Category: Superbikes

1. Honda WorldSBK duo aiming for British success at Donington Park‏

   Posted on 5:31pm Wednesday 25th May 2016

   Honda WorldSBK Team’s Nicky Hayden and Michael van der Mark are ready to tackle the seventh round of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship, which takes place this weekend at Donington Park. The circuit, located in the heart of UK on the border between Leicestershire and Derbyshire, hosted the very first event of the series back in 1988; this year will be the twenty-fourth time that World Superbike racing has been staged at this iconic venue.

   Two weekends ago, Nicky Hayden claimed his maiden WorldSBK win after what was a perfect display of riding skills and race craft in wet conditions at the Sepang International Circuit in race two. He is now looking forward to riding again at Donington Park for the first time since 2009, when MotoGP had its last event at the track. His best result around East Midland’s hills is a fourth place scored in 2004. With the great feeling shown onboard his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP #69 in Malaysia, Nicky is eager to keep the momentum going as the season reaches its halfway point.

   Michael van der Mark has had contrasting fortunes at Donington Park in recent years. He was victorious in World Supersport 2014 in a close last-lap battle with title rival Jules Cluzel, while in his debut World Superbike year last season he had to pull out from both races. The 23-year-old Dutchman is aiming to return to his early-season form, which saw him on the rostrum three times in the first four races, and to improve on his current tally of four podium finishes in 2016.

2. Jacobsen finishes just off the podium at Sepang after an amazing comeback

   Posted on 2:00pm Monday 16th May 2016

   PJ Jacobsen finished today’s sixth-round FIM Supersport World Championship race in fourth place at the Sepang International Circuit after running out of laps following an outstanding comeback in the latter stages of the 14-lap wet encounter. Despite missing out on a podium finish by less than three tenths of a second, the Honda WorldSSP Team’s rider moves up one place in the championship standings and now sits fifth.

   After a by-the-book initial starting procedure, with a wet race declared and drops of rain falling in sector two, the rain intensified and all riders chose to change the rear tyre according to the new weather conditions. The overall length of the race was reduced by one lap (from 14 to 13) and the riders went for a second warm-up lap, before red flags were deployed when the rain then came down heavily.

   The race finally got underway at 17:15, almost three hours later, as it was scheduled after the World Superbike race 2. Jacobsen lost a couple of places on the opening lap and struggled with a lack of visibility, especially in the early part of the encounter. After getting the better of Kenan Sofuoglu for fourth place, in the final three laps the 22-year-old American put together an outstanding recovery as he bridged the gap to the front-runners by lapping one second faster than his rivals ahead. On the final lap, Jacobsen was simply just not close enough to get in the mix for podium placings.

3. Top-ten finish for Honda Racing at the North West 200

   Posted on 12:00pm Sunday 15th May 2016

   The North West 200 has been a positive outing for the Honda Racing team and its duo John McGuinness and Conor Cummins, which has seen both riders and the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP competitive throughout the week.

   This afternoon the first Superbike race of the day got underway as weather conditions around the 8.9-mile triangle circuit continued with glorious sunshine. McGuinness started from eighth on the grid, while team-mate Cummins was just behind in 12th.

   Both Honda riders got away from the start and managed to slot themselves into the leading top-ten group where the pace was strong. Cummins made a move on McGuinness and the team-mates were running eighth and ninth by the end of lap one.

   By the third rotation the order had swapped and the ‘Morecambe-missile’ had passed the ‘Ramsey Rocket’ and the pair were chasing down the front-runners sitting seventh and eighth respectively.

   At the end of the fourth lap, with three laps remaining, the race was red flagged due to an incident with Padgetts Honda’s Bruce Anstey, who was left unhurt from his fall. The race was declared just as the leading group crossed the line going into the fifth lap, which saw McGuinness home sixth and Cummins seventh.

   Unfortunately the rest of the North West 200 has been cancelled due to an incident in the Supertwin race. The Honda Racing team would like to extend its thoughts and prayers to the competitors’ family, friends and team at this difficult time.

   The Honda Racing squad will now return to its Louth-based workshop and prepare both of the Fireblade machines for the Isle of Man TT, which sees practice start on Saturday 28 May and race week start with the Superbike race on Saturday 4 June and the Senior TT on Friday 10 June. Where both McGuinness and Cummins will compete on the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP machines.

