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.

MotoGP: Championship Battle in the Rain of Sepang

Sun, October 25th, 2009 @ 3:15 pm, by Jenny Gun2 COMMENTS
Home » Racing » MotoGP: Championship Battle in the Rain of Sepang

After providing three days of sunshine for the Sepang race track, the heavens opened up today with a downpour of rain 30 minutes before the commencement of the Malaysian GP. The change in weather caused the penultimate MotoGP race to be delayed by 45 minutes as everyone waited for the monsoon to abate to a drizzle. With riders having no reference for the wet Malaysian course, it seemed like all bets were off. Click past the jump for spoilers and more.

All eyes were of course trained on the first row, where Valentino Rossi sat on pole, just ahead of his teammate Jorge Lorenzo. Needing a strong finish, and a Rossi blunder, Lorenzo probably welcomed the rain, which was sure to take the edge off everyone’s game.

As the riders got away, Rossi had a strong start, but ran wide in the first turn, and slipped back into 8th place. Dropping back a further two spots, Rossi would finish the first lap in 10th place, with Lorenzo just ahead of him. Looking to make up lost ground, the pair made their way through the field, with Lorenzo leading the way, while Rossi kept close tabs on the Spaniard.

Seven laps into the fray, Rossi finally made his move past Lorenzo, which was a nail biting moment as Rossi power-slid through the corner. Wet racing at its finest, Rossi quickly put a gap on Lorenzo of nearly a second’s time. Rossi would close in on Andrea Dovizioso, but before he could pass the fellow Italian, Dovi lost traction and slid out of the race.

Now in a podium position, Rossi has his sights set on Pedrosa, but held back knowing that he if maintained his current situation, he would lock up the MotoGP Championship.

Taking the race win was Casey Stoner, who took the lead from Dani Pedrosa half-way through the first lap. Stoner, clearly back in top form, put on a dominating show, finishing almost 15 seconds ahead of Pedrosa who finished second.

Rossi would finished third, followed 6 seconds later by Lorenzo. With these finishes, Rossi has now officially clinched the MotoGP Championship with a 41 point lead over Lorenzo. MotoGP now heads to Valencia, Spain in two weeks, where all eyes will be on Ben Spies, and how he’ll compare to the rest off the MotoGP field.

Race Results from MotoGP at the Australian GP at Phillip Island, Australia

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Time	Diff
1	27	Casey STONER	DUCATI	47’24.834	-
2	3	Dani PEDROSA	HONDA	47’39.500	14.666
3	46	Valentino ROSSI	YAMAHA	47’44.219	19.385
4	99	Jorge LORENZO	YAMAHA	47’50.684	25.850
5	69	Nicky HAYDEN	DUCATI	48’03.539	38.705
6	7	Chris VERMEULEN	SUZUKI	48’05.895	41.061
7	24	Toni ELIAS	HONDA	48’13.389	48.555
8	33	Marco MELANDRI	KAWASAKI	48’20.391	55.557
9	65	Loris CAPIROSSI	SUZUKI	48’25.137	1’00.303
10	36	Mika KALLIO	DUCATI	48’25.274	1’00.440
11	44	Aleix ESPARGARO	DUCATI	48’26.489	1’01.655
12	15	Alex DE ANGELIS	HONDA	48’26.681	1’01.847
13	5	Colin EDWARDS	YAMAHA	48’35.612	1’10.778
14	41	Gabor TALMACSI	HONDA	48’40.685	1’15.851
15	52	James TOSELAND	YAMAHA	49’15.506	1’50.672
Not Classified
	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	HONDA	31’59.321	7 laps
	14	Randy DE PUNIET	HONDA	2’28.718	20 laps

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Tagged under: Casey Stoner, Championship, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, Malaysia, Malaysian GP, MotoGP, motogp Championship, race, Sepang, Valentino Rossi

Comment:

Lenny George says:
October 25, 2009 at 3:18 PM
MotoGP: Championship Battle in the Rain of Sepang http://bit.ly/1q1e6A
Asphalt_Rubber says:
October 25, 2009 at 7:15 PM
MotoGP: Championship Battle in the Rain of Sepang – http://bit.ly/2mXWUN #motorcycle