Valentino Rossi

The shape of future sports motorcycles evolved considerably over the last few days as the world's leading sportsbike manufacturers and MotoGP contenders evaluated new aerodynamic fairings at the second last test of the MotoGP pre-season at the Chang International Circuit at Buriram, Thailand.

It’s been two years since Yamaha’s R1-riding Motobot challenged MotoGP GOAT Valentino Rossi to a lap time duel. And now, the race has been run, at California’s Thunderhill raceway.

Nine times world champion Valentino Rossi sent his motorcycle down the road during warm up practice on the morning of the Australian round of the 2012 MotoGP.

In a sign of the times, Ducati has announced it will be selling two Ducati Desmosedici GP machines at auction: a GP11 Desmosedici ridden by Valentino Rossi to his only podium of 2011, and the GP10 upon which Casey Stoner won the 2010 Australian GP

Ducati recently finished its first series of official MotoGP testing at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.

Ducati's new generation v-twin 1200cc sports bike will be announced at EICMA in November. It will use the same frameless design which has been raced and evaluated rather unsuccessfully by Valentino Rossi.

Formula One is set to announce a new greener formula for 2013. Anticipated changes include 1.6 liter turbo engines with uprated KERS, reduced rpm, fuel restrictions, and an anticipated reduction in fuel consumption from 3 mpg to 4 mpg.

The king of Italian motorcycles pulls the wraps off a very odd new motorcycle indeed - the 2011 Ducati Diavel power cruiser - and announces a new MotoGP sponsorship and co-promotion deal with Mercedes-AMG.

Valentino Rossi has only ever driven an F1 car six times, but this week Rossi tested in a Ferrari F1 car again, and was so fast that the possibility of a move from MotoGP to F1 might now be approaching a probability.

While carbon fibre has been the construction material of choice for F1 for three decades, the first win by a motorcycle made of carbon fibre at the highest level did not come until this evening.

Last year's world champ Casey Stoner lead from pole to clinch victory in the Australian MotoGP today, but most of the excitement lay behind him as Valentino Rossi cut a swathe through the field from his 12th-place grid position, slipping past Nicky Hayden on the final lap to finish second.

Yamaha's superstar MotoGP team, including Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Colin Edwards and James Toseland, have assembled to throw their star power behind a completely reworked 2009 R1 launch in Vegas - but the magnificent machine bare