4. FIRST DAY OF MOTOGP PRACTICE AT LE MANS FOR APRILIA

   Posted on 5:00pm Friday 6th May 2016

   It was a full practice schedule at Le Mans for Aprilia, busy on the track developing the RS-GP which, introduced just before the season opener, demands additional efforts from the mechanics and riders that go beyond simply looking for the best lap times. In the first two sessions today, Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl worked intensely on both testing the new materials that were introduced at Jerez (and partially tested after the race on Monday at Mugello) and on assessing some changes in the tyre options.

   Aprilia Racing Team Gresini will focus their efforts on pure performance tomorrow after the usual analysis of today's activities, having all of the data collected at their fingertips to come up with a base configuration where setup is concerned.
   
   ALVARO BAUTISTA
   “This morning the problem was in coming out of the tight turns with the bike being rather twitchy. In the afternoon we tried to improve in this area, managing to shave a bit off our lap times, but in trying to find more stability we lost a little something in terms of handling. So we need to focus on these issues, trying to improve every time we go out”.
   
   STEFAN BRADL
   “Today we really had a lot of work to do, beginning with the last comparisons between the old and new frame we started at Jerez. This is a test that we did in both sessions. We decided to carry on with the new version, which provides some advantages going into turns. But there wasn't much time, so there are still a few things left to sort, especially in terms of the rear. Tomorrow we'll focus our efforts on improving coming out of turns as well, based on what we found today”.

5. SECOND EUROPEAN RACE FOR MOTOGP

   Posted on 12:00pm Wednesday 4th May 2016

   APRILIA HEADS TO LE MANS WITH ALVARO BAUTISTA AND STEFAN BRADL DETERMINED TO RIDE THEIR RS-GP MACHINES INTO THE POINTS
   
   The second European round of the 2016 MotoGP World Championship will be held this weekend on the French "Bugatti" track at Le Mans. This is an historic international motoring theatre, part of the famous Circuit de la Sarthe that hosts the renowned "24 Hour" endurance competition.
   Relatively short with a lot of heavy braking sections and direction changes, the French track with these characteristics could prove to be "friendly" for the Aprilia RS-GP bikes, a new project with developments that continued even this week with a series of private tests at Mugello and that has already demonstrated promising values in terms of reliability and performance.

   The unknown at Le Mans that must always be taken into consideration is the weather, which can change suddenly and heavily influence the practice sessions and races. This is another important element that will demand maximum concentration from the entire Aprilia Racing Team Gresini.
   
   ROMANO ALBESIANO - APRILIA RACING MANAGER
   “Our development programme continues. On Monday at Mugello we completed a few important electronics tests with Bautista and Bradl in terms of power output, whereas on Tuesday and Wednesday the tests continued with Mike di Meglio and the Aprilia test team. At Le Mans there will once again be aerodynamic changes, engine performance improvements and some further fine-tuning on the electronics package that we will be trying out on the French track. We are coming from a race at Jerez where the RS-GP showed some important signs of competitiveness and we aim to continue the positive trend”.
   
   FAUSTO GRESINI - TEAM MANAGER
   “In the private tests and Mugello we tried out the technical updates on the track that had already been introduced in the post-race tests at Jerez, but unfortunately the weather conditions weren't the best. So at Le Mans we'll continue testing the chassis upgrades that already gave us positive indications in Spain with improvements in terms of stability and the way the bike performs coming out of corners. We will definitely be able to take another important step forward, continuing development leading up to the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, which is a very important found for us”.
   
   ALVARO BAUTISTA
   “Le Mans is a relatively small track with a lot of direction changes and really unpredictable weather. We'll have one eye on the sky in every session! After the good weekend at Jerez, despite my crash in the race, we hope to continue improving my feeling in the saddle and the bike's performance. In the tests after the race we put in a lot of kilometres, continuing our development programme with upgrades that we will continue to focus on in France as well. I would like to battle like I did last round, going through to Q2 in the qualifiers and battling in the top 10 zone during the race”.
   
   STEFAN BRADL
   “I'm very anxious to get to the second European round at Le Mans. We'll have some upgrades and this is a track that I think can really cater well to the characteristics of our bike. In terms of layout it isn't a very fast track, but there are a lot of heavy braking sections where the RS-GP has proven to perform rather well. We'll arrive at the French round ready for action. We are working well and I'm sure that we'll bring home important championship points here as well for me and for Aprilia”.