Leon Haslam returned to the top of the timesheets in the final session of free practice for the World Superbike class at Portimao. The Alstare Suzuki rider took over from Sterilgarda Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow who had led for the first half of the session. Althea Ducati’s Shane Byrne made it an all-British top 3, with Byrne’s teammate Carlos Checa finishing in 4th.
Results of FP2 for the World Superbike class:
With four weeks between the Phillip Island and Portimao rounds of World Superbikes, Kawasaki’s Chris Vermeulen had hoped to have sufficient time to recover from the horrific knee injury he suffered in a crash. Sadly for the Australian, that has not proved to be the case, and after taking a lap of the demanding Portuguese circuit, Vermeulen decided to pull out of the event. Here he is, explaining the decision in a video posted on his Youtube channel yesterday:
Jakub Smrz shook up the World Superbike field by shooting to the top of the timesheets and snatching provisional pole during the second session of qualifying at Portimao. The Czech Pata S&G rider looked like leading a Ducati clean sweep lat on in the session, Smrz leading Xerox Ducati’s Michel Fabrizio and Althea Ducati’s Carlos Checa, with only Leon Haslam the only non-Ducati on the front row, holding off Noriyuki Haga to keep 4th. But the final minutes of practice saw the field shake out and some diversity of equipment emerge.
Smrz hung on to the provisional pole, but only on a technicality, with Aprilia’s Max Biaggi setting the same time as the Pata S&G rider. Michel Fabrizio followed a whisper behind, just seven thousandths separating his time from Smrz’ and Biaggi’s, while a relatively fast thirty four thosuandths separated 4th place man Leon Haslam from Smrz. Johnny Rea took 5th, just a few thousandths behind, and five hundredths slower than Smrz and Biaggi.
Carlos Checa ended the session in 6th, the first man to be over a tenth of a second behind Smrz, while James Toseland took 7th on the Sterilgarda Yamaha and Nori Haga finished in 8th. Tom Sykes set a very respectable 9th fastest time, just under half a second from Smrz and Biaggi.
The second session of free practice for the World Supersport class saw the same four names dominate the timesheets. The Ten Kate Honda riders took an early lead, but by the end of the session Michele Pirro had been forced to allow Parkalgar Honda’s Eugene Laverty and Motocard.com Kawasaki’s Joan Lascorz ahead of him, the Italian dropping to 4th. Kenan Sofuoglu held on to his place at the top of the timesheets, but the gaps between the top 4 are minimal.
Further back, Japanese veteran Katsuaki Fujiwara took 5th place, ahead of a gaggle of Triumphs, with Chaz Davies beating out ParkinGO teammate Jason DiSalvo, who was fractionally faster than Matthieu Lagrive, taking the place of the retired Sebastien Charpentier.
Results of FP2 for the World Supersport class at Portimao:
Eugene Laverty has put his Parkalgar Honda on provisional pole for Sunday’s second round of the World Supersport championship at his "home" circuit. The Portimao track sponsors the Parkalgar Honda team of Laverty and Miguel Praia, and having a rider on pole is an excellent start for the circuit.
Laverty took control in the second half of the session, after the Ten Kate Hondas of Michele Pirro and Kenan Sofuoglu had dominated the early running. Behind the Italian and the Turk, Kawasaki’s Joan Lascorz fought with Triumphs of Chaz Davies and Jason DiSalvo, with Davies eventually coming out on top to take the 4th spot, while Lascorz was forced to settle for 5th. The Parkalgar’s fortunes were given an extra boost by Miguel Praia’s 6th fastest time, who finished at the head of a very tightly bunched group which included Fabien Foret and David Salom. British rider Gino Rea rounds out the top 10.
Results of the first session of qualifying for the World Supersport class at Portimao:
Championship leader Leon Haslam sits on provisional pole after the first session of qualifying for the World Superbike class at Portimao, the Alstare Suzuki rider continuing his strong start to the season and the second round of WSBK. The young Briton jumped to the top of the timesheets with 10 minutes to go, taking provisional pole from his fellow countryman Sterilgarda Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow.
