British GP winner Scott Redding has bagged himself a Blue Peter badge after teaching gormless presenter Joel Defries how to ride a mini-moto. You can see it on the BBC next Wednesday, sandwiched between The Animals of Farthing Wood and The Moomins.

Tech3 Yamaha boss Herve Poncharal reckons that sticking with his current rider line-up of James Toseland and Colin Edwards is the way forward for 2009. The team will go to Jerez at the end of this month to have a crack at the spec-Bridgestone tyres but they won't get the 2009 Yamaha M1 until February next year. The two riders are to swap crew chiefs in order to maintain focus, apparently.

Kawsaki new-boy Marco Melandri has revaled he thought about quitting MotoGP   for good but the support he had from friends, family and fans spurred him into carrying on. Good.

Valentino Rossi will once again go messing around with F1 cars by the end of this month. Apparently, he will drive Felipe Massa's F2008 car in which he comprehensively failed to beat Lewis Hamilton. Rossi will then go on to crash a Ford Focus in aid of Children in Need at the Wales Rally GB.

Speaking of rallying, Loris Capirossi had a bash in a Suzuki Swift. He managed a third place on the rally near Aldershot, just 14 seconds off eventual winner Mark Gamble, who isn't quite as famous as Hamilton.
Capirossi is preparing to fly to Japan next week to start wind-tunnel testing on next year's GSV-R800 before flying down to Phillip Island for a three day test.

Randy Krummenacher, who sounds like a villain from Dangermouse, will ride for the De Graaf Aprilia team in 2009. Well done.

Oh, it looks like Hector Faubel will switch to the Stop and Go Honda squad in 250s next year. Meanwhile in less exciting news, Lukas Pesek stays with the Auto Kelly team in 250s.

Hector Barbera and Sito Pons have done a deal which sees the pair embarking on a new 250cc project. Barbera has retained his Pepe clothing contract, which means he can continue wear bad jeans from the late 1980s.