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.

Confirmed: KTM 350 Duke in 2013 – Moto3 Inspired 350cc Sport Bike in 2014

Our friends over at IndianCarsBikes.in were in attendance at the KTM 200 Duke launch in India this week, as the Austrian brand launched its somewhat bigger-displacement version of the popular KTM Duke 125. During the press event, KTM talked about the future of the mini-Duke line and its product roadmap for the emerging country, as well as abroad. With the Austrian brand confirming/clarifying that KTM would release a KTM 350 Duke for India in 2013, zie Austrians also confirmed that the KTM 350 Duke would be built locally in India by Bajaj, but would be exported worldwide — allaying fears that the KTM 350 Duke would be an India-only model.

Why Today is the Most Important Day for Ducati…Ever

Now that the first Ducati 1199 Panigale has rolled out of the door in Bologna, the die is cast, the chips are in play, and our course is set to see if Ducati has created a “massive breach of brand trust and honesty.” The realization of course should be that Ducati’s brand was never in danger with bikes like the Hypermotard, Multistrada 1200, or Diavel. Instead, the danger of serious brand dilution has always rested on how Ducati handled its Superbike line. A failure to produce a two-wheeled machine that is both as striking visually as it is kinetically, could permanently alienate a loyal fan base that has endured a great deal in the past half-decade.

WSBK: Race 1 at Brno – The Crash That Could Cost the Championship

Sun, July 26th, 2009 @ 7:32 pm, by Jenny GunComments Off
Home » Racing » WSBK: Race 1 at Brno – The Crash That Could Cost the Championship

Brno has a variety of meanings to different people. To the Old Czech, the words means muddy, to the Slavs it means to fortify, to men aged 16-55 it means rail thin supermodels, but to motorcycle race fanatics, the city should take on the meaning of unpredictable racing action. You’ll have to continue after the jump to see why Race 1 proves this theory.

Imagine you’re Ben Spies, and you trail in the World Superbike Champion by a handful of points. All that stands in the way of you achieving your victory, is an injured rider who will likely be unable to answer your advances for the next few race venues.

But wait, this is World Superbike, and this is Brno. Ben Spies found out the hard way that anything can happen; such as, Michel Fabrizio barging into you, causing a collective 45 Championship points pile up. Spies is of course no stranger to the adverse racing conditions in WSBK, surviving break downs, fuel mishaps, and even birds to climb his way to within 7 points of Haga. You can imagine that this race will come up later from arm-chair racers if Spies loses the Championship by a margin less than the 17 point spread between 1st and 8th.

Despite still being the Championship leader (for now), Haga was not expecting to pull his lead farther ahead with his 8th place finish, but because of the crash between Fabrizio and Spies, Haga could celebrate Race 1 as if he won it. However the true podium duty went to Max Biaggi on his Aprilia RSV4.

The Emperor had been on fire all week, and it finally paid off for him and the Aprilia team. With Spies and Fabrizio out of the way, Max sailed to a comfortable three second lead over Carlos Checa, who was followed six seconds later by Johnny Rea. Biaggi later complained that his RSV4 was not setup properly, thus holding him back from going faster and/or crashing into Spies himself.

Other honorable mentions go out to Troy Corser and the BMW team for their 5th place finish. Brno has been good to BMW, despite Ruben Xaus’s DNF this Sunday.

Results from Race 1 of World Superbike at Brno, Czech Republic:

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Country	Bike	Diff
1	3	M. Biaggi	ITA	Aprilia RSV4 Factory
2	7	C. Checa	ESP	Honda CBR1000RR	3.631
3	65	J. Rea	GBR	Honda CBR1000RR	9.948
4	67	S. Byrne	GBR	Ducati 1098R	12.952
5	11	T. Corser	AUS	BMW S1000 RR	14.599
6	96	J. Smrz	CZE	Ducati 1098R	19.359
7	91	L. Haslam	GBR	Honda CBR1000RR	19.680
8	41	N. Haga	JPN	Ducati 1098R	20.731
9	14	M. Lagrive	FRA	Honda CBR1000RR	21.923
10	100	M. Tamada	JPN	Kawasaki ZX 10R	27.807
11	10	F. Nieto	ESP	Ducati 1098R	35.263
12	23	B. Parkes	AUS	Kawasaki ZX 10R	36.535
13	9	R. Kiyonari	JPN	Honda CBR1000RR	38.586
14	71	Y. Kagayama	JPN	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	40.061
15	77	V. Iannuzzo	ITA	Honda CBR1000RR	40.280
16	99	L. Scassa	ITA	Kawasaki ZX 10R	40.641
17	25	D. Salom	ESP	Kawasaki ZX 10R	1’10.529
18	94	D. Checa	ESP	Yamaha YZF R1	1’14.874
19	88	R. Resch	AUT	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	1’42.979
20	51	M. Cihak	CZE	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	1’43.111
RET	66	T. Sykes	GBR	Yamaha YZF R1	1 Lap
RET	53	A. Polita	ITA	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	6 Laps
RET	121	J. Hopkins	USA	Honda CBR1000RR	10 Laps
RET	56	S. Nakano	JPN	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	12 Laps
RET	19	B. Spies	USA	Yamaha YZF R1	16 Laps
RET	84	M. Fabrizio	ITA	Ducati 1098R	16 Laps
RET	57	L. Lanzi	ITA	Ducati 1098R	18 Laps
RET	111	R. Xaus	ESP	BMW S1000 RR

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Tagged under: Ben Spies, Brno, Czech Republic, Max Biaggi, Michel Fabrizio, Noriyuki Haga, Race 1, world superbike, World Superbike Championship, WSBK

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