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.

WSBK: Race 2 at Imola Strictly an Italian Affair

Sun, September 27th, 2009 @ 6:13 pm, by Jenny GunComments Off
Home » Racing » WSBK: Race 2 at Imola Strictly an Italian Affair

Race 2 promised to have more close racing, as many riders in Race 1 proved they could race near the top (not to mention, many riders in WSBK have contracts up for renewal). With Imola being the home track for the Ducati loyal, a lot of fans we’re waiting to see the red bikes up front.

Many Xerox Ducati fans were also keen to see if Haga could retake the lead in the World Superbike Championship standings with a strong showing at Imola. They would not be disappointed, a full race report after the jump.

For Race 2, we saw the true introduction of Marco Simoncelli, who raced a strong ride in Race 1, but ultimately crashed while in 5th place. Simoncelli clearly overcame his demons, finishing on the bottom step of the podium, and ahead of his teammate Max Biaggi, who finished the day 4th.

Ahead of the Aprilia’s were of course the Ducati’s. Wanting to win on his company’s home track, and in front of his fellow Italians, Michel Fabrizio finally got the “W” he was looking for this weekend.

While Haga lead most of the race, showing the same prowess from Race 1, it wasn’t until lap 13 that Fabrizio could get past his Japanese teammate. But once it was done, Fabrizio never looked back taking a comfortable lead. He would finish over 3.5 seconds ahead of Haga.

Entering into the mix at the front, Shane Byrne’s showed a promising ride. He was interrupted though as Marco Simoncelli made a very risky pass on Max Biaggi, which caused both Spies and Biaggi to avoid the young Italian. Spies would have to take an off-road excursion to avoid the crash, costing him a spot. Spies would lose a place to Bryne because of the move, as Simoncelli found himself later in the top-three riders group…but that’s racing.

Because of this finish, Haga is now 3 points ahead of Ben Spies in the World Superbike Standings.

Results from Race 2 of World Superbike at Imola, Italy:

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Country	Bike	Diff
1	84	M. Fabrizio	ITA	Ducati 1098R	-
2	41	N. Haga	JPN	Ducati 1098R	3.592
3	58	M. Simoncelli	ITA	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	6.510
4	3	M. Biaggi	ITA	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	7.445
5	19	B. Spies	USA	Yamaha YZF R1	14.678
6	65	J. Rea	GBR	Honda CBR1000RR	16.396
7	67	S. Byrne	GBR	Ducati 1098R	17.110
8	91	L. Haslam	GBR	Honda CBR1000RR	22.502
9	96	J. Smrz	CZE	Ducati 1098R	25.268
10	7	C. Checa	ESP	Honda CBR1000RR	30.203
11	57	L. Lanzi	ITA	Ducati 1098R	32.589
12	66	T. Sykes	GBR	Yamaha YZF R1	36.243
13	111	R. Xaus	ESP	BMW S1000 RR	36.368
14	31	K. Muggeridge	AUS	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	38.809
15	23	B. Parkes	AUS	Kawasaki ZX 10R	42.435
16	15	M. Baiocco	ITA	Ducati 1098R	49.349
17	9	R. Kiyonari	JPN	Honda CBR1000RR	1’01.823
18	99	L. Scassa	ITA	Kawasaki ZX 10R	1’06.854
RET	14	M. Lagrive	FRA	Honda CBR1000RR	5 Laps
RET	94	D. Checa	ESP	Yamaha YZF R1	7 Laps
RET	71	Y. Kagayama	JPN	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	9 Laps
RET	10	F. Nieto	ESP	Ducati 1098R	10 Laps
RET	77	V. Iannuzzo	ITA	Honda CBR1000RR	12 Laps
RET	11	T. Corser	AUS	BMW S1000 RR	17 Laps
RET	25	D. Salom	ESP	Kawasaki ZX 10R	18 Laps
NS	100	M. Tamada	JPN	Kawasaki ZX 10R

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Tagged under: Ben Spies, imola, italy, Marco Simoncelli, Max Biaggi, Michel Fabrizio, Noriyuki Haga, Race 2, superbike, world superbike, World Superbike Championship, WSBK

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