2013 Mugen Shinden Ni (神電貳) Revealed

Shipped up and on its way to the Isle of Man, we can finally now see more than test shots of the Mugen Shinden Ni and get its basic racing specifications. The electric superbike that John McGuinness will ride in the 2013 TT Zero race at the Isle of Man TT, the Mugen Shinden Ni represents that evolution of the Japanese firm’s design, having now a TT race under its belt. Like its main competitor MotoCzysz, Team Mugen is eyeing a 110 mph lap around the Mountain Course, which would be a pretty remarkable one-year advancement for either team. With Mr. McPint at the helm, and seemingly brimming with on-board energy, Mugen is a serious contender.

Ducati Q1 2013 Sales Drop 5% – Audi Dishes the Details

Ducatisti: do you want the good news or the bad news first? The bad news is that the market for motorcycles 500cc and up is down 17% worldwide for the first quarter of this year, which means the “good” news is that Ducati is only down 5% for Q1 2013. Not exactly the start out of the gate that Audi was hoping for its newly acquired two-wheeled brand, but what are you going to do? Western Europe is a mess, with Spain and Italy continuing to go down like a…well, you know. While we don’t enjoy the misery of motorcycle brands, the fact that Ducati Motor Holding is now under the Audi AG umbrella means that we get far more detailed quarterly and yearly reports from the two-wheeled marque, and we’ve got the digits after the jump.

Mission Motorcycles: The Mission R Lives??!

Mission Motors tweeted out something interesting just a moment ago, a link to a new website for Mission Motorcycles. Teasing there a photo of the Mission R, it would seem that the electric superbike that does competitive AMA Supersport lap times at Laguna Seca, is finally set to come to production. It seems we won’t know everything about the new Mission Motorcycles project until June 3rd, though we can speculate pretty accurately on what the A&R Bothan spy network has been telling us. Expect to see the Mission R electric superbike in street legal trim, honed even further than when we rode the machine back in August last year.

Goodbye Husqvarna Nuda, We Hardly Knew Thee

Stefan Pierer’s acquisition of Husqvarna continues to baffle me. You will note I say Pierer, and not KTM, bought Husqvarna, since the Austrian CEO used Pierer Industrie AG in the transaction as a means to help side-step European antitrust issues. After all, we can’t have Europe’s largest dirt bike manufacturer, nay largest total motorcycle manufacturer, gobbling up even more brands in the two-wheeled world. But, I digress. Developing three road bikes (Husqvarna Nuda 900, Husqvarna Strada 650, & Husqvarna Terra 650), with three more concepts waiting in the wings (Husqvarna Moab, Husqvarna Baja, & Husqvarna E-G0), it is with even more confusion that we learn that Pierer & Co. intend to kill the Husqvarna Nuda project and its other street siblings.

Q&A: Yukio Kagayama Talks About the Upcoming Suzuka 8-Hour with Kevin Schwantz & Noriyuki Haga

In case you missed the story last week, Kevin Schwantz is preparing to race in this year’s Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race. For the race, Schwantz will be riding on a team formed by Yukio Kagayama, who in addition to having raced in the MotoGP, World Superbike, and British Superbike Championships, is also a previous Suzuka 8-Hour winner with the Suzuki Endurance Race Team (also joining the three-rider team Noriyuki “Nitro” Haga). Releasing a Q&A about his team’s Suzuka 8-Hour entry, Kagayama-san walks us through how the team came together, what equipment the riders will use, and his outlook on the team’s competitiveness.

KTM RC4 Concept by Luca Bar Design

A single-cylinder hooligan-maker, the KTM 690 Duke is 330 lbs (curbside without fuel) and 67hp of two-wheeled fun, and we hope that the Austrians bring the KTM 690 Duke R our way as well. While we are on the topic of things missing from KTM’s American line-up, a decent supersport is painfully obvious, yet we can’t see the folks at KTM following the paths of other brands. That’s where our friend Luca Bar comes to mind with his latest concept: the KTM RC4. Using the KTM 690 Duke platform and its LC4 engine, Bar has designed a super-single full-fairing sport bike that takes the Austrian company’s “Ready to Race” DNA and applies it to an idea that is not all that disimilar to the Ducati Supermono.

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.

WSBK: Race Results for Race 1 at Imola

04/01/2012 @ 9:17 am, by Jensen Beeler4 COMMENTS

Round 2 of the 2012 World Superbike Championship comes from Imola today, and features six manufacturers in the top seven qualifying positions. With weather conditions favorable for racing, Italian motorcycle fans were treated to a great competition between the WSBK riders. Favored to win was the man on the local machine, Carlos Checa, but he would have to contest with pole-sitter Tom Sykes and his Kawasaki ZX-10R. Also always a crowd favorite in Italy is former-WSBK Champion Max Biaggi, who qualified a disappointing fifth, but still could not be counted out from a good result. Continue reading for spoilers and race results from World Superbike Race 1 at Imola.

