JESUS LOVES YOU

Friday, 4 April 2014

2014 REDBULL GRANDPRIX : MotoGP Riders and teams

southern Spain:Petrucci plays catch-up in Jerez

The Italian was unable to test fully during the official pre-season, and was severely hampered due to the lack of set-up time needed. This not only affected him from a personal point of view – getting used the new machine – but also with regards to electronics.

The ART machines had last yearbeen run exclusively with the in-house Aprilia software, though opting to run under “Open” regulations have had to switch to the Magneti Marelli championship spec software. And with such a switch not a straightforward thing to do, time to dial in the software is vital.

The team and Petrucci may have been hampered slightly by some bad weather, though still managed to get some useful track time – 110 laps in total – to be that much more prepared for the next race in Austin.

The Italian commented: “I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to do this test. We need to do miles and we were successful in this target. The ART is a fantastic bike, but it rides in a completely different way from the one that I used last year, so it was essential for me to try on a different track from Losail where we did the test and the race.”

Thursday, 3 April 2014

Abraham regaining confidence after injury lay-off

The Czech rider endured a tough campaign last year, missing races early in the season after breaking his right collarbone in Austin and then damaging his left shoulder in a huge highside crash at Indianapolis.

He then rode through the pain barrier at his home round in Brno and did not complete his last race of the season at Misano, eventually having surgery to rebuild the shoulder in October.

Months of rehab and grueling test sessions followed as he regained movement and strength in his shoulder - so to cross the finishing line 13th on his comeback in Qatar, as the 2014 season got underway, was a notable achievement for Abraham.

"The shoulder is getting better and we are working really hard on it but I’m a bit worried about the next race at Austin," his acknowledged. "In Qatar that’s more of a flowing track, with not so many sharp turns, not so many left turns, not so much hard braking, whereas in Austin there are lots of left turns with hard braking points, so that will not be easy for sure."

Asked whether seeing the retirement of Ben Spies last year due to ongoing injury problems had made him fear for his career, Abraham answered, "Yes I was worried for quite a long time and honestly I still am. I know that it is different to Spies’ injury because I’ve already been able to complete a full race and it was not so bad."

"It hurt a lot after my operation and I was working hard for a month and a half and thinking it should feel better. I was frustrated. Finally five months after the operation it’s got a lot better. I can do everything in my normal life, even motocross training is ok, but once you get on a MotoGP bike it’s different."

He continued, "You have to really lean and get over the bike on the turns and that pushes the shoulder to the limit, so it hurts quite a lot. I was pleased to finish the race in Qatar and it’s now a case of just making the final improvements, like in racing getting the last few tenths is the hardest part. But I hope in one month it will be even better."

On the subject of his new ‘Open’ class package for 2014 and his adaptation to the Honda RCV1000R, Abraham stated,"As a rider you always complain about the power or other elements and you always want the bike to get better. I think our bike could be slightly faster and you can see especially the Yamaha ‘Open’ riders flying away from us on the straight. About the chassis I can’t complain though, because it feels much better than what I had last year, so I’m happier with the Honda bike than I ever was before."

Ducati Team testing at Jerez conditioned by bad weather

Wednesday’s changeable weather conditions, following overnight rain, did not allow the track to dry out completely, and as a result the riders and the team were unable to take full advantage of the time available in preparation for the Spanish Grand Prix, which will be held on this circuit from 2 to 4 May.

Neither Crutchlow and Dovizioso, who yesterday afternoon were also involved in shooting a promotional video, recorded significant lap times in the two days, but they were able to confirm to Borgo Panigale engineers that the “full-factory” electronics fitted to their Desmosedici GP14 machines after the Qatar GP were working correctly.

The next appointment for the Ducati Team will be the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, the second round of the MotoGP™ World Championship, which will be held next week from 11 to 13 April at the COTA circuit in Austin, Texas.

YAMAHA : Rossi hints at contract renewal With yamaha

The Italian MotoGP™ star returned to Yamaha at the beginning of 2013 of course and last year he achieved six podiums including a win at Assen, followed up by a great race ten days ago in Qatar to finish second at round one – after a thrilling battle with current World Champion Marc Marquez.

Rossi has stated for several months that his level of competitiveness in the early rounds of the 2014 season would be key to his decision to remain in MotoGP™.

Having run Marquez so close at Losail he told Sky of his 2015 plans, "I think I will renew with Yamaha. I never had the idea of quitting, I feel in good form and above all racing gives me immense pleasure. It’s the most enjoyable thing in my life, I love this world and I love the lifestyle which comes with being a MotoGP™ rider, training hard and traveling the world. As long as I am competitive I hope to continue."

He then went on to add, "Now it’s key to see how competitive we can be in Texas and in Argentina and see if we really are at a better level than in 2013. Last year the Qatar race went well but this year the second place was an even better performance in the race. I’ve ridden at a good level throughout my career but now it is more difficult. We have to be very competitive and we know that winning the World title again is really hard, but if we're near the front every Sunday that is fine."

Asked what was the favourite bike he had ridden in his career, Rossi responded, "I have ridden so many beautiful bikes, Aprilia, Honda and Ducati. But my favorite bike is definitely the Yamaha M1!"

When quizzed on who he thinks will win the 2014 MotoGP™ title, Rossi stated with a smile, "I think Marquez will be the World Champion again, and I’ll try to give him a little luck."

Modi: Gujarat isn’t India’s top investment destination

New Delhi: Maharashtra has emerged as the number one investment destination in the country replacing Gujarat, according to an Assocham report.

Maharashtra attracted cumulative investment proposals of Rs 14,73,466 crore as on December 2013, while Gujarat drew proposals worth Rs 13,98,347 crore, an analysis by the industry group showed.

The primary reason behind Maharashtra overtaking Gujarat is the state's focus on development of industrial centers in tier-II and tier-III cities, making it the preferred choice of investments, especially for the Indian and global service sector industries, it said.

Representational Image. Reuters

Maharashtra has become the hub for the service and electricity industries which together attracted investment over Rs 67,000 crore in 2013. However, in comparison Gujarat attracted nearly Rs 62,000 crore in the same year, the study observed.

Gujarat had attracted Rs 16,28,126 crore of investment proposals as on December 2011, when Maharashtra came in second
with Rs 14,13,728 crore of proposed investments. The study said the value of investment proposals in three of the top five destinations - Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha - registered a decline.

"While the overall composition of lead investment destination states remains largely unchanged, in the last two years there have been noteworthy changes in the individual positions of India's preferred investment destinations," Assocham President Rana Kapoor said.

"The combined share of the country's five top investment destinations has reduced from 53.6 per cent to 48.2 per cent during the two years to December 2013," Kapoor added.

The other three states that attracted the most investment proposals are Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka and the top five states together accounted for 48.2 per cent of the total of Rs 1,30,50,467 crore as on December 2013, according to the study.

The remaining investment proposals worth a combined Rs 61,50,105 crore went to 15 other states. Of the investment proposals, the highest amount was in electricity (36.5 per cent), services (23.6 per cent), manufacturing (23 per cent), construction & real estate (11.1 per cent), irrigation (3 per cent) and mining (2.8 per cent).

Maharashtra attracted 38.2 per cent in services, 28.3 per cent in electricity, 19.3 per cent in construction & real estate, 10.5 per cent in manufacturing, 2.5 per cent in irrigation and 1.2 per cent in the mining sector.

Gujarat attracted 39.4 per cent in electricity, 22.2 per cent in services, 20.8 per cent in manufacturing, 13.6 per cent in construction & real estate, 2.5 per cent in irrigation and 1.6 per cent in the mining sector.