The British Motorcycle Manufacturing Academy in partnership with Norton will be returning to the Isle of Man to compete in highly competitive Lightweight class with MCN’s Senior Road Tester Adam ‘Chad’ Child at the helm.

Students on the apprenticeship program run by the BMMA at Norton HQ, Donington Park will once again primarily run the project. The team had a baptism of fire at last year’s TT as they competed against the words best road racers. Their job was made ten times harder as the team had to work long hours to rebuild the bike after Chad crashed on the mountain section at the end of practice week.

The bike showed promise in the race, but unfortunately the team were forced to retire on the second lap due to a mechanical gremlin. Since the TT the BMMA team, made up of students under 21, have made huge strides, gaining valuable experience competing in the prestigious Scarborough Gold Cup, scoring a creditable 7th position on the bikes first outing around the undulating track.

Head of design and executive director Simon Skinner said:

“The young team were thrown in at the deep end last year and learnt so much, nothing beats live racing and it doesn’t come much harder than the TT. Chad is back on board working closely the students who are gaining from his vast experience. The young team are growing in confidence, they have the potential to surprise a few people this year. Again the young team will be working in partnership with the factory Norton Team.”

MCN Senior Road Tester Adam Child, who will be competing at his fifth TT has been professionally testing bike for 15 years and is a key member to the team working on the development of the new bike. He said:

“I messed up last year, it was my fault, I just took my eye off the ball for a second and crashed, it was no fault of the bike. The lads worked their socks off, really grafted and I’m desperate to give them a good result this year. It’s a hugely interesting and rewarding project working with the students and I’m looking forward to another year.”

Saroléa Racing (www.sarolea-racing.com) will return to race the IOM TT in 2016 with two riders racing the 2016 Saroléa Electric SP7 in the TT Zero Class.

Bradford’s Dean Harrison and Northern Ireland’s Lee Johnston are confirmed to ride for the iconic Belgian brand in their 3rd consecutive year at the Isle of Man TT.

Lee Johnston who raced the TT ZERO for the first time in 2015 and podiumed 3rd said: “I’m buzzing to be on-board with Saroléa. I raced last year for a different team and podiumed 3rd, this year the plan is to podium again but faster!”

Dean Harrison now approaching his 6th year at the IOMTT said: “It’s my first time racing the TT Zero and I cannot wait. I’ve been following the team since they raced for the first time in 2014 and I’m itching to get on the bike. The technology is off the scale and this year is going to be flat out.”

Saroléa Racing competed at the Isle of Man TT Zero for the first time in 2014; Robert Wilson taking the exquisite brand new all carbon SP7 to an amazing 4th, just 0.4 seconds off the podium and an average speed of 93.507mph. 2015 followed with significant technical advancements, and a ride that resulted in a solid 5th with an average speed of 106.510 mph, a phenomenal 13 mph improvement.

With TT Zero lap speeds and technological advancements evolving at an unprecedented rate, the 2016 TT ZERO is set to be one of the most exhilarating races in electric history.

Torsten Robbens, Saroléa said: “Having multiple bikes on the 2016 TT grid, in combination with two of the best road racers in the world is another huge step forward in the Saroléa journey!”

The TT Zero Race created in 2010 for zero emission electric motorcycles is a one-lap race round the Island’s 37.733 mile Snaefell Mountain Course scheduled for Wednesday June 8th 2016, with qualifying laps on Friday 3rd and Monday 6th June 2016.

The 2016 Saroléa Electric SP7 will be unveiled later this year, stay tuned for updates! #SaroleaMoto

The agreement, which follows on from a long-time partnership, which began in 2011 and grown strong over the years, will see the Italian Group, leader in Europe in the field of tube manipulation and its components, supporting the activities of the team in the MotoGP and Moto3 World Championships.

The new logo of SAG TUBI, which recently renovated its corporate identity, will be featured on the leather suits of the two Aprilia Racing Team Gresini riders, Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl, and on the bikes of the Gresini Racing Team Moto3, ridden by Enea Bastianini and Fabio Di Giannantonio, as well as on the team equipments.

Making use of highly qualified personnel and advanced equipment, and thanks to over 40 years of experience, SAG TUBI is today capable to produce any kind of rigid tube or flexible hose combination for any application. High quality competitive products, accompanied by an extraordinary service, which led SAG TUBI to become a partner of the most important manufacturers of engines, agricultural machinery, earthmoving equipment, forklifts, passenger and freight transport.

WALTER ZINI (CEO SAG Group)
“In 2016 we will be on track with Gresini Racing for the sixth consecutive year: we are approaching a very interesting season, with the debut of a completely new Aprilia prototype in MotoGP and an all-Italian rider line-up in Moto3, that for sure will give us a lot of satisfactions. Since 2011 we have been sharing with Fausto Gresini’s team a great passion for motorcycling, but that’s not all: Gresini Racing, exactly like our group of companies, is an Italian company with a strong international vocation, always ready to take on new challenges. Now we just have to wait for the start of the season to live many more good times together with the whole team!”.

