Q&A: Claudio Domenicali Talks Frameless Chassis, Sacred Cows, & The Future for Ducati

When I sat down with Claudio Domenicali at the Ducati 1199 Panigale R launch, the now-CEO of Ducati Motor Holding was still just the General Manager of the Italian motorcycle company. Four weeks after our interview though, Gabriele del Torchio would leave Ducati for Alitalia; and Domenicali, a 21-year veteran of both the racing and production departments of Ducati, would take his place at the top of Italy’s most prestigious motorcycle brand. After reading our interview from Austin, Texas after the jump, I think you will agree too.

Is Yamaha Using A Seamless Gearbox? The Data Says No

That Yamaha is working on a seamless gearbox is no secret, with Yamaha’s test riders currently racking up the kilometers around tracks in Japan. Recently, however, Spanish magazine SoloMoto published an article suggesting that Yamaha has already been using its new seamless gearbox since the beginning of the season. My own enquiries to check whether Yamaha was using a seamless gearbox or not always received the same answer: no, Yamaha is not using the seamless gearbox. To test this denial, I went out to the side of the track on Friday morning at Jerez to record the bikes as they went by.

OCC Coming Back to TV? — Universe Collapses in on Self

After a very public father/son break-up between Paul Teutul Sr. and Paul Teutul Jr., a steroid-ring scandal involving Paul Sr., and finally a bankruptcy proceeding, it appears that Orange County Choppers is the impossible to kill multi-headed hydra of doom that we all knew it was, as the custom chopper shop is once again headed to the small screen and recruiting some talent, on and off the show. Looking for “someone who will work alongside Paul Senior, running the shop and helping build some of the best custom motorcycles in the world,” OCC says it will be back on television with a new show later this month. Please for the love of god, will someone give this man the attention he craves so dearly??! Or, just shoot us in the face.

Alstare Superbike Concept by Team Alstare

We love us some concept bikes here at Asphalt & Rubber, and we have featured more than a few pieces of stunning design and imagination on our pages. Though, we can’t remember the last time one of these works of art were brought to us by a legitimate racing team, but that is what we have here with the Team Alstare Superbike Concept. A nod to the former Suzuki team’s return to the World Superbike Championship as the Ducati factory squad with Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini, Alstare has enlisted the help of designer Serge Rusak of Rusak Kreaktive Designworks to ink the shape of its futuristic Superbike concept, while Tryptik Studios handled the 3D modeling prowess.

Transcript: The Gay Question at Jerez

If you didn’t watch Thursday’s pre-event press conference for MotoGP at Jerez, it is worth a viewing right to the end (assuming you have a MotoGP.com account). Building off the news about the NBA’s Jason Collins coming out as gay in a self-written feature in Sport Illustrated, my good colleague David Emmett had the courage to inquire about the culture and acceptance of the MotoGP paddock for homosexual riders. For the sake of accuracy, after the jump is a full transcript of David’s question, as put to riders Cal Crutchlow, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Andrea Dovizioso, Stefan Bradl, and Scott Redding, as well as those riders’ responses to David’s inquiry.

2014 Suzuki GSV-R Spotted Again

News that Suzuki plans on returning to the MotoGP Championship in 2014 should be old information for dedicated Asphalt & Rubber readers, and the Japanese company’s inline-four race bike was already spotted doing test laps last year by the eager eyes at Cycle World. Well the American print-mag has another set of eyebrow-raising high-quality photos of the 2014 Suzuki GSV-R to mull over from the Motegi race track, along with some technical insights provided by the venerable Kevin Cameron.

