KTM will be omnipresent in the paddock and the track in the 125 cc and 250 cc classes of international road racing in the 2008 season; it has been announced by the company's headquarters in Mattighofen, Austria.
';In keeping with our well-known policy to be always 'Ready to Race', we are making a dramatic increase in our international road racing activities for the 2008 season, "said Winfried Kerschhaggl, head of KTM Motor Sports. "This indicates our firm commitment to be active and successful in major road racing competition and is in keeping with our market move into the road bike sector.'

Effective immediately, KTM will not only run the Red Bull KTM factory team in the 125cc and 250 cc classes of the premiere class MotoGP Road Racing World Championship; the company now extend its activities to include support and the supply of KTM motorcycles to a number of private teams.

Yamaha Red Bull De Carli's Antonio Cairoli finally ended an unforgettable 2007 racing calendar by securing the European Supercross championship last weekend in Munich. A successful defence of his indoor crown means he adds yet another trophy to his immense collection from this season; including the FIM MX2 World Championship and the Italian national motocross title.

The fifth and last round of the European SX competition was not an easy won for the 22 year old, who had previously won three events (Bologna, Milan and Genova) and also took a second place at Bilbao in Spain. A crash in practice when he fell on the landing off a double jump caused some cuts and also bruising to his left hip and chest. The entry list was already quite tough with seasoned AMA supercross racers in the form of Rodrig Thain and Joaquim Rodrigues and Cairoli's main title rival Fabian Izoid.

Rookie of the Year Tom Sykes put in a blistering performance during the final day of testing at Calafat in Spain, successfully rounding off Rizla Suzuki's three day pre-2008 season test.

Both Sykes and his new team-mate, two-time Japanese Superbike Champion Atsushi Watanabe, put in over 200 laps each at the 3.25km track aboard their Rizla Suzuki GSX-R 1000K7 race bikes in what the team has heralded as a very successful test.

Sykes obliterated the lap record for Calafat and out paced his team-mate by a second. The Rizla Suzuki men improved their lap times by a second from yesterday and were thrilled with their progress. This is the first time that Atsushi has encountered an undulating track as circuits in Japan tend to be super smooth. He handled the new circuit with aplomb, taking it all in his stride.

The second race of Enduro Indoor Cup will take place this Sunday at Munich Olymphiahalle. Husqvarna team will take part to the race with two factory riders: Bartosz Oblucki and Sebastien Guillaume.

The Polish rider took part to the first Enduro Indoor race in Barcelona, conquering the 4th overall place behind David Knight, Mika Ahola and Galindo.

"I want to do a good race in Munich - Bartosz commented before leaving for Munich - Unfortunately during this week I couldn't train because of a flu, but I feel better now and I want to improve my position in the provisional classification. The bike is defenetely better and now I can use it as I want." Guillaume will need to improve his results, after a not so shining performance back in Barcelona. The French rider, third placed in 2007 World Championship, will race on a WR 250.

He's 24 years-old, from Krakow, Poland and he's shaking up some major competitions on two wheels in his first year as a KTM factory rider.

Taddy Blazusiak went out this weekend in Bulcher, Texas and became Red Bull's Last Man Standing in what is one of the most gruelling races on the calendar.

Making his debut in the race, Blazusiak claimed the victory and American Geoff Aaron was the only other finisher. Both riders were onboard KTM machines. Blazusiak caught the attention of KTM during the legendary Erzberg Rodeo on Austria's notorious Iron Mountain in the summer of 2007 and he was signed to compete as a factory rider.

But what was a halcyon day - and night - in this unique event for the young Polish professional, it was also a bitter moment for KTM hero David Knight.

FIM, the international governing boy of motorcycle sports has recognized the skill and talent KTM's MX2 factory rider Tommy Searle, who was presented with the Jan de Groot Award for most promising young rider of the season at a Gala event in Monaco.

Also recognized at the glittering annual gala held at Salle des Etoiles in Monaco was KTM Offroad Racing Director Pit Beirer for his contribution to research on spinal cord injury and KTM's young American rider Blake Wharton, the FIM Junior Motocross World champion in the 125 cc class.

The event, held in 2007 for the third year recognizes excellence at world- and European championship level for offroad sports.

Broc Parkes and Fabien Foret started the racetrack development work on the new YZF-R6 in good form, posting 1-2 on the timesheets and making significant gains in terms of the machine's overall performance.

Parkes set the fastest lap of the three days with a 2'01.9, a time faster than the best lap from qualifying at this race in 2007, while Foret's 2'02.5 was hardly less impressive for a rider in his first ride on a new machine, and in a new team set-up.

Each rider completed highly successful full race simulations on the final day of testing, a particular satisfaction on a bike that has an entirely new chassis for 2008, and Yamaha's YCC-I variable intake system proved itself at the very first time of asking, improving throttle response and engine punch.

Ducati Superbike team at Losail (Qatar), both Ducati Xerox Team riders made substantial progress on the second day of testing at the Losail circuit in Qatar as they notched up more mileage on their new Ducati 1098 F08 machines. Bayliss remained third quickest in the standings behind the two Yamahas, but he was flanked by new arrival Carlos Checa (Honda), who joined the test today. Troy's new team-mate Michel Fabrizio also improved, the young Italian knocking one-and-a-half seconds off yesterday's time to end up sixth quickest.

Troy Bayliss, 1m59.5s, we tested a few tyres today, some front and some back, but spent most of the day playing with the settings on the bike and working to get more feeling at the back" declared Troy. "It's still not feeling right and we're missing a little bit of corner speed, but everything is going OK and we've got some good ideas for tomorrow. With the 1098 it still feels like I'm riding a Ducati and I feel at home with the motor, but it certainly works differently and doesn't rev as much as the 999. It's early stages yet and we can't expect to be on top of everything immediately.

Team Alstare Suzuki riders Fonsi Nieto and Yukio Kagayama have completed their second day of testing in Qatar today.

Conditions at the Losail circuit were better than yesterday because the wind was not as strong and there wasn't so much dust and sand drifting across the track. Nieto started the day with his set up from yesterday morning and then continued to work all day understanding the bike and any changes made to it. Kagayama spent the entire day testing and developing new systems on the bike and worked hard with his crew to identify which ideas worked and which did not. Because of this, he, like Nieto, didn't bother to chase lap times, preferring instead to work on developing the bike for next season.

Lorenzo in top three on final day. Rossi happy with first Bridgestone test in Spain. 2008 Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo signed off for 2007 in impressive style in Jerez today, finishing third overall and recording a best time of 1'39.464 on qualifying tyres, just 0.062 seconds off the 2007 race pole position.

Lorenzo completed 90 laps on the final day of testing in Spain, including a long run in which the MotoGP rookie recorded more impressive times. After eight days of testing since the end of the season, Lorenzo is looking increasingly comfortable on his new bike and he was also able to complete some tyre testing today with Michelin, finding some good rear-tyre rubber.

Daniele Romagnoli, Team Manager, today was a positive day. We continued to improve the set-up of Jorge's bike and we found a good basis to work from. We also tested new tyres from Michelin and we found some good material, above all for the rear, that accepted the torque of the engine well and had good grip.