Kino
MZ And Ant West Now An Official Moto2 Entry
Source: MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks - ... that at least there's a track at Aragon - Tuesday, 16th March 2010, 14:06 GMTWith the official withdrawal of the Kino Racing team from the Moto2 field yesterday comes a new opportunity. To fill the place vacated by the Argentinian rider Fabrizio Perren, the first reserve rider has been allowed onto the grid, in the shape of Ant West and the MZ team. West has been testing with MZ since last year, though the team started out with one of West's former CBR600RR Stiggy Honda Supersport machines. Since then, Martin Wimmer and former 250 star Ralf Waldmann have been working on a trellis framed prototype which West has tested at Valencia, Barcelona and Jerez. There is a certain poetic irony to the return of the MZ name to the middle class. The former East German factory revolutionized the 250s and sounded in the two stroke era when Walter Kaaden took the technology he had learned building V1 rockets and applied it to two-stroke exhausts. After a modest debut in 1957, the factory returned with a vengeance in 1958, its two-stroke engine radicalizing engine design throughout the 1960s, eventually forcing the four strokes out of the sport. It took a rule change imposed by the MSMA to finally kill off the two strokes in the intermediate class, and the introduction of the 600cc four-stroke Moto2 bikes. read more Read article
Moto2 Latest: Kino Racing Folds, Wilairot And Faubel To Use Bimota
Source: MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks - ... that the winter is now officially over for racing fans - Monday, 15th March 2010, 19:51 GMTAs the Moto2 class approaches its inaugural race, the field is going through a shake out and approaching its final lineup. For some teams this is good news, for others less so. The Stop & Go team can number themselves among the former: Today, the team confirmed it would be taking part in the 2010 Moto2 season under the name Thai Honda PTT SAG, and fielding the Bimota chassis for their two riders Ratthapark Wilairot and Hector Faubel. There had been question marks over the team, after both Wilairot and Faubel had failed to turn up at any of the Moto2 tests since the post-race tests at Valencia. The trouble was one of contracts, team manager Edu Perales told MotoGP.com. The team had originally been negotiating with Suter for chassis, but had backed out in the end over disagreements over support. Bimota offered a more direct contact with the manufacturer, a chance that Perales and the SAG team had jumped at. The delay has caused a problem for the team. Both riders are chronically short of test time, and will get their first proper test on the bike at Jerez in two weeks' time. Both Wilairot and Faubel will have a lot of catching up to do in those three days. read more Read article