BMW F800GS Adventure – Germany’s Middleweight ADV

A surprise addition to BMW Motorrad’s 2013 model line-up, zie Germans have announced a new middleweight adventure-tourer, the 2013 BMW F800GS Adventure. Like its larger predecessor, the BMW F800GS Adventure is a more travel-ready and off-road capable build of the recently updated BMW F800GS motorcycle. Featuring a larger windscreen, panniers, and a bigger fuel tank capacity (2.1 gallons larger, for a total of 6.3 gallons of fuel), the BMW F800GS Adventure keeps the same 85 hp, liquid-cooled, 798cc, parallel-twin engine found on the F800GS, as well as the same chassis configuration. Pricing in the US will be $13,550 for the base model BWM F800GS Adventure.

Kevin Schwantz Returns to Motorcycle Racing – Enters the Suzuka 8-Hours with Team Kagayama

Former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz has certainly been in the news a bit these past few months, mostly for his involvement and falling out with the Circuit of the Americas and the Americas GP, but also more recently for his comments regarding Dani Pedrosa — we also sat down with Mr. Schwantz in Austin, and the Texan gave us some sobering insight into the future of American road racing. As if all that wasn’t enough, Schwantz is making a return to two-wheeled racing, and has entered the prestigious Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race with Team Kagayama racing alongside Noriyuki Haga and team owner Yukio Kagayama.

Öhlins Releases a Semi-Active Suspension Upgrade for the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S – But, What’s Next?

An interesting development on the aftermarket side of things has graced our desks, as Öhlins has released a “suspension control unit” (SCU) that upgrades the electronically adjustable suspension on the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S so that it becomes a semi-active suspension system. Whhhaaaat??! So, if you’re the proud owner of a pre-2013 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S, and you think that your electronically controlled Öhlins suspension is no longer boss, now that Ducati has released its Sachs-powered “Skyhook” semi-active suspension pieces on its new batch of Multistrada sport-tourers, there is a remedy for your motolust.

Up-Close with the 2013 Yamaha YZR-M1

In case you missed our exhaustive coverage of the Grand Prix of the Americas, those fools at Dorna gave me pit lane access this MotoGP season. So while the whole paddock waits for the Spaniards to come to their senses, I don’t plan on wasting the opportunity to share with our readers our extreme access to motorcycling’s premier racing class. Accordingly, here comes another installment into our ever-continuing “Up-Close” series, featuring the very finest Iwata has to offer: the Yamaha YZR-M1. Thirty 2000px-wide photos are waiting for you after the jump.

Moto2: 41 Riders Set Out on Historic First Qualifying

04/11/2010 @ 1:21 am, by Jensen Beeler2 COMMENTS

Along with the MotoGP and 125GP qualifying events, Qatar is playing host this weekend to the first running of the Moto2 race class, which is replacing the 250GP race action from this day forward. 41 riders were on hand for qualifying on Saturday, and despite the large field of entry, only 4.4 seconds separates all these racers (3.5 seconds if you drop Bernat Martinez and his last position Bimota). While the names may be unfamiliar, the racing is sure to be extremely close (we can’t even fathom what Turn 1 is going to look like).

There are a few familiar faces though, namely Toni Elias who took the very first pole position of the new racing class. Another familiar name is Alex de Angelis, who will start from the second row in 4th position, after being ousted from hit MotoGP rider last year. As we get to know the riders of Moto2 we’ll also see a vetting process on which manufacturer put together the best chassis for the single motor class.

A quick look at the qualifying sheet, and it seems that there is no one bike that stands above the rest of the field. Our best guess would at least peg the Suter machine as being the best bang-for-the-buck, with three bikes in the Top 10 and being the cheapest bike in the paddock. Tech3 as a team is looking very strong, but of course we still have Sunday’s race day to see where the proof is in the pudding. We can’t wait.

