Casey Stoner

Over the course of the 2^nd pre-season MotoGP Testing, Casey Stoner has been amping up his driving and racing skills. In fact, the second day of the race showed just how ready Stoner was to take the lead. It was on this day that he broke Valentino Rossi’s record in 2009. The new track record to beat now is at  1:59.665, thanks to the young Australian Casey Stoner. It is also good to note that Stoner was the fastest in all of the preseason sessions held in Malaysia.

On the other hand, Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa also clocked in at less than 2 minutes. His official time was  1:59.803. The results of the recently concluded MotoGP Testing in Sepang, Malaysia brings great news to Honda as the team dominated this season—with its members taking the four highest ranks for the racing event.

On the tails of the Honda team is Ben Spies, a team rider for Yamaha. He clocked in at 2:00.678.

Two other Yamaha riders followed soon afterwards. They are Colin Edwards and Jorge Lorenzo.

Coming in at eighth place is Alvaro Bautista, who rides a Rizla Suzuki. Next to him were Hiroshi Aoyama and Hector Barbera.

Motorcycle racing is no easy feat. You should always check that everything about your bike is running smoothly—from the motorbike speedometer down to the LED work lights. Incidentally, it is always a good idea to check that your motorbike speedometer cables are compatible with your bike. The best way to check on this is to confirm from your motorbike manual or a specialist. On the other hand, you should also make sure that your LED work lights are working perfectly. Otherwise, you and the other riders could get into serious trouble if your motorcycle led turn signal indicator lights aren’t functioning properly. This was helped by one of the event sponsors, S3 performance who provided motorcycle parts such as motorbike speedometers and LED work lights to help with the safety of all racers.

Aside from checking that the motorcycle is working perfectly, it is also important to make sure that your driving skills are impeccable. Accidents and even deaths have been a part of many races. In fact, Ben Spies have suffered a few injuries himself in previous races. Even Valentino Rossi, who has won 7 GP’s has his share of accidents. Hence, double check that your motorbike speedometer and LED work lights are at their best conditions.

On another note, a boy of about 14 years of age recently died in Cuppits Lane, a dirt track in Sunny Corner State. The boy’s father noticed his son was missing when two of the latter’s mates got back to the camp site without him. The father found his son off the dirt road. Information from the news say the young lad crashed when he lost control of the bike. Further investigations are ongoing to be submitted to the coroner.

Based on these statistics, Beaurepaires is providing used car tyres for Blue Ribbon Downs’ One Off Cycling Event. It is the organizers’ and sponsors’ goal to ensure that the biking event goes smoothly. In lieu with making sure that the bikers’ and audience’s safety are met, the used car tyres will be placed at strategic areas of the bike tracks. It is hoped that the tyres will lessen the impact in the event that bicyclists meet with accidents.

BikeSure recognizes all of this and believes that out there on the track is another “elite” waiting to happen.  The place to be when it all goes down shall be Blue Ribbon Downs.  So forget your entrance fees and just bring your spare wheels, helmets, and energy drinks cause this one is on them.  I think they are just waiting for the best weather this coming September and can start rolling.   It is believed they will be offering short courses of under 5km, medium courses of 5-10km, and may even have a road race of 60km.  BikeSure bicycle insurance shall be the sponsors and all you have to do is be there and have fun.  They shall be announcing the dates soon so get ready.  I can’t wait to see all the cycling enthusiasts out there and having fun.

Karlene Pircher - Wyndham/Point Cook Leader Junior Sports Star

The young girl shares to everyone that she and her mother, Maggie, get off their beds as early as 3 in the morning every single day to drive for an hour from their house at Hoppers Crossing to the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. This is where her training takes place for three hours. Her mother has always been the one who is there for her since her father Karl died of spine cancer.

“My mum has been very supportive of me,” Karlene shares as she thanked her mother as she accepted her medal, triphy and gift vouchers at the Etihad Stadium few weeks ago. She even mentioned that  Wyndham/Point Cook Leader Junior Sports Star and Northern Western Overall Junior Sports Star awards “belong almost as much to her mother” too.

Those current awards serve as icing on Karlene’s cake as he also won the 200m breaststroke last December at the Victorian Age Championships. She also won seven other medals from various swimming competition and was able to set four swimming records.

