Good news for all Greek fans of Alvaro: You will have the unique opportunity to meet him next month, right after the Jerez GP, on Tuesday May 4th. Meant as an opening celebration for the Greek round of the Schwantz School of Racing, fans have the chance not only to meet Alvaro, but also his teammate Loris Capirossi and of course Kevin Schwantz himself.
Further information can be found here.

Later the same month, on May 15th, Alvaro will try his hands at teaching. Yes, you’ve read correctly. The Suzuki Action School riding class will take place at the Jerez circuit again and this year Alvaro will hold one of the theory classes, sharing his experience in the world championship to help the attending hobby riders improve their riding style. More infos on this can be found here.

And in other Suzuki-related news you can now watch a video of Alvaro presenting his new MotoGP ride and explaining the differences to his old 250cc Aprilia. The background music is a bit too far in the foreground for our taste, but it’s fortunately still possible to understand him. If everything fails, you can still watch the video repeatedly…

And as he gave the cue at the end to better see that thing in action, here’s another video of him going around the Qatar circuit. Enjoy.

The week-long buildup to the coming weekend’s TwitGP continues apace, with yet more followers joining in the fun and more big names helping ensure that MotoGP fans don’t go without a very special event to replace Sunday’s postponed Japanese Grand Prix. It now even has a virtual track to run on… “Twitegi”!

Jorge Lorenzo is the latest sporting celeb to get involved, and with well over four thousand followers now onboard and counting, the story is getting picked up not only by MotoGP and motorsport websites, and the always awesome MCN, but also other blogs and tech magazines, including T3.

In an effort to ensure newcomers to the TwitGP phenomenon are filled in with all the background info in a more complete, extended and digestible format than the ongoing dialogue on Twitter itself, TwitGP have set up a blog here to fill in the gaps. This will continue to be updated with details and downloads as things move forward.
It’s here that you can find things like the TwitGP logo, and “press passes” etc – all building a fun ‘virtual’ environment to get fans in the mood. Also on the site is the circuit guide and layout as designed by Tiff Needell.

The main focus of activity of course is Twitter itself, and if you’re not already on Twitter then you should sign up and follow @TwitGP – many posts relating to the event are also tagged with #twitgp – so keep an eye out for that too.

Suzi Perry explained a little more about the genesis of the whole TwitGP idea in a message to T3 magazine:

“My crazy friend was so upset that the Japanese MotoGP had been postponed that he came up with the idea of having a ‘virtual’ race. After a hilarious conference call with him and another deluded buddy, the three of us set to work to make it happen. It is a bit of fun really that has turned into a full time job! We will have practice on Friday, Qualifying on Saturday an the Race on Sunday. In less than 2 days almost 3,500 folk are following including actual riders, press, teams, bands (Stereophonics) and celebs (Ross Noble) We have an official logo, media passes and pit passes being displayed by some of our followers, special tyres have been provided by Twitstone and of course there will be a rousing party to celebrate on Sunday night which is sure to rival Live Aid, virtually. We are @TwitGP and we will be the first ever virtual sporting event on Twitter.”

Throughout the week @TwitGP will be updating its followers about how the virtual riders will virtually prepare for the race – there will be practice on Friday, qualifying on Saturday, then the main event on Sunday. It will all unfold before the followers’ eyes in sentences containing no more than 140 characters…

Fans are interacting in increasingly inventive ways, supplying virtual logos, passes, programmes and even VIP party tents.

This is being done entirely for fun – while a few people have asked if it’s “real”, the vast majority completely understand the concept and have thrown themselves into the spirit of things.
So don’t miss this opportunity to get involved in something very special – get onto Twitter now and join in the fun. If you’ve not used Twitter before and fancy a few people to follow and chat with then why not also add our sites and staff to your list: @batifans , @teamaspar , @garethbouch , @scottredding45 , @peretutusaus

The internet phenomenon of this weekend’s virtual MotoGP on Twitter continues to grow, with its focus – @TwitGP – almost on 3,000 followers within a couple of days of setting the idea going.

Amongst the followers from across the globe are former BBC MotoGP host Suzi Perry, The Stereophonics, comedian and bike fan Ross Noble, the Fiat Yamaha Team of Valentino Rossi, Valentino Rossi’s mechanic Alex Briggs, BBC MotoGP reporter Matt Roberts and Eurosport MotoGP commentators Toby Moody and Julian Ryder.
The Fiat Yamaha Team have even donated a signed Valentino Rossi team shirt as a competition prize to help generate interest in the “event”. @TwitGP has also confirmed Max Biaggi and Mick Doohan as wildcard riders, showing exactly the spirit of the whole idea.

