The PRAMAC D’ANTIN MOTOGP Team is pleased to announce the confirmation of ALEX HOFMANN for the 2007 season. The German rider will be the Team mate of Alex Barros and will have at his disposal the DUCATI DESMOSEDICI GP7, with tyres BRIDGESTONE. His experience, with the Italian bike and the new tyres, will surely be useful for the whole Team, especially with the arrival of the new 800cc. The first test will be in January, in Malaysia. In the meanwhile, HOFMANN will remove the 16 screws and the 2 plates he’s got in his foot and in his ankle, from the crash he had last year during the GP of Japan. The operation will be done tomorrow, Friday 3rd November. He will remain in Hospital during 3-4 days and his rehabilitation will take about three weeks. ALEX HOFMANN: “I want to thank Paolo Campinoti, Luis d’Antín and DUCATI for this new opportunity. After one year of hard work, during which I always tried to make it the best as I could, thinking about 2007, I’m happy to have the opportunity, as I hoped, to take part in a good season with a great “package” bike-tyres. In 2007, my aim will be to demonstrate that I can be a Top rider in the MotoGP class as well. I can’t wait to go on track and make the first test”. LUIS D’ANTIN (Team Manager): “We’re happy to confirm ALEX HOFMANN for the 2007 season that will be rich of news. He always worked making the maximum during the whole 2006 season, when things weren’t easy, and he deserved our trust. He knows the DUCATI and the BRIDGESTONE tyres well, which will help us to work immediately in the best way”.

Camel Yamaha retains Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards.

Ducati Marlboro retains Loris Capirossi, parts with Sete Gibernau and signs Casey Stoner.

Gresini Racing loses title sponsor, Fortuna Honda, but will carry on with Toni Elias and Marco Melandri.

Honda LCR parts with Casey Stoner and signs Carlos Checa.

Kawasaki Racing parts with Shinya Nakano, signs Olivier Jacque and retains Randy De Puniet.

Konica Minolta Honda parts with Makoto Tamada and signs Shinya Nakano.

Pramac d’Antin Ducati signs Alex Barros and retains Alex Hofmann.

Repsol Honda retains Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa.

Rizla Suzuki retains John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen.

Team Roberts retains Kenny Lee Roberts and hopes to add a second rider for 2007 season pending budget.

Tech 3 Yamaha parts with Carlos Checa and James Ellison and signs Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli.

The new Ilmor X³ team has two spots to fill for the full 2007 season after Garry McCoy raced the new 800cc, V4 machine in the 2006 Estoril and Valencia MotoGP rounds. The team is currently looking at Jeremy McWilliams, 41, who will be testing the X³ in coming weeks. McCoy, 34, and Alex de Angelis, 22, who just placed 3rd overall in the 250cc GP Championship, are also possible riders.

Spots Remaining

There are 21 total MotoGP rides available; two remain to be filled at Ilmor X³.

2006 MotoGP Riders Without Confirmed Rides For 2007

Jose Luis Cardoso

James Ellison

Sete Gibernau

New MotoGP Riders For 2007

Tech 3 Yamaha’s Sylvain Guintoli, 24, took 9th place in the 2006 250cc GP Championship as a privateer and was a stand-in at the 2002 Czech Grand Prix, his MotoGP class debut. He is also one of Tech 3’s current test riders.

Kawasaki Racing’s Olivier Jacque, 31, the 2000 250cc World Champion, has been a test rider for Moriwaki Racing and Kawasaki Racing since riding for the Yamaha Tech 3 MotoGP team from 2001-2003. He finished second on a Kawasaki as a wild card in the 2005 Chinese GP, substituting for an injured Alex Hofmann.

Pramac d’Antin’s Alex Barros, 36, has returned to the MotoGP class after a year with Klaffi Honda in which he finished seventh in the 2006 Superbike World Championship. Before joining Klaffi Honda for the 2006 season, Barros had a 15-year 500cc Grand Prix/MotoGP run, from 1990-2005.

