• The agreement between Ducati and the important Italian web company will last three years

• A new version of the Ducati Panigale and new regulations closer to production models for the 2015 Superbike World Championship

• "Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team" is the name of the team, the only official Ducati outfit to compete in the Superbike World Championship

Borgo Panigale/Arezzo (Italy), 8 January 2015: Ducati and Aruba confirm the signing of a three-year agreement that will see their joint participation in the 2015 Superbike World Championship with the “Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team”. This is a partnership agreement that sees Aruba directly involved in the management of the official Ducati team as well as in the role of title sponsor.

Aruba, based in Arezzo, is Italy’s leading web hosting and cloud services company and has consolidated its activities in Europe with a network of Data Centres in France, Germany, the UK and the Czech Republic. The Tuscan firm has decided to take on this new challenge in collaboration with Ducati as it shares a significant number of values with the Bologna-based manufacturer, ranging from the technological avant-garde in their respective sectors, to the ability to offer the excellence of “Made in Italy”, operating with passion and competence to guarantee the satisfaction of their users and clients across the world. Important affinities that, combined with Ducati’s long-time experience and success in Superbike and the passion that Aruba has for sport, have contributed to the birth of this prestigious partnership.

Ducati Corse will continue to be responsible for the development and preparation of the Ducati Panigale R bikes with which the team will compete in the upcoming championship. Ducati and Aruba have made the decision to continue collaboration with Feel Racing, the technical and logistical structure that has long been linked to Ducati. Aruba will be responsible for certain organizational aspects of the team and also, together with Ducati, for team communication and marketing activities.

Chaz Davies and Davide Giugliano will continue as official riders for the second consecutive year, with Serafino Foti confirmed in the role of Team Manager. Ernesto Marinelli will continue to be the Ducati Corse Superbike Project Director and Technical Director of the team. Aruba will be represented at the tracks by Luca Scassa. The 31-year old rider, who hails from Arezzo and has sixty Superbike races under his belt, will also be one of the team’s official test riders.

Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A, stated: “It’s with great pleasure that we can announce this important agreement with Aruba that guarantees a solid work platform for Ducati in the Superbike World Championship over the next three years. While fully respecting our philosophy of using racing to test and continuously improve the product that we offer to our fans, the new “Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team” will be able to count on a profoundly evolved version of the Panigale in 2015, which will also be available to our fans and be even more powerful, lightweight and electronically cutting-edge. For Ducati, races have strategic importance, and the Superbike World Championship allows us to demonstrate, on track, just how high-performing and fast a twin-cylinder can be. With the new 2015 regulations, which stipulate that the bikes competing must be even closer to production models, we believe we have everything we need to be very competitive. With its 14 Riders’ titles and 17 Manufacturers’ titles, Ducati has an extraordinary history of successes and victories in the Superbike World Championship and, with this agreement, we think that we have laid the foundations from which to build on this unique record of achievement. I therefore wish Chaz and Davide lots of luck and extend a warm welcome to Aruba.”

Stefano Cecconi, CEO of Aruba S.p.A, commented: “We are very proud of this partnership in which we have great faith, and that will allow us to manage, together with Ducati, an official team with two very competitive riders. We have taken the decision to enter the world of racing because it links in many ways to our world and shares some of the same fundamental pillars, such as the continuous quest for maximum performance and ever increasing reliability, and a constant focus on safety. We will take on this new challenge with the same commitment and with the same passion that we show our clients each day. This is why we have chosen our Data Centre IT1 in Arezzo, the symbol and heart of technological development for our group, as the setting for the official presentation of the team.”

The new team will be officially presented to the press in early February, with a dedicated event that will take place at the Aruba Data Centre in Arezzo. Further details will follow in the coming days.

Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A.

Founded in 1926, Ducati has been producing sport-inspired motorcycles since 1946. Today, their motorcycles are characterized by performance engines with Desmodromic valve actuation, innovative design and avant-garde technology. Covering several market segments, Ducati's range of motorcycles is divided into model families which include: Diavel, Hypermotard, Monster, Multistrada, Scrambler, Streetfighter and Superbike. These authentic icons of “made in Italy”, together with an extensive range of associated accessories and technical and lifestyle apparel, are distributed in over 80 countries around the world, with concentration on the European, North American and Asia-Pacific markets. In addition to the Bologna factory located in the Borgo Panigale area, Ducati has a plant in Thailand, which opened in 2011 and assembles motorcycles for the Asian market, and, since 2012, another in Brazil that assembles motorcycles for South America. In 2013 Ducati delivered 44,287 motorcycles to customers, an all-time company record.

