MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden will sit out the MotoGP test at Jerez on November 28-30 in order to receive medical treatment to his injured right shoulder. The Repsol Honda rider will have further MRI and CT scans on November 29, at the Freemont Clinic in California, prior to an operation scheduled for the following day. The surgery will repair an undisplaced fracture through the right greater tuberosity (shoulder bone). At the same time the metal plate on the 25-year-old Americans right collarbone will be removed. The metal plate, a legacy of a Supermoto crash in 2004, was bent in the fall at this years Grand Prix of Portugal and, combined with the shoulder fracture, has caused Hayden considerable discomfort ever since. Hayden made light of the injury following the accident at Estoril, not wanting to offer championship rival Valentino Rossi the slightest psychological boost going into the MotoGP title showdown at Valencia. With the championship in the bag and the winter break approaching the decision has been made to complete the surgery to give the World Champion the maximum time for recovery before the 2007 testing programme begins at the end of January. Hayden’s team-mate, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, will attend the three-day Jerez test to continue the development of the RC212V. Speaking from his home in Owensboro, Kentucky, the World Champion said: “The shoulder’s been pretty uncomfortable since Estoril and the testing since the last race hasn’t made things any better it actually hasn’t been much fun to ride under these circumstances. Id love to be at the Jerez test and its going to be hard to be at laid up at home. But its time to get this thing fixed so that I can come back fully fit for the tests in January and February and be ready for the 2007 season.”

Former MotoGP World Championship racer James Ellison conducted a shakedown test of his new Corona Extra Honda CBR1000RR AMA Superbike during a Fastrack Riders track day Saturday at California Speedway, in Fontana, California. Ellison, his new Race Operations Manager Dwayne McCracken, suspension technician Stig Pettersson and a skeleton crew of the Corona Extra Honda team arrived at the 2.36-mile infield road course Saturday afternoon with a motorcycle that had been out of its crate for only 10 days but was already equipped with a host of HRC Superbike kit parts, 16.5-inch wheels and Dunlop slicks. “Basically, the plan was to go out to Daytona next week, but Dwayne and the boys have been working flat out on the bike and it was near-enough finished to give it kind of a shakedown,” Ellison told Roadracingworld.com before making a handful of laps Saturday. “So we thought we would give it a bit of a run-down and get rid of some of the gremlins. Obviously, Daytona is a very special place, so I would like to go there with a bit of knowledge of how to ride the bike.” Ellison will continue testing at California Speedway Sunday, before heading to the Dunlop tire test at Daytona International Speedway December 5-6.