Roger Hayden and Jamie Hacking prepare to launch their all-out assault in AMA Superbike and Supersport Featuring an awesome mix of talent and technology, the Kawasaki Roadracing Team enters 2007 with its sights aimed firmly at the top of the podium. Roger Hayden returns stronger and faster than ever, doing battle in AMA Superbike and Supersport alongside his new teammate Jamie Hacking. Campaigning the mighty Ninja® ZX™-10R Superbike and the all-new Ninja ZX-6R Supersport machine throughout the 2007 AMA roadracing season, the Kawasaki Racing Team is poised to regain the AMA Supersport title and storm to the front in Superbike competition. Kawasaki’s roadracing efforts are strengthened with the addition of reigning AMA Supersport and Superstock Champion Jamie Hacking, following his fantastic 2006 racing season. The transplanted Englishman, who now lives in Denver, N.C., is a fierce competitor with three AMA Pro Racing championships to his credit, winning the 2003 AMA Supersport Championship in addition to his 2006 titles. In 2007, Hacking will defend his Supersport title on the Ninja ZX-6R and make his much-anticipated return to AMA Superbike competition aboard the factory ZX-10R. Hacking’s toughest 2006 Supersport competition came from the Kawasaki of Roger Hayden and the new teammates look forward to continuing their Supersport rivalry into next season. Roger Hayden, 23, from Owensboro, Ky., may be the youngest of the famous Hayden brothers, but he’s always been a tough competitor. He began 2006 with dominating performances in the AMA Supersport class, winning the season opener at Daytona, then following it up with a win at Barber Motorsports Park. An injury forced him to miss the next round, dropping him out of the title chase. Once fully-recovered, Hayden continued his winning ways with podium finishes at Miller Motorsports Park, Laguna Seca and Mid Ohio I. Roger won the Supersport season finale at Mid Ohio II and looks forward to carrying that momentum into his 2007 Supersport title run. Hayden showed great speed during his first few rides on the factory ZX-10R Superbike, before injury forced him to miss several Superbike events. Even with those challenges, his speed and talent were enough to secure 2006 AMA Superbike Rookie of the Year honors. Hayden expects to take the next step in 2007, as he returns to the ZX-10R for a full season. Kawasaki Roadracing Team Manager Mike Preston is looking forward to an exciting year in 2007. “With the two hottest riders and an all-new 600, we’re looking for great things in AMA Supersport,” said Preston. “Roger also showed good speed this year during his Superbike debut and looked set to walk-off with the Supersport Championship, before injuries sidelined his championship run. As for Jamie Hacking, it’s a well-known fact that he has both the drive and the experience to mount a strong defense of his 2006 Supersport title and we expect him to be very quick on the Superbike as well.” Kawasaki is aiming for new heights in 2007 with an all new 600, a well-developed 1000 and two of the best riders in AMA competition. Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A. (KMC) markets and distributes Kawasaki motorcycles, ATVs, personal watercraft and utility vehicles through a network of more than 1,500 independent retailers, with an additional 7,700 retailers specializing in power products and general purpose engines. KMC and its affiliates employ nearly 2,400 people in the United States, with 400 of them located at the Irvine, California headquarters. Kawasaki’s tagline, “Let the good times roll.™”, is recognized worldwide and the brand has become synonymous with powerful, stylish motorcycles for over four decades. Information about Kawasaki’s complete line of recreational products and Kawasaki affiliates can be found on the Internet at www.kawasaki.com.

