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2012 Ducati Superquadrata Superbike Testing at Mugello

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According to the venerable GPone, Ducati will be doing a double dose of testing today at the Italian circuit of Mugello. Perhaps the only thing that can excite Ducatista more than Valentino Rossi on-board the Ducati Desmosedici GP12 (something that will be taking place today as well) is news that the 2012 Ducati “Superquadrata” Superbike will be making its track debut at the Italian circuit.

Reportedly Italian Danilo Petrucci, who currently campaigns a Ducati 1098R in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup for the Barni Racing team, will be at the helm of the new 2012 Ducati Superbike, testing the machine in both Superbike and Superstock trim, and in the bike’s first trials outside of the Borgo Panigale dyno room.

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Bikes

Radical Ducati RAD 02 Corsa EVO

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Our affection for the work by Radical Ducati is getting to the point where we need seek professional help. Not only are we becoming a broken record for our praise of the Spanish firm’s work, but our love affair for their motorcycles is completely one-sided. They don’t return our calls, nor our late night texts. We suspect they’re talking to other weblogs, and we can’t stand the thought of them going around town with a print magazine. Like all schoolyard crushes, this is sure to end in tears, but until then we’ll continue our hardcore crush on their take of Italian motorcycle design.

For our latest infatuation, we show you the Radical Ducati RAD 02 Corsa EVO (2011). We’ve been pretty pumped over this build since we heard about it a couple weeks ago, and now that it’s blown it’s cover, well…we’re revamping our Christmas list. While we appreciate all forms of motorcycles, we’re sportbike folk at heart here at Asphalt & Rubber, so a Radicalized sportbike tickles the pink out of us in ways that café racers cannot. We think you’ll agree when you check out all the photos after the jump.

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Banter

Video: Toni Bou Rides Trials in the FC Barcelona Stadium

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Camp Nou is the the Futbol Club Barcelona’s stadium of residence, and has been the destination for more than one rowdy Spanish soccer fan in its lifetime. An iconic figure in the Catalan community, FC Barcelona is also probably one of the most well-known soccer teams worldwide (though anglophones are more familiar with Manchester United), but that doesn’t mean the club can’t do a little marketing now and then.

Showing his support for the Catalan team, Trials World Champion Toni Bou does what does best in this video, and rides his trial bike through, on, and over the Camp Nou grounds. Popping a wheelie while going up the stadium steps, and doing a stoppie all the way back down are just some of the Spaniard’s claims of fame, and probably would go on the list of things our healthcare provider wouldn’t cover. It’s pretty impressive stuff, and  merges two of the biggest sports in Spain into one video. Check it out after the jump.

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Racing

AMA: Minimum Weights Changed to Rein in Fast Ducati(s)

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AMA Pro Racing has  announced a change in  the minimum weight requirements for both the Daytona SportBike and SuperSport classes, biasing the weights to be more of a disadvantage for two-cylinder machines, i.e. Ducati 848 Superbikes. Decreasing both the four and three-cylinder minimum weights by 5 lbs (to 355 lbs & 365 lbs respectively), two-cylinder machines conversely get a 5 lbs increase (to 385 lbs), thus making the spread from four to two cylinders now a total of 30 lbs (it was a 20 lbs difference before this rule change).

The move is presumably to reel in the Ducati 848 race bikes that shocked the paddock with their speed early-on in the season at the Dunlop Test, though in terms of race results, the change in rules seems to be due more because of the domination by Jason DiSalvo, than anything else. The Team Latus Motors Racing racer has won every race thus far this season, with a close finish at the Daytona 200, and a blow-out double at Infineon Raceway.

Confounding though, Ducati’s results in the SuperSport class have been less impressive, with the 8th and 13th being the finishes for the Italian brand at Infineon.

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Racing

WSBK: Vermeulen Preemptively Out for Miller Round

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Despite his perennially upbeat demeanor on Twitter, Chris Vermeulen’s recovery continues to progress slowly. The factory Kawasaki rider, who has yet to complete a race in the 2011 World Superbike season, will remain in Europe while teammates Joan Lascorz and Tom Sykes travel to this weekend’s race at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah.Vermeulen has been attending recent races in Europe and participating in practice and qualifying sessions, but an off at Monza tore a hole in his elbow and added to the Australian’s injuries.

Vermeulen will test for the team at Motorland Aragon early next month, with a plan to return to racing at Misano for the June 12th weekend. “It is disappointing to not race in America but my injuries are still healing. The good thing is they are improving,” said Vermeulen.