FAUSTO GRESINI
“SAG TUBI has now become a nice constant with regard to our major racing programs: during the 2015 season Walter Zini, a big fan of the sport who I personally thank, has followed closely and with great enthusiasm our new partnership with Aprilia in MotoGP and together we collected a lot of satisfactory results in the smaller displacement, the Moto3 class, where Enea Bastianini was able to fight for the World Title, giving us the great victory at Misano. 2016 promises to be even more interesting: the upcoming season will see the debut of the new Aprilia prototype in MotoGP, while in Moto3 we have all it takes to be protagonists. We hope therefore to be able to achieve great results together with SAG TUBI!”.

The wildly creative, custom-made motorcycles on display at KICKBACK in April, will once again showcase the finest UK based builders who have been busy over the winter months.

Some of these masterpieces including a collection of flat trackers, drag bikes and cafe racers will be fired up and ridden around hall 2 throughout both days of the event. Hall 2 is also where visitors can enjoy the mental stunt shows performed by the Two Brothers Racing Stunt Team.

KICKBACK is also hosting the National Championship of Custom Bike Building, a competition to celebrate and showcase the most talented bike builders in the UK, classes include: Freestyle, Young Builder, Cafe Bike - Tracker - Brat style, Old School Choppers, Performance Custom and Custom Street Cub.

Visitors to KICKBACK will also be able to enjoy mooching around all the expo stands with gear ranging from parts, accessories, apparel, helmets and after-market products plus motorcycle art and custom bike dealers...

Car and bike parking is all free and there are two great coffee bars, licensed bars and live music from 5pm on Saturday 16th. The awards ceremony for the National Championships takes place at 4pm on Sunday 17th.

If you're coming on your bike you can park right outside by the main entrance, which is always a fun way to arrive!

There is a hotel on site and camping facilities. You can get a good discount on tickets and more information at TheCustomShow.com

KICKBACK takes place at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire from 16th - 17th April 2016.

Opening times:

Saturday 16th - 1pm - 7pm
Sunday 17th - 10am - 5pm

KICKBACK in association with Michelin, Sinroja Motorcycles, 100% Biker and Krazy Horse

Losail (Qatar), 23 February 2016 - The first true tests of the Aprilia MotoGP project have just been concluded. In fact, the three days of testing had the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini hard at work on the new RS-GP, the prototype developed entirely at Noale that will be used in the upcoming 2016 season.

Despite the extremely recent debut of a completely new project, the Aprilia garage is highly optimistic. Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl began working on development straight away, immediately noticing promising room for improvement in the new prototype. There really isn't one single area where efforts were focused: the new RS-GP has nothing in common with previous Aprilia projects except for know-how. It is a completely new MotoGP bike in every component without exception, developed based on the data gathered during the 2015 season with last year's laboratory bikes.

The Aprilia RS-GP machines will be back on the track in Qatar just a few days from now for the official IRTA tests that precede the first race of the season.

ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
"After the Aragon shakedown with the test riders, Alvaro and Stefan began to get to know the new Aprilia RS-GP here in Qatar. These were three very intense and positive days of work. We are bringing home a lot of information and some growing pain problems we need to solve, but above all we are leaving with confirmation that the new bike's dynamic performance is significantly better than the 2015 bike. We have an important development path ahead of us that will be necessarily accelerated, but we are confident that this will be a season of growth toward a decidedly interesting level."

FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
"Hearing the positive comments from our riders after the first kilometers ridden astride a completely new bike was exciting. The RS-GP seems to have gotten off on the right foot. Alvaro and Stefan noticed a clear improvement in dynamic performance compared to the 2015 bike. Now we have a big development schedule ahead of us but we know we are starting from an extremely solid base.”

ALVARO BAUTISTA
"In these three days we explored the new bike, doing a lot of work with short sessions since this was the first real test with the 2016 RS-GP. Obviously we are not at 100% but we have a very good starting point. I think that we are already at a similar level as the end of 2015 with the difference being that we are just at the beginning. There is a lot of room for development whereas with the old bike we were at the limit. We still need to work on a lot of things but I'm pleased with the work Aprilia has done. In the next tests I hope to be able to lay the foundation for the new season.”

STEFAN BRADL
"This test was really important as it was the first contact with the new bike. First impressions are good. I see a clear difference compared to the old bike and we are moving in the right direction. At the moment I have a good feeling despite the fact that we have a long way to go before we'll be able to say that we're satisfied. That was to be expected at the beginning. This is a completely new and decidedly demanding project, but we can truly say that we are off on the right foot.”