While selection for the 2019 Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup was announced last month, a provisional entry list has now been provided along with the calendar for next year’s championship.

Six countries are represented on the provisional entry list including Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Turkey, Australia and Indonesia. Seven of the youthful talents who rode in the cup last season will return, with 14 new faces joining them on the grid.

Amongst the provisional grid are Australians Harrison Voight, Jacob Roulstone, and Luke Power, who was initially named as a reserve although has now secured a position in the academy.

The first race weekend of the year sees the cup racing alongside MotoGP at the grand prix of Qatar from the 8-10 March, and the season begins with a back-to-back bang as the series then heads for Buriram in Thailand the weekend after.

The next date is the cup’s first visit to Sepang International Circuit as they race as part of the Malaysian Superbike Championship from the 14-16 June, and then there’s a summer break before the second half of the season kicks off at Buriram alongside MotoGP from the 4-6 October.

The cup then heads for the Twin Ring Motegi in Japan two weeks later, before the season finale once again takes place at Sepang and another exciting season concludes in early November.

In 2018, the title fight when down to the wire between Haruki Noguchi and Australian Billy van Eerde, the Aussie ultimately coming out on top after thrilling finale.

2019 Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup calendar:
Rd1 – 8-10 March – Losail, Qatar (MotoGP)
Rd2 – 15-17 March – Buriram, Thailand (WorldSBK)
Rd3 – 14-16 June – Sepang, Malaysia
Rd4 – 4-6 October – Buriram, Thailand (MotoGP)
Rd5 – 18-20 October – Motegi, Japan (MotoGP)
Rd6 – 1-3 November – Sepang, Malaysia (MotoGP)

Following the calendar reveal in October, it’s been confirmed Argentina will host the opening round of the 2019 MXGP World Championship on 10 March.

MXGP’s return to Patagonia Argentina’s beautiful Neuquen circuit is exciting for the championship, with incredible racing taken place at the venue since first hosting the MXGP in 2015.

“It is great news to be back in Argentina for the opening grand prix of the season,” said David Luongo, vice president of Youthstream. “The circuit of Neuquen is for most of the riders, the most beautiful track of the championship and its location in the middle of Patagonia is breathtaking.

“We really want to thank David Eli from Mas Eventos along with the local and national authorities making this grand prix possible, we are sure that it will be a great success and will bring a lot of attention and exposure Argentina.”

The 2019 MXGP World Championship will span over 20 rounds, starting in March before winding up in September at Imola in Italy.

Three-time Pirelli MX Nationals MX1 champion Dean Ferris has declared his discussions with teams on the AMA pro circuit have been developing positively, with a selection of options on the table for his maiden Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross campaign in 2019.

Ferris has enlisted the help of sports agent Lucas Mirtl, a Western Australian native who currently represents the Lawrence brothers, Martin brothers, and Ryan Villopoto amongst a host of AMA regulars.

“It’s going good, I’ve got an agent on the ground over there and we’ve got a few options,” Ferris explained to MotoOnline.com.au. “We’re just still going over some details, but it’s looking pretty good. Nothing is signed or done yet, it’s about assessing our options.”

Coming off his third-consecutive Australian motocross crown, which saw him capture 10 overall victories from 10 rounds, Ferris suffered a frightening crash at Jimboomba’s opening round of the Australian Supercross Championship in September, which ultimately ruled him out of the remainder of the short five-stop series.

Cleared to ride a number of weeks ago, the New South Welshman recommenced riding yesterday at his private facility in Kyogle aboard a relatively stock Yamaha YZ450F fitted with a handful of parts from his former team, CDR Yamaha Monster Energy.

“I’m fully recovered and was cleared to ride a few weeks ago, but I returned to riding yesterday after sorting out a bike to ride – everything feels really good,” he added.

“Yamaha gave me a bike, so thanks to them for getting me through – it’s pretty standard, but CDR has hooked me up with some suspension. So I’ve got something good enough to remain in shape and continue riding on.”

Next Gen Motorsport’s Glenn Allerton has completed day one of the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) test at Chang International Circuit in Thailand, as the series introduces a Superbike category for the first time.

The BMW squad revealed its intentions last month to potentially enter the series alongside its commitments in the YMF Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), with this week’s tyre test its first step towards making it happen.

Adapting to the Dunlop control tyre and Buriram venue, Allerton wound up seventh on the timesheets on the opening day after recording 68 laps.

“The heavy braking areas are really big and were causing us some dramas today,” Allerton admitted. “It’s not the end of the world. The team and I will sit down tonight and work on our brake set-up and get the bike to work a little bit better in the big braking areas and accelerate out of slow corners. Once we get that sorted I believe we will be better off.

“It was very interesting to ride on the track, as it’s a very wide and open flowing type of track. It was just good to be able to get our bearings on which way the track went and of course get our heads around the Dunlop tyres.

“These Dunlop control tyres are a different spec tyres to what we use back in Australia, so it was always going to be a learning day. With a day under our belt, we can now start working on bike set-up tomorrow and hopefully push for faster lap times.

Next Gen Motorsports team manager Wayne Hepburn said he’s satisfied with how day one rolled out, explaining a number of tyre options were the key focus, while today’s second phase of testing will allow the outfit to develop their set-up.

“As a whole, I’m happy and the team are also very happy,” Hepburn commented. “Our testing program today saw us testing a bunch Dunlop tyres, which we got through. We had five different rears and three different front tyres we had to go through. At the completion of tyres, Glenn seemed to like the softer compound tyres, so we then focused on them and trying to make the tyres last a bit longer.”

