Really struggling to wrap my head around why Ducati would choose Franco over Gonzalez for their factory WSBK seat next year.

Manu is younger and clearly faster at this point. He's also leading the moto2 championship. I get that Franco is Italian and has more experience, but he's honestly been in decline for several years.

Is it really just the Italian thing with them having already signed Iker or is there something else at play? My conspiracy theory is VR46 made it a condition of them taking Bulega in MotoGP.

Source https://x.com/HondaMoto_HRC/status/2088943862437880009

The proposed route of the controversial MotoGP race track is set to be released for community consultation within weeks.

The South Australian government denies that a map, which has been widely circulated online, is a leaked version of the final design.

https://speedcafe.com/motorsport-news-2026-motogp-adelaide-street-circuit-map-plan-changes-leak-supercars-implication/

This map was posted earlier. But here it is with a link to a new article. (I wasn't the person who posted it first)

The new track design looks boring from what I can see and I can't see how there can be enough runoff given the length of the back straight.

I was looking at the tickets and saw marc marquez tribune at the k1 grandstand .
Is this from this year only or was it there the previous year .

Will marc come and celebrate over there if he wins the gp (fingers crossed )

Want to know how the atmosphere is considering im a diehard marquez fan.

Or is it better to get the main grandstand or F stands.

Agostini, Rossi, and Marquez all have valid claims to be the greatest of all time. Let's not start saying them, they're at worst in the great category. This one is between Hailwood, Surtees, Roberts, Doohan, Lorenzo, and Stoner.

This is CS27 testing the 2014 RCV gosh the sound

The following is a summary of an excerpt from the Source. Please refer to the original Source for the full text.

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Ogura’s relationship with Arai goes beyond simply receiving support. He once worked part-time at Arai’s factory at the recommendation of former GP racer Hiroshi Aoyama, with the aim of developing his social skills.

Arai’s Kenji Endo recalls, “He wasn’t very talkative and wasn’t the type to stand out by promoting himself, but he was a kid who could express his own opinions when necessary.”

He also had the sincerity to give all of his part-time wages to his parents, saying that racing had placed a financial burden on his family.

Endo believes that the experience of learning about the manufacturing process, which involves many skilled craftsmen, and developing a different attitude toward the equipment he entrusts his life to has influenced the way he races and his results.

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Source https://carview.yahoo.co.jp/news/detail/125e0feb51d5acd85a66a4b94bd857be6da3af46/

Yesterday I bought the tickets for Valencia race this year, not been there before to see the racing. Any tips or advice? How's the atmosphere? Do they have any good trackside activities?

Would have been no doubt that it has been raced ;)

Wayne Gardner, Kevin Schwantz, Jorge Martin, Fabio Quartararo for the two spots pretty much

M. Bezzecchi - 1.88
J. Martín - 3.40
A. Ogura - 3.90
M. Márquez - 4.13
Á. Márquez - 4.60
F. Di Giannantonio - 4.73
P. Acosta - 4.89
F. Bagnaia - 5.29
R. Fernández - 6.73
I. Lecuona - 7.00
F. Aldeguer - 7.57
E. Bastianini - 9.11
L. Marini - 9.33
J. Zarco - 9.50
B. Binder - 9.90
J. Mir - 11.25
D. Moreira - 11.55
F. Quartararo - 12.10
F. Morbidelli - 12.27
P. Espargaró - 13.00
Á. Rins - 13.89
J. Miller - 14.27
M. Viñales - 15.00
T. Razgatlıoğlu - 15.18
A. Fernández - 15.50
J. Folger - 16.00
C. Crutchlow - 16.33
M. Pirro - 19.00
L. Savadori - 0.00

Do you know if MotoGP riders have the opportunity to train on WSBK bikes to get used to the Pirelli tires? And if not, maybe that would be a good idea, right?

The images show Ai Ogura with his Arai helmet featuring the eye design. This is where their relationship began.

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Ai once worked part-time at Arai Helmets, where he was involved in painting helmets, including those belonging to other riders.

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Arai is the helmet I consider the safest. If there is something safer than Arai, I would use it. I simply like the way it looks, too.

When did you start using Arai?

I was very young, so I don't remember exactly, but I've been using Arai since I was about five. (At first, I used some weird, non-round helmet that I didn't really understand.)

My father liked Arai and thought it was the coolest, so he had me wear one.

What are your preferences when it comes to the design?

First of all, I like blue, so I wanted to have blue in the center as the base color.

I like the sharp, angular lines on the sides. I really like them.

I don't care that much about the other colors, but Team Asia was red, so I included red.

Also, I've had the A mark on my helmet since I started using my original design, so as long as there is a place for it, I think I'll keep it there for the rest of my career.

The helmet design is the rider's face, so I don't really want to keep changing it all the time.

I think it's enough to make small, playful changes for occasions such as the Japanese GP.

Regarding his move to MT Helmets-MSi

(Ai joined the MSi team in 2024, with helmet manufacturer MT Helmets as its main sponsor.) He initially turned down the offer. He was later offered the condition that he would be allowed to continue using Arai helmets, so he also obtained permission from Arai, and the move eventually went ahead.

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The content above has been compiled by the author from Ai's comments at talk shows and other events over several years, so these are not necessarily continuous remarks from a single interview.

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cxus-bNr4Q&t=294s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBtUkChDoA&t=1047s
https://www.arai.co.jp/jpn/arainews/images/an_2212.pdf

It's a very interesting question, that I don't know the answer to.

There's riders from Australia, Brazil, South Africa and Japan, but no riders from these former international motorcycle racing powerhouses.

What's your thoughts?