Q+A with HIROSHI YAMADA – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager Motorcycle Racing Troy Bayliss took an incredible fairytale win on Bridgestone tyres in Valencia, leading his team-mate Loris Capirossi over the line for a dominant Ducati one-two. While the focus was on the World Championship with Nicky Hayden securing an emotional title, Bridgestone was enjoying its fourth win of the season and second of the year in Spain. A sensational Ducati 1-2 on Bridgestone tyres must have been the perfect end to the season, Mr. Yamada? “The Valencia GP was an excellent weekend for Bridgestone and the 1-2 on Sunday afternoon was a fitting end to our successful season. Right from the start of the weekend our tyres appeared to be competitive with each of our teams setting some encouraging times on race tyres. But I do not think anyone would have been able to predict correctly the race result. Troy Bayliss was exceptional and was backed up by another strong performance from Loris which meant that the Ducati-Bridgestone package started and ended the 2006 season with Spanish victories.” How were things looking after the debut practice sessions on Friday? “We experienced two relatively trouble-free sessions on Friday and at the end of the day all three of our teams were front-runners. The pace on race tyres was looking good with the Ducatis, Kawasakis and Suzukis all capable of lapping in the low 1m33s bracket. The timesheets on Friday were a bit mixed up because we also completed some runs on qualifying rubber with Loris, Randy and Chris, which in fact masked the solid performance on race rubber.” How much benefit was derived from completing these qualifying simulations on Friday? “There is always a benefit to be derived from simulating a qualifying run on Friday afternoon because the track conditions will usually be more representative. On this specific occasion, we opted to evaluate some of our softer compound qualifying tyres and we saw that the riders were not able to get a full lap out of the tyre. This allowed us to plan accordingly for Saturday afternoon, knowing that a harder qualifying tyre would yield better results. Loris’s best lap was 1m32.220s, around 0.4s off last year’s pole time and 0.9s off his eventual qualifying time.” Valencia was one of Bridgestone’s strongest qualifying results of the year. Was that an important factor in the final race result? “Valencia is a notoriously tight and slow circuit, which in turn limits overtaking options, so obtaining a good grid position is important. Riders then have a vital job at the start to retain their position off the line and through the first corner. With Ducati in second and third, as well as Shinya in fourth, we were well placed for a good race result. The Suzukis were in eighth and ninth but more importantly only 0.6s from Rossi’s pole time and 0.2s quicker than last year’s pole time. It was a good all-round performance from all Bridgestone-shod teams.” You must be pleased with the Qualifier of the Year results with five Bridgestone riders in the top ten? “We are proud of our qualifying performances this year, which really demonstrate the outright performance of our tyres at their limit. Only in two races this season have we not seen a Bridgestone-shod rider on the front row and it is particularly pleasing for me to see a Kawasaki, Suzuki and Ducati rider each represented in the top six of the entire year with Shinya third, John fifth and Loris sixth overall.” On to the race, what were your thoughts with Troy and Loris leading 1-2? “It was amazing to watch and a great performance by Troy, Loris, Ducati and Bridgestone. We had only been able to simulate a distance of 20 laps in practice and we had seen that the tyres were quick, consistent and durable over that distance, but that was 10 laps less than the complete race distance! Those last ten laps were a bit nerve-wracking, but by that point they had built up a good lead over the new World Champion Nicky and the result was well deserved. Loris set the fastest lap of the race, 1m32.924s, but he also claims fastest lap of the weekend with a 1m32.255s which was set on race tyres at the start of qualifying. It was a great way for Bridgestone to end our most successful season in MotoGP to take our number of 2006 wins to four. I’d also like to note Shinya Nakano’s seventh place which equals Kawasaki’s best at Valencia, a fitting result in his final race for Kawasaki.” Will the expectations be higher in 2007? “We have already started to look at 2007 with new teams, new riders and of course new 800cc bikes. There is a lot to do in the few months before next season but on the back of our competitive 2006 season, our sights will naturally be set even higher in 2007, but our rivals are working equally hard so the competition will be tougher than ever.”

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca’s phone lines and website were overloaded with race fans trying to get first dibs on 2007 Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix tickets that went on sale today. With high call volume and web hits, the telephone and online systems both crashed, but have since been restored. However, according to Laguna Seca’s Press Officer, Reece White, “All premier hospitality suites and reserve camping areas are sold out.” White recommends people interested in general U.S. Grand Prix paddock and admission tickets register online at ~http://www.laguna-seca.com/tickets/~ for faster service.