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Bikes

Spy Shot: Honda CBF Spotted – 700cc Naked Middleweight

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Spy photographers Brenda Priddy & Company have snapped some more shots of soon-to-be Honda motorcycles, with perhaps the best find being a new CBF model (click here for photos on Motorcycle-USA) that appears to be an automatic unit, possibly a dual-clutch transmission equipped model.

The naked street bike slots in with the middleweight offerings that we’ve recently seen from a bevy of manufacturers, the most notable of which being the Yamaha Fazer8. Not much is known about the new Honda model, as the Japanese company is notoriously well known for keeping its projects under wraps, though we can likely expect a debut of the new CBF later this autumn.

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News

Trailer: Quick

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We can’t tell if South Korean film Quick is going to be amazing, or horrible, or horribly amazing, but the trailer certainly has us intrigued. Launching under the title Fast in the United States (yes, we too have no clue why the title needed changing for the American market), Quick is about…well, we have no clue…but it looks like there’s a motorcycle in it, so that’s a start.

Our guess is that our protagonist is named Fast, and he does things really fast-like on his fast motorcycle, which is named Quick. Uggh..this article is going downhill rapidly (see what I did there). Just watch the trailer after the jump, and leave your best guesses as to the plot structure in the comments section.

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Bikes

Spy Shots: Honda Crosstourer Caught Testing

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The Honda Crosstourer is getting closer to production, as the Japanese adventure bike was caught testing by the eagle-eyed lens of Brenda Priddy & Company. Sans some panniers, and with a cover over the bike’s crash bars/fairings, it looks like the Honda Crosstourer has remained largely unchanged from its 2010 EICMA debut.

Based around the same V4 motor that can be found in the Honda VFR1200F, the Crosstourer looks to be fairly off-road capable, and will compete against bikes like the BMW R1200GS and Yamaha Super Ténéré. It’ll be interesting to see how the dual-clutch transmission on the Crosstourer fares in off-road duty.

You can check out the spy shots of the Honda Crosstourer over on Edmunds Inside Line.

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Racing

What Does a Record TTXGP Lap at Infineon Look Like?

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The 2011 TTXGP season-opener at Infineon Raceway got off to a less than enthralling start, with only four bikes showing up for racing on Saturday, and three bikes remaining for Sunday’s race. Nevertheless, the event was the first time we’ve gotten to see the Brammo Empulse RR in its race livery, and taking some laps in public. Though the racing wasn’t close, the shining star during the weekend was Steve Atlas taking the Brammo Empulse RR on an outright lap record for electrics at the Sonoma, California based track.

With a time of 1:55.15, Brammo is the team to beat currently, and there’s hope that Lightning, Mission Motors, and MotoCzysz will give the Oregonian company a run for its money later on in the season. Until those teams unveil their bikes in a race, Brammo retains the bragging rights to being the fastest on the track. Check out Brammo’s record run after the jump.

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Bikes

Trakrok Concept by Alexei Mikhailov

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Well maybe it’s not strictly a motorcycle, but Alexei Mikhailov’s Trakrok concept certainly look like a lot of fun. Part quad, part snowmobile, part dirt bike, we imagine the Trakrok would be able to get us into all sorts of trouble on some of the more impassable terrain available. Featuring futuristic off-road tires up front, the real thing that catches our eye with the Trakrok is the rubber snowmobile-like independent track that replaces the rear tires.

Complimenting the angular modern design, is the idea that the Trakrok would be powered by a hydrogen power cell. A bit out there on the practical meter, we do like the design elements that Mikhailov is using here, and the Trakrok looks like something straight out of the KTM playbook (or would that be the Kiska playbook?). Angel eye headlights set-off the front, while trellis framing abounds on the frame and track supports. It might be a bit hard to find tires for the thing though. More photos after the jump.

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Racing

Dorna 90% Sure Japanese GP is a Go – Riders Disagree

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Depending on whom you talk to in the MotoGP paddock, you might get a different impression on the state of the Japanese GP, set to be held at the Motegi Twin Rings circuit this coming October. As we are all aware, the tragic events sustained by the Japanese people after their country was hit by earthquake, tsunami, and then nuclear disaster have been on the minds of citizens around the world.

While Japan begins the process of rebuilding, the country still has to contend with the Fukushima plant, which continues to leak radiation. While MotoGP won’t make an official announcement about its plans to race in Japan until later this summer, the camps are clearly divided on whether the series should abstain (for a second year in a row) on visiting the island nation, or make the flyaway race to Motegi.

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