Ducati competes in both the World Superbike and MotoGP World Championships. In Superbike Ducati has won 17 Manufacturers' titles and 14 Riders' titles and in 2011 passed the historic milestone of 300 race victories. Ducati has participated in MotoGP since 2003, winning both the Manufacturers' and Riders' titles in 2007.

www.ducati.com

ARUBA S.p.A.

Aruba S.p.A, founded in 1994, is the Italian market leader for data center, webhosting, email and domains. The company manages 2 million domains, over 6 million email accounts and a total of more than 2 million customers. The company is present in the main European markets such as France, England, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. Aruba has also gained massive experience in dedicated servers, housing and collocation, managed services, security services and smart cards. Since 2011, it has been expanding its product portfolio with fast-growing Cloud services and in 2014 Aruba became the official Registry of the domain ".cloud".

www.arubacloud.com

The aim was to bringing together a collection of information specifically for the Biker Community, with an extensive business directory included, all on one easy to use website... and I guess we did it and continue to do so!

With millions of visitors from over 170 countries, 1,000's of news articles, 100's events, meeting places and businesses listed and so we have become 'THE' place to look for any bike/Motorcycle related information on the great world wide web!

THE BIKER GUIDE® is promoted through a variety of means such as banners, business cards, large facebook groups, THE BIKER GUIDE booklet and more, similar to a printed magazine, free and easy to use. In the last 6 years we have also given away many prizes in our competitions for holidays, tickets to events, books, dvd's, t's and more.

We would like to thank all our all our visitors, friends, customers, contributors and supporters!

www.thebikerguide.co.uk

Leading road racing team Jackson Racing will be undertaking a Honda-supported campaign for the Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy, the other international road races and World Endurance Championship in 2015. Twenty-one time TT race winner John McGuinness and Manxman Conor Cummins will spearhead their attack on Honda CBR1000RR SP and Honda CBR600RR machinery.

McGuinness joins the team for the first time and will be armed with a CBR600RR Honda for the Monster Energy Supersport races at the Isle of Man TT and North West 200 events joining Cummins, who had a strong debut campaign with the Preston based outfit in 2014.

Cummins will also enjoy the backing of the squad in the RL360 Superstock race for the first time where he'll line up on the formidable CBR1000RR SP. The 28-year old will also contest the Supersport and Superstock races at the Ulster Grand Prix, the third of the 'big three' International road races.

Run by brothers Alan jnr and Andy, the team will make their debut in the Endurance World Championship, contesting the Superstock class. Again using the Honda CBR1000RR SP, Honda-contracted riders McGuinness and Cummins will be joined by a third rider Dan Stewart, the 2012 TT Privateer's Champion.

Both McGuinness and Cummins have prior experience in the EWC with 42-year old McGuinness riding for Honda TT Legends from 2011 to 2013, scoring a best position of fourth overall, while 28-year old Cummins has previously competed in both the Le Mans and Bol d'Or 24 Hour races.

Jackson Racing, meanwhile, has a wealth of experience within the motorcycling paddocks, dating back to the 1970s when Alan Jackson senior won three consecutive World Formula Two Championships between 1977-79, also taking three victories at the Isle of Man TT during that period.

Sons Alan junior and Andy continued the dynasty, Alan setting the outright lap record at the Manx Grand Prix in 2005 with a speed of 122.208mph, a record that still stands today. The team is no stranger to success having contested World and British Championships and they have supported the careers of many road racing stars including Ian Lougher, James Hillier, Steve Mercer and American Mark Miller.

www.jacksonracing.bike

www.twitter.com/@jack5onracing

Motorcycle thieves are now avoiding St James’s Square in London, thanks to a series of anti-theft initiatives.

The Square was identified as one of four ‘hotspots’ for motorcycle theft by Westminster City Council, with around 52 motorcycles or scooters stolen each year from its parking bays -  around one a week. £1 million worth of motorcycles, scooters and mopeds have been stolen from the whole of the City of Westminster since April 2014 - a total of 191.

Since September though, none have been taken from St James’s Square, as a result of a series of measures put in place by Westminster City Council through working in partnership with the Metropolitan Police and security marking specialists Datatag.  This could be rolled out to other ‘hotspots’.

How this was done?

Westminster City Council and Datatag advertised a day in September to offer riders the chance to get their motorcycles security ‘tagged’ on site for just £50, including fitting.  This resulted in a steady queue of riders taking advantage of this offer.

Tagging involves applying a combination of highly visible and hidden security markers, which deter thieves but also help the police recover vehicles if they are stolen.  Fitting takes around 25 minutes to complete.

The Metropolitan Police were also on hand to check the Police National Computer to make sure the bikes weren’t stolen in the first place.  After the tagging took place, warning signs were put up to let thieves know that users of the parking bay had security marked their bikes.

