Behind the glamour, passion and engineering excellence that is MotoGP lies a world which receives a lot less attention, but is at least as important: the world of finance. For running a motorcycle road racing world championship costs money, and though the goal of any enterprise - including running a world championship - is to make a profit, in a world of declining motorcycle sales and economic uncertainty, making money in motorcycle racing is no easy feat.
That task is especially difficult for Bridgepoint Capital, the venture capital firm that took a controlling stake in Dorna back in 2006. Bridgepoint reportedly paid CVC some EUR 550 million for the stake in Dorna, an amount that was widely regarded even at the time as a very generous valuation, especially as CVC had acquired Dorna for around GBP 45 million just 8 years earlier in 1998. The purchase was funded in part by loans taken out by Bridgepoint from a range of banks.
Source: http://www.fim-live.com//en/media/news/news-detail/article/1306015893-raga-returns/
Chris Vermeulen Pierrot Vervroegen Walter Villa Arnaud Vincent
Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/bLLD8ackQNn/Barber+enjoys+Le+Mans+result

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AsphaltandRubber/~3/KW1lk5WKBhQ/
Bruno Bertacchini Silvano Bertarelli Albert Bertholet Guy Bertin
The 2012 machines are slowly starting to emerge. After Ducati debuted their 2012 Desmosedici in a private test at Jerez back in early April, today, it was the turn of Honda to hand their 2012 machine over to their factory riders. Casey Stoner took the machine out most of the day's testing, after a quick shakedown by Honda's test rider Shinichi Itoh. Dani Pedrosa had been scheduled to ride the bike on Wednesday, but as the Spaniard broke his collarbone in the crash between himself and Marco Simoncelli, Pedrosa is unable to test the 2012 machine. Based on the data from the test and the weather for tomorrow - thunderstorms are forecast for Wednesday afternoon at Jerez de la Frontera - HRC will decide whether to use another one of the 8 days testing allowed during the season and send Stoner back out, or wait for a later date (and better weather) and give Pedrosa some time on the bike.
MotoGP MotoGP Racer List Jean Louis Tournadre Takeshi Tsujimura