Indeed, British riders dominated much of the session, with the top 4 all hailing from Albion for the second half of practice, with only occasional forays by Michel Fabrizio and Carlos Checa disrupting British dominance. But by the end of the session, the two Ducatis had driven a wedge between the Brits, Max Biaggi joining Fabrizio and Checa to take 4th. The two Sterilgarda Yamahas finished in 5th and 6th, with James Toseland just getting the better of his young teammate Cal Crutchlow, while Shakey Byrne on the other Althea Ducati took 7th place ahead of the Pata S&G bike of Jakub Smrz.
The Ten Kate Honda riders Kenan Sofuoglu and Michele Pirro dominated the first session of free practice for the World Supersport class at Portimao, taking the lead early and relinquishing it only to each other. Triumph’s Chaz Davies held on to 3rd spot for a long while, before being deposed by Kawasaki’s Joan Lascorz as the session came to a close. Davies’ American teammate Jason DiSalvo eventually nudged the Welshman into 5th, ahead of championship leader Eugene Laverty and his Parkalgar Honda teammate Miguel Praia, the Portuguese rider putting in a strong performance at his home round.
Results of FP1 for the World Supersport class at Portimao:
In the first session of free practice for the World Superbike class at Portimao, James Toseland took top honors, stealing the lead from fellow Brit Leon Haslam in the final minutes. Haslam had shot to the top of the timesheets in the final ten minutes, after a bevy of Italians and Italian motorcycles – in the shape of Aprilia’s Maxi Biaggi and Ducati’s Michel Fabrizio and Noriyuki Haga – had made the running for much of the session. Ten Kate Honda’s Max Neukirchner took 3rd spot, while Max Biaggi redeemed his earlier provisional front row place in the final minutes to take 4th
Results of FP1 for the World Superbike class:
Ask most motorcycle racing fans to name a World Supersport team, and the names you are most likely to hear are the Ten Kate Honda team of Ronald and Gerrit ten Kate and Simon Buckmaster’s Parkalgar Honda team. But Kenan Sofuoglu and Eugene Laverty have got had their hands full over the past season holding off the Spanish Motocard Kawasaki rider Joan Lascorz, and this year Lascorz looks even stronger than ever.
To highlight this fact, Kawasaki released a promotional video presenting Lascorz and his team, Team Kawasaki Provec Motocard.com, to give them their full title. Though the video contains little information, it does show the process that goes into preparing a race-winning World Supersport machine. It remains a fascinating insight to just how close these machines are to standard production road bikes, that you can walk in off the street and buy, if you are so inclined.
Despite it being nearly four weeks since the World Superbike paddock last convened at Phillip Island, the weekend – and the runup to that weekend – is having knock on effects on the rider lineup of the series. Before the weekend had even started, Australian rider Broc Parkes broke a tibia during training, and was replaced on the Echo CRS Honda by fellow Australian Josh Brookes. Parkes is still not fully fit to race, and so will be replaced by South African Sheridan Morais at Portimao.
Morais was a substitute rider last year, taking the place of Makoto Tamada in Paul Bird’s Kawasaki World Superbike squad. The South African has switched manufacturers this winter, and is currently campaigning an Aprilia RSV4 in the South African Superbike series.
Ruben Xaus’ 2010 World Superbike campaign got off to a tumultuous start, with four crashes during practice for the first round at Phillip Island. After a final error during the morning warmup, which saw Xaus slam into Noriyuki Haga and end the session badly shaken up, the BMW Motorrad team elected to sit Xaus out for the opening two races, considering it too much of a risk to allow the Spaniard to race.
That decision triggered a wave of speculation about the future of Ruben Xaus at BMW. Rumors seeping out of the World Superbike paddock suggested that BMW were tired of Xaus’ continuous crashing, which all too often forced Xaus to either ride injured or miss races while he recovered. It was said that BMW were actively seeking to replace Xaus, even though the season had only just got underway.
