WSBK 2011 Waters gets Yoshimura go-ahead for Miller

Josh Waters's run to the points on his World Superbike debut in Australia is set to be rewarded with a second outing at Miller Motorsports Park later in the season.

Yoshimura Suzuki has revealed its plans to compete at the Miller Motorsports Park round of the World Superbike Championship following a successful wild-card outing at Phillip Island.

The Japanese team entered the 2011 season opener with local racer Josh Waters, the former Australian Superbike Champion impressing throughout the weekend to lap on the cusp of the top ten during free practice and qualifying.

Scoring three points with a run to 13th in race two, Waters's performance has prompted Yoshimura to consider him for a plotted trip to the American event in May.

"Josh showed he has the potential," said team boss Fujio Yoshimura. "I have told him we'd like him to ride again in America at Miller Motorsports Park. It's a good start for the team and Josh and we will both get better.”

Beyond Miller, Yoshimura is also considering taking part in a handful of European rounds ahead of a possible full-time assault in 2012.

Ducati Night Party in Bologna Italy

Around 35,000 fans were present at the Piazza Maggiore in the Italian city on Friday evening, to greet the Ducati Team rider.

As the 2011 MotoGP World Championship beckons Ducati celebrated its traditional Ducati Night event on Friday, at the Piazza Maggiore in Bologna, Italy.
The site was filled with 35,000 enthusiastic Ducati fans, who attended to extend a warm welcome to the factory team’s ‘new arrival’ Valentino Rossi and his team-mate Nicky Hayden.
Rossi, who so far in pre-season has seen his Honda and Yamaha rivals ahead of him on the Testing timesheets, promised those present that he was ready to “grit his teeth” and push hard at the final Test in Qatar and in a bid to be ready for the first race.

Leon Haslam gives his all in Australia 2011 SBK

Leon Haslam was one of the stars of the opening round of the 2011 Superbike World Championship season last weekend at Phillip Island. Last year's runner-up had looked to be struggling earlier in the week during the testing sessions, but when the flag dropped, the BMW Motorrad man was able to get and stay amongst the frontrunners, taking his S 1000RR to a brilliant third place in race 1.
"As a team we have made huge steps forward from two weeks ago. We still have some issues that need looking at in more detail to ensure we can become regular podium finishers, but on the whole we should be happy with the two races," he declared. "The first race was great; we encountered some issues in race two but still managed to finish in the top five, so we are definitely happy."

Despite the problems in race 2 the ‘Pocket Rocket' was able to score more points with a fifth place, taking his total to a creditable 27 for the Australian weekend. The Derby man can now look forward with confidence to the next round at Donington, his home track, where he will surely be one of the protagonists.

"A huge credit goes to the team for their efforts this weekend, but we now have to sit down and work out in detail how we plan to make that next step forward," he added.    www.worldsbk.com

Ducati MotoGP Guareschi: “We now understand exactly what we want”

The Ducati Team Manager explained in an interview at Sepang that the Borgo Panigale factory knows “exactly what it wants from the GP11” for a good start to the season.

Vittoriano Guareschi gave an overall evaluation of the progress of the Ducati Team’s preparations for the 2011 season following the conclusion of the Sepang Test last week, stating that the Italian factory is now well placed to tackle the final meeting in Qatar before the first race on March 20th.

“It’s been an interesting Test for both riders,” said Guareschi in the attached video interview. “We tested many new set-ups but it’s necessary to conduct more testing. We need more from Qatar to keep a definite direction.”

He continued: “The Ducati definitely doesn’t have a big difference in comparison to the GP10 (from last year), we have many small new things and we now understand exactly what we want from the bike to have a good start to the season. We are happy.”

Assessing the individual Tests of both Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden, Guareschi stated: “Valentino’s bike is now getting easier for him to ride, and he and Jerry (Burgess) understand the feeling and the character better every time. But we definitely need more tests and kilometres.”

“Nicky started with the old set-up but we made different balances and solutions, and he tried a different position on the bike, raising the handlebar and moving the seating position. After this the engineers in Ducati have what they need for a final decision,” concluded Guareschi.

www.motogp.com

The private Moto2 Test in Jerez ends

Several teams took advantage of the excellent weather conditions to spend three days testing in Cadiz. 

