Superbikes launch 2009
The 2009 HANNspree FIM Superbike World Championship, the 22nd edition of which gets underway on March 1st with the opening round at Phillip Island in Australia, received its season launch today at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao, southern Portugal.
This year's edition of the world's leading production-based racing championship was presented by Paolo Flammini, CEO of Infront Motor Sports, the series organisers, together with Guglielmo Fiocchi, Managing Director Business Unit Moto of Pirelli, the one-make tyre supplier for the FIM Superbike World Championship, the FIM Supersport World Championship, the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup and the European 600 Superstock Championship, and Melanie Oborski, spokesperson for HANNspree.
During the press conference the 2009 racing programmes of the 7 manufacturer teams present in WSBK, an unprecedented number in world motor sport, were illustrated by their respective manufacturer representatives: Giampiero Sacchi (Director of Racing Activities Piaggio Group), Berti Hauser (BMW Motorrad General Manager Motorsport Motorcycle), Davide Tardozzi (Ducati Corse Superbike Director), Ronald Ten Kate (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team manager), Steve Guttridge (Kawasaki Europe Race Planning Manager), Yann Ladouche (Suzuki Alstare Team Coordinator) and Massimo Meregalli (Yamaha WSB Team Manager).
This year's calendar can count on 14 rounds in five continents, including a return to South Africa for the first time since 2002, at the Kyalami circuit. The championship kicks off in Australia at the start of March and concludes on October 25th here at the Portimao track.
The main changes in Superbike this year include a switch to 'flag-to-flag' (a change of bike is allowed in case of rain during the race) and the new elimination Superpole format for the top 20 riders in qualifying.
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Superbikes testing
Shane Byrne (Sterilgarda Ducati) led the time sheets for much of the first day of testing at Portimao, both in the morning session when it was wet in many places then in the afternoon as track conditions dried almost completely. His impressive pace took him to a day one overall best of 1'44.265, less than one second from the absolute track best, set by outgoing champion Troy Bayliss last year.
Byrne had to put in an effort later in the session, as first Michel Fabrizio and then Ben Spies passed him, but after his 47 laps, Byrne held the upper hand on his private 1098R.
Max Neukirchner pushed the new Suzuki to fourth fastest time, still inside the 1'44 bracket, as was the following Noriyuki Haga, getting used to his factory Ducati at a quick pace.
Every one of the 27 riders on show went quicker in the afternoon sessions, leaving Jakub Smrz (Guandalini Ducati) sixth fastest as he put in a strong challenge throughout.
The top Honda was the privateer Stiggy Motorsports machine of Leon Haslam, leading a three rider running flush of CBR machinery ahead of team-mates Jonathan Rea and Carlos Checa.
The top ten was rounded out by Yukio Kagayama's Suzuki, with Broc Parkes the leading Kawasaki runner in 14th. The all-new BMW and Aprilia machines were out in full force at this test, with Troy Corser 15th on the S1000RR and Max Biaggi 16th on the vee-four Aprilia.
In the Supersport class, the new combination of Joan Lascorz and his Kawasaki ZX-6R proved to be the quickest overall, albeit on a slightly wetter track than the Superbike riders finally got to ride on.
Second was class rookie Cal Crutchlow, on a Yamaha, with Honda rider Kenan Sofuoglu third, Suzuki man Barry Veneman fourth, making for four different types of machine inside the top four.
Two more days of testing remain.
