Category: Superbikes

1. A WORKING FRIDAY FOR THE APRILIA RACING TEAM AT ASSEN

   Posted on 7:00pm Friday 25th Apr 2014

   First practice sessions at Assen, third round of the 2914 World Superbike season. Favoured by the good weather conditions, the factory derivative riders engaged in a close battle on the track that is confirmed by the rather similar times all the top riders in the class put on the boards.
   For Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli it was a day marked by hard work on tyre longevity and finding the best setup solutions. The areas they need to focus on are primarily going into turns and consistency, essential characteristics on a flowing track like the Dutch one.
    
   Eighth in the combined standings of the two sessions today, Sylvain Guintoli is focused first and foremost on working in view of the races, concentrating on tyre wear and understanding how they perform as conditions vary. The characteristics of the Dutch track, basically divided into two completely different sections, require fine tuning of both the electronics package and the chassis setup.
    
   Sylvain Guintoli: "We did quite a bit of work today. Assen is not an easy track to interpret. You have to get a clear understanding of where you need to control power and where you can push it to the limit. This is a process that takes time in order to fully understand how the tyres work and to act accordingly. It looks like the conditions for the first session tomorrow will be similar to those for Race 1. We'll have to take advantage of that so we can be ready on Sunday".
    
   The expected variable weather doesn't particularly worry Marco Melandri (in ninth place), confident that he has identified the points he needs to work on with his mechanics.
    
   Marco Melandri: "We have a lot of work left to do tomorrow but we have a clear idea of which areas we need to improve. Especially going into turns and braking the bike is very twitchy and we need to work on that. I would like to be able to get some more laps in to work toward finding a solution".

2. URANIO takes to the track

   Posted on 11:00am Friday 25th Apr 2014

   ...next to the Bimota Alstare Team in the Superbike Championship for 2014. URANIO, historical battery brand of FIAMM Group, is the official sponsor of the Bimota Alstare Team for the Superbike World Championship 2014.

   The Italian brand , known in the graphical representation of the “U” with two dots will be displayed on the motorbikes , on the suit of the pilots, inside the race boxes and in the Hospitality Booth of the Team , on the trucks and on the Team clothing . It will appear also within the official media of the Teams such as the website , the social network Facebook and all the other tools dedicated to the dissemination of the news related to the championship.

   The Alstare Bimota Team, born as a result of the agreement between the Bimota Mark and the Alstare Team, will be officially on the track starting from the next race weekend on the Aragon circuit (ESS) for 13 races scheduled for the 2014 championship. The pilots who will take the Bimota BB3 on track are Ayrton Badovini (ITA ) and Christian Iddon (UK).

   “ I am very excited about this initiative that will bring visibility to the URANIO brand, a brand that is representing us with great satisfaction abroad and that already in the 80's and 90's was close to motor racing in Italy . I am confident that the Alstare Bimota Team led by Francis Batta , strong of a long and successful tradition in the superbike championship , will do well in the category of Evo” says Alessandro Lanari, Marketing Director of the Company settled in Vicenza.

   "I would like to thank the FIAMM Group that by sponsoring us with the URANIO brand has demonstrated to believe in Alstare although we came from a not really happy year. I hope to be able to grasp some results well aware that we are debuting with a new motorbike , the BB3 Bimota "says Francis Batta , owner of the Alstare Bimota Team.

3. Pata Honda to test ‘speed gene’ at Jerez‏

   Posted on 8:45am Thursday 3rd Apr 2014

   The Pata Honda team has announced the introduction of a nepotistic youth policy designed to enhance development and ensure continuity of its world championship racing programme.

   On tomorrow’s third and final day of the World Superbike championship test currently taking place at Jerez in Spain, regular riders Leon Haslam and Jonathan Rea will hand over their Honda CBR1000RR SP racing machines to their respective young sons. Despite being less than a year old, Max Haslam and Jake Rea are deemed to have inherited sufficient quantities of the so-called ‘speed gene’ to warrant a full test on the sophisticated production race bikes. The Pata Honda crew has lowered the ride height on both CBR machines and engaged the services of a goo-ga translator to record feedback from the would-be young racers.    

   Leon Haslam    

   It’ll be interesting to see if young Max has got it. The ‘rocket’ that is, which is coincidentally what me and my dad have on our salad when it’s in season. I reckon he’ll be fast though – he’s got a bit of a weight advantage.       

   Jonathan Rea   

   Jake was born a month or two after Max but we’ve been weening him on Manx kippers to build up his strength. He had a wee go on my CRF450R motocrosser on the Isle of Man, so I had to clean up the seat after, but he’ll be right.        

   Pieter Breddels -  youth development manager    

   With world championship racers seemingly getting younger every year – just like policemen, really – we’ve decided that we need to start investing in youth. Jonathan’s father raced and won a TT and Leon’s dad was pretty handy, too, so it absolutely HAS to be a genetic thing. If it’s not, we’re going to look a bit silly, but the lads will have had some fun.        

4. Positive Spanish test for Pata Honda SBK

   Posted on 10:20am Friday 28th Mar 2014

   The Pata Honda World Superbike team has completed a private three-day test at the Circuito Cartagena near Murcia in Spain.

   It is the first time that riders Leon Haslam and Jonathan Rea have ridden their new Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP machines since returning from the opening round of the 2014 World Superbike championship at Phillip Island in Australia one month ago.