Three days of intense work until Friday at the private test in Jerez has enabled the participating teams from the intermediate category to make up for time lost in the recent Estoril test, which proved unproductive due to adverse weather conditions.

One of the most active riders on the Andalusian track was Marc Marquez, who over the three day test completed 165 laps at the helm of his Suter. The Catalunya Caixa Repsol rider completed his testing plan feeling very pleased with the progress of his bike. In yesterday's session he rode 55 laps with a time of 1.43.13, the best time from this test. Marquez lapped all three days under the pole time set by the late Shoya Tomizawa (1.44.372) in the race last year at this circuit.

Gresini Racing Moto2 riders, Yuki Takahashi and Michele Pirro, also took advantage of the excellent weather and track conditions until late on Friday. The duo from the Italian team achieved a high degree of confidence with the MD600 Moriwaki, whose development will be completed in the next and final official test, to be held at the same circuit on 4, 5 and 6 March.

Other teams, such as the Mapfre Aspar and Marc VDS Racing Team, decided to end their participation in the test early. Aspar riders Julian Simon and Xavi Fores said goodbye to Jerez on Thursday, at the end of the second day, with their work done and ready to conclude in a week’s time.

Simon completed 95 laps in two days of testing, using the time to focus on the best solutions for the turning of the Suter. The Spaniard had a best time of 1.43.10, two tenths faster than the first day and the fastest time among those provided by the teams.

Team-mate Xavi Forés did 106 laps in total during the test, preparing a chassis setup that allowed him to set a fast pace, gaining six tenths from on the first day, with a final time of 1.44.30.

Scott Redding and Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team) also ended their participation after the second day. The Briton had a good pace in both the opening day and Thursday, a day where he completed a race simulation and made progress in improving the rear suspension mount. Redding got a best time of 1.43.70, 0.3s. ahead of his new teammate, former MotoGP rider Mika Kallio. The Finn continued familiarising himself with the Suter MMXI machine which premieres this season and focused on doing long runs during the two days. In his last long run, Kallio matched the lap average of Redding, which greatly enhanced the confidence of the Marc VDS rider ahead of the last test of the preseason.  

www.motogp.com/

Stewart fourth after dramatic Atlanta AMA SX

San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart finished 4th at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta after an exciting and frantic eighth round of seventeen in the AMA Supercross series (also an FIM World Championship). The Floridian engaged in a fight for the win with Chad Reed throughout the twenty lap main event watched by over 69,000 spectators and a thrilling finale was denied on the final circulation when the two collided and crashed trying for the same line and both Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Dungey were able to capitalise.

Stewart and Reed were clearly the fastest competitors around a tight course inside the Atlanta venue for the first meeting away from the west coast of the country. Both were vying for track space with small mistakes limiting their capacity to make a break away. Stewart moved past the Australian with one lap remaining but Reed hounded the back of the YZ450F and attempted an aggressive block pass several corners before the chequered flag, despite entering the turn several bike-lengths behind. In the ensuing chaos both were able to remount and Reed found a way to gain the last step on the podium.

Disappointed, Stewart - who has finished off the podium only twice in 2011 - could only mention on his Twitter account that he ‘never saw it coming’ and also added ‘now I am just looking forward to Daytona. The bike and team were great. I’ll be back for another day of racing.’

JGR Yamaha’s Justin Brayton crossed the line in 7th position while team-mate Davi Millsaps was 11th. Stewart now stares at a 10 point deficit to standings leader Villopoto while Reed is 11 adrift of the Yamaha man in third spot. Round nine will take place next weekend at the Daytona International Speedway.  www.fim-live.com

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2011 Moto GP Stoner consistent as well as fast in Malaysia

The Australian was quickest on all three days at the Sepang Test, and was also the most consistently fast rider on the final day. motogp.com calculated Stoner and the rest of the MotoGP riders’ average lap times from their longest runs on Thursday…

