Video: 2011 AFM Banquet Film – Death to Second Place

The oldest racing organization in the country dedicated soley to motorcycle road racing, the AFM is a Northern Californian non-profit racing organization that has helped hone the skills of riders like Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Kenny Roberts, and Steve Rapp — not mention a weekend warrior or two. Each year the racing league comes together for a banquet, and lately the tradition has been to include a highlight film of the year’s racing. I’m not sure what films in the past have been like, but if the latest AFM banquet video doesn’t give you goosebumps, you might want to check your pulse. Bonus points for the including the Versus “Second Place” monologue — it’s very apropos.

Pikes Peak International Hill Climb 2011 – The Ducati Story

Grab some popcorn, because this video from Ducati North America is over 14 minutes long. Telling the story of Ducati at the 2011 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), DNA has put together a great video that really captures how special the racing is at Pikes Peak, and how gorgeous the scenery is of the Colorado Mountains. With Santa Barbara Ducati’s Carlin Dunne winning the overall motorcycle category on his dealership’s Multistrada 1200 demo model, Alexander Smith from the Spider Grips Ducati Team made it a double podium for Ducati in the 1205cc class. If you’re new to racing at Pikes Peak, or wanted a quick re-cap of last year’s race, Ducati’s video pretty accurately sums up racing on the mountain and the anxiety around last year’s race.

Ducati Announces Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Team with Carlin Dunne & Greg Tracy

Ducati has announced its factory team for the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), and the Italian company has secured the services of last-year’s winner and Rookie of the Year Carlin Dunne as well as six-time PPIHC winner Greg Tracy. Ducati has also partnered with the Spider Grips team, who will help prepare the teams Ducati Multistrada 1200 for the “Race to the Clouds” on July 8th. For 2012, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will be fully-paved to the top of the mountain, which will surely see the speeds of competitors increase, and lap times drop on the 12.42 mile long course that ends at 14,110 feet.

Cutaway Photos of the Ducati Superquadro Engine

I was flipping through some photos from the 2011 EICMA show, and found these shots of the Ducati 1199 Panigale’s Superquadro engine. Unfortunately at the show, Ducati had its 1199cc v-twin motor behind a Lexan case, which created a bit of a glare, reflections, and of course had smudges from the touchy-feely Italian crowd. But still, the photos give a good idea of what’s going on in Ducati’s most-advanced production engine to date, and are better than just looking at the CAD renders. If you look at the shots very closely, you can almost see where the 195hp and 98 lbs•ft of torque is lurking inside.

AGV, Please Make This Helmet!

In addition to testing the factory Ducati Desmosedici GP12 “Phoenix” this week at Sepang, Valentino Rossi is also trying out a new lid from AGV. Aside from the carbon fiber goodness, and of course the Rossi stickers (which add 5hp & $200), AGV’s prototype helmet sports a noticably pronounced rear spoiler. Tucked in behind the windscreen, it is obvious why the Italian helmet manufacturer designed such a large protrusion off the back of the prototype helmet, as it looks to be clearly helping the flow off the back of the helmet, across the rider’s hump, and down his backside.

2012 Honda RC213V Debuts in Malaysia

While Ducati Corse is busy playing hide-the-Desmosedici at Sepang, HRC is all business in Malaysia this week, and has debuted its 2012 Honda RC213V MotoGP-contender. Honda isn’t saying too much about the RC213V, simply stating that the race bike is all new, but is also a continuation of the company’s design with the 800cc Honda RC212V. Testing the Honda RC213V over the course of last season, reigning-World Champion Casey rode the new 1,000cc machine three times in 2011, while teammate Dani Pedrosa swung a leg over the RC213V twice (missing one test because of injury).

No, This is the “90%” New Ducati Desmosedici GP12

You may have been misled by some eager journalists today and yesterday, if you saw a Ducati Corse livery-clad Ducati Desmosedici GP12 that some sites were passing off as the first shots of the “90% new” GP12. With the alleged new GP12 looking surprisingly similar to the aluminum-framed “GP0″ that was tested at Valencia, Valentino Rossi’s mechanic has now Alex Briggs confirmed that the photos taken were not of the all new “GP12 Phoenix” that the factory team will race this season. While the Ducati lords can taketh away, they can also giveth, and Valentino Rossi himself has posted the first photo of the factory Desmosedici GP12, and the bike is clearly different.