This year, she will be competing for the Open Nationals in Sydney as well as the World Swimming Championship trials. Karlene is also expected to go up against other athletes at the Age Nationals in Adelaide next month.

The race track has been greatly affected by the significant flooding that had happened during late December 2010 until early January 2011. Three quarters of the state of Queensland had been declared a disaster zone. A lot of people have died, thousands of families had been evacuated and a huge number of houses and establishments had been destroyed.

The flooding made a very huge economic impact. Initially, the damage was estimated at around A$ 1 billion, but in an interview, Queensland treasurer Andrew Fraser had said that “it was possible to put a figure on the damage”. The heavy toll of the flood will be felt by the Australian economy, costing them around A$10 billion in losses.

The government has released some figures at the latter part of January this year, with data that the Insurance Council of Australia has calculated that 38, 460 individual claims were lodged with insurers that were worth A$ 1.51 billion.

The clean-up and recovery work have been initiated, as well as support for everyone who has been affecting by the immense flooding. The Blue Ribbon Downs Race Tracks has been one of those that have been severely affected, that is why they have started to talk to various mortgage brokers to help them out in refinancing the establishment.

In a statement released by the said race track’s management: “Blue Ribbon Downs Race Tracks has been in talks with various mortgage brokers to help us with our current situation. It has been obvious that our establishment had been greatly affected by the recent Queensland flood and we needed help in refinancing. We are hoping for the best results.”

Some mortgage brokers have already aired their support to all those who have been affected, saying that they are trying their best to provide their customers with hardship assistance.

A good example of such event is the upcoming Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi, India. Organized every four years, this is the third largest multi-sports event in the world. Members of the Commonwealth Nation send their best athletes to compete in Olympic sports such as gymnastics, aquatics and boxing and games that are usually played in Commonwealth countries like lawn bowls, rugby seven and net balls.

According to reports, Delhi government is now preparing for various security systems that they could use. This is so far the biggest international sporting event that they will host since 1982.

Those 17 games that will be featuring will be held at six clusters and five stand-alone standia in the middle of the metropolis of 17 million people. Officials are making sure that they have enough security systems in the area to avoid all possible crimes and accidents. People across the globe are expected to attend the much-anticipated event. Ticket sales are predicted to be sold out even before the games begin.

Organizers are finalizing all the details as the games will going to take place this coming October 3-14. Traffic  and crowd control are also taken into considerations. Various agencies, especially those who have expertise in the field of security systems and large event planning, are also being tapped to spearhead this project.

Delhi’s internal security department has ensured all the Commonwealth Nation countries that they are doing their best to make the event safe and secure.

“Security systems such as metal detectors, surveillance cameras and baggage X-ray machines will be installed,” a Delhi officer shares.

Lance Armstrong

Armstrong finished the tour de France 39 minutes behind Contador in 23^rd position after a series of crashes on the 21^st stage left him out of contention for the podium.

Armstrong’s race finished in controversy as his team RadioShack wore new jersey’s  on the final stage in honour of the 28 million people worldwide dealing with cancer  but officials halted proceedings when they noticed the unauthorised jerseys and made them put the officials jerseys back on.

Controversy is nothing new with Armstrong’s career as allegations of doping have always dogged him for years but he has always denied these allegations strongly. Through his lawyers , Armstrong has always denied these possible fraud and doping violations  but today federal prosecutors investigating cheating in professional cycling have subpoenaed documents from a 2004 case in which a Texas company tried to prove that Lance Armstrong used performance enhancing drugs

The records include depositions from former Tour de France winner Greg LeMond, former Armstrong teammate Frankie Andreu and his wife, and testimony from Armstrong and his business associates.

According to his lawyer, Bryan D Daly, a criminal defence lawyer and former federal prosecutor based in Los Angeles.

“Truthfully, I don’t have any idea how Lance Armstrong fits into this whole thing,” Daly said. “Lance Armstrong doesn’t want to be stuck in the middle of a celebrity investigation.”

The cyclist never has failed a drug test and has strongly denied all allegations and has never been charged with any wrongdoing.

