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.

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.

Friday Practice at Portimao Could Predict WSBK Championship – Spies 4/10ths Faster Than Haga

Fri, October 23rd, 2009 @ 9:53 pm, by Jenny GunComments Off
Home » Racing » Friday Practice at Portimao Could Predict WSBK Championship – Spies 4/10ths Faster Than Haga

We typically don’t cover the Free Practice/Qualifying sessions in World Superbike, but considering that the entire season will come down to Sunday’s race, we’re making an exception. With QP1 in the bag already at Portimao, we get some insight into how the grid could come together for the last race of the WSBK season, and the results might surprise some people. More after the jump.

Before we get ahead of ourseleves, let’s be clear that there is still another qualifying practice session on Saturday, before the Superpole event takes place, so there’s still a great deal more shuffling that can occur on the WSBK starting grid. Still, the results are compelling for a Ben Spies victory on Sunday.

With Johnny Rea on the provisional pole, Spies trails the Honda rider by under a tenth of a second, and is provisionally 3rd right now. Better yet for the American rider, points rival Noriyuki Haga is swamped back in 9th place, and almost half a second behind Rea. In order to be competitive on Sunday, Haga will have to find an extra 4/10ths of a second per lap in order to keep a wheel on Spies.

Ben Spies needs to win both races this weekend in order to clinch the World Superbike Championship. A “double” on Sunday would mean that regardless of how Haga finishes Spies would either tie or beat Haga in the point standings. Tie-breakers in WSBK are decided on the number of race wins, which Spies has 15, while Haga has 8, meaning the Championship would go to Spies if he ties Haga in points at the end of Sunday’s race.

With the MotoGP Championship likely to be clinched at Sepang this weekend as well, Sunday should be an epic event of racing for motorcycle enthusiasts. We can’t wait.

QP1 Results from World Superbike at Portimao, Portugal:

Pos	No.	Rider	Bike	Time	Diff
1	65	J. Rea	Honda CBR1000RR	1’43.786	-
2	96	J. Smrz	Ducati 1098R	1’43.866	0.080
3	19	B. Spies	Yamaha YZF R1	1’43.870	0.084
4	7	C. Checa	Honda CBR1000RR	1’43.945	0.159
5	67	S. Byrne	Ducati 1098R	1’43.947	0.161
6	10	F. Nieto	Ducati 1098R	1’44.005	0.219
7	84	M. Fabrizio	Ducati 1098R	1’44.154	0.368
8	3	M. Biaggi	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	1’44.210	0.424
9	41	N. Haga	Ducati 1098R	1’44.254	0.468
10	91	L. Haslam	Honda CBR1000RR	1’44.324	0.538
11	71	Y. Kagayama	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	1’44.674	0.888
12	111	R. Xaus	BMW S1000 RR	1’44.822	1.036
13	11	T. Corser	BMW S1000 RR	1’44.830	1.044
14	23	B. Parkes	Kawasaki ZX 10R	1’44.963	1.177
15	100	M. Tamada	Kawasaki ZX 10R	1’44.977	1.191
16	99	L. Scassa	Kawasaki ZX 10R	1’45.077	1.291
17	14	M. Lagrive	Honda CBR1000RR	1’45.133	1.347
18	66	T. Sykes	Yamaha YZF R1	1’45.239	1.453
19	22	L. Camier	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	1’45.333	1.547
20	15	M. Baiocco	Ducati 1098R	1’45.345	1.559
21	25	D. Salom	Kawasaki ZX 10R	1’45.390	1.604
22	50	S. Guintoli	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	1’45.508	1.722
23	9	R. Kiyonari	Honda CBR1000RR	1’45.676	1.890
24	77	V. Iannuzzo	Honda CBR1000RR	1’46.512	2.726
25	94	D. Checa	Yamaha YZF R1	1’46.775	2.989
26	88	R. Resch	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	1’47.961	4.175

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Tagged under: Ben Spies, Johnny Rea, Noriyuki Haga, QP1, qualifying, SBK, world superbike, World Superbike Championship, WSBK

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