Furusawa must be satisfied with keeping Valentino till 2010.

well... i am sure that everybody is happy about that!! you can see that he really wants to win! and he loves every minute on that bike!

Sometimes we can see Furusawa smiling and laughing like a kid when Vale wins.
It's strange to see a Japanese showing his emotions.
Another of Valentino's miracles.

Yup, that's true. I think that is the main attractions of Valentino. Suit his name, suit the character too....

Speculation and opinion from the author, but an entertaining article to read.

Nicky Hayden To Miss Brno MotoGP Round


Submitted by Kropotkin on Tue, 2008-08-12 10:36.

Repsol Honda have just officially announced that Nicky Hayden will miss the Czech Grand Prix at Brno this weekend. The Kentuckian damaged his heel when he landed heavily after a jump during a Supermoto race at the X Games in Los Angeles on August 1st, and is still in a lot of pain.
Although the injury does not necessarily prevent Hayden from riding, racing at Brno could exacerbate the damage, leaving the American with problems for the rest of the season. Citing the examples of other riders who have ridden with injuries only to make their problems worse, Hayden said he would prefer to concentrate on recovery rehab, and come back at Misano fit, and try to finish the season well.

Hayden apologized to his team, especially after having received special permission to take part in the race at the X Games. "I just wanted to do some riding during the break, have some fun and I thought that maybe it'd give me a little spark for the rest of the season, but it backfired on me," he stated in the press release.
Hayden's decision to withdraw from Brno is interesting, from a number of perspectives.


Firstly, it points to a shift in thinking inside the paddock about riding with injuries. Every rider does it, as it's just not possible to ride an entire MotoGP season without crashing at some point, whether it be during the race, practice or just on a training ride. If you want to ride on the limit, first you have to find the limit. And that means that sometimes you have to go over the limit.


Thanks to the outstanding protection offered by modern protective motorcycle gear and the never-ending push to improve safety at racetracks, injuries are becoming less severe, meaning often riders are racing with some discomfort, rather than serious pain. But riding a large, hard object with protuding parts at high speed will inevitably mean that riders end up hurt, leaving them the choice to brave the pain and score points, or sit the race out and focus on recovery.

This season, a lot of riders have been riding badly hurt to little apparent effect. Loris Capirossi has ridden the Suzuki to mid-pack results with various injuries, and John Hopkins has soldiered on with the frankly disappointing Kawasaki with a groin injury, a back injury, and will appear at Brno still recovering from a broken leg.


Dani Pedrosa attempted to ride at Laguna Seca with broken fingers and a broken ankle, and only gave up when it became apparent that the tires Michelin brought meant that Pedrosa couldn't be competitive, whether healthy or not. And then there's Jorge Lorenzo, who you could argue made his injuries considerably worse by racing when injured, with the pain from his huge highside at Shanghai possibly partly responsible for crashes at several races which followed.

Hayden's decision to skip a round and come back when fit could mean that some riders are just not prepared to take that risk for a handful of points, unless they are still in with a chance at the title. The thinking may be that if you are not in contention for the championship, then you need to concentrate on podiums and race wins, and foot and hand injuries are precisely the kind of problem that will prevent you from being able to push hard enough to run at the front. Whether this is a one off, or whether we will see this more often towards the end of the season remains to be seen, but it will be interesting to see if this is a trend among the riders or not.

The other, slightly more conspiratorial, explanation for Hayden's decision to withdraw from the Brno Grand Prix is that he believes that Repsol Honda will not renew his contract. Hayden has been waiting for word from Honda for a couple of months now, and as the season has progressed, his prospects with Honda have looked less and less realistic.


If Hayden has decided that Repsol are unlikely offer him a new contract, then it makes more sense for him to concentrate less on pleasing his current employer, and more on impressing future employers. And struggling around outside the top 10 with an injury makes less of an impression than dicing with the front men while fully fit.

Of course, that is just speculation, based on nothing more than a press release and a healthy dose of skepticism. With Repsol Honda due to announce their team very soon now, we shall soon see just how accurate that speculation turns out to be.

Interesting article Jossi. I think that he is right in not racing. Unless you are a truly amazing rider (*winks*) you generally aren't able to make good points when injured.

I am getting really curious now how next year's teams will look like... Hope we will find out soon!!!

Ezpeleta and Uncini listen to riders´ suggestions on corner safety

Saturday, 16 August 2008
In a meeting on Saturday at the Brno circuit the 17 MotoGP riders present made suggestions on how to improve safety on cornering in the premier class.



looks like they are havin a blast

Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta and Riders´ Safety Representative Franco Uncini listened to a number of suggestions from the riders in the premier class in a meeting on Saturday evening at the Cardion ab Grand Prix Ceske republiky on how to improve safety as the 800cc era unfolds.


