The All Japan 250GP Championship race held at over the weekend at Okayama saw the Moriwaki Moto2 MD600 machine ridden by Shogo Moriwaki cross the line in first place, highlighting the progress being made with the Japanese team’s Moto2 project.

The Japanese Championship is a highly competitive field and is therefore an ideal environment for Moriwaki to participate as they prepare for their planned entry in the new Moto2 World Championship category next season.

Moto2 machines also performed well in the fourth round of the CEV Buckler 2009 (Spanish National Championship) on Sunday at Albacete. For the third time this season the new prototypes shared the grid with the regular CEV Fórmula Extreme bikes and once again there were some notable performances.

The best result of the riders on Moto2 equipment came from Dani Rivas, who came home in eighth place on his BQR Honda. Indeed, the Blusens BQR team were also represented by Shuhei Aoyama on a Moto2 machine and the Japanese rider crossed the line ninth.

On this occasion, however, things did not go quite according to plan for Aleix Espargaró who had problems on the grid on his Promoracing Moto2 ride, meaning he had to start from pit lane. The Catalan competitor only lasted until lap two, when he hit the deck after being caught out by a cold tyre.

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What is Moto2?

A new 4-stroke MotoGP World Championship class was announced on 11th December 2008 and is set to replace the 250cc category from 2010.

Taking the name of Moto2, this new category is intended to be a prestigious yet cost-effective accompaniment to the premier class of MotoGP.

Some of the key characteristics of this new category of Grand Prix racing will be the single engine supplier and a single tyre supplier. Honda Racing Corporation was chosen as the engine supplier, while Dunlop, currently present in the 125 and 250cc World Championships are to provide the tyres.

Technical specifications

Powered by a one-make 600cc 4-stroke engine, producing around 150hp, the Moto2 class will continue the 250cc series' pursuit of developmental excellence with the running of a prototype chassis -free from limitation.

No production bike parts will be permitted for the frame, swing arm, fuel tank, seat or cowling, meaning that these aspects of the machine will be left to the manufacturer and designers. discretion.

However, electronic systems will be more limited than those currently permitted in 250cc, which has seen select factories bringing in traction control in recent years. Moto2 rules will allow for data loggers, ECU and timing transponders supplied by the organiser, with a maximum total cost of the ECU's components set at 650 euros. No other electronic control, nor datalogging systems, will be present on the bikes.

Moto2 in the CEV Buckler

Moto2 bikes made their first competitive outing in the 2009 edition of the CEV Buckler - the Spanish National Road Racing Championship, with teams such as Promo Racing, Laglisse and BQR lining up early Moto2 prototypes and displaying impressive potential.

2010 Entry List

By the end of May 2009, the future Moto2 class garnered so much interest that IRTA (International Racing Teams Association) received as many as 47 team applications for a total of 91 rider entries. It was then decided to provisionally offer entries in this class to 27 teams (41 riders). A further 10 teams were placed on a reserve list and it was necessary to refuse applications from 10 teams.

The teams provisionally accepted will have until the bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal (2nd-4th October 2009) to confirm the details of their entry, including the team structure, machines to be used and riders contracted. Decisions on the teams accepted will be made in Estoril in October based on this information.