2002 Honda Shadow Sabre on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Casey Stoner To Test Factory Honda At Motegi

British publication MotorcycleNews.com is reporting that 2007 and 2011 MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner will test a factory Honda RC213V at the Twin Ring Motegi, Honda’s test track, August 6-7. Stoner’s shock retirement from MotoGP at the end of the 2012 season was met with skepticism in some circles, as many believed (and still do) that the 27 year-old, current Australian V8 Supercar driver would eventually make a comeback to two wheels. As it stands, HRC has no plans to enter Stoner as a wildcard entry at Phillip Island or Motegi MotoGP rounds, and insists the former champion’s services are being used strictly to help develop next year’s RC213V and the 1000cc production racer Honda plans to introduce next year.

How to solve the mystery of the wildcard replacement

With the two test riders coming forward to act as replacement riders for the injured Rossi and Aoyama, it brought back memories of the days when the grid would be gifted with wildcard riders from the respective countries. The Japanese rounds were always attended by some of the top guys with experience of the 500GP and MotoGP bikes, through racing them in their domestic championships. What resulted was getting to witness the exciting and talented Japanese riders, and bring new riders to the attention of the teams.

MotoGP to Hold Official Test in Argentina; South American Nation Returning to Calendar for 2014

Dorna Sports announced there will be a MotoGP test at Argentina’s Circuito Internacional Termas de Rio Hondo in July to allow teams to prepare for the track’s expected addition to the 2014 MotoGP calendar. Argentina was actually supposed to join the MotoGP tour this season, but the round was scrapped because of a dispute between the country and Spain after the Argentine government seized control of a Repsol subsidiary. Repsol is, of course, a prominent sponsor of several teams including Honda‘s factory team.