Organised every four years similar to the Olympics and is also the third largest multi sport event in the world has drawn some controversy after MP Mani Shankar Aiyar has the criticised the upcoming games in Deli.

Speaking at an event the MP caused a stir by telling reporters he would ‘unhappy’ if the sports event was a success and wondered why 150 condom vending machines are being installed at the Games venue ,asking :

What Games are these people coming to play?’

‘What is the priority – holding an international mega sporting event or providing better sport facilities? It is distorted priority,’ Aiyar said, on the sidelines of a press conference.

‘The hype over the Commonwealth Games is sickening,’ he added.

He also went on and severely criticised installation of condom vending machines in the Games village and across Deli for October 3 – 14 event.

Aiyar asked:

‘According to media reports, nearly 150 condom vending machines are to be installed, about one lakh condoms would be sold through those machines in the Commonwealth Games village alone for a few thousand athletes and officials.’

‘Most of those would come without their spouses. Don’t know what games these people are coming here to play,’ he added.

Senior congress leaders have distanced them from Aiyar comments and said the World will see hugely successful Commonwealth Games 2010.

See the Report in indiatalkies

Puyol nets the winner

Carles Puyol secured Spain passage into their first World Cup final with a thunderous second-half header to beat Germany after an fascinating match in Durban.The Euro 2008 winners dominated possession but initially struggled to create clear openings against Joachim Low’s impressive young side yet it was far from a classic Spain performance.

The game was predictable from the offset as Spain dominated possession, Xavi and Iniesta attempting to pierce their opponents’ defence with vision and incisive close passing, while Germany looked to hit back on the counter-attack with their powerful attacks.

However the winning goal came from Puyol where he showed great determination and agility by heading home  Xavi’s corner with 17 minutes remaining.

Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque hailed his “extraordinary” players after they booked a place in the World Cup final.

Del Bosque said: “All of our players were extraordinary – but we still have a match to play. We know Dutch football and it will be very tough in the final.”

He added: “From defence through to attack I think we played a great game.

“We’ve got another game in front of us, let’s see if we are able to control the ball. We’re in good shape physically, so let’s see if we can win.”

Spain will now play Holland in the World Cup final at Soccer City on Sunday. The final could be a classic as both teams will compete to create history as a new champion will enter the record books. It really will be a tight affair as both teams have different strengths. The Spain team is full of world class players such as Villa, Xavi and Iniesta who have quality, technique and bring entertainment with their slick passing game. The Holland team are united team with team of hard workers such as Dirk Kuyt with his endless running and also have the world class ability of Robben who can win a match on his own.

It really is a tough match to call but I think the quality of the Spanish team will be too much for the Dutch. I am going for Spain to win 3 – 1.

The Dutch Celebrate the Win

The World Cup is nearly over and last night  we seen the 1^st semi-final played and ended in delight for the ‘Oranje’ fans as Holland beat Uruguay 3 – 2. Goals from Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben ensured the Dutch booked their place in Sunday’s showpiece Final.

van Bronckhorst put his side ahead with a spectacular opener which will be a candidate for goal of the tournament. Uruguay’s goal machine Diego Forlan  equalised as the Dutch goalkeeper failed to deal with a long range shot but Sneijder and Robben again made the difference with two goals in three second half minutes that killed of the South American World Cup challenge until Maxi Pereira’s injury-time reply  left Dutch side with a frantic finale to hold on. However, the Dutch held firm to make sure of their progress.

Holland manager Bert van Marwijk has described securing a place in the World Cup final as “unbelievable”

Van Marwijk said: “It’s amazing that we have managed to do this. It’s been 32 years. It is unbelievable. We can be very proud for such a small country.”

And goalscorer Sneijder scored his fifth goal of the tournament to draw level with Spain’s David Villa in the race for the Golden Boot.

Sneijder said:”It was a hard match, but all that is forgotten now and we are in the final,” said the world class midfielder.

“The most important thing now is to win. We are so close. There is nothing bigger than the World Cup. This is tremendous, fantastic.”

Holland are awaiting the result of the 2^nd semi – final between Germany and Spain, hoping it be third time lucky in the game’s biggest stage following defeats in 1974 and 1978.