Zero Motorcycles Commences 2012 Model Line Production

Zero Motorcycles has announced the full-commencement of production for its 2012 model line, which is expected to hit dealers in February & March of this year. First off the line was the 2012 Zero DS back in December, though the electric motorcycle company has recently started building the Zero S, Zero XU, Zero X, and Zero MX at its Scotts Valley facility as well. A story we broke back in November, Zero Motorcycles debuted its important 2012 electric motorcycle line up at the 2011 EICMA show in Milan, with the 2012 range being a substantial improvement upon the company’s previous offerings.

The Dainese D-Air Racing Airbag Suit Comes to America

Getting a look at Dainese & AGV’s 2012 collection, Asphalt & Rubber was down in Orange County earlier this week to see the highly anticipated Dainese D-Air Racing leather suit, which has a four liter airbag system that helps reduce the risk of injury during a motorcycle crash. Dainese has been working on the D-Air Racing system for 10 years now, and after soft-launching the airbag suit in Europe, the Italian company is ready to bring the game-changing technology to American soil.

I Love the Nightlife. I’ve Come to Boogie.

Us Danes, we’re a strange breed. From the culture that taught you how to rape and pillage, Scandinavia is making yet another contribution to the motorcycling world with this latest video. Featuring Danish Supermoto Champion Andreas Mikkelsen, we get a RoToR camera-esque perspective (this rig is actually home made) on the Dane’s practice session at the Als Supermotard Club in Denmark. It’s videos like this that are slowly eroding my will-power to resist getting into supermotard riding. Also, I don’t know who was in charge of the music selection on this thing, but my hat is off to him/her. I love the nightlife. I’ve come to boogie.

Fabrizio Fastest at Phillip Island Testing Testing

Mon, February 22nd, 2010 @ 4:40 pm, by Jenny GunComments Off
Home » Racing » Fabrizio Fastest at Phillip Island Testing Testing

With the 2010 World Superbike Championship series getting underway in only one week’s time, WSBK riders are getting their last days of testing in at Phillip Island before the season opener next Sunday. If this weekend’s testing is any idication of what we can expect from next weekend while under race and qualifying conditions, then Michel Fabrizio looks like the man to beat. The Italian lead the testing sessions on his Xerox Ducati with a lap time of 1′31.650. Continue on for footage of the testing session by SuperbikeTV, and testing session times from Australia.

The Phillip Island testing was a good outing for Ducati riders, as the Italian brand swept five of the top 6 six spots, as only Ten Kate’s Johnny Rea could managed to be the 5th fastest man around the island. Carlos Checa should a surprisingly strong testing presence, only a hundredth of a second off of Fabrizio’s time on Monday, and was fastest around PI on Sunday. Talking about his dominant stance at the Australian track, Michel Fabrizio said the following:

”I’m satisfied with the lap times because we were consistently fast. I found good race pace with one of the tyre compounds in particular and this bodes well for the weekend, but the result will very much depend on the weather. There are several fast guys here, so it will undoubtedly be a tough race weekend, as well as a hard-fought championship. It’s a difficult challenge but I’m ready to face it.”

Notably absent from the top of the group was last season’s runner-up, Noriyuki Haga. Describing a lack of feeling on the course, Haga was optimistic about Sunday’s races:

“Today we concentrated on suspension settings, making various changes during the day, but for some reason I didn’t find the same good feeling that I had yesterday. Having said that the lap times were fairly fast. With regard to tyres the difficulties are caused by temperature because an increase of just one or two degrees can make a difference. I can’t really predict how the races will go on Sunday; I’m going to relax for two days and then we’ll start work again on Friday.”

2010 Testing Times at Phillip Island:

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Team	Time
1	M. Fabrizio	Ducati 1098R	Ducati Xerox Team	1’31.650
2	S. Byrne	Ducati 1098R	Althea Racing	+0.012
3	J. Smrz	Ducati 1098R	Team PATA B&G Racing	+0.15
4	C. Checa	Ducati 1098R	Althea Racing	+0.349
5	J. Rea	Honda CBR1000RR	HANNspree Ten Kate Honda	+0.525
6	N. Haga	Ducati 1098R	Ducati Xerox Team	+0.597
7	L. Haslam	Suzuki GSX-R1000	Team Suzuki Alstare	+0.629
8	M. Biaggi	Aprilia RSV4-R Factory	Aprilia Alitalia Racing	+0.824
9	L. Camier	Aprilia RSV4-R Factory	Aprilia Alitalia Racing	+0.971
10	M. Neukirchner	Honda CBR1000RR	HANNspree Ten Kate Honda	+1.041

Source: WorldSBK & SuperbikeTV

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Tagged under: Australia, Australian, Carlos Checa, Michel Fabrizio, Phillip Island, PI, test, testing, world superbike, World Superbike Championship, WSBK

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