Since the announcement that the Motorland Aragon circuit was to take the place of Hungary on the 2010 MotoGP calendar, the internet has been abuzz with people trying to find out about the new facility near Alcañiz in northeast Spain. The track’s website shows maps of the 5.077 kilometer circuit and even a diagram showing the amount of elevation at the track, giving a more graphic demonstration of the 50 meter elevation difference between the highest and lowest points, as well as the 7.2% drop of the "Sacacorchos" or Corkscrew corner at Turns 8 and 9.
In the run up to the 2010 US World Superbike round in Utah, Miller Motorsports Park has been organizing a series of telephone press conferences with riders participating in the World Superbike and World Supersport series this season. Yesterday, it was the turn of Alstare Suzuki’s Leon Haslam, son of Rocket Ron and current championship leader after the first two races at Phillip Island. Haslam is always an interesting interview subject, as the excellent interview which Jim Race of MotoGPOD did a couple of weeks’ ago proved, and Tuesday’s conference was no exception. Among the subjects Haslam touches upon are how he got into roadracing; the benefits of riding a range of machinery before landing a factory ride; the relative merits of good rides in Moto2, MotoGP and World Superbikes; and last but not least the quality of Virgin Airlines complimentary pyjamas. Find out all about it in the transcript below:
News travels fast, and sometimes it arrives too quickly to make sense of. After reporting earlier that Dorna representative Franco Uncini said the FB Corse bike was "not yet ready to race," FB Corse have announced their intention to do just that. However, just as Uncini recommended, FB Corse have decided against joining the grid at Qatar, spending their money on developing the bike instead, to be ready for the first European round of MotoGP at Jerez on May 2nd.
Uncini had pronounced himself impressed with the bike, developed by the renowned Oral Engineering, who have a long and illustrious history in Formula One, but felt that the bike needed more development before it would be ready to compete at the highest level. That was obvious from the lap times: according to SportMediaset, McCoy’s best lap was a 1’40, about 7.5 seconds off Casey Stoner’s lap record of 1’32.582. But given that this was the bike’s first proper foray onto the track, and that the laps were run without any electronics at all, the team stands a good chance of using the obvious room there is for improvement.
As the established MotoGP field warm their engines for the final test of the season at Qatar starting on Thursday, back in Europe, another bike has been auditioning to join the show. At Valencia today, the FB Corse team ran a timed test in front of Franco Uncini, Dorna and IRTA’s representative sent to evaluate the project, with the hope of impressing Uncini sufficiently that the team and their rider Garry McCoy would be admitted as the 18th official entry into the MotoGP class.
Their hopes have been dashed, however. Uncini’s verdict, though full of praise for the team, is negative, and the FB Corse team will not be allowed to start the season at Qatar. Speaking to GPOne.com, Uncini described the project as "interesting," but said what the FB Corse really needed was more time and more miles on the bike to develop it further and refine it before it is ready to race.
World Superbike’s return to South Africa in 2009 after an absence of seven years was to be the first attempt to restore the long history which South Africa has with international motorcycle racing. The initial race at Kyalami was judged to be a success – with the exception of Regis Laconi’s terrible injury on his first full lap out of the pits – and the paddock and fans were all eagerly anticipating further visits to the spectacular South African circuit.
Their pleasure is to be short-lived, however. The 2010 round of World Superbikes at Kyalami will be the last visit the series pays to the South African circuit for the foreseeable future, it emerged last week. The culprit – as ever – is the global economic crisis. The financial meltdown has forced the Gauteng economic development to cut costs, and one of the areas it decided to cut was in the investment the council had made in international motorsports through the Gauteng Motorsports Company. According to reports in the South African newspaper The Star, the contracts with the organizers of the World Superbike round and the V8 Superstars races had been settled amicably, with penalty payments totalling 115 million Rand (US$ 18 million). By canceling the contracts – due to run through 2013 – the Gauteng province would reportedly save 796 million Rand (US$ 109 million).
With the official withdrawal of the Kino Racing team from the Moto2 field yesterday comes a new opportunity. To fill the place vacated by the Argentinian rider Fabrizio Perren, the first reserve rider has been allowed onto the grid, in the shape of Ant West and the MZ team. West has been testing with MZ since last year, though the team started out with one of West’s former CBR600RR Stiggy Honda Supersport machines. Since then, Martin Wimmer and former 250 star Ralf Waldmann have been working on a trellis framed prototype which West has tested at Valencia, Barcelona and Jerez.