“As we just focused on tyres today, we now have to work on the bike set-up for tomorrow. We have a lot of work to do to be competitive with the local riders. It’s great to see that the field is so competitive and the local riders are keeping us honest. We are now looking forward to tomorrow, where we know we will improve a lot.”

Yamaha Motor Australia won’t contest the 2019 Finke Desert Race in the Northern Territory, opting out of the high-speed annual event to be hosted over the long weekend of 8-10 June.

The Yamaha Active8 Yamalube Racing team will focus upon the Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC), Australian Four-Day Enduro (A4DE), Hattah Desert Race and select Transmoto events with the three-rider roster of Josh Green (pictured), Luke Styke and Michael Driscoll.

Following the late Daymon Stokie’s historic victory in 2017, which was the brand’s first Finke win in 30 years, Yamaha’s then defending event champion lost his life in January this year while competing in Alice Springs’ Deep Well event.

Representatives of the Yamaha Racing department chose not to comment on or detail the manufacturer’s decision to sit out Finke for next year, however did confirm that it won’t be campaigning an official entry in 2019.

Finke is widely understood to be one of the most costly single events on the domestic competition calendar, including an intense pre-running schedule required to be undertaken by top teams in the lead-up to the race weekend if they are to challenge for the elusive outright honours.

Seven-time world champion Marc Marquez has successfully undergone surgery on his left shoulder to repair damage and resolve its recurring dislocation.

The operation took place at the Hospital Universitari Dexeus on Tuesday, where the complex surgery was performed by Dr. Xavier Mir, Dr. Victor Marlet and Dr. Teresa Marlet, all members of the Catalan Institute of Traumatology and Sports Medicine.

The Repsol Honda ace will be discharged within the next 48 hours depending on his recovery, while next week he will begin a six-week rehabilitation program in his home town to recover from the operation before commencing his winter training in preparation for the Sepang test in February.

Marquez completed his final duties of 2018 last week at Jerez in Spain for the last official MotoGP test, where he wound up second on the timesheets.

Following confirmation of his departure from CDR Yamaha Monster Energy, Dylan Long has revealed he’s reached a verbal agreement for his 2019 plans, with an official contract still to be signed.

The popular Victorian, who boasts an Instagram following of 70,000 fans, couldn’t disclose who he’s in discussions with at this stage, although the number seven has been linked to Empire Motorsports aboard Kawasaki machinery.

Finishing fifth in both the Pirelli MX Nationals and Australia Supercross Championship in 2018, Long is hopeful his deal will be finalised in the coming weeks which will allow an early start on his preparations for the new year.

“I’ve said yes, but the contract isn’t signed yet,” Long revealed to MotoOnline.com.au. “There are things lined up for next year – I just can’t say yet as the team is still finalising stuff as well.

“We only just finished supercross, so it’s been good to have a bit of time off and relax. Hopefully in the next week or so things will be sorted – I should be able to get a bike by then and start riding again. I usually have a bike at home – the brand I’m riding, I usually buy a bike and keep it at home so I always have a bike to ride.”

Long has previously been equipped with Kawasaki’s premier class contender, landing a guest ride with the now defunct NPS Monster Energy Kawasaki outfit in 2015.

It was made offical at the weekend that Kirk Gibbs will join CDR Yamaha Monster Energy, while the second seat is tipped to be fulfilled by Luke Clout.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price is anticipating greater intensity ahead of the 2019 Dakar Rally as he endeavours to earn the crown for the second time in his career.

Price, who was crowned the FIM Cross-Country Rallies world champion this year, secured the Dakar title in 2016 and has finished third on two occasions.

The popular Australian is deep in preparation for the almost two-week long rally that’s staged in South America, and believes the dune-favoured route will offer an intense race from the beginning of the event.

“Finishing the Dakar on the podium in third after only just coming back from injury was great,” Price explained. “The world championship didn’t start quite like I would have hoped, but I was able to keep my head together, stay consistent and the results finally came.

“Everything clicked in Morocco at that final round and I’m hoping for something similar in Peru. It’s going to be a bit of a strange Dakar, the route looks like about 70 percent is in the dunes and it’s going to be a real challenge, certainly no time to relax.

“In the past there have been days where you can pace yourself and still get a good result by concentrating on navigation and riding smooth – on this one I think it’s going to be flat-out from the very beginning.”

The Dakar Rally is scheduled to commence on 6 Janurary 2019, before finishing up on 17 January 2019 following 5,541 kilometres of riding.

Coming off the back of announcements that Josh Waters and Wayne Maxwell have signed two-year deals with Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia, it’s now been revealed the squad will expand to three riders for 2019 with the addition of Alex Phillis.

Phillis finished eighth overall in the 2018 YMF Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) aboard a privateer Suzuki GSX-R1000, and is set to join former champions Waters and Maxwell in a satellite-supported role with the squad.

“We’re thrilled to expand our rider line-up to three next year,” said Suzuki Motorcycles Australia’s marketing manager Lewis Croft. “Suzuki has a rich history with the Phillis family, dating back to the early eighties winning five titles with Rob Phillis on a GSX1100 Katana.

“We look forward to seeing Alex in Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia colours next season, completing one of the strongest rider line-ups in the history of Australian Superbike racing.”

The Victorian will make his debut with the team at the ASBK opener, scheduled to take place in conjunction with opening round of WorldSBK at Phillip Island on 22-24 February.