Following the Riders' Safety Commission meeting on Friday, regular members including experienced Italians Loris Capirossi and Valentino Rossi invited the entire MotoGP field (the absent Nicky Hayden was unable to attend) to put forward their suggestions on how to increase safety, in particular on corners, before they collectively presented their ideas to Mr. Ezpeleta and Uncini.


Having received the proposals the next step will be for Mr. Ezpeleta to discuss the way forward at the next meeting of the Grand Prix Commission, which in addition to Dorna comprises the FIM, MSMA and IRTA.


Mr Ezpeleta explained, `We have realised that speed on corners is increasing dramatically and we have worked hard to increase safety at circuits. This was discussed in the Riders' Safety Commission meeting yesterday with some of the riders but due to the importance of the matter we decided to talk with all the riders.´
`Therefore, the riders came to the meeting today, I introduced the problem, they discussed it together and they have come up with some ideas to be presented to the Grand Prix Commission to resolve the problem.´

I hope he'll do it fast because nowadays there is more injuries that safe riding. It's not fun too.

Ryder Notes II: This Time It's For Real
maybe...

by julian ryder
Saturday, August 16, 2008

A meeting is taking place right now between Carmelo Ezpeleta (Dorna boss) and the MotoGP riders. The subject? A one tyre rule?

Is this really necessary? All they have to do is wait for Honda to finally lose patience with Michelin--the 'Blade that won the 8 Hour was on Bridgestones--and we'll have a single-tyre supplier by default without having to write any rules.


????????????





EDIT:
found some more on that



MotoGP calls for new safety measures

By Matt Beer Saturday, August 16th 2008, 20:18 GMT
MotoGP commercial rights-holder Dorna has called for a reduction in cornering speeds in the sport to prevent further injuries to riders, following a recent spate of high-speed crashes.

The organisation held a meeting with all the MotoGP riders at Brno on Saturday night to discuss potential regulation changes that could improve the level of safety in the sport.

The 2008 season has featured a string of injurious crashes, resulting in several leading riders being temporarily sidelined - with Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, Loris Capirossi and John Hopkins all forced to sit out events following violent accidents in the first half of 2008.


Although the 800cc engine formula and fuel restrictions that were introduced last season have succeeded in reducing straightline speeds, cornering speeds have now become a more significant issue, with faster lap times being produced at most circuits despite the cut in power.


Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta therefore believes that cornering speeds must now be reduced in order to keep the bikes' performance within safe limits.

"In principal, in the last races we realised that the speed in the corners has been increased dramatically," said Ezpeleta. "In Laguna Seca the straightline speed was almost the same as last year, but the lap times were 1.5 seconds faster.

"It is important to realise that we are increasing the speed in the corners, that means that all the work we are doing with the Safety Commission regarding the safety of the circuit is every time more difficult.

"I received from the promotors that it is important to talk about that, exactly the same as what has happened with the reduction of the speeds on the straight with 990 to 800.

This is the problem we have right now."

He added that the significance of the issue was such that it had been necessary to consult the entire MotoGP paddock rather than just the existing Safety Commission.

"I think this is very important," Ezpeleta said.
"Yesterday we talked in the Grand Prix Safety Commission with some of the riders, but due to the importance of the matter, we decided to talk with all of the

riders.

"We asked all them to come to the meeting, I introduced to them the problem, they agreed, they discussed it for one hour. They proposed some ideas to be presented to the Grand Prix Commission to try to solve it.

"We will present that to the GPC, which is made up of the FIM, MSMA and Dorna, then everybody will discuss it."


The Dorna boss said the issue had arisen partly because the owners of the MotoGP circuits were now having to spend significantly more on safety facilities to cope with the increased cornering speeds of the modern bikes.

"The promoters of the circuits have spent more than 80 million euro, and presently they are spending more than 1.7 million more than they were three years ago on safety," said Ezpeleta.

"This is something that cannot continue, and is it necessary to go more and more fast? No it isn't."




Ezpeleta also played down suggestions that Dorna had proposed the adoption of a single tyre rule during the meeting.

"They discussed things but we cannot tell what is the outcome," Ezpeleta told autosport.com when asked whether control tyres had been proposed.

"We have decided that what they proposed will go to the MSMA, not to the press.

"This meeting was to discuss rider safety. Single tyres could be one of the issues to discuss, but it was not the issue to discuss, which was safety."


The possibility of control tyres for MotoGP had been floated last autumn amid suggestions that Bridgestone's dominance of the 2007 season was affecting the quality of the racing, but was ultimately rejected in favour of tweaks to the tyre testing and allocation rules.





if he says promoters who exactly does he mean??
the owners of the tracks??

GOOD FOR THEM!