There is a certain poetic irony to the return of the MZ name to the middle class. The former East German factory revolutionized the 250s and sounded in the two stroke era when Walter Kaaden took the technology he had learned building V1 rockets and applied it to two-stroke exhausts. After a modest debut in 1957, the factory returned with a vengeance in 1958, its two-stroke engine radicalizing engine design throughout the 1960s, eventually forcing the four strokes out of the sport. It took a rule change imposed by the MSMA to finally kill off the two strokes in the intermediate class, and the introduction of the 600cc four-stroke Moto2 bikes.
As the Moto2 class approaches its inaugural race, the field is going through a shake out and approaching its final lineup. For some teams this is good news, for others less so. The Stop & Go team can number themselves among the former: Today, the team confirmed it would be taking part in the 2010 Moto2 season under the name Thai Honda PTT SAG, and fielding the Bimota chassis for their two riders Ratthapark Wilairot and Hector Faubel.
There had been question marks over the team, after both Wilairot and Faubel had failed to turn up at any of the Moto2 tests since the post-race tests at Valencia. The trouble was one of contracts, team manager Edu Perales told MotoGP.com. The team had originally been negotiating with Suter for chassis, but had backed out in the end over disagreements over support. Bimota offered a more direct contact with the manufacturer, a chance that Perales and the SAG team had jumped at.
The delay has caused a problem for the team. Both riders are chronically short of test time, and will get their first proper test on the bike at Jerez in two weeks’ time. Both Wilairot and Faubel will have a lot of catching up to do in those three days.
The enormous success of MotoMatters.com has seen our traffic grow tenfold over the past three years, and we are starting to become the victims of our own success. We have completely outgrown our current hosting situation, and after DNS problems made MotoMatters.com unreachable for a small part of our readers earlier this year, it was clear we had to act.
The time has now come for us to switch to a bigger, better and faster server. Unfortunately, this means some inconvenience for our readers for the next week or so, as the internet gets used to the idea that http://www.motomatters.com is located on a different server. Consequently, the website could become unreachable for a short length of time, and mail may not be delivered correctly.
Fortunately, this situation should not last too long. We’re hoping everything should be back to normal by next Monday at the very latest, though the inconvenience should only last for a couple of days.
After Ducati launched their bike at their annual Wrooom event, and Fiat Yamaha and Rizla Suzuki unveiled their MotoGP machines online, it was finally the turn of the Repsol Honda team. Repsol, who have sponsored Honda for the past 15 years, launched the team in Madrid, at the penultimate round of the FIM Indoor trial at Madrid’s Palacio de Deportes stadium, which Repsol Montesa Honda rider helped celebrate by winning the Indoor trial event, coming close to wrapping up the title.
After missing last year’s presentation through injury, Dani Pedrosa was able to attend the event this year, though it was Andrea Dovizioso’s turn to be absent as a result of the flu. In a press conference, Pedrosa spoke optimistically about the 2010 season, expressing his happiness at staring the year fully fit, though he also underlined that the team still faced challenges, primarily from adapting to the Ohlins suspension which Honda will be using for this season.
To see a video of the presentation of 2010 RC212V, as well as interviews (in Spanish) with Dani Pedrosa, jump to the bottom of the page.
As predicted, Jorge Lorenzo will take part in the Qatar tests due to take place at the end of this week. Yamaha today issued a press release confirming his intention to ride in the tests, the final opportunity for testing before the 2010 season gets underway at Qatar on April 11th.
The news had been expected, for Lorenzo had been increasingly optimistic about his chances of making a return in his posts on Facebook and Twitter. The Spaniard is not yet fully recovered, though, so his times will be difficult to judge. Lorenzo will be forced to ride with a specially-made brace and special gloves, to provide support for the fractured metacarpal he suffered. Lorenzo described his predicament in a press statement issued by the Fiat Yamaha team as follows:
Jorge Lorenzo is almost certain to take part in next week’s final MotoGP test at Qatar. The Spaniard’s participation in the test had been in doubt since Lorenzo broke his wrist during a motocross accident in early February. The injury had already caused Lorenzo to skip the second test at Sepang, and with testing limited to just six days before the season starts in April, Qatar would be the final chance for the Fiat Yamaha rider to test before the championship commences.
