.709	58
12	Marco Melandri	San Carlo Honda Gresini	2:02.078	+0.098	+1.807	60
13	Hector Barbera	Aspar Team	2:02.080	+0.002	+1.809	52
14	Mika Kallio	Pramac Racing Team	2:02.082	+0.002	+1.811	66
15	Yamaha T Yamaha T		2:02.287	+0.205	+2.016	18
16	Aleix Espargaro	Pramac Racing Team	2:02.367	+0.080	+2.096	49
17	Marco Simoncelli	San Carlo Honda Gresini	2:03.689	+1.322	+3.418	2

To top off the good news in MotoGP the AMA series is getting ready to kick off with the Daytona 200 next week. My pick for the AMA championship will be Graves Yamaha rider Josh Herrin to take the win at the initial race.







I commented on this blog http://didyouknow-bwhipple.blogspot.com/2010/02/did-you-know-about-ligers.html but it wouldn't allow me to add to list..

World Superbike test

The World Superbike test that took place this weekend has been nothing but depressing for American fans. Hayden turned his fastest lap of 1'35.763 almost 4 seconds off the leading time. Will this be a peak of what is to come in the season, I sure hope not. They haven't had many press releases or statements made about why the team has struggled so badly in the test. Beyond the disappointing test not much has happened in American Racers or Road racing. That will change here rather quickly with Daytona 200 quickly approaching.

Will Ben Spies win in his rookie season?

OnTheThrottle.TV has re ignited a fire that just seems to be unable to burn out. That question is will the former World Superbike champion dominate in MotoGP like he did his WSBK rookie season? Kevin Schwantze seems to think so as he stated in his recent interview with Dave Williams.

http://www.onthethrottle.com/content/view/516/1/

Personally I don't think he will win a straight up race in normal conditions. I think the best he will manage is a 3rd place if the aliens (Lorenzo, Rossi, Pedrosa, and Stoner) all are in full health and don't wreck. I think that Pedrosa will end up losing some of his steam that he had last season and become a 4th place fighter with Spies and Hayden.

Opening Test in AMA and MotoGP

It has been a big week in racing with MotoGP and the AMA having the opening test sessions this week.

For American racers in MotoGP it was a mix of emotions with rookie Ben Spies finishing the test with the 5th fastest lap, Colin Edwards (Ben's Teammate) finishing 7th and Ducati factory rider Nicky Hayden completing his fastest lap in 8th place. Nicky and Colin are saying that they were testing new parts and trying new things which is why they did not put any blazing laps in whereas Ben Spies who tested fifth feels that he could have gone quicker but suffered jet lag. Although each of the Americans finished in the top ten they still have not been able to break into the leading pack. Will they be able to this season, only time will tell.

The AMA had a few less surprises with the shake down of the new bikes being a bit uneventful as most teams haven't received any substantial changes with the factories all backing away and the money being cut back to individual teams. That being said the big news was the larger purse sizes for Daytona which is a huge sigh of relief for many of the privateer teams.

Click for new purse size