manager (to American 125 rider Steve Bonsey), and he did not rule out a possible return, even during this season. The team has been in negotiation for more than a year now with an American group, F1-Maxx, planning a triple-header sponsorship programme

it again, if only he had the equipment. More obvious has been Kenny's extreme reluctance to stick his neck out, when the best he could hope for was to come 12th instead of 15th. GP riders are supposed to stick their necks out, aren't they? Or are they

-rims.What price your own factory MotoGP team? Cheaper by the year, thanks to a bargain precedent set by Rizla Suzuki.Rumours of the actual price run between £1.5-mill for two years and double that figure. Either way, it's a record low for full livery. All

their predictability.Few more so than three blinding laps in the Donington deluge. After running wide and losing 2.5 seconds to lie fourth, he re-caught veterans Barros and Roberts, played for a while, then pulled away - gaining 1.6 seconds one lap, 2.5 the next, and 3

to pretend on a fortnightly basis, that Rossi is just an ordinary racer, with a bit of talent, a lot of luck and some good technical support. And that he is very definitely beatable.The first Yamaha tests of the M1 saw the double Superbike champion within a

Bike racing fans are smug about comparisons with F1 racing. With good reason. Motorcycle racers overtake one another. They battle it out through the corners. It's proper sport, rather than an exposition of technical prowess where overtaking takes

last year, when the fatter Michelin 16.5 rims started gaining popularity. The latest generation of these tyres have much better side grip than the otherwise superior 17-inchers. And that has favoured the Hondas. They have more power, and now the riders

.The record says it all. At the last round of 2004, Capirossi racked up 216 starts in all classes, with 23 wins - a rate of 10.65%. In 500cc/MotoGP, the rate drops to 2.86% (105 starts, three wins). Checa has 168 starts and two wins, making his average 1.43

is more important than the motorcycle. Only within certain limits, of course. It wouldn't have worked on a Kawasaki, for instance. But his Yamaha was often 15mph down on the Hondas and Ducatis, so you see what I mean.Now 2005 stretches ahead

.One inevitable result would be to sideline the last remaining two-stroke classes, the 250s and 125s. Which seemed something of a pity. Two-strokes may be irrelevant, but these are proper racing machines - with fully adjustable suspension and gear ratios, and so