As well as solid contributions such as that, the whole thing continues to be approached in a great spirit of fun, with Eurosport confirming that it is in advance negotiations over the HD Tweet rights!
Many ordinary punters are also getting involved, with Twitterers posting logos and lid designs – such as the special race helmet for Valentino Rossi from @suzannehutton (pictured).

According to Suzi Perry, “It’s just a bit of fun for next weekend, but it’s growing into a monster!” But there’s nothing wrong with that – it’s a genuine piece of grassroots action and participation, engaging real people with a particular need, and that’s exactly the kind of thing that the web should be doing. It’s a wonderful notion that in the face of a sadly empty race weekend, some inspired individuals and a vast wave of people power could choose to make an event happen after all, on their own, completely fun terms.
Updates will continue throughout the week on Twitter; so don’t forget to get on there and follow @TwitGP – and the event will unfold in real time across the weekend with practice and quali sessions, and of course the race itself.

If you’ve not used Twitter before and fancy a few people to follow and chat with then why not also add our sites and staff to your list: @batifans , @teamaspar , @garethbouch , @scottredding45 , @peretutusaus

Lots of people slag off Twitter.
They’re idiots of course. But they do.
And sometimes you can accept that there’s differing levels of usefulness, triviality and purposelessness to the phenomenon in an already crowded world of communications and technology.
Nonetheless, any MotoGP fan should find themselves very grateful that Twitter exists this coming weekend, when the world’s first genuinely virtual sporting event takes place on the service – a completely virtual MotoGP weekend played out in the absence of the *real* Japanese GP (which has been postponed until October due to the travel chaos caused by the Icelandic volcano eruption).
It’s not a real race of course – but it’s definitely going to be a great exercise in fun and entertainment, and a genuinely sweet and fun way to lift everyone’s spirits.

Already attracting the notice and apparent cooperation of high profile MotoGP media figures, the event is spearheaded by a Twitterer/Tweeter called @twitgp – who is promising a weekend of full sessions, celebrities and typically MotoGP fun.
If you’re not already on Twitter, then you should be – so get signed up and get following (there are plenty of MotoGP riders and personalities already on there that you can follow) and search for and follow @twitgp – who you can also find on this URL: www.twitter.com/twitgp
You can also search for news about the event using the hashtag #twitgp

It sounds like a lot of fun: A great idea and a great cure for the blues that the race postponement has caused. So join up and join us in following this sporting and technological first!

And to help give you stories to look at and people to chat with why not also follow our sites and staff on Twitter: @batifans , @teamaspar , @garethbouch , @scottredding45 , @peretutusaus

www.motorcyclenews.com reports that the Japanese MotoGP race, scheduled to take place at the Twin Ring Motegi next weekend (April 25), has been postponed until early October because of on-going European travel chaos caused by an Icelandic volcano.

The Twin Ring Motegi race, which was due to be the second of 18 races on the 2010 MotoGP calendar, will now run on October 3 after crisis talks were held by Dorna management. The race will now be round 14 and run before the Malaysian GP in Sepang on October 10 and the Australian GP at Phillip Island on October 17.

The cancellation means the next round of the MotoGP world championship will be the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez on May 2.

Most of Europe has been a no-fly zone since Thursday after plumes of ash were blown over five miles into the air after the eruption of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano grounded thousands of flights.

The travel crisis has now hit MotoGP, with hundreds of people from the paddock unable to travel to the Far East.

Most team staff and riders would have left on flights bound for Tokyo today (Sunday), Monday and Tuesday, but there is still no assurance from experts that flights will be able to resume in the next few days.

One of the most seriously affected flight zones has been the UK, with virtually every flight cancelled for the last four days and no end in sight to the chaos that has impacted on millions of travellers.

Great news from the good folk over at REV’IT! – an amazing prize draw to win an unforgettable VIP MotoGP weekend at the race in your country.
This is too good not to enter!
REV’IT! is raffling off a MotoGP VIP package for two. The winner will not only be their VIP guest for the weekend to the MotoGP in his or her own country, but can bring a friend too. The two of you will get to see the races from a very good position, take a walk through the paddock and meet the REV’IT! riders (that’s Alvaro Bautista and Randy de Puniet for a start!) in person. And you will also receive a complimentary stay in a quality hotel, compliments of REV’IT!.

What are you waiting for? To enter the contest, you only need to sign up for the REV’IT! digital newsletter before April 30th. So visit www.revit.eu/en/win and sign up now!