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Testing Times
1. Shane Byrne GBR Sterilgarda Ducati 1098R 1min 44.265secs
2. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1098R 1min 44.468secs
3. Ben Spies USA Yamaha Italia YZF R1 1min 44.652secs
4. Max Neukirchner GER Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 1min 44.931secs
5. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1098R 1min 44.976secs
6. Jakub Smrz CZE Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R 1min 45.266secs
7. Leon Haslam GBR Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR 1min 45.323secs
8. Jonathan Rea GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR10000RR 1min 45.329secs
9. Carlos Checa ESP HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR10000RR 1min 45.373secs
10. Yukio Kagayama JPN Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 1min 45.448secs
11. Tom Sykes GBR Yamaha Italia YZF R1 1min 45.558secs
12. Regis Laconi FRA DFX Corse Ducati 1098R 1min 45.914secs
13. Alessandro Polita ITA Sterilgarda Ducati 1098R 1min 46.110secs
14. Broc Parkes AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-0R 1min 46.121secs
15. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 46.261secs
16. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 1min 46.440secs
17. Ryuichi Kiyonari JPN Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 1min 46.586secs
18. Gregorio Lavilla ESP Pro Ride Honda CBR10000RR 1min 46.948secs
19. Makoto Tamada JPN Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R 1min 46.957secs
20. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 47.340secs
21. Tommy Hill GBR HANNspree Althea Honda CBR1000RR 1min 47.639secs
22. Brendan Roberts AUS Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R 1min 47.699secs
23. Shinya Nakano JPN Aprilia Racing RSV-4 1min 48.274secs
24. David Salom ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1min 48.800secs
25. Luca Scassa ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1min 49.800secs
26. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA Squadra Corse Italia Honda CBR1000RR 1mins 50.187secs
27. Roberto Rolfo ITA Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR 1min 53.550secs
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MotoGP News
More bad news for John Hopkins and Marco Melandri
Since the official announcement that Kawasaki has decided to pull out of MotoGP, a number of people - most notably, Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta - have been working furiously on finding a way of keeping the bikes on the grid. The phone lines between Kawasaki's Akashi base, Dorna's Barcelona headquarters, the Kawasaki MotoGP team's base in Heerlen in the Netherlands, and Jorge Martinez in Spain have been positively humming.
For a long time, Jorge Martinez and the Aspar team looked like the most promising prospect for a continuation of Kawasaki's MotoGP efforts, but as negotiations dragged on, and disagreements started to emerge over the conditions under which Aspar would acquire the bikes, hopes began to fade. On Wednesday, Motorcycle News reported that Ezpeleta believed that Aspar would not take on the project, and today, confirmation comes from Jorge Martinez, boss of the Aspar team, himself.
Martinez confirmed to the Spanish magazine Motociclismo that he will not be running the Kawasakis in MotoGP this year. As expected, the deal fell through over the conditions imposed by Kawasaki: Martinez needed at least one Spanish rider if his sponsors were to be able to justify their investment in the project, a demand that Kawasaki could not agree to. In addition, Kawasaki would only provide the bikes for the 2009 season - a consequence of the deal offered to them by Dorna.
Kawasaki had committed themselves to compete in MotoGP through 2011, in a contract signed by the MSMA with Dorna. Dorna had offered to waive any fines or further litigation against Kawasaki if the Japanese factory was willing to provide bikes for the 2009 season. But Jorge Martinez and the Aspar team are keen to enter MotoGP on a long-term basis, and a one-year deal would be more likely to hinder their long-term plans than help them. Faced with these problems, Martinez decided to pull out of further attempts to negotiate a deal with Kawasaki.
This leaves only current Kawasaki team boss Michael Bartholemy in the running to try and keep the bikes on the grid. The Belgian is currently in Japan talking with Kawasaki's corporate bosses, trying to iron out a deal to race in 2009. Originally, there was talk of a French company providing technical assistance in bike maintenance and development, but recently, former MotoGP entry Ilmor have expressed an interest in taking up this role. In an email to MotoGPMatters.com, Steve Miller of Ilmor said "we have expressed a keen interest in assisting Kawasaki to run their engine on in MotoGP this season."
Though the British engineering firm have undoubted expertise in running, developing and building engines, the problem with the Kawasaki lies elsewhere. The 2008 ZX-RR Ninja made plenty of power - the bike regularly posted among the highest top speeds at a number of races - the problem was getting that power down onto the ground. Both John Hopkins and Ant West complained of a lack of rear wheel traction, as well as a lack of front-end feel, making it impossible to take advantage of the Kawasaki's potent engine. Unless Bartholemy can find someone to help him work on that, then any attempt at reviving the project may be doomed before it even gets off the ground.
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