Lorenzo has spent a lot of time in physical therapy since his injury, squeezing it in between a full program of personal appearances for several sponsors, as well as appearing on a Spanish TV show. But his recovery has gone better than expected: On Thursday, Lorenzo announced on his Facebook page that he would make a decision on whether to ride at Qatar on Monday, but after physiotherapy on Friday, he announced that he thinks he will be able to take part at Qatar.
The future of the Balatonring circuit near Hungary’s Lake Balaton is once again uncertain, after the Hungarian Development Bank MFB refused to underwrite a loan needed for completion of the project, according to the Hungarian business news service MTI-ECO. The loan of 15.3 billion Hungarian Forints HUF (around 57.6 million Euros or 79.3 million dollars) was part of a total package of of over 35 billion HUF in government subsidy needed to complete the 40 billion HUF project.
The MFB refused to underwrite the loan after undertaking a due diligence process. Under the terms of the loan, the state would be providing 70% of the financing of the project, while receiving a 30% stake in the Balatonring circuit. Due diligence revealed that no calculations had been done on the return on investment of the project, making it impossible to judge the value of investing in construction of the circuit. A statement issued by the MFB said that the bank had negotiated with investor about the business risks, but that the investor could not accept the conditions which the MFB had put on the loan.
The future of the Balatonring circuit near Hungary’s Lake Balaton is once again uncertain, after the Hungarian Development Bank MFB refused to underwrite a loan needed for completion of the project, according to the Hungarian business news service MTI-ECO. The loan of 15.3 billion Hungarian Forints HUF (around 57.6 million Euros or 79.3 million dollars) was part of a total package of of over 35 billion HUF in government subsidy needed to complete the 40 billion HUF project.
The MFB refused to underwrite the loan after undertaking a due diligence process. Under the terms of the loan, the state would be providing 70% of the financing of the project, while receiving a 30% stake in the Balatonring circuit. Due diligence revealed that no calculations had been done on the return on investment of the project, making it impossible to judge the value of investing in construction of the circuit. A statement issued by the MFB said that the bank had negotiated with investor about the business risks, but that the investor could not accept the conditions which the MFB had put on the loan.
Just over a month ago today, Valentino Rossi vowed to stop talking about his future in the press. But like everyone who has vowed to give up smoking or lose weight at the start of a new year, Rossi has found that such resolutions can be incredibly difficult to maintain. For at the ceremony on Thursday night where Rossi was presented with the "Winning Italy Award" in recognition of his work in improving Italy’s public image abroad, Rossi was once again tempted into making statements on where he will be riding next season.
In response to questions about how much longer he will stay in MotoGP, the Italian living legend put the fears of MotoGP fans and organizers to rest: "I am again enjoying the sport and the desire to compete, so I think I will continue for some more years," Rossi told the press. Rossi could not avoid the question on all of Italy’s mind, either. When asked about a potential switch to Ducati, Rossi was very clear: "An Italian on an Italian bike would be nice, yes. But I think I want to stay with Yamaha, which is also a little bit Italian. I would feel like a traitor if I acted any other way, because I feel very good with them."
After Yamaha and Ducati revealed their 2010 bikes, today it was the turn of the smallest of the manufacturers, Suzuki. The Rizla sponsorship remains, with the brand strengthened by having the livery designed by the famous American firm of Troy Lee Designs. The traditional Rizla powder blue remains, but the darker elements make the bike look squatter and rather more brooding. Much more like a MotoGP should look.
