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.

Transcript: The Gay Question at Jerez

If you didn’t watch Thursday’s pre-event press conference for MotoGP at Jerez, it is worth a viewing right to the end (assuming you have a MotoGP.com account). Building off the news about the NBA’s Jason Collins coming out as gay in a self-written feature in Sport Illustrated, my good colleague David Emmett had the courage to inquire about the culture and acceptance of the MotoGP paddock for homosexual riders. For the sake of accuracy, after the jump is a full transcript of David’s question, as put to riders Cal Crutchlow, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Andrea Dovizioso, Stefan Bradl, and Scott Redding, as well as those riders’ responses to David’s inquiry.

WSBK: Race 2 at Miller Motorsports Park

06/01/2009 @ 2:45 am, by Jensen BeelerComments Off

WSBK: Race 2 at Miller Motorsports Park 414365sbk spies miller

With Race 1 in the bag, Race 2 might have seemed a little bit more low-key, with no red flagged restart in sight. Beginning much as the previous race had started, Race 2 showed that it would be another decisive moment in the overall World Superbike Championship. Spoilers and race results for Race 2 at Miller Motorsports Park after the jump.

Once again, it was Ben Spies who flew off the starting line, but this time, he had Michel Fabrizio in tow. With the two riders going all out, they had gapped the field by 6 seconds after only 4 laps of racing.

For the majority of the race, Fabrizio was able to keep in touch with Spies, with only 1.5 seconds typically separating the pair. However, as the laps ticked away, Fabrizio couldn’t seem to keep up the 1’49 pace that Spies was consistantly putting down. Eventually, Fabrizio threw in the towel, with a 1’50 then a series of 1’51′s.

Spies ended the day with a double win, and valuable points gain in the Championship standings, closing in on Haga’s points lead.

Behind the race leaders, there was consdierably more action than up front.

At first, Carlos Checa had been chasing Spies and Fabrizio, but trying to match the leaders’ pace turned out to be a mistake for the Spaniard. Checa crashed out on lap 4, went making castles in the sand trap.

The injured Haga had started well, running in the 4th spot for a while, but his injuries were taking their toll, and he slid back through the field, he would finish 8th in Race 2, a marginal improvement on his Race 1 9th place finish. Unencumbered, Rea made the most of his situation and pulled down a 3rd place finish.

Biaggi would finish 4th, ahead of Kiyonari, Smrz, Nakano and Haga. Biaggi would be one of Miller Motorsports Parks big winners of the weekend, the same however, could not be said of Jamie Hacking.

Following his mistake in Race 1, which cost him a possible podium, Hacking made a real mess of things in Race 2. Jamie asked a bit too much out of a pass around Luca Scassa, and the pair found themselves colliding bikes. Hacking nearly highsided and clipped the Italian, which put the America at the back of the field.

Unlike Hacking, a disappointed Zemke made little impression at all, finishing the race with a solitary point in 15th.

Both Spies and Fabrizio did well as the Rocky Mountain round of World Superbikes, grabbing back a big handful of points from series leader Haga. The injured Haga bled a total of 32 points from his 85 point lead.

With his double, Spies is firmly back in 2nd place, but the championship is shaping up to be a three-way fight between the American and the Xerox Ducati riders. With only half of the season done, we can’t wait to see what the rest of the season is like.

Results from Race 2 of the World Superbike stop at Miller Motorsports Park:

Pos	Rider	Country	Bike	Diff
1	B. Spies	USA	Yamaha YZF R1
2	M. Fabrizio	ITA	Ducati 1098R	9.080
3	J. Rea	GBR	Honda CBR1000RR	14.357
4	M. Biaggi	ITA	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	15.636
5	R. Kiyonari	JPN	Honda CBR1000RR	17.156
6	J. Smrz	CZE	Ducati 1098R	17.156
7	S. Nakano	JPN	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	19.659
8	N. Haga	JPN	Ducati 1098R	19.659
9	T. Sykes	GBR	Yamaha YZF R1	30.489
10	S. Byrne	GBR	Ducati 1098R	31.775
11	B. Parkes	AUS	Kawasaki ZX 10R	33.246
12	Y. Kagayama	JPN	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	36.758
13	F. Nieto	ESP	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	36.887
14	L. Lanzi	ITA	Ducati 1098R	37.290
15	J. Zemke	USA	Honda CBR1000RR	42.639
16	R. Xaus	ESP	BMW S1000 RR	42.777
17	T. Corser	AUS	BMW S1000 RR	45.596
18	D. Salom	ESP	Kawasaki ZX 10R	1’09.237
19	J. Hacking	USA	Kawasaki ZX 10R	1’26.703
RET	L. Haslam	GBR	Honda CBR1000RR	1 Lap
RET	G. Lavilla	ESP	Ducati 1098R	15 Laps
RET	E. Nigon	FRA	Yamaha YZF R1	15 Laps
RET	C. Checa	ESP	Honda CBR1000RR	18 Laps
RET	L. Scassa	ITA	Kawasaki ZX 10R	18 Laps

Tagged under: America, Ben Spies, Miller Motorsports Park, MMp, Race 2, Racing, Salt Lake City, SBK, Utah, world superbike, World Superbike Championship, WSBK

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