By the end of the Sepang Test only two riders had broken the 2’00” lap barrier at the Malaysian circuit, as Repsol Honda pair Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa set times in the 1’59”s on the Thursday. The pair also occupied the top two positions at the end of each of the three days.
With the Honda performing well across all three days and four RC212Vs at the sharp end of the timesheet on Thursday, motogp.com calculated the average lap time of each of the 17 riders from the longest run they completed on the final day at Sepang to gain an idea of the consistency of lap times from each.
Marco Simoncelli, who finished third on the final-day timesheet, completed the longest run (20 laps) on Thursday, whilst a number of other riders ran considerably lesser totals. As well as being the fastest rider in terms of one-off lap times, Stoner also had the quickest average lap time on the final day from a longest personal stint of 14 laps, with Ben Spies and Pedrosa following.
Valentino Rossi, who was only 11th quickest on Thursday, was fourth fastest in the average lap table, although his time came from a shorter run of six laps.
Below is the complete list of the average lap times from each rider’s longest run, with the lap total of the stint their time was calculated from in brackets.
Casey Stoner, 2’01.286 (14 laps)
Ben Spies, 02’01.472 (5 laps)
Dani Pedrosa, 02’01.683 (10 laps)
Valentino Rossi, 02’01.739 (6 laps)
Jorge Lorenzo, 02’02.000 (19 laps)
Colin Edwards, 02’02.142 (3 laps)
Andrea Dovizioso, 02’02.153 (15 laps)
Loris Capirossi, 02’02.548 (5 laps)
Marco Simoncelli, 02’02.551 (20 laps)
Nicky Hayden, 02’02.600 (9 laps)
Hiroshi Aoyama, 02’02.687 (5 laps)
Cal Crutchlow, 02’02.830 (3 laps)
Karel Abraham, 02’02.914 (3 laps)
Randy De Puniet, 02’03.092 (12 laps)
Toni Elías, 02’03.132 (3 laps)
Álvaro Bautista, 02’03.400 (7 laps)
Héctor Barberá, 02’03.521 (4 laps)

WSBK 2011 Checa in total control of Phillip Island race 1

Carlos Checa's winning margin over Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) in Phillip Island race 1 was clear evidence of the Althea Racing Ducati man's domination in the opening round of the Superbike World Championship. Checa took the lead from Laverty on lap 3 and steadily pulled out to an unchallenged 4 second lead at the flag. Biaggi soon realized it was not possible to keep the pace of Checa and settled for second.
The podium was completed by Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad) who held off both Yamaha World Superbike Team riders, Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri who exchanged places right at the flag in a sprint finish.

Sixth was Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki Alstare), who made a great recovery that saw him finish ahead of Jakub Smrz (Ducati Effenbert - Liberty Racing) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing). Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) was running in the top 6 but slipped down to 12th after an off-track excursion, while front row man Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati Effenbert - Liberty Racing) crashed out and will not take part in race 2 after picking up a series of injuries to his right hand, knee and shoulder-blade.   www.worldsbk.com

WSBK 2011 Biaggi 'truly happy' with unexpected PI form

Having played down his chances of success at Phillip Island earlier in the week, Max Biaggi goes on to take second on the grid in Superpole.

Max Biaggi has sent out a warning signal to his World Superbike rivals after almost taking pole position for the 2011 opener at Phillip Island – around a circuit he freely admits doesn't favour the Aprilia RSV-4.

The Italian came to within 0.013secs of displacing Carlos Checa, the weekend's dominant figure thus far, during Superpole after joining his rival in dipping below the previous lap record.

The result comes despite Biaggi's claims that he would likely struggle around the Australian venue as it isn't as well suited to the RSV-4 as other circuits on the calendar.

As such, while his lap of 1min 30.895 wasn't quite able to pull off a surprise, he was nonetheless thrilled with the result.

“Wow! Thirteen thousandths are nothing,” he said. “It means that even on this track, which has never favoured us, we have improved a lot compared to the last two years. I am truly happy with this result which is to the merit of the team's hard work coming here and testing during the off season.

“Those tests allowed us to better understand our problems, so we worked hard on the details, small adjustments which can make the difference. We are not the fastest, but one thing for sure is that for the races we're competitive.