   The pair used the test to continue development of chassis settings on their CBR machines, as well as refining power delivery and traction control. They will stay in Spain this weekend and move further south to Circuito de Jerez for another three-day test which starts next Monday.

   Round two of the World Superbike championship will also take place in Spain, at Motorland Aragon on 11-13 April.

   Leon Haslam
   
   Yeah, I’m happy with this test and we were able to make some good progress with the overall CBR package. We tested a new swingarm and some other chassis settings and we’re still waiting for one or two other elements to come through. We also worked on traction control which is a lot better now and to go 0.3s under the circuit record was a good way to finish. We’re going to do a bit of cycling before heading down to Jerez and we’ll see what the weather brings us down there.

   Jonathan Rea
   
   We’ve made some really good steps here and our test rider, Michele Magnoni, did a really good job over the first couple of days, especially on Wednesday when it was really windy. I rode with some new strategies that he was developing and I’m happy to be able to ride more aggressively on longer runs. The speed over one lap was good, too, but I was more satisfied with the longer runs. We also tried a lot of chassis settings, varying pivot points and things, and the bike is definitely steering better on tighter lines.

   Pieter Breddels
   
   It’s been a really good test. I can’t really say much more. Apart from the really strong winds on Wednesday, the weather has allowed us to get through a lot of work and both Jonathan and Leon were able to go faster than the old lap record here at Cartagena. Apart from the chassis settings, we concentrated on throttle opening and getting the traction control to catch slides more predictably. I think both riders are feeling a lot more confident about that. We have three more days testing at Jerez next week but, at the moment, the weather forecast is not looking too good for that, so I’m glad we got this time at Cartagena.

5. APRILIA RACING WSBK - The races at Phillip Island

   Posted on 8:50am Monday 24th Feb 2014

   APRILIA STARTS THE NEW WSBK SEASON WITH ONE WIN AND TWO PODIUMS.

   GUINTOLI TRIUMPHS IN RACE 2 AT PHILLIP ISLAND AND SHOOTS TO THE TOP OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP. APRILIA – REIGNING CHAMPION – IS NUMBER ONE IN THE MANUFACTURER STANDINGS. MELANDRI SECOND IN RACE 1 AND THIRD IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP.

   Phillip Island (Australia), 23 February 2014 - On the Australian Phillip Island track for the opening round of the 2014 World Superbike season, Aprilia wins with Sylvain Guintoli in Race 2, takes two podiums in Race 1 and immediately takes back the top spot in both the Rider and Manufacturer standings. It was an extraordinary weekend for the Aprilia Racing RSV4s, key players in both races.

   The first part revolved around the duel between the two Aprilia standard bearers, Melandri and Guintoli, along with Irishman Laverty who, after making a comeback on the leading pack which also included Giugliano for a long time, kept his rivals in check in the final laps. Marco Melandri made an excellent second place finish, crossing the line just ahead of his team mate Guintoli (third) who had led the pack at the beginning stages of the race for a long time, however costing him wear on his tyre so that in the final laps he had nothing left on the rear to be able to fend off Laverty's attacks.

   In Race 2 the leading pack also included Rea, Baz and Sykes, making a comeback from the rear spots. Guintoli led the first part of the race and after being overtaken by fellow leaders Baz and Laverty once, he took back the lead in the 12th lap. Two laps later an engine failure for Laverty - riding second at the time behind he French Aprilia rider - with a consequent oil spill on the track, forced Laverty to withdraw and the marshals to suspend the race. This meant that the finishing order was decided by the last lap completed which had Guintoli winning in front of Baz and Sykes.

   With this performance the Frenchman provides an encore of last year's success (also with the Aprilia RSV4) and, thanks to his third place in Race 1, puts him in the lead for the Rider Championship. Sylvain's win and Melandri's second place in Race 1 place Aprilia at the top of the Manufacturer standings, an excellent bounty for the new season.

   After his nice second place in the first race Melandri had a bit of a moment during the eighth lap of the second race, running on after braking too hard and having to re-enter the track in 14th place. From there he made a bold comeback to finish in eighth place, earning 8 points that put him in third place in the rider standings.

   Sylvain Guintoli: “In Race 1 maybe I had a little too much faith. I started off strong and toward the end I lost the right feeling with my rear tyre. The conditions were much different than they had been over the last few days but we did a good job anyway. In the second race I tried to look after my tyre and it worked. If I think about everything that happened during the winter I can't help but be pleased with our weekend. I'm finally back on the top step of the podium. I want to thank the guys who looked after me during my recovery. I'm pretty tired now but I'll have a month to recover before the next round”.

   Marco Melandri: “Race 1 went well. I got off to a good start and then I was able to ride smoothly in the first few laps to conserve my tyres for the end. Unfortunately after the halfway point the bike was sliding around a lot. I wasn't able to be incisive so when Eugene took the lead I preferred holding onto second place. In Race 2 I wanted to use the same tactics again but to overtake Rea I braked harder than usual and the rear wheel came up so I was forced to run on. I'm disappointed because I threw away some important points. I'm sure I still need more experience adjusting to the way the bike reacts and adapting the settings to my riding style. The track conditions also brought out some problems that I had never had before. Now I need to get a handle on the situation so that I'm ready for the next race”.