The Valvoline Racing by Padgetts Motorcycles team will be making a two pronged attack on this year's Classic TT races presented by Bennetts with Dan Kneen joining last year's race winner Bruce Anstey in contesting the Motorsport Merchandise Formula One race for the Batley based outfit.

Anstey led last year's corresponding race from start to finish when he rode the team's 1992 YZR500 Grand Prix Yamaha machine and having set a new lap record of 123.894mph, which he recorded from a standing start, few would bet against him delivering a repeat performance this time around.

The team opted for a conservative set up with the lightweight GP bike to ensure it withstood the rigours of the Mountain Course and completed the race but with a year's experience under their belt, they're expecting to improve their performance this time around. Indeed, Anstey believes the bike is more than capable of matching the fastest Supersport lap speeds of 127-128mph.

Manxman Kneen, meanwhile, is experiencing his first year with the team and has enjoyed success at all of the International road races, achieving a number of top eight finishes. Having missed last year's event due to injury, he's relishing the chance to ride another of the team's machines at the Classic TT.

Kneen will be riding a 1989 750cc Yamaha OW01 for Clive Padgett's team with the bike having considerable pedigree. Former TT winner Rob McElnea rode for the team in the early part of the 1989 season and took the OW01 to third and fourth in the Hungarian round of that year's World Superbike Championship.

He was well placed to add similar results at subsequent rounds but was called up by the Cabin Honda team to replace the injured Bubba Shobert in that year's 500cc World Championship.

With the Padgetts team having a phenomenal track record around the Mountain Course, with TT wins in recent years by Anstey, Ian Hutchinson and John McGuinness, their presence at the Classic TT once more confirms their commitment to the event and their desire to succeed and put on the finest show possible.

Brno (Czech Republic), 12 August 2015 - It's a non-stop August for MotoGP and Aprilia Racing Team Gresini. In fact, just a few days after the American weekend at Indianapolis it's time to fly to Brno in the Czech Republic for the eleventh round of the season. An exciting track, full of up and downhill sections, demanding for the chassis and the engine: the ideal testing ground to continue developing the RS-GP and, above all, to lay a solid foundation for creating the 2016 Aprilia prototype.

For Alvaro Bautista the goal of finishing in the points at Indy went up in smoke due to tyre wear on a track that was not very well suited to the Italian bike, but at Brno the Spanish rider is keen to get back to his usual level of competitiveness.

After a convincing début in the USA, Stefan Bradl will take on Brno with renewed optimism. On a track that he knows well, Stefan will be able to begin the weekend already familiar with the bike and the Team. Even from a physical point of view the Czech track seems to be less demanding on paper, which is good news for his recently operated right wrist.


ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Director)
“Having two riders with very similar performance allows us to do more testing which is a positive aspect for solving the growing pains of our package. At Brno we'll be putting a new frame on the track and we'll basically be using new setups, precisely for the purpose of streamlining our programme in view of 2016. With its fast turns and direction changes, the Czech track will be a demanding test bench for the RS-GP machine's chassis. We will definitely be gathering some more fundamental data.”

FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“The Indianapolis track was not one of the most favourable that we've been on so far and consequently we struggled a bit more than we had expected: at Brno we are hoping for an improvement, considering the fact that we can also count on a few technical changes in terms of the chassis. We'll continue with our development work and this weekend we hope to be able to take another step forward. At Indy we saw a good début by Bradl who was unfortunately slowed down in the race by his injured wrist. He doesn't have much time to recover, but we hope that he'll be more physically fit for Brno.”

ALVARO BAUTISTA
“Brno is a very different track compared to Indy. We need to try to make the bike agile with all the direction changes, whereas on the uphill sections the engine counts a lot. We'll continue our development work with the goal of collecting as much data as possible and laying the foundation for the 2016 project. This weekend we hope to be more competitive and to take home some satisfaction.”

STEFAN BRADL
“We are going to a track that I know very well and where I have had good results in the past, so I can't wait to get back in the saddle. On paper Brno is also a physically less demanding track than Indianapolis, so I hope that my right wrist doesn't give me problems, also considering the fact that I'll have a few days to rest. I'll also be able to begin practice starting from a level of familiarity with the bike which is definitely higher, so I hope that we'll be able to do a good job this weekend.”

Next Sunday (23rd) for the first time ever the Town Hall in Cheltenham will be full of the UK's finest custom motorcycles, the most exquisite classic bikes and rare racers.

The Cheltenham Festival of Bikes opens at 11am and welcomes all motorcyclists, bike enthusiasts, novices, youngsters and budding bike builders.

Try your hand at airbrushing or pinstriping and meet some of the UK's most talented custom bike builders, engineers and designers. The Festival is a celebration of really cool bikes and British motorcycle engineering excellence.

There'll be over 100 stunning bikes inside the Town Hall and loads of other stuff to do and see in and around the Town Hall and Imperial Gardens.

More info can be found at www.FESTIVALOFBIKES.com

Discounted tickets are available now at above website.

Tickets cost just £10 on the door, under 16s can get in for £3 and children under 5 are free.

PARADE SPONSORED BY ISLE OF MAN STEAM PACKET

One of the biggest highlights of the 2015 Classic TT presented by Bennetts will be the 'Norton - The Rotary Years - Parade sponsored by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company', featuring a number of the iconic machines which took countless wins and podiums in the British Championship, as well as at the Isle of Man and other International road races between 1987 and 1994.

While the Norton Rotary has appeared in many parade laps around the Mountain Course - and, of course featured in race wins and podiums - never before have so many appeared in one time on the island. Indeed, the Mountain Course lap will see no less than 13 of the revolutionary machines, owned by the National Motorcycle Museum, take to the 37.73-mile course.