“The weather conditions [for the race] will be important, the temperature and the tyres we choose as a consequence. Then, as always, we'll be ready to give it our all.” 

www.crash.net/

2011 Checa again the ace in the WSBK pack

Results of first qualifying at Phillip Island saw Carlos Checa (Ducati Althea Racing) stake his claim as number 1 favourite for the Superbike wins in the opening round on Sunday. The Spaniard stopped the clocks with a time of 1 minute 31.577 seconds, a tenth quicker than his free practice time of the morning, but slower than his best from recent testing - simply because the warmer track surface delivered less outright grip. Another man on the move was Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati Effenbert - Liberty Racing), the Frenchman doing exceptionally well to come within three-tenths of Checa, despite suffering a fall in the morning session.

Carlos Checa: "Basically, we worked with the tyres this afternoon, just to make choices for raceday. I felt good today but I think the grip was just a little bit less from the racetrack. We used the 'big' rear tyre and had similar results to the previous ones, so if we do that I prefer to continue with the existing tyres for now. Tomorrow we will just work towards raceday again, do a comparison with the tyres and then do some longer runs on the tyre we expect to use for the race.

An impressive sub-1m32s lap time was set by Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team) and the WSBK rookie had the satisfaction of finishing one place ahead of 2010 world champion Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia). Guintoli's team-mate Jakub Smrz posted fifth best time, and Leon Haslam overcame some early set-up issues to go sixth. He was the top BMW Motorrad Motorsport rider today, as Troy Corser went 11th.

Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki Alstare) had a harmless crash towards the end and finished seventh, one place up on impressive new WSBK talent, Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team). Lascorz, a top runner in WSS until his promotion to Superbike this year, was only just over half a second from Checa. Castrol Honda rider Jonathan Rea, who is still battered and bruised from his big testing get offs, was ninth fastest, placing all the competing manufacturers in WSBK this season in the top nine places in the first qualifying session.

Yoshimura Suzuki rider Josh Waters, a wildcard at this event, was an impressive tenth on the exquisitely prepared GSX-R machine, leading his fellow countryman Corser, while Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team) was 12th, and one of many top names who ended up in the gravel at one point or other today.

Tom Sykes, Noriyuki Haga, James Toseland and Leon Camier rounded out the top 16.

Times: 1. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1'31.577; 2. Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1'31.850; 3. Laverty E. (IRL) Yamaha YZF R1 1'31.969; 4. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'32.009; 5. Smrz J. (CZE); Ducati 1098 1'32.066; 6. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 1'32.082; 7. 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'32.108; 8. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'32.163; 9. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'32.424; 10. Waters J. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'32.690; 11. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'32.699; 12. Melandri M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R1 1'32.700; 13. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'32.705; 14. Haga N. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'33.058; 15. Toseland J. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 1'33.074; 16. Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'33.084; etc.

World Supersport

Quickest time in the first Supersport qualifying session was recorded by former champion Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), as he continues his run of impressive form. The Fast Frenchman had to work for it however as he crashed at the start and then only came out for five flying laps, edging the young Spanish rider David Salom (Kawasaki Motocard.com) off the top in the last few seconds. Salom has an official bike at his disposal for the first time in his career and has been making immediate good use of it.

Another up-and-coming youngster, 20 year-old Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda) went third quickest ahead of fellow Brit Chaz Davies who is now getting to grips with his Yamaha ParkinGO machine after some trying times in testing recently. Good news also for the other Yamaha team on the grid, Bike Service, with Roberto Tamburini getting the better of Luca Scassa (Yamaha ParkinGO) by a whisker. James Ellison (Bogdanka PTR Honda) continued his recovery with the ninth fastest time, a remarkable feat for a rider who underwent keyhole surgery on his left knee, on Wednesday.

Times: 1. Foret F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 1'34.091; 2. Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'34.166; 3. Lowes S. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 1'34.875; 4. Davies C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 1'35.065; 5. Tamburini R. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1'35.203; 6. Scassa L. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1'35.236; 7. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'35.297; 8. Marino F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 1'35.335; etc.

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