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Mercedes-Benz and Ducati continue to circle each other, as the two iconic brands hammer out the details of how an Italian motorcycle company would fit inside a German automobile manufacturer. While the bean-counters and pencil-pushers get that shotgun marriage’s pre-nup arranged, we get to see interesting co-branding “partnerships” like this: the Ducati Diavel AMG Special Edition. While we’ve seen plenty of AMG-tuned cars in Ducati adverts, events, and press materials, this is the first time the sacred three-letter name has graced the haul of one of Bologna’s steads.

Carlos Checa (1:54.144) won pole during Saturday’s Superpole sessions after leading every session but one through the 2011 Nurburgring round of the World Superbike championship. He would have been joined on the front row by Eugene Laverty, Max Biaggi, and Marco Melandri, but Biaggi’s injuries from a stone hitting his foot during practice kept the Italian from participating in either Race 1 earlier in the day or Race 2. With Biaggi missing the chance for the fifty points possible for a double race win, Checa’s lead over him in the championship could easily grow over the three remaining race weekends.

Throughout the weekend, only Checa and Biaggi led the practice and qualifying sessions. The Italian held