Suzuki also released the specifications of the bike, but like the specs provided by every manufacturer in MotoGP, they do not reveal any real information of note, such as bore, stroke, V angle, etc. The engine has received significant upgrades over the winter, to produce more horsepower and better engine characteristics, an improvement which saw both Loris Capirossi and Alvaro Bautista leap up the timesheets during the last test at Sepang. Suzuki has a strong record of testing at the Malaysian track, but they tend to start slipping backwards as the season goes on. With the veteran/rookie pairing of Capirossi and Bautista, perhaps this is the year that Suzuki turns the corner.
Here’s Alvaro Bautista’s bike:
The one place that everyone wants to be at a MotoGP race is in the paddock. Simultaneously, it is one of the most difficult places to get into, as, quite simply, Dorna does not sell passes into the paddock. The usual way – other than in a professional capacity, or working as a marshal – is to purchase a VIP package through one of the very few specialist travel companies authorized to issue paddock passes, such as our friends over at Pole Position Travel.
But now, MotoGP’s (and MotoMatters.com’s) official charity organization Riders For Health are providing an extra route into the paddock. Today, the charity announced that they will be auctioning off pairs of paddock passes for each of MotoGP’s 18 races this season, with the money raised going towards Riders’ outstanding work providing primary health care in Africa. If you want to get into the paddock and have a chance of meeting your own personal hero (be it Valentino Rossi, Bradley Smith or even Jerry Burgess), then read the press release below carefully, and dig deep for Riders.
Exclusive MotoGP paddock pass auction for Riders
Whenever fans talk of their dreams of being a world famous motorcycle racer, they have in their minds the image of travelling from circuit to circuit, and focusing on nothing but racing. Of course, life isn’t like that, and one of the duties of a factory World Superbike rider is to turn up at motorcycle shows, corporate PR events and a host of other occasions to help market the brand helping to pay their wages. James Toseland understands this, and performs this task admirably, taking advantage of the situation to practice his second passion, playing the piano, at such affairs.
Toseland is currently in Rome for the MotoDays exhibition, helping Yamaha to launch their brand new FZ8 naked bike. While he was there, our friends over at GPOne.com took the opportunity to catch up with him, and did a short video interview with the Sterilgarda Yamaha rider. In the interview, Toseland talks about the transition from MotoGP to World Superbike, his expectations of Portimao, and why so many British riders are in the World Superbike series. Here’s the video from GPOne.com:
Ask some of the veterans of the MotoGP paddock who the greatest racer of all time was, and you’ll get a fairly short list of names, usually including Valentino Rossi, Giacomo Agostini, Kenny Roberts, Eddie Lawson and Kevin Schwantz. But the answer to that question is almost always followed up by the words "And then there’s Freddie Spencer, of course…" Spencer’s career was cut short by a wrist injury, but before he was forced to retire, the young American shocked the world by being the only man to win both the 500cc and 250cc World Championships in the same year. Fast Freddie was precocious, sensitive and blindingly, mind-bogglingly fast.
Since retiring from racing, Spencer’s fortunes have been very mixed. The Louisiana native ran a successful riding school and was the motorcycle racing commentator for the US SpeedTV channel, but both of those ventures have gone sour. Spencer’s riding school was forced to shut down at the end of 2008, after financial problems saw the instructors go unpaid and the bikes repossessed. Spencer’s commentary work also dried up, with Daytona legend Scott Russell taking his place in the commentary booth.
Since the rumblings began emanating from the machinations of Colin Edwards’, Hervé Poncharal’s, and Lin Jarvis’ closed-door meetings to figure out how to get Ben Spies and Tom Houseworth into MotoGP in 2010, and the subsequent announcement last Fall, one of the most popular ways to cast the story (and indeed, one of the few speculative avenues that doesn’t automatically involve Silly Season 2011) is to suggest that the tensions between Colin Edwards and James Toseland will somehow be amplified in the arrival of the superior abilities of Ben Spies. I realize magazines and newspapers need to manufacture material in the off-season to sell copies, and we who post on The Web need to draw traffic when potential advertisers don’t care that the sport is on hiatus. But I am here to tell you that this particular road is a dead end street. Headlines of “Tension at Tech 3”, “Monster Battle Brewing”, and “Trouble in Paradise” (a city in Texas, but not home to either rider), can be summarily ignored.
Rumerz Board
