Okada wildcard fuels pneumatic valve engine speculationSunday, 18 May 2008
With veteran Japanese rider Tadayuki Okada set for a wildcard run at Mugello in round six, the reappearance of Honda´s pneumatic valve engine could be on the agenda.
The next round of the World Championship, the Gran Premio d´Italia Alice, will see experienced Japanese rider Tadayuki Okada making a guest appearance for the Repsol Honda team, but it has not yet been confirmed whether he will be riding with an updated RC212V featuring a pneumatic valve engine.
Honda introduced the pneumatic valve motor to their 800cc prototype during 07-08 winter testing, but went back to the drawing board at the beginning of the season went it became apparent that their standard spring valve engine was still more competitive.
Speculation has grown that Okada will test, or perhaps even race with, a Honda pneumatic valve engine in Italy, though HRC intend to clarify the situation this week.
For now, Repsol Honda Team Manager Kazuhiko Yamano told motogp.com, `At the next race in Mugello Okada will participate as a wild card. With regard to which type of bike he will use I´m not going to confirm right now. He is a rider with Grand Prix experience and he will try to get a good result.´
FIM present DORNA with commemorative plaque
Sunday, 18 May 2008
On Sunday afternoon at Le Mans the FIM President Vito Ippolito presented Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta with a plaque to mark Dorna´s 250th Grand Prix.
The organisers of MotoGP, Dorna, were given a commemorative plaque by Mr Vito Ippolito, the President of the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) on Sunday in France, to acknowledge Dorna´s 250th Grand Prix, which took place at the last round in China.
Mr Ippolito thanked Dorna´s CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta for the all hard work the Spain-based company have done since the commencement of their Grand Prix involvement in 1992, as organisers and rights holders of the MotoGP World Championship.
Commenting on the landmark, Mr Ippolito said, `We are very happy to present Mr Ezpeleta with this commemorative plaque as a mark of our thanks for all the hard work Dorna undertake. As organisers of the World Championship they do a tremendous amount to promote and improve the sport and we are looking forward to the next 250 Grands Prix.´
www.motogp.com