The Repsol Honda team began their preparations for the 2007 MotoGP World Championship here at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo Valencia, today, just three-days after the curtain came down on the 2006 series. Newly crowned World Champion Nicky Hayden and team-mate Dani Pedrosa took their RC212V four-cylinder 800cc Hondas out on track for the first session of their extensive winter test programme. American Hayden was riding the RC212V for the very first time and the World Champion put in 87-laps of the tight and demanding 4.005 km Spanish track recording a best lap time of 1m 33.66s just six-tenths of a second slower than his fastest time aboard the 990cc RC211V machine he raced to a title clinching third place in the GP of Valencia, held at the same circuit last Sunday. Hayden had to adjust his riding style slightly to get the best out of the machine finding the RC212V more compact than its title-winning predecessor. The new bike was easier to ride and gave him more traction. Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, who had previously tested the 800cc machine at Motegi, Japan, was just one-tenth of a second outside his best time he set in the grand prix. The former 125cc and 250cc World Champion quickly settled on the 800cc machine a more compact version of its forerunner and reeled off a series of fast laps. Pedrosa spent the day on defining the best direction for a solid base set up as he adjusted to the compact machine and the lighter feeling improving little by little as he reeled off 73 laps around the tortuously twisty circuit. The Gresini Honda squad stayed on at Valencia for a one-day test session with, new for the 2007 season, tyre supplier Bridgestone. Team riders Marco Melandri and Toni Elias ran virtual back-to-back test measuring their new rubber against that of their previous supplier. Both men ended their assimilation test session in a very positive frame of mind. The two riders lapped faster today than they had in Sundays race the improvement due, in part to the lower track temperatures. Italian Melandri, a three-time MotoGP race victor in 2006, put in 67-laps of the 4.005 km circuit on his five-cylinder 990cc RV211V and despite a slow start, due to a bout of food poisoning, adjusted to the Bridgestone tyres as the day went on surprising himself with his consistently fast lap times. Team-mate Elias was even faster. The young Spaniard quickly established a good rhythm putting in a string of laps in the low 1m 33s bracket. Elias had found a good base setting for his RC211V without too many changes and was impressed with tyre performance and how quickly he settled. He now moves onto 800cc racing with increased confidence. Honda rider quotes and lap times: Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 1m 33.66s 87 laps. “I enjoyed riding the new bike today and I’m quite excited because it’s got some pretty trick parts and it looks really cool. I got down into the 1m 33s lap-times pretty easily this morning which is a good sign. The new bike feels like it’s got a lot more traction especially under acceleration. The power delivery feels a lot smoother, and when you first open the throttle you don’t need to get the bike picked up as much as you did with the 990. It feels a lot lighter but actually the weight is not much different. The bike definitely feels quite small and has a different feeling that I’ll have to get used to. We’re already going around the corners faster than the 990cc bike and it’s going to require a different style of riding and be a different breed of bike. It does have high corner entry and corner speed and I’ll have to adapt a few things with my style. Sunday almost feels old now and I know we’ve made Valentino mad by taking his title, so I’m looking forward to taking him on next season. I want to come back next year and win again on this bike. To win one title is great but to take two of them takes you into another elite group so I’m still hungry.” Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1m 33.21s 73 laps. “The feeling from the bike here, at a European circuit, is more or less the same as in the first test in Japan. We have ridden for many more hours today, so that’s been good and I’ve been improving bit by bit. We’ve made general tests to start finding the best set-up and to get closer to the performance during the Grand Prix. There are some differences compared to the 900cc machine. This bike is obviously totally different to the previous one, but in the end it’s also a motorbike, so the way to work with it is the same. I still have to find the right way to ride it because I’m still used to the other bike. However, it will soon come naturally as we continue lapping. As regards to the tyres, we’ve been using the same ones we used during the Grand Prix weekend.” Marco Melandri, Gresini Honda: 1m 32.90s 67 laps. “It was a very interesting day and I’m satisfied with the choice of tyres the team has made. I only struggled a little at the beginning because I was feeling ill with food poisoning. Anyway, I didn’t want to miss this test. The behaviour of the bike was so different on the Bridgestone’s but the feeling with the bike was good. I could ride as smoothly as I like to particularly in the middle of the corner. Now we will have to see how the tyres behave on the 800cc but we have made a good start. I established good cooperation with the Japanese Bridgestone technicians so I am eager to start work on preparing for the new championship.” Toni Elias, Gresini Honda: 1m 32.73 87 laps. “I am very satisfied with the first day of testing with the Bridgestone tyres. It’s too early to make comparisons with the tyres we used all through this season. However, today I could put in many laps with a good rhythm in low 1m 33s times and my fastest lap was very good. Now I am looking forward to testing the new RC212V 800cc at Sepang in mid-November.”

