Video: 2011 AFM Banquet Film – Death to Second Place

The oldest racing organization in the country dedicated soley to motorcycle road racing, the AFM is a Northern Californian non-profit racing organization that has helped hone the skills of riders like Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Kenny Roberts, and Steve Rapp — not mention a weekend warrior or two. Each year the racing league comes together for a banquet, and lately the tradition has been to include a highlight film of the year’s racing. I’m not sure what films in the past have been like, but if the latest AFM banquet video doesn’t give you goosebumps, you might want to check your pulse. Bonus points for the including the Versus “Second Place” monologue — it’s very apropos.

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.

Bimota HB4 Left off of the Moto2 Entry List – FB Corse Vaporware? Bimota to Go It Alone?

Thu, January 28th, 2010 @ 12:13 pm, by Jenny Gun1 COMMENT
Home » Rumors » Bimota HB4 Left off of the Moto2 Entry List – FB Corse Vaporware? Bimota to Go It Alone?

This article takes a doubly interesting turn of events. You may remember that a week ago we brought to you the unveiling of the Bimota HB4 Moto2 race bike. The HB4, the first time a Honda motor has been in a Bimota in 25 years, was to be campaigned by FB Corse in the first running of the 250GP replacement series, Moto2, but has mysteriously been left out of the Moto2 Provisional race list.

Equally unnerving was the postponement of the FB Corse MotoGP & Moto2 press launch, which was allegedly due to FB Corse boss, Andrea Ferrari, undergoing hand surgery. The timing of that postponement drew some skeptical attention since it was right in the middle of the Hoppergate saga, which saw American rider John Hopkins teetering back and forth between riding the FB Corse MotoGP machine or taking a seat in the AMA Pro Superbike series.

Now with Hopkins making his intent to ride in the AMA clear, the FB Corse MotoGP bike yet to be unveiled, and the Bimota HB4 absentee from the Provisional Moto2 racing list, there are rumors circulating in the American and Italian racing camps that this entire thing is a charade and done for publicity.

While it remains unclear what is going on with FB Corse, and what their actually racing intent is, the possibility of a Bimota factory backed team entering into Moto2 seems to be catching steam. After all, we do know the Bimota HB4 is a runner. More as we get it.

Provisional 2010 Moto2 Rider Entry List:

No.	Rider	Ntn	Team	Bike
2	GABOR TALMACSI	HUN	SPEED UP APRILIA	SPEED UP
4	STEFAN BRADL	GER	VIESSMANN KIEFER RACING	SUTER
5	JOAN OLIVE	SPA	JACK&JONES BY A.BANDERAS	PROMOHARRIS
6	ALEX DEBON	SPA	RED BULL AJO MOTORSPORT	FTR
7	AXEL PONS	SPA	PONS RACING	PONS KALEX
9	KENNY NOYES	USA	JACK&JONES BY A.BANDERAS	PROMOHARRIS
10	FONSI NIETO	SPA	G22 HOLIDAYGYM	MORIWAKI
12	THOMAS LUTHI	SWI	INTERWETTEN MORIWAKI RACING	MORIWAKI
14	RATTHAPARK WILAIROT	THA	HONDA-SAG	SUTER
15	ALEX DE ANGELIS	RSM	SCOT RACING TEAM	SCOT
16	JULES CLUZEL	FRA	FORWARD RACING	SUTER
17	KAREL ABRAHAM	CZE	CARDION AB MOTORACING	RSV
24	TONI ELIAS	SPA	GRESINI RACING MOTO2	MORIWAKI
25	ALEX BALDOLINI	ITA	CARETTA TECHNOLOGY RACE DEPT	I.C.P.
29	ANDREA IANNONE	ITA	SPEED UP APRILIA	SPEED UP
35	RAFFAELE DE ROSA	ITA	TECH 3 RACING	TECH 3
37	FABRICIO PERREN	ARG	KINO RACING	KINO
39	ROBERTINO PIETRI	VEN	ITALTRANS S.T.R.	SUTER
40	SERGIO GADEA	SPA	PONS RACING	PONS KALEX
41	ARNE TODE	GER	RACING TEAM GERMANY	SUTER
44	ROBERTO ROLFO	ITA	ITALTRANS S.T.R.	SUTER
45	SCOTT REDDING	GBR	MARC VDS RACING TEAM	SUTER
48	SHOYA TOMIZAWA	JAP	TECHNOMAG-CIP	SUTER
52	LUKAS PESEK	CZE	MATTEONI C.P. RACING	MORIWAKI
53	VALENTIN DEBISE	FRA	WTR SAN MARINO TEAM	ADV
55	HECTOR FAUBEL	SPA	HONDA-SAG	SUTER
56	VLADIMIR LEONOV	RUS	VECTOR KIEFER RACING	SUTER
59	NICOLA CANEPA	ITA	SCOT RACING TEAM	SCOT
60	JULIAN SIMON	SPA	MAPFRE ASPAR TEAM	RSV
61	VLADIMIR IVANOV	RUS	GRESINI RACING MOTO2	MORIWAKI
63	MIKE DI MEGLIO	FRA	MAPFRE ASPAR TEAM	RSV
71	CLAUDIO CORTI	ITA	FORWARD RACING	SUTER
72	YUKI TAKAHASHI	JAP	TECH 3 RACING	TECH 3
75	MATTIA PASINI	ITA	JIR MOTO2	TSR
76	BERNAT MARTINEZ	SPA	BLUSENS BQR	BQR-MOTO2
77	DOMINIQUE AEGERTER	SWI	TECHNOMAG-CIP	SUTER
88	YANNICK GUERRA	SPA	G22 HOLIDAYGYM	MORIWAKI
95	MASHEL AL NAIMI	QAT	BLUSENS BQR	BQR-MOTO2
TBA	TO BE ADVISED	TBA	JIR MOTO2	TSR
RESERVES
27	VINCENT LONBOIS	BEL	MARC VDS RACING TEAM	SUTER
TBA	ANTHONY WEST	AUS	MZ RACING TEAM	MZ

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Tagged under: Andrea Ferrari, Bimota, Bimota HB4, Fb Corse, Hopper, Hoppergate, John Hopkins, Moto2, MotoGP, rumor, Rumors, vaporware

Comment:

Asphalt_Rubber says:
January 28, 2010 at 8:13 PM
Bimota HB4 Left off of the Moto2 Entry List – FB Corse Vaporware? Bimota to Go It Alone? – http://bit.ly/ddCl8V #motorcycle