Biker News - Regularly updated

Welcome to our News section, where articles are listed below and if relevant within the categories on the right, just to make it easier for you to find what you wish to read...

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  1. A very excited visitor said of our 2014  'Specials' line up, "better than Goodwood", praise indeed. Wait 'till he sees the 2015 list and we're not finished yet!

     

    We're not ready to publish that list but...

    We can give you a sneaky peek of our riders / celebrity list (so far) to whet your appetite.
    •I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here - 4 x WSBK Champion, Carl Fogarty
    •All round joker, Steve Parrish
    •Adventurer, Nick Sanders
    •John Reynolds, 3 x BSB Champion
    •The all new BSB team from BeWiser Kawasaki
    •British Supermoto Champion (again), Chris Hodgson
    •Rising stars from Moto3, Team Repli-Cast's Charlie Nesbitt and Joe Thompson
    •TAG Kawasaki's Richard Cooper and Shaun Winfield
    •David Hailwood
    •Josh Day, Ruby Racing
    •Dan Cooper

    If you want to be a star on the day and Run the Hill, get in quick as places are filling fast!‏

  2. Motorcycle Live is probably the best place in the UK to meet and greet some of the country’s – and in fact the world’s – leading racers in a relaxed post-season environment away from the paddock, all under one roof. The star-studded procession of racers from MotoGP, World and British Superbikes, Speedway and the Isle of Man TT will begin with a special opening ceremony on Saturday 22 November celebrating the best of British.

    The line-up of 2014 champions from the British Superbike Championship and its support series’ will take to the stage to officially open the nine-day biking extravaganza. 2014 BSB champion Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne will head up the collection of stars, which will also include British Supersport Evo champion Alex Olsen and National Superstock 1000 champion Danny Buchan.

    With Motorcycle Live underway, the racers will keep on coming. MotoGP stars on the guest list include Scott Redding, Randy De Puniet, Danny Kent, Bradley Smith and Wayne Gardner. 2014 World Superbike Champion Sylvain Guintoli is due to appear alongside fellow SBK riders Tom Sykes, Jonathan Rea, Leon Haslam, Alex Lowes and Troy Corser.

    Current World Speedway champion Greg Hancock and former champion Tai Woffinden will appear, while the Isle of Man TT stars will be out in force throughout the week with John McGuinness, Michael Dunlop, Conor Cummins, Bruce Anstey, Michael Rutter, James Hillier and Ryan Farquhar all in attendance.

    British Superbikes will also be well represented with Shakey Byrne, Ryuichi Kiyonari, James Ellison, Dan Linfoot, Jason O’Halloran and Tommy Bridewell joining the line-up on various days. Other well known faces from the world of motorcycling, such as Toby Moody, Julian Ryder, and of course Motorcycle Live’s very own James Whitham and Steve Parrish, will also be on hand to entertain. Eagle-eyed show-goers may even spot one or two celebrity bikers in the crowd.

    Visiting racers will be taking part in signing sessions on their respective manufacturer and sponsor stands, as well as participating in Whitham’s Q&As and the Fast Bikes Question of Bikes quiz with Parrish on the Blackhorse Stage in the British Eurosport Entertainment Zone. For a full list of attending riders, click here.

    Motorcycle Live takes place at The NEC, Birmingham from 22-30 November 2014. Advance tickets are just £17 per adult, £11 for Seniors and £7 for children aged 11-16* (kids ten and under accompanied by a paying adult go free). There is also a £20 advance ticket, which includes entry to the show and a three-pack of Oxford Comfy neck warmers worth £15.

    To book, call 0844 581 2345 or visit www.motorcyclelive.co.uk

    *Advance ticket price, closing date for advanced tickets 5.00pm on 21 November 2014.

     

    Motorcycle Live 2014

  3. Retired World Superbike champion Carl Fogarty, is going into the Australian jungle as a contestant in this year's ITV reality show - I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!

    He has said that he is in it to win it. "The competitive spirit will set in and I will be very competitive to get all the stars", he promised. Fogarty, who won four world championships in the 1990s and is considered one of the most successful riders of all time.

     

    Watch the interview

    The show airs on Sunday 16th November, 9pm on ITV     Sometimes known as Foggy, he is the most successful World Superbike racer of all time, in terms of the number of championships and number of race wins. He is renowned for his high corner speed riding style, combined with an aggressive competitiveness, which netted him 59 victories and four World Superbike Championships. He was awarded an MBE in 1998's New Year's Honours List.

  4. MARCO MELANDRI TO RACE WITH APRILIA IN MOTOGP

    THE RIDER FROM RAVENNA WILL RACE UNDER THE ITALIAN TEAM'S COLOURS IN 2015

    ROMANO ALBESIANO: "AN ITALIAN DUO TO TAKE ON APRILIA'S NEW CHALLENGE"

    MARCO MELANDRI: "A VERY AMBITIOUS GOAL, BUT WE'RE READY"

    Valencia, 10 November 2014 - The lineup is complete for the team that will take Aprilia into its rookie year in the 2015 MotoGP World Championship. After the announcement about Alvaro Bautista, today Marco Melandri has officially been signed, fresh from the conclusion of the 2014 Superbike season, also with Aprilia Racing, where he took 6 wins and another 5 podiums that contributed significantly to the WSBK Manufacturer Title that the Italian Brand won.

