Dani Pedrosa has flown home to Spain after a fairly serious crash at Qatar during testing. His injuries will require surgery; a screw for the fractured radius bone in his left arm, and surgery/ skin graft for his now further damaged left knee. I know I poke fun at the Pud a lot, but I hate to see a rider down.... so here's wishing you a fast and flawless recovery Dani. You are a formidable opponent on track and make for some interesting races.
In other Qatar-related news (that's about all there is now anyway), Stoner topped the timesheets early and maintained his standing even though he completed fewer laps than any of the other riders, proving he has not lost his edge through the winter break despite his recent wrist surgery. Valentino rolled in just under Casey. The top five was rounded out by Nicky Hayden on his new Duc (appears to be settling in quite well!), Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki.. GET IT old man!!!) and Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) respectively. Marco on his last-minute-Kawasaki-effort machine ended up 16th on the sheets for Hayate Racing, over 3 seconds off of Casey's pace.
Monster Energy Drink has agreed to sponsor Tech 3 Yamaha for the 2009 season (and beyond). They have now been dubbed Monster Yamaha Tech3, and the infamous M Claw will adorn the rockets piloted by Colin Edwards and James Toseland. They also scored a small sticker on Rossi's helmet in a personal sponsorship deal - which is relatively old news, but I thought I'd throw it in here anyway as fodder.
Ducati ran the first tests on their new swing arm design, and got the basic thumbs-up. They admit it's going to take some fine tuning, but judging by the lap times for both Nicky and Casey, I don't think it will need much. Valentino reports that he is generally happy with his machine in these early stages, as is his teammate Jorge.
April 12th is right around the corner (but still can't frickin come fast enough for me) and with all the drama, rule changes, last minute seatings (ah hem... Kawasaki) and rookies in the field, this will no doubt be a fantastically entertaining season.
Until next time ....
Rubb'er Down :)
Kristen
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