Taking the holeshot as the lights went out, Tom Sykes was able to convert is pole-position start into an immediate race result, and lead Carlos Checa, Max Biaggi, and Sylvain Guintoli through the first turns. The order would be short-lived though, as Guintoli and Leon Haslam would dice things up, with the Englishman running wide going into Imola’s chicane, forcing both riders to cut across the gravel. As Guintoli re-entered the race track, his Effenbert Ducati high-sided, which sent both the Italian and Anglo-American John Hopkins into the tarmac and the opposing run-off.

As the race continued on, Skyes and Checa pulled away from the rest of the field. With Sykes leading, the reigning World Superbike Champion bided his time until the middle of the race to get around the Kawasaki rider. Riding to a comfortable victory, Carlos Checa added another notch to his belt, while Sykes finished an impressive second. Battling to the end, Haslam would overcome Biaggi for the final spot on the podium for Race 1 at Imola.

Race Results from World Superbike Race 1 at Imola, Italy:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Bike	Diff.
1	Carlos Checa	Althea Racing	Ducati 1098R	-
2	Tom Sykes	Kawasaki Racing Team	Kawasaki ZX-10R	3.206
3	Leon Haslam	BMW Motorrad Motorsport	BMW S1000 RR	5.593
4	Max Biaggi	Aprilia Racing Team	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	6.519
5	Eugene Laverty	Aprilia Racing Team	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	24.662
6	Marco Melandri	BMW Motorrad Motorsport	BMW S1000 RR	27.261
7	Joan Lascorz	Kawasaki Racing Team	Kawasaki ZX-10R	27.384
8	Lorenzo Zanetti	PATA Racing Team	Ducati 1098R	28.299
9	Jonathan Rea	Honda World Superbike Team	Honda CBR1000RR	34.067
10	Niccoló Canepa	Red Devils Roma	Ducati 1098R	35.724
11	Jakub Smrz	Liberty Racing Team Effenbert	Ducati 1098R	36.738
12	Maxime Berger	Team Effenbert Liberty Racing	Ducati 1098R	37.257
13	John Hopkins	Crescent Fixi Suzuki	Suzuki GSX-R1000	50.418
14	Leandro Mercado	Team Pedercini	Kawasaki ZX-10R	53.623
15	Ayrton Badovini	BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet	BMW S1000 RR	53.942
16	Brett McCormick	Liberty Racing Team Effenbert	Ducati 1098R	54.139
17	Mark Aitchison	Grillini Progea Superbike Team	BMW S1000 RR	57.944
18	Hiroshi Aoyama	Honda World Superbike Team	Honda CBR1000RR	66.233
19	David Salom	Team Pedercini	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1 Lap
RT.	Michel Fabrizio	BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet	BMW S1000 RR
RT.	Davide Giugliano	Althea Racing	Ducati 1098R
RT.	Sylvain Guintoli	Team Effenbert Liberty Racing	Ducati 1098R
RT.	Chaz Davies	ParkinGO MTC Racing	Aprilia RSV4 Factory
RT.	Leon Camier	Crescent Fixi Suzuki	Suzuki GSX-R1000
RT.	Lorenzo Alfonsi	Team Pro Ride Real Game Honda	Honda CBR1000RR

Source: WSBK

Tagged under: Carlos Checa, imola, italy, Leon Haslam, Max Biaggi, Race 1, race results, Tom Sykes, world superbike, WSBK

Comment:

Westward says:
April 1, 2012 at 12:04 PM
In Motogp, Melandri seemed to get along well with the Kawasaki. If he were smarter, he should have continued to build a relationship there, and hone his skills on that machine. I could have been Melandri on the podium twice, instead of Sykes. It could have also been Melandri the double winner over Checa.
In short, “yeah,” the Kawasaki is that good, and this coming from a Ducatisti…
Westward says:
April 1, 2012 at 12:08 PM
I would also like to see what Camier, Aoyama, or Badovini can do on a Kawasaki…
irksome says:
April 1, 2012 at 2:51 PM
Nice to see Kawasaki and BMW on the podium, this bodes well for a competitive season.
Especially nice to see Biaggi NOT on the podium… twice.
Adam says:
April 2, 2012 at 8:04 AM
Wow look at that gap between 4th and 5th place. sorta looks like MotoGP… hmmm.
3 out of 4 wins, looks like Carlos is the one to beat this year.

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