    With these two new world titles earned in the recently ended WSBK season under its belt - Rider and Manufacturer - Aprilia now enters MotoGP a year ahead of the earlier announced schedule. As announced at the beginning of September, Aprilia Racing has signed an agreement with Gresini Racing, based on which Gresini Racing will mange the Aprilia bikes on the track in the MotoGP class for four years beginning with the 2015 season.

     

    Born in 1982, Marco Melandri began his career at a very young age in minimoto, winning the Italian Championship in 1992 and 1994. Moving to 125 he became Italian Champion for the category in 1997, a title which allowed him to début in the "eighth litre" MotoGP class. Third in 1998 and second in 1999, Marco moved up a category to ride a powerful 250 two-stroke with Aprilia. This was the beginning of a Melandri-Aprilia match up where he finished fifth in the rider standings in 2000, third in 2001 and World Champion (with 9 wins and 2 podiums out of 16 races) in 2002.

    Rising to the premier MotoGP category, Melandri immediately confirmed his competitiveness, finishing out the year in second place. In the various MotoGP categories Melandri has won 22 races and been on the podium 62 times.

    In 2011 Marco Melandri moved over to World Superbike and was immediately a key player, so much that he was battling for the title from his rookie season, finishing the year in second place. Finishing third in the 2012 season, the rider from Ravenna was also a contender for the title in 2013, finishing out the season in fourth place. In SBK he has taken 19 wins and 31 podiums.

    In its brief history, Aprilia boasts 54 World Titles (38 in MotoGP, 7 in Superbike and 9 in off-road disciplines) which make it one of the most victorious brands on a global level in motorcycle racing. Many recent protagonists in the motorcycle racing world have raced and won with Aprilia such as Biaggi, Capirossi, Rossi, Melandri, Simoncelli, Stoner and Lorenzo.

    Romano Albesiano, Aprilia Racing Director: "With Marco Melandri the last piece of the puzzle has been put into place for Aprilia's participation in next year's MotoGP season. These have been very intense and exciting days where in just a few hours we went from the last round of Superbike at Losail to this new adventure in MotoGP. We are very pleased to announce Marco's signing because this completes our team in the best way possible on the eve of a great challenge: with Melandri we now have an all-Italian bike-rider duo. We are moving into MotoGP a year ahead of schedule on wings of enthusiasm because of the double world Superbike championships we have just won. We moved our schedule up because we want the most demanding tracks and the most competitive championship in the world to gauge the quality of our work. Aprilia's 54 world titles, the hundreds of wins on tracks all over the world give proof of technical skills and a winning attitude that deserve the limelight of the most prestigious stage."

    Marco Melandri: "I was offered the chance to develop a completely new project and it is something that I have not yet done in my career since I have always had 'inherited' bikes. Precisely for this reason I am very intrigued by this challenge. I am working with a company and a racing department which sought me out and with which I want to continue to work in order to develop and grow a great project. Aprilia Racing has always demonstrated their ability to make great bikes and make them fast. I'll put in my efforts. Our goal is quite ambitious: to grow a bike and at the same time to develop a new prototype that will race in 2016. It will be a demanding season and a lot of work but we are ready to take on these challenges."

  5. The IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists) has published its road safety manifesto for the upcoming general election, calling for urgent support from all political parties to promote driver and rider improvement on UK roads.

    One of the more radical ideas in the IAM manifesto, which is designed to cut the unacceptable number of road deaths and injuries every year, is a call for high speed rural roads to be part of the driving test as well as for road safety to be part of the national curriculum.

    IAM chairman Alistair Cheyne, speaking at the IAM’s annual lunch on Thursday 6 November, said: “In the last five years, more than five-and-a-half-thousand young people have been killed on our roads or had life-changing injuries. Every one of those crashes was avoidable.”

    “We need legislation, we need campaigns to nudge people towards better driving behaviour and we need more training interventions – yes from people like us – but also from parents and the community. All of society has a duty to safeguard our young people.”

    The IAM also asked the government to play its part by making sure that companies applying for public sector contracts have road-risk policies in place. IAM research shows that only 30 per cent of commercial drivers have ever been offered driver training yet commercial drivers account for a third of all crashes.

    The IAM manifesto also covers:

    • Protecting vulnerable roads users, including cyclists • greater priority for motorcyclists in transport policy • a call for a national road safety forum • targeted retraining for offenders • continuous learning for motorists; and • an informed debate on keeping older drivers mobile.

    The full IAM manifesto can be found online