Two-time and defending Venezuelan Superbike Champion Fernando Amantini qualified fastest for the combined Venezuelan National Superbike Championship and Latin American National Superbike Championship races scheduled for Sunday at Turagua, near Maracay, Venezuela. Amantini turned a 1:04.452 on his Kawasaki ZX-10R on his 15th of 17 laps in the 45-minute qualifying session held Saturday afternoon, setting a new track qualifying record. Robertino Pietri, who leads both the Venezuelan National Superbike Championship and the Latin American Superbike Championship points, qualified second fastest at 1:04.551. Pietri went back out late in the session in an attempt to better his time but his AMA Superstock GSX-R1000 blew a fork seal. Columbian Cesar Telles was third fastest on a Kawasaki ZX-10R at 1:06.326. Roadracingworld.com-sponsored Pietri has won all three of the 2006 Venezuelan Superbike Championship races held to date, with two of those also counting toward the Latin American Superbike Championship. The two races Sunday will conclude the Latin American Superbike Championship, with an additional two races completing the Venezuelan National Superbike Championship at Turagua December 10. American race mechanics James Lickwar and Peter Hively are working with Pietri at Turagua this weekend. Juan Carlos Lavado, the nephew of former 250cc World Champion Carlos Lavado, qualified fastest in the Supersport class on a Honda CBR600RR, turning a 1:07.453. Armando Ferrer, (who along with Pietri, Amantini and Victor Chirinos competed in the 2006 AMA Series), qualified second fastest at 1:07.519 on his AMA Supersport Kawasaki ZX-6RR. Jacquel Gonzalez qualified third fastest at 1:08.148 and Chirinos was fourth fastest despite losing a front brake caliper and crashing early in the session. Combined Qualifying FMV Venezuelan Superbike Championship FIM Latin American Superbike Championship Turagua, Maracay, Venezuela November 25, 2006 1. Fernando Amantini, Venezuela, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 1:04.453 2. Robertino Pietri, Venezuela, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:04.551 3. Cesar Telles, Columbia, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 1:06.326 4. Franco Pellegrino, Venezuela, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:07.280 5. Nirio Rivero, Cuba, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:07.765 6. Franklin Reveron, Venezuela, Honda CBR1000RR, 1:08.744 7. Ricardo Sune, Venezuela, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 1:09.088 8. Jose Neda, Venezuela, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:09.467 9. Claudio Torres, Venezuela, Honda CBR1000RR, 1:11.166 10. Manuel Bello, Venezuela, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:13.651 FMV Venezuelan National Superbike Championship Point Standings After 3 of 7 races 1. Pietri, 75 points 2. Telles, 52 3. Amantini, 40 4. Peregrino, 39 5. Reveron, 36 6. Sune, 22 7. Neda, 16 8. Rivero, 14 9. Armando Ferrer, Venezuela, Yam YZF-R1, 9 10. Reynaldo Brito, Venezuela, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 8 FIM Latin American Superbike Championship Point Standings After 2 of 4 races 1. Pietri, 50 points 2. Telles, 36 3. Pellegrino, 29 4. Reveron, 23 5. Amantini, 20 6. Rivero, 11 7. Sune, 11 8. Neda, 10 Combined Qualifying FMV Venezuelan Supersport Championship FIM Latin American Supersport Championship Turagua, Maracay, Venezuela November 25, 2006 1. Juan Carlos Lavado, Venezuela, Honda CBR600RR, 1:07.453 2. Armando Ferrer, Venezuela, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:07.519 3. Jacquel Gonzalez, Venezuela, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:08.148 4. Victor Chirinos, Venezuela, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:08.739 5. Miguel Boccardo, Venezuela, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:08.773 6. Alexander Rodriguez, Venezuela, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:09.817 7. Juan Carlos Rodriguez, Venezuela, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:10.111 8. Carlos Gulfo, Venezuela, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:11.435 9. Pablo Morales, Venezuela, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:13.794 10. Marcos Mojica, Venezuela, Honda CBR600RR, 1:13.936 FMV Venezuelan National Supersport Championship Point Standings After 3 of 7 races 1. Ferrer, 60 points 2. Boccardo, 53 3. Gulfo, 42 4. A. Rodriguez, 37 5. Chirinos, 37 6. Lavado, 34 7. J. Rodriguez, 31 8. Gonzalez, 23 9. Mojica, 22 10. Alberto Baglieri, Venezuela, Ducati 749, 16 FIM Latin American Supersport Championship Point Standings After 2 of 4 races 1. Ferrer, 50 points 2. Boccardo, 33 3. Chirinos, 29 4. Gulfo, 29 5. A. Rodriguez, 26 6. J. Rodriguez, 22 7. Mojica, 15 8. Bagliari, 10 9. Lavado, 9 10. Reveron, 8