The first incarnation of the rotary developed by Brian Crighton, the driving force behind the machines, was the RCW and this forms more than half the parade line up with eight of the black clad John Player Special sponsored machines lining up on the grid. Ridden between 1988 and 1990 by riders such as Steve Spray, Ron Haslam, Robert Dunlop and Ray Stringer, the ITV4 trio of Steve Parrish, Steve Plater and James Whitham will ride three of the machines while Malcolm Wheeler will ride a fourth with a subsequent feature appearing in Classic Racer magazine.

Trevor Nation and Steve Cull both took International road race podiums on the JPS Norton with the former finishing second in the 1990 Senior TT. Both will be reunited with their old mounts with the two remaining RCW machines set to be ridden by William Dunlop, representing his late father Robert, and Australian ace and current works Norton rider, Cameron Donald.

By 1990, a newer version of the 588cc machine had been developed and was badged the NRS. Nation and Dunlop both campaigned the machine at the TT, the latter taking third in both the 1990 F1 and 1992 Senior races. His youngest son Michael will be on board one of them in this year's parade with Manxman Conor Cummins on the second.

The final works NRS Norton Rotary in the parade is arguably the most famous - 'The White Charger' that the late Steve Hislop famously rode to victory in the 1992 Senior, which was voted the greatest TT race of all time. Hislop was riding number 19 that day and 23-time TT Race winner John McGuinness will have the honour of riding the machine.

The two remaining machines are the only ones that didn't race at the TT. On leaving the official Norton team, engineering guru Crighton first created the Roton and then the Duckhams QXR Norton, the latter going on to dominate the British Superbike Championship in 1994.

The late Mark Farmer first rode the bike in 1992 before Jim Moodie finished second in both the Supercup and British Superbike Championship in 1993. However, the team enjoyed their finest moments in 1994 when they expanded to a two-rider line up in the shape of Ian Simpson and Phil Borley. Between them, the duo took no less than 14 wins and 31 podiums on their way to finishing first and third respectively in the British Superbike Championship and they also took multiple 1-2 finishes in a host of non-Championship meetings across the UK that season.

Simpson will ride the number 25 machine that took him to the title with the other bike being ridden by Peter Hickman, whose dad Dave played a major part in the Norton rotary's success, working with Crighton on the machines from 1987 onwards.

The riders will leave the line in single file and in chronological order to a narration read by Manx Radio TT Anchorman Tim Glover, which will tell the story of the Norton rotary's remarkable history as well as the riders that rode them.

David Cretney, the Isle of Man Government's representative for Tourism and Motorsport commented:

"This stunning assembly of machines and riders will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of the motorsport calendar on the Isle of Man this year and will be a great tribute not only to some of the greatest and most evocative machines in the TT's history but also some of the legendary riders that raced them. Norton has a special place in the Isle of Man's history and I'm sure that TT fans around the world will enjoy seeing these great bikes take to the Mountain Course again."

Hundreds of lady bikers will be gathering  at the Ace Cafe in North West London on 16th August 2015 in an attempt to create a new world record for the largest number of female motorcyclists meeting together in one place.

Between 400 and 600 women aged 24 to 65 years are expected to ride to the meeting, coming from as far afield as Ireland, North Yorkshire, Dorset and Wales.  In September 2014, 221 Australian women on 190 bikes set a record for being the most women riding motorcycles at once.  

The world-famous Ace Cafe London has agreed to host the event on their annual Ladies Day and confirmed sponsors include Circuit of Wales, Mike Dawson Racing, Oval Motorcycle Centre (OMC) and Woodridge Motorcycles. OMC and Mike Dawson Racing will be in attendance on the day.  Mike Dawson and his team will be offering free suspension advice and basic suspension adjustments and the Team from OMC will be offering free 9 Point Safety Checks.  

There will be a charity fund raising raffle, with prizes including Moto GP tickets, bike services, tyres, biketime suspension set up, workbench time, Motorcycle Maintenance training courses and Ace Café goodies.  The charity to benefit from the day is The Hospice of The Valleys, whom Circuit of Wales support.

The meeting is the brainchild of bikers Nimisha Patel from London and Sherrie Woolf from Wales. They are keen to raise awareness of the increasing number of women riding motorcycles, particularly for bike and clothing manufacturers in the hope of seeing improved product ranges aimed at women. “When shopping for protective clothing, the female section is usually lacking in options and often the quality is lesser than the male counterparts. Sizing is also a huge problem that could be resolved with quite simple solutions. The assumptions are very frustrating with many ladies leather trousers not having the Velcro area to attach knee sliders. It’s time to realise that women are no longer just sitting on the back of the men’s bikes, we’re buying our own and using them for touring, off-roading, track days and commuting, just like the guys!” quotes Sherrie Woolf.   

Karen Cole, Safety and Training Director at the Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) and a long term rider herself explained:  “We believe the industry’s Get On programme has been instrumental in bringing more women into motorcycling.  40% of people who took a free ride with Get On were women, according to survey replies from nearly 9000 people. 

Get On made it easy for women to try motorcycling for the first time.*Social-media has surely played a part in bringing women riders together in the past few years. The proliferation of female biking groups on Facebook has meant women riders can easily find friends to ride out with locally.  As a result, small informal groups have been springing up across the country, which obviously helps generate and sustain interest in riding.”  Pages have been set up on social media sites to share news of the event and organise logistics. Even celebrity bikers are spreading the word, including James Whitham and Maria Costello, herself an ambassador for ladies in the sport of motorcycle racing.  “We hope that even more women will hear about the record attempt in the lead up to the event so that we can get as many lady bikers together as possible on 16th August. It will be a great opportunity for women to meet, share information and hopefully encourage more ladies to get involved with bikes.”

For further information about the event, please contact Nimisha Patel and Sherrie Woolf on [email protected]

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