Community Protection Officer for Westminster City Council Paul King, who has led on this project explained: “We are determined to reduce motorcycle theft in the City of Westminster and to give parking customers the best possible experience, which includes coming back to find your bike where you parked it.   We have applied a combination of measures in partnership with the Metropolitan Police and Datatag, which alerts riders as to the risk and gives them the means to avoid them. We aim to repeat the opportunity for riders to have their motorcycles and scooters marked in the New Year for riders who use Berkeley Square parking, as we feel this provided a turning point in St James’s Square, which we would like to repeat for other theft ‘hotspots’ in the City. We would also urge any rider who parks near an anchor point to make sure they use it. All these measures clearly work, but only if riders stay vigilant.”

Steve Kenward, CEO of the Motorcycle Industry Association, which invented the MASTER* Security Scheme – the UK’s first national, official tagging scheme for new bikes, says this concerted effort by Westminster City Council proves that marking works.

“We are delighted to hear the part security marking is playing in eliminating theft in St James’s Square and applaud Westminster City Council’s systematic approach in dealing with it and would like to see other London councils making such an effort. The underlying message gained from this exercise is that thieves like easy pickings.  Make it as hard as possible for them to steal in the first place and if they do, make sure your bike is marked.  This makes it easy for the police to secure a prosecution when they find a stolen motorcycle or scooter and helps them return it to its rightful owner. Riders who don’t want the inconvenience of having a motorcycle or scooter stolen have a number of options.  They now have a huge choice of new bikes which are automatically MASTER tagged, and they can have older bikes security marked retrospectively.  We feel this is clearly acting as a huge deterrent to thieves, who are switching their attention to unmarked bikes. Thieves are looking for easy pickings, so make sure your bike doesn’t fall into that category.

“Over 70,000 new bikes have been marked since we introduced the MASTER scheme, which makes these bikes far less likely to be stolen.  It makes sense to make sure your motorcycle is tagged, either by buying a new model, which fits this as standard, or by retro fitting it.”

Westminster City Council has since added 78 ground anchors to the parking bay, which offer an additional highly visible deterrent. When riders secure their bikes to anchor points it makes it difficult for thieves to just lift up a scooter or motorcycle and put it into a van – a common way for thieves to steal an unsecured bike.

Over the past few years an average of  24,000 motorcycles have been stolen annually in the UK, half of which are taken from London streets, with motorcycle theft in Westminster accounting for 55% of all vehicles stolen.

This is becoming much less of a problem for newer bikes, as most major manufacturers have signed up to the MASTER scheme, which means bikes are tagged from the beginning. The MASTER scheme was developed two years ago with Home Office backing, in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police force and with support from the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Over 70,000 new motorcycles and scooters have now been protected and registered with the MASTER Security Scheme since January 2013.  First year figures for the scheme show that between January 2013 and January 2014 only 185 MASTER tagged motorcycles were stolen across the whole UK.

31,000 new motorcycles were protected by MASTER Scheme during this period, which represents a theft rate of 0.6%, compared to an historic rate of 2.4%.  Unfortunately the problem is shifting to unmarked bikes.  Motorcycles or scooters which are unprotected by security marking or any visible means of security are now far more likely to be stolen than those which are protected.

About the MASTER scheme:

·         *MASTER stands for Motorcycle and Scooter Tagged Equipment Register and was launched in 2012.  Participating manufacturers include BMW, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Suzuki, Triumph, Yamaha and Harley-Davidson.

·         It was developed by the Motorcycle Industry Association with Home Office backing in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police force in response to the considerable nuisance that motorcycle theft caused to motorcyclists, the police, insurers and the industry. It is powered by Datag technology.

Facts about motorcycle theft

·         Many motorcycles are broken up into parts within hours of being stolen and reassembled onto legal frames, which have log books.  This can net thieves thousands of pounds a day.**

·         80% of these ‘clones’ find their way into the legitimate dealer network, therefore before the MASTER Scheme it was virtually impossible for dealers or the police to identify stolen parts.**

·         For those innocent people who unwittingly buy stolen vehicles and have their bikes seized by the police, 90% do not continue with motorcycling.**

·         43% of all insurance pay outs are due to theft (according to MCIA research).

**(Facts and figures supplied by the Motorcycle Crime Reduction Group).

MCIA

·         The Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) represents around 90% of the supply side of the motorcycle industry. Members are manufacturers and importers, service providers, accessory and component suppliers. 

·         MCIA works closely with road safety partners to improve safety for motorcyclists and recently launched a landmark policy document with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to encourage greater use of motorcycles on UK roads, which should improve road safety as a result. See Realising the Motorcycling Opportunity; A motorcycle safety and transport policy framework.

www.mcia.co.uk

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