MOTOGP
What’s the world coming to when a rider like Valentino Rossi gets injured and Yamaha can’t seem to find anybody to replace him on the factory Fiat-backed team?

Granted nobody will ever be able to fill the shoes of The Doctor in a few races, but in this day and age, it almost seems impossible for teams to give young guys a chance at the top unless they are already proven world champions in another category.

The problem is that most of the potential replacements are already contracted or committed to their current series, which means finding a really competitive rider really is near impossible.

At this stage it seems the most likely replacement for Rossi is former teammate Colin Edwards, the American veteran switching from his Monster Tech 3 Yamaha team led by Guy Coulon, to Rossi’s team under the wing of legendary Australian Jeremy Burgess.

Yamaha has already offered Edwards’ Tech 3 seat to current Supersport World Champion Cal Crutchlow, however he declined it due to a busy schedule in World Superbike that would have seen him race between the two series on six consecutive weekends.

Since 24-year-old Crutchlow has said no to his MotoGP debut, it now seems likely that Yamaha will simply place a Japanese test rider on Edwards’ bike for the upcoming rounds, which would be somewhat of a shame considering the young talent out there, not to mention Garry McCoy doesn’t have a ride right now!

Of course, Yamaha’s number one choice to put on the factory team is Texan Ben Spies, however his rookie status rules him out of riding for a factory team just yet due to regulations.

This weekend’s Silverstone round should be a real cracker as the premier class heads to the British Grand Prix, an event where we should get an indication if Italian GP winner Dani Pedrosa is serious about his challenge to Jorge Lorenzo for the title.

WORLD SUPERBIKE
Many World Superbike teams have commenced testing at Misano in Italy this week, with Max Biaggi the fastest on day one in a rain-affected test session featuring the Aprilia, Yamaha, Suzuki and BMW teams.

Biaggi lapped at a 1:36.4, which is quite aways from Troy Bayliss’ 1:35.6 that he set during WDW last week, while Aussie Troy Corser was seventh best at a 1:37.1.

One thing we should mention that makes Bayliss’ fastest lap during last week’s test even more impressive was the fact that his best lap was set using Pirelli’s latest race rubber on his final lap after three days.

The likes of Michael Fabrizio and Nori Haga were over half a second slower than Bayliss in their laps using soft qualifying rubber!

Stay tuned for a full rundown from the test in the news when it wraps up.

BMW also tested at Mugello last week with Corser and commentator/test rider Steve Martin, where Jakub Smrz also had a ride on the factory S 1000 RR to see if his team will make the switch from Ducati for 2011.

AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE
Seeing Josh Waters go over and finish his first AMA Superbike test with the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team last week as fourth quickest was a real credit to the reigning ASBK champion, helping to shine a bright light on our current crop of local talent.

I had spoken to team managers over there in the lead-up to the test and some hadn’t even heard of the 23-year-old Victorian, but rest assured that they’d certainly know who he is after his strong performance at Barber.

You also have to give credit to Wayne Maxwell for taking fifth on debut in the Suzuki 300 last weekend, setting himself up for a very solid showing at next month’s Suzuki 8-Hour event.

AUSTRALIAN MOTOCROSS
It was interesting to hear JDR Motorex KTM MX Nationals Pro Lites rider Ryan Marmont’s thoughts on the 2011 model 250 SX-F at the Aussie launch last week, the former series champion spending two days lapping it up with the moto-journos on hand.

Marmont has been a longtime stable mate of KTM with a lot of title to his name, but to say he is super impressed with the new linkage and fuel injection on next year’s model would be an understatement.

As such, expect both Marmont and teammate PJ Larsen, who is currently leading the 2010 series, to ride at least the final two rounds on the new model if their race bikes arrive on Australian soil in time.

Speaking of Marmont, he had a nasty crash on Monday at the Port Macquarie round of the New South Wales title, a round that was won by Luke Styke in the Pro Lites class and Lawson Bopping in the Opens – see our Breaking News section for the full rundown.

Don’t forget guys, we’re running a competition where you guys can win your very own custom set of Ringmaster Images graphics for your dirt bike, so check it out here and get your entries in! The closing date is coming up quickly on 27 June.

AUSTRALIAN SUPERCROSS
Big news came this week that Melbourne has lost its round of the 2010 Monster Energy Super X, Australasian Supercross Championship, which was originally scheduled to be held at Etihad Stadium.

You can see the complete story in our news section here, however it’s a massive blow to the series in what was being set up to be the biggest round the series has seen to date.

Canberra will take over as host of the second round, however there has been no mention whether or not the recently announced American imports who were coming to contest the Melbourne round will be on hand in the ACT.

Those riders who were announced for Melbourne were Kevin Windham, Davi Millsaps, Justin Brayton and Mike Alessi.

Round three of the series will be at Launceston in Tasmania, that stadium able to quickly schedule the event in to Global Action Sports’ requirements.

One interesting thing to point out about the Tasmanian round on 30 October is that I’ll be back down there one weekend later for the combined Australian Superbike/V8 Supercars round at Symmons Plains! Now if only they made it the same weekend then my life would be that much easier for the ultimate Aussie motorsport weekend…

Anyhow, that’s all for today, thanks as always for reading and visiting MotoOnline.com.au.