Jorge Lorenzo was the guest of honour at an event to unveil the new Jupiter Z this week, as he appeared at a 5,700 capacity convention centre in Jakarta.
The 22 year-old, who started his South East Asia tour in Bangkok last week, took part in a spectacular show and was dressed in his Fiat Yamaha colours.
“Today I have experienced one of the greatest spectacles in an auditorium I can remember,” said Lorenzo. “The show was impressive and it makes you realise how much power this country has. It’s growing at a fast rate and Yamaha sells nearly three million units annually.”
“I’ve felt very welcome in all the places I have been this season, but I have to admit Indonesia feels especially important even though it hasn’t had a Grand Prix since the mid 90s. I would love this country to return to the MotoGP World Championship, as it has displayed the affection it has for motorcycles.”
Lorenzo will now enjoy a short holiday in Bali after concluding his four-day Yamaha tour.

Fausto Gresini has given an honest assessment of his team’s 2009 season, and is positive about the forthcoming campaign with an all-Italian rider line-up of rookie Marco Simoncelli and the experienced Marco Melandri.
Looking back over the season just finished, Gresini analysed the 7th and 8th places which were achieved in the final standings by Toni Elías and Alex de Angelis respectively. The Italian was pleased with how his team had performed in the latter half of the season, with a podium for Elías at Brno and De Angelis at Indianapolis making for a strong finish.
“I must say we had a very difficult first part of the Championship, with the second half decidedly better,” said the team boss. “We achieved two podiums, which is not many but it is important to our team. In the end, we achieved our goals, with 7th and 8th position for our riders, and a good placement for the team (fifth).”
“Without doubt it has not been an easy campaign, but MotoGP is a competitive category and we have done a good job, although we’re not content and in the future we want to do better.”
The combination of Simoncelli and Melandri – who was MotoGP World Championship runner-up with the team in 2005 – is one which Gresini is convinced will help the team develop further.
“We are already thinking about 2010. We cannot set ourselves strict targets because then it is difficult to keep promises,” said Gresini. “We want to do very well, with a rookie who is very fast in Simoncelli and a skilled rider in Melandri, who I know well. In the next Championship we can do very well, and are convinced Honda will make a more competitive bike. Obviously we have to work hard, but we always do that. We are ready and will face 2010 with a calm outlook.”

By Paul Denning’s own admission 2009 was an inconsistent year for Rizla Suzuki, and the team manager is determined to make next season more successful with a vastly improved display.
A quartet of fifth-placed finishes for Loris Capirossi was accompanied by a series of mixed results for the Italian and his team-mate Chris Vermeulen, with the pair ending the campaign in ninth and 12th places respectively and without any podiums.
“We were not consistent,” began Denning’s honest assessment. “In some races we were super strong and Loris was able to do a great job with the bike, but the bike was not consistent in all conditions. In the end that was reflected in Loris’ finish of ninth in the championship and Chris who came 12th, and we didn’t deserve so much more.”
Denning continued, “We have to improve the bike and the consistency a lot and nobody within the team is satisfied with this year’s result. Suzuki did a great job with the engine performance, now it’s not too bad and is quite competitive with the other guys, but we have to improve the chassis performance and this is the big priority for this winter.”
Teaming up with Capirossi next season will be MotoGP rookie Álvaro Bautista, who has impressed the Rizla Suzuki structure in tests at Valencia and Estoril. Denning believes the Spaniard is the perfect accompaniment alongside veteran Capirossi.
“The 2010 season is a new start with Bautista, which we’re very excited about. He has shown that he’s a racer and this spirit should really help push the team forward,” Denning enthused. “For us the balance in the team for next year is correct, because we have to improve the machine a lot and we need an experienced rider to do that. I think Loris’ job will be to develop the bike, and to push hard like he always does and to help Álvaro. I think this is a good combination for us.”

Randy de Puniet equalled his best-ever finish to a season in MotoGP this year with 11th position, and his LCR Honda team manager Lucio Cecchinello believes the Frenchman is well placed to better that in 2010.
A series of good finishes peaked with De Puniet’s first and only podium of the season in round 10 at Donington, which took him up to eighth in the standings. However, a training accident after the British Grand Prix left the 28 year-old with a broken ankle which required screws to be inserted, and while De Puniet managed to ride through the pain for the remainder of the season his form suffered as a result, thus depriving him of a higher overall finish.
De Puniet was involved in a tight battle for seventh place in the MotoGP standings until the end of the season, and the form displayed by him this year has led Cecchinello to aim high for the new campaign.
“We are quite happy with the results, because we definitely improved,” said Cecchinello. “We had a good chance to put in good performances, especially when we made the podium in the British GP, so we are quite happy.”
“This year we had the chance to finish, let’s say, as the best independent team in the rankings. We had a couple of crashes and Randy broke his ankle in August so we didn’t achieve our objective. Definitely next year we would like to be the first independent team in the ranking.”

Ducati Marlboro completed their test at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit on Wednesday with Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden having made good progress on their Desmosedici prototypes.
Both were pleased with the changes made to their machines by Filippo Preziosi, with Stoner’s best lap of 1’31.900 the fastest of all riders across the three days, as he tested a new engine configuration.
“We were able to understand the bike a little better today and the fantastic weather conditions certainly helped. It was a pleasant surprise when we got up this morning and it allowed us to work well,” said Stoner. “I’m satisfied with this three-day test and with the new characteristics of the bike, in particular the extra traction in corner exit. It is still difficult to figure out exactly the best time to open the throttle, but we’re getting there and it is a case of more practice and improving the set-up.”
Hayden, whose 1’32.805 was the third quickest lap of the final day, was also content with what had been achieved.
“We worked on confirming a few things today and I think we found what we were looking for,” he said. “I like the changes we’ve introduced to the bike; the power delivery is definitely more progressive although we still need to find the ideal setting for it. I’m happy – I think we’re on the right track and have had three important days here that should help us make a lot of progress in the next test, and close the gap to the front guys down even more.”