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.

Fiat-Yamaha: Rossi Announcement Wednesday

Mon, July 12th, 2010 @ 9:06 pm, by Jenny Gun6 COMMENTS
Home » Racing » Fiat-Yamaha: Rossi Announcement Wednesday

After first sending a press release that Rossi would make an announcement after his testing session today, Fiat-Yamaha has issued another statement saying that Rossi won’t make a decision on this weekend’s race until he arrives at Sachsenring on Wednesday. Heightening the anticipation of his return, Rossi has seemingly delayed making a decision to race, and wants to wait another two days before making it public what his intentions are for the weekend.

We assume this also means that we won’t hear an announcement from Rossi or Ducati about the 2011 season until the German GP as well. As such, Sachsenring will be an interesting round as both Rossi and Wataru Yoshikawa will have to prepare to race on Sunday, but also there will be the added fervor of the impending Rossi/Ducati announcement.

Valentino Rossi completed 46 laps (fitting, ehh?), over multiple sessions, at Brno today. Rossi used a Yamaha YZF-R1 that was provided by the Yamaha World Superbike Team, and much to Crutchlow and Toseland’s dismay, Rossi took the WSBK R1 around Brno with a best time of 1’59.135, which is quicker than both Yamaha WSBK riders did in last weekend’s races.

Many outlets are comparing this time to race pace at Brno, but a more analogus comparison would be to the qualifying times from this weekend (Editor’s Note: Lap records are only counted during race conditions). Compared to the Superpole pace, Rossi was about a second off Cal Crutchlow’s pole setting pace of 1′58.018, while being nearly half a second faster than Toseland’s 1′59.699. Rossi was rumored to be on Toseland’s YZF-R1 today.

“Today was good, I felt better than in Misano but I still feel quite tired after a few laps and a race will be a much bigger question,” said Rossi. “We haven’t made the final decision yet, I need to have some more x-rays on Wednesday, and then my doctors and I will consider whether I can ride at Sachsenring. Once I’d understood my physical condition today, I had great fun riding the R1 and even did some work on the settings! I want to say a big thank you to the WSB Team for staying on here another day and making this test possible for me.”

Yamaha awaits Valentino’s final personal decision as to when he feels ready to ride again, and the team’s priority is a full recovery to fitness for Valentino rather than a quick comeback. If Valentino decides to ride in Germany, he will need final approval from the FIM Chief Medical Officer before he can participate in a Grand Prix.

Source: Fiat-Yamaha

Top 5 Related Posts:

Tagged under: Brno, Czech Republic, Fiat Yamaha, MotoGP, Valentino Rossi, Yamaha, YZF-R1

Comment:

eze1976 says:
July 12, 2010 at 9:55 PM
can you imagine that being a racer, heres your bike back you’ve been riding all season, yep the guy with the broken leg on it was faster than you, he also said it needed setting up so we took care of that too…. cheery O
Asphalt_Rubber says:
July 13, 2010 at 4:07 AM
Fiat-Yamaha: Rossi Announcement Wednesday – http://aspha.lt/15s #motorcycle
deckard says:
July 13, 2010 at 4:48 AM
According to you guys: “Asphalt & Rubber has received word from a trusted source that Valentino Rossi has signed a two-year agreement with Ducati, that’s set to be announced on Monday [7/12/2010]…”
Rossi may have signed, but clearly he and Ducati would not announce this humongous signing at a Yamaha test. Credibility can be fleeting, as you now know.
Brandon says:
July 13, 2010 at 11:00 PM
I agree with deckard, A&R needs to keep their Ducati pipe dreams to themselves until the facts are out in the public. It’s becoming as annoying as Entertainment Tonight. I don’t get why you would think Rossi would leave for a different team with a lesser bike that will be less supportive of him personally. Besides the financial squeeze Yamaha seems to be taking good care of Rossi, giving him a bike made for him and using all of their resources to aid his return. I also think Rossi still has some unfinished business in the Lorenzo rivalry at Yamaha, he has to prove he is the better rider on the M1 without any crashes getting in the way of either rider. I suspect a 1 year renewal of his contract with Yamaha as a sign of appreciation, besides, Ducati’s money will likely be their in 2012 if the itch is to much to resist.
Jensen Beeler says:
July 13, 2010 at 11:33 PM
Yes. We made it all up for kicks and giggles.
jamesy says:
July 14, 2010 at 4:18 PM
Here’s a scenario Brandon; What if Vale is hearing Jorge’s footsteps? What if he is blinking? If you have ever been seriously injured at race pace, you know that it can do stuff to your mind! Its supposed to after all. First you begin to question the very moment of the off… what was it? what tiny infraction against the laws of physics caused this extremely painful moment to both body and ego? What could I have done differently? Jorge didnt crash, he’s getting faster isnt he, what shall I risk? Or was it …shudder.. something beyond my control?
If he does go to Ducati and wins it all again, it would certainly erase any last doubters of his ultimate greatness. If he loses straight up battles with the young lion, we will ALL rationalize for reasons of equipment difference.
This is no slam, trust me, as I consider him the G.O.A.T. Just sayin, he is very very intelligent and the same mental strength that created his success will someday help him down from the throne. We could be witnessing either scenario… aint it great?