Results from Moto2 Qualifying at the Losail International Circuit at Doha, Qatar:

Pos	No.	Rider	Bike	Time	Diff	Diff. to Prev.
1	24	Toni ELIAS	MORIWAKI	2’01.904	-	-
2	60	Julian SIMON	RSV	2’02.032	0.128	0.128
3	65	Stefan BRADL	SUTER	2’02.038	0.134	0.006
4	15	Alex DE ANGELIS	FORCE GP210	2’02.101	0.197	0.063
5	72	Yuki TAKAHASHI	TECH 3	2’02.295	0.391	0.194
6	16	Jules CLUZEL	SUTER	2’02.366	0.462	0.071
7	35	Raffaele DE ROSA	TECH 3	2’02.560	0.656	0.194
8	6	Alex DEBON	FTR	2’02.759	0.855	0.199
9	48	Shoya TOMIZAWA	SUTER	2’02.771	0.867	0.012
10	25	Alex BALDOLINI	I.C.P.	2’02.866	0.962	0.095
11	40	Sergio GADEA	PONS KALEX	2’02.881	0.977	0.015
12	44	Roberto ROLFO	SUTER	2’02.883	0.979	0.002
13	63	Mike DI MEGLIO	RSV	2’02.896	0.992	0.013
14	2	Gabor TALMACSI	SPEED UP	2’02.916	1.012	0.020
15	59	Niccolo CANEPA	FORCE GP210	2’03.002	1.098	0.086
16	12	Thomas LUTHI	MORIWAKI	2’03.041	1.137	0.039
17	45	Scott REDDING	SUTER	2’03.129	1.225	0.088
18	75	Mattia PASINI	MOTOBI	2’03.155	1.251	0.026
19	14	Ratthapark WILAIROT	BIMOTA	2’03.192	1.288	0.037
20	77	Dominique AEGERTER	SUTER	2’03.232	1.328	0.040
21	29	Andrea IANNONE	SPEED UP	2’03.258	1.354	0.026
22	41	Arne TODE	SUTER	2’03.341	1.437	0.083
23	17	Karel ABRAHAM	RSV	2’03.346	1.442	0.005
24	10	Fonsi NIETO	MORIWAKI	2’03.390	1.486	0.044
25	52	Lukas PESEK	MORIWAKI	2’03.531	1.627	0.141
26	3	Simone CORSI	MOTOBI	2’03.588	1.684	0.057
27	68	Yonny HERNANDEZ	BQR-MOTO2	2’03.635	1.731	0.047
28	71	Claudio CORTI	SUTER	2’03.725	1.821	0.090
29	53	Valentin DEBISE	ADV	2’03.752	1.848	0.027
30	9	Kenny NOYES	PROMOHARRIS	2’03.792	1.888	0.040
31	80	Axel PONS	PONS KALEX	2’04.301	2.397	0.509
32	55	Hector FAUBEL	SUTER	2’04.417	2.513	0.116
33	61	Vladimir IVANOV	MORIWAKI	2’04.470	2.566	0.053
34	5	Joan OLIVE	PROMOHARRIS	2’04.476	2.572	0.006
35	21	Vladimir LEONOV	SUTER	2’04.579	2.675	0.103
36	39	Robertino PIETRI	SUTER	2’04.629	2.725	0.050
37	95	Mashel AL NAIMI	BQR-MOTO2	2’04.871	2.967	0.242
38	96	Anthony DELHALLE	BQR-MOTO2	2’04.912	3.008	0.041
39	8	Anthony WEST	HONDA	2’05.362	3.458	0.450
40	88	Yannick GUERRA	MORIWAKI	2’05.460	3.556	0.098
41	76	Bernat MARTINEZ	BIMOTA	2’06.310	4.406	0.850

Tagged under: Julian Simon, Losail, Losail International Circuit, Moriwaki, Moto2, Qatar, qualifying, RSV, Stefan Bradl, Suter, Toni Elias

Comment:

Asphalt_Rubber says:
April 11, 2010 at 8:21 AM
Moto2: 41 Riders Set Out on Historic First Qualifying – http://bit.ly/a4VCAS #motorcycle
harumph says:
April 11, 2010 at 2:48 PM
Moto2 was fantastic considering it was the first time out. Tomizawa was impressive.

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