MotoBrief

I saw in recent forum postings that Chris Blais is back at home after the spinal cord injury he suffered on August 5. There is also an update today on the website of the Chris Blais Medical Fund, with a Paypal link for donations toward his ongoing rehabilitation.

Valentino Rossi took first place in yesterday’s Portugese Grand Prix in Estoril. This means that Casey Stoner, whom many expected to lock the title in this race, will have to try again another day. Stoner came in third behind Dani Pedrosa, leaving him 76 points ahead of Rossi overall.

Rossi dedicated the win to former world rally champion Colin McRae, who was killed Saturday when the helicopter he was piloting crashed on the grounds of his home in Lanark, Scotland.

Paul Denning, manager of the Rizla Suzuki team, announced his team’s fantastic double podium finish at Misano in Italy. He also has some very good things to say about the man who kept his guys from snagging first place, Australian Casey Stoner.

“Rizla Suzuki would also like to congratulate Casey Stoner on another unbelievable performance today. There has been a lot of nonsense spoken in MotoGP this year regarding tyre regulations, engine performance, etc. etc. I believe that the difference at the moment is Casey and we’re focusing our best efforts to improve our own performance to beat him and that’s what everybody should be doing at this time!”

Stoner has completely dominated this season and it’s cool and classy for the Suzuki team to acknowledge his outstanding performance. In a Reuters article on the Rizla Suzuki comments, Stoner said, “The more I ride my Ducati the more comfortable I become and the faster I become.”

Don’t even look back, man. Just go, go, go.

Photo: http://www.caseystoner.com.au/

Sports Illustrated reports that the folks from Geneva visited Indianapolis last week to check out the construction of the brand new, 2.6 mile course that will host MotoGP race on September 14, 2008.

The officials were reported to be happy with the progress and the work is expected to be completed on schedule. This is really exciting news and I’m definitely planning a trip home to the Midwest to catch this race. Of course, it’s typical that this happens after I leave Chicago.

In some absolutely terrible news, reports have appeared on several motorcycling forums that Chris Blais was injured Sunday in a crash while preparing for the Vegas to Reno desert race.

The story is that he caught a sharp bump in some silt that kicked the bike up onto the front wheel. He tried to ride it out for 50 feet before going over the handlebars, breaking his collarbone and crushing the T7 vertebra. He had surgery yesterday to fuse the vertebra and insert a couple rods. He didn’t have any feeling in his legs but apparently they’ll have to wait for some swelling to go down before they really know what they’re dealing with in terms of spinal cord injury.

It’s a sad day. Chris was an incredible racer and, by all accounts, a wonderful guy. Very best wishes for a speedy and full recovery, Chris.

The word’s out that MotoGP will be coming to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2008. More details are going to be announced July 16. This is fantastic news. Naturally, it happens after I’ve moved away from the midwest. I guess I’ll be taking a trip next summer.

The word’s out that 1993 MotoGP champion Kevin Schwantz wants back in the game. In a statement, Schwantz confirmed that he’s exploring management opportunities with the Suzuki team.

Schwantz racked up 25 wins during his Grand Prix career and currently runs the Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School at Road Atlanta. He was featured prominently in the 2003 documentary Faster, which can be found at Amazon.

If you haven’t seen this yet, Valentino Rossi scored 4th place (down from number 2) in Sports Illustrated’s top 20 non-American athletes. Total earnings were $30 million, beating out soccer icon David Beckham by $300,000.

This places the popular Italian MotoGP rider (who is trailing Aussie Casey Stoner by 14 points in this year’s world championship) in the same rarefied air enjoyed by American sports legends like Shaquille O’Neal, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Derek Jeter.

It almost makes you feel sorry for someone like Brett Favre, who scored a measly $18 million last year.

KTM took second place in its first tryout of the Baja 690 machine. The Baja 690 is based on the LC4 engine that first appeared on the market in the KTM 690 Supermoto.

Cyril Despres, Chris Blais and David Pearson shared riding duties. The team had little time for pre-race testing thanks to customs delays. Pearson started the race for KTM and led for awhile but some necessary repairs eventually pushed them back to second place.

All in all it was a great showing. It looks fantastic — I hope we can all buy one soon.

KTM Press Release

Motorcyclist reports that if you have a bunch of extra cash, you can now try and snag one of 100 exclusive tickets to Riders for Health Day. The event takes place Thursday, July 19, the day before the Laguna Seca MotoGP action kicks off.

For $500, ticket holders get some nice VIP treatment — a motorcycle tour, access to the MotoGP paddock, three parade laps around the track, an auction of racing memoribilia and the opportunity to meet some current and former racing legends.

I think this is a really fantastic event and I’m a big fan of Riders for Health. Riders provides healthcare workers in Africa with motorcycles and other vehicles and helps create the infrastructure needed to properly maintain them, allowing medical care to be delivered to remoted villages. That’s pretty cool.