Today, the first test of the PRAMAC D’ANTIN MOTOGP Team took place on the Ricardo Tormo circuit of Valencia. The rider ALEX BARROS, on the DUCATI GP6 “Sat” with BRIDGESTONE tyres, began to take confidence with the bike and had the occasion to know better the whole Team and its technicians. There are many news for the Italian-Spanish Team. Between the Brazilian rider and the new motorcycle-tyres package, there already seems to be a good feeling. ALEX made 61 laps with 1’33.626 as a best time and a rhythm of 1’33.800. The test will go on tomorrow, Thursday 2nd November, still on the Valencia track. ALEX BARROS (1’33.626 – 61 laps): “Things went quite good today. It was our first practice day and we began to set up the motorcycle. There are very favourable points and others on which we need to work, we’re here for this. I had a good feeling with the BRIDGESTONE tyres. Generally, the first impressions are good, but there is still a good margin to improve. My best laptime has been 1’33.6, and we’re at less than one second from the fastest time. To close, I would say that I already have a good feeling with every member of the Team, the atmosphere is really good and I like the way they work”. EMANUELE MARTINELLI – Track Engineer: “This first day of free practice is positive. We went on track with a basic set-up and BARROS’ laptimes already are quite good. It was our first time with BRIDGESTONE and there is satisfaction. It is obvious that we cannot make any real confrontation as BARROS never rode on the DUCATI with the tyres we used during the 2006 season. For now, things are going very good. He likes the motorcycle and I can say everything began in a right way. To conclude, the first impressions are really positive and we still have one Test day at our disposal tomorrow, to go on working”. LUIS D’ANTIN – Team Manager: “In general, we are happy. There has been a good feeling with everything, and the performances have been good too. As a first test, we can be satisfied. The 2007 World Championship is beginning right now and we will have a lot of work to do. There will be another practice day tomorrow and then we will come back on track in January, for the test in Malaysia”. Unofficial Times/Total Laps 990 cc Rossi 1.32.7 (27) Elias 1.32.7 (87) Melandri 1.32.9 (67) Barros 1.33.6 (61) 800cc Rossi 1.33.10 (43) Capirossi 1.33.11 (53) Hopkins 1.33.14 (29) Vermeulen 1.33.18 (40) Pedrosa 1.33.21 (73) Stoner 1.33.41 (77) Hayden 1.33.66 (87) McWilliams 1.35.8 (38) Pitt 1.36.6 (21)