Meetings were organized by the FIM with the organizers of all the events mentioned in the calendar below yesterday and with the first 18 permanent teams who took part in the 2006 Championship today. The FIM will maintain the system of permanent teams. Following the meeting, eleven teams have already announced their participation in the 2007 Championship (see list below). The final date for application from the other teams is January 15 next; the maximum number of permanent teams admitted for 2007 will be 17. The permanent teams commit themselves to take part in all the rounds of the World Championship. The provisional calendar of the 2007 Endurance World Championship is the following: Dates/Country/Event April 21/22 France Le Mans (24 H.) May 5 (TBC) Spain Albacete (6 H.) July 29 Japan Suzuka (8 H.) August 11/12 Germany Oschersleben (24 H.) (TBC) September 16/17 France Bol d’Or (24 H.) November 10 (TBC) Qatar Doha/Losail (6 H.) Belgium Zolder (6 H.) – Date and venue TBC TBC : to be confirmed The eleven teams who already announced their participation in the 2007 Championship are the following: Suzuki Castrol Team (FRA); Yamaha Phase One Endurance (GBR); Yamaha Austria Racing Team (AUT); Bolliger Team Switzerland (SUI); Primo Racing (BEL); Suzuki Sweden (SWE); Raffin Motos Kawasaki (FRA); No Limits Racing Team (ITA); Acropolis Zone Rouge (BEL); EWC Team Endurance Eurosport Benelux (NED); X-One Yamaha (ITA).

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP travels back to Europe for its final test of 2006, determined to continue with the promising start shown by the new Suzuki GSV-R800 at recent tests. The new 800cc has already produced promising performances at Valencia and Sepang, with John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen filling the top-two places at the Malaysian test just over a week ago. Suzuki has worked on the information gathered at those tests and will be bringing new engine control strategies and mapping information developed on the dyno in Japan to the test at Jerez in Spain on the 28th-29th-30th November. Nobuatsu Aoki will be joining Hopkins and Vermeulen at Jerez, in what looks like being a completely different type of test due to the colder air temperatures that will give less grip on the 4.4km circuit. The conditions will enable the riders and the factory to see how the bike performs in different circumstances and will assist Bridgestone in evaluating its new generation of tyres at lower track temperatures. The Jerez test will be the final time that Rizla Suzuki MotoGP is in action this year as the winter test ban comes into force on December the first. The testing veto will not mean a break for the team though, because it will be working hard in the factory to make sure that the GSV-R800 is as competitive it can be for when Rizla Suzuki MotoGP begins its assault on the 2007 MotoGP World Championship, starting with the first round at Qatar in March. John Hopkins: “I didn’t really want the last test at Sepang to end as we were making great progress with the bike. I hope that we can continue to do that at Jerez and we will also get the chance to see where we stand against other teams, as most of our competitors will be present. Suzuki has so far lived up to its promise of giving us a bike that will be on the pace for next year and this test will see how far we still have to go!” Chris Vermeulen: “This test should be interesting because we are expecting the temperatures to be a lot lower than the recent tests. It will give us an opportunity to see how the 800 and the Bridgestones perform in these sort of conditions. The Factory has worked on the info that John and I gave them from Sepang and Valencia so hopefully we will have some new things to help us move forward in readiness for next season. We really need to have a good test at Jerez so we can look forward to 2007 with continued optimism.”

AHRMA has posted a statement on its website regarding the organization’s recent bankruptcy and continuing legal battle with AHRMA founder, expelled AHRMA member and Team Obsolete owner Rob Iannucci. The statement can be found here: ~http://www.ahrma.org/legal/board_statement.htm~

CHAZ Davies, the former 125 and 250 Grand Prix star, who caused quite a stir when he finished fifth in his AMA Supersport debut at Mid-Ohio in October, has signed to ride for Celtic Racing in 2007. Davies will ride Celtic Racing Yamaha machinery in next season’s AMA Supersport and Formula Xtreme championships and the highly progressive and ambitious New York based team will be hoping that the 19-year-old Welsh wizard will have a sensational first full year in America. Davies will begin his 2007 preparations by travelling from his UK home to Florida in early December to participate in the Daytona tyre tests. Mid-Ohio is the only American track that Davies has experience of, but he proved at the venue that he is a quick learner as it was also his debut on a four-stroke machine. Davies ran the whole Mid-Ohio Supersport race in the company of champion Jamie Hacking, their duel remembered by thousands of television viewers.