(*Correspondence about the result of the contest is not possible. The winner will be notified through an e-mail.)

In 2010 MotoGP fans are able to enjoy an amazingly detailed experience on their iPhone and iPod Touch thanks to the new Official Live Timing Application by Soft Pauer. This new application ensures that fans will not miss a minute of the action from any of the rounds on the 2010 calendar, regardless of where they are.

Many of them have already enjoyed this new application throughout the first race weekend of the season in Qatar, when MotoGP Live Timing placed amongst the top sales in the iTunes App Store sports section for Italy, Spain, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Hungary, , Finland, UK, USA, Australia, Indonesia and Japan.

The App offers an unprecedented level of information to consumers, which can be immediately taken in with the unique dynamic/interactive track map which provides users with a clear illustration of all the gaps between riders. Users are also able to access the same live timing information and in the same format as that which is used by the teams at each Grand Prix venue to track the progress of a session or particular team or rider. Uniquely, all the data from the whole season will be retained on the user’s device to enable them to look back at and re-run the sessions whenever they want.

After the successful launch last year of the F1 Timing and Track Positioning App, iPhone and iPod Touch users can now get their hands on Soft Pauer’s brand new MotoGP 2010 Official Live Timing Application – Premium Pass, and never miss a lap of this year’s Championship.

The App is available in English, Spanish, Italian, French and German at a cost of just €14.99 for the whole season. Support and service information is constantly updated at www.twitter.com/motogptimingapp.

Soft Pauer’s Chief Executive Otmar Szafnauer said, “We’re very pleased to offer fans an added dimension to the experience of watching MotoGP. We hope that they will take advantage of this new opportunity to get a full picture of the racing action wherever they go.”

Dorna Sports Managing Director Manel Arroyo commented, “We have a duty to improve and expand MotoGP coverage through new technologies and this new application is the perfect tool for fans who don’t want to miss a moment of the MotoGP World Championship wherever they are, like those who are enjoying MotoGP at the racetrack and want to have instant information of what goes on lap by lap. We are also working with Soft Pauer so that this application is available on other platforms soon”.

The application is available from the iTunes App Store, and you can also download it now by visiting the official MotoGP website.

Loris Capirossi recorded a hard-fought ninth position on his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R in the season opening round of the 2010 MotoGP World Championship.

Capirossi celebrated his 300th Grand Prix start by lining up for the race with his bike sporting the number 300, instead of his usual 65, as well as a gold-plated helmet. Capirossi got a solid start to the 22-lap race, but was boxed in early on and relegated to eighth by the end of the first lap. He was then involved in a long battle with Colin Edwards, before finally crossing the line just behind the Texan.

Alvaro Bautista had an entertaining, but ultimately fruitless debut race as he crashed on the very last corner when fighting for 11th place. Bautista got a poor start as he was hit by another rider, relegating him to last place. He took a few laps to get into a good rhythm, before recording several personal best laps during the mid-way point of the race. Bautista then set about making his way up to the riders in-front of him and as he chased down Marco Simoncelli on the last lap, he pushed too hard in the final bend and crashed.

The battle at the front of the race saw World Champion Valentino Rossi walk away victorious after pole-setter Casey Stoner crashed. Behind Rossi, an exciting three-way clash entertained the crowd, with Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso just squeezing out Nicky Hayden to the final podium positions.

The Rizla team will now travel to the home of Suzuki for the next round of the season, as the MotoGP circus heads to Motegi in Japan for the second race in the championship, to be held on Sunday 25th April.

Alvaro Bautista:
“This has been a disaster of a race for me! Seriously though, I had a bad start and Barbera pushed me out on lap two and I lost everything. I used the next part of the race like a practice because I had no other riders to fight with. In the middle of the race I got a better rhythm and it was not so bad. I caught two riders, but in the last corner I crashed. I feel like I cannot say that I have done my first MotoGP race because I never finished. The positive thing is that my rhythm was not too bad and for the next race we can only improve. We must continue to work hard and to try to make things better.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“For Alvaro it was certainly an interesting debut Grand Prix, but overall the whole team was very encouraged with his potential and his commitment. We are not at all worried by the result and neither should he be. I am pretty sure that if he had not been closing down a certain Mr Simoncelli by over a second a lap, with the chance of getting him on the final corner, then he would have finished!

“Alvaro won the 250cc Grand Prix at Motegi last year and it is a great track for Loris as well. So, we are looking for a much better weekend in Japan.”