Just a couple of days after the final round of the 2006 season, which ended with a first historic 1-2 win for Ducati in MotoGP, all eyes are now focusing on the future. Today saw the first of two days scheduled testing for the Ducati Marlboro Team at Valencia. Conditions were sunny in the morning and cloudy in the afternoon, with temperatures considerably lower than last Sunday, and this meant that the test session could continue as scheduled from 10am in the morning to 5pm in the afternoon. After achieving his best result this year for Ducati in the top category (3rd overall), Loris Capirossi is now looking forward to 2007 with optimism. The Italian rider, who had already tested the Ducati GP7 immediately after the Brno, Motegi and Estoril rounds, continued engine and suspension development work on the new machine from the Borgo Panigale manufacturer. Loris completed a total of 53 laps, setting a best time of 1m33.11s. Thanks to special dispensation from Lucio Cecchinello, the owner of the team for whom the Ducati Marlboro Team’s new signing, Casey Stoner, raced this year, the Australian was able to get to grips for the first time with the Ducati he will race in next year’s MotoGP World Championship. Stoner immediately established a good feeling with the Desmosedici GP7 and the Bridgestone tyres and set some encouraging times right from the start of the morning. Casey completed 77 laps of the Valencia track, recording a quickest time of 1m33.41s Temperatures: air 25°C / track 32°C

After the announcement of the agreement between Gresini Racing and Bridgestone Corporation last Monday, today Marco Melandri and Toni Elias tested their RC211V on Bridgestone tyres at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia. Both Gresini Honda riders were very satisfied of the first day of testing and look forward to testing soon the new 800 cc on Bridgestone tyres. MARCO MELANDRI (1’32″90, 67 laps): “It was an interesting day. Unfortunately I was sick because of food poisoning and I could not ride at my best, but I couldn’t miss the test. I was surprise by the new tyres, they are quite different from the ones we have used so far but I’m very happy of this choice. The behaviour of the bike changes a lot and the feeling was good. I could ride smoothly as I like. In particular, I had a good feeling in the middle of the corner. I found a good cooperation with the tyres technicians. Now I look forward to see how the new tyres will behave with the 800cc, but I’m confident because the start was very good. There are all elements to make a good work in the pre-season in preparation of 2007 season”. TONI ELIAS (1’32″73, 87 laps): “I’m satisfied of this first day of testing. Now it’s too early to make a comparison with the tyres we used during the season but the start was good. I made many laps in a row in low 1’33” and also the single lap time was good. There is a lot of work to do but I’m confident. I look forward to test the new 800cc in Sepang middle of November. It will be an interesting test”.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP began using its brand new 800cc MotoGP engine for the first time today and was quickly on the pace, as both racers posted times faster than their best from Sunday’s final 990cc race. John Hopkins led the way with a best of 1’33.14 from his 29 laps with team-mate Chris Vermeulen only fractionally behind, as the young Australian recorded a time of 1’33.17. The new 800cc engine was tested today in the same chassis as the current 990 GSV-R. Suzuki has a major development programme for the chassis, bodywork and all major components over the winter testing period. This includes testing a completely new prototype chassis, which Factory test rider Nobuatsu Aoki will debut tomorrow. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP has one more day testing at Valencia in Spain, when both riders will be trying many new settings to evaluate the new engine and provide more data for the factory. John Hopkins: “I gotta admit I’m very happy with the day! Right out of the box we were able to get into our race-lap times that we did on the 990cc bike. We have some basic problems, which you always get with a new bike, such as engine mapping. We still need a bit more acceleration and some fine tuning, but for a new machine this is the best position we have ever been in since I’ve been at Suzuki! Like I said I’m very happy and we have a lot more things to test over the winter, but how it stands at the moment I am expecting big things to happen with this machine!” Chris Vermeulen: “It was the first ride on the 800 for John and me today. Our test riders have obviously done a lot of miles on it already and the whole test team and Suzuki have done a great job the bike was good to start with. We made some modifications to suit the Valencia circuit and we were able to do lap-times consistently close to the ones we did over the weekend. It is very promising for the first ride and even more so when you consider it’s an 800 engine bolted into our 990 chassis. I am quite happy for the first test and there is a long way to go to the first race. It all looks very promising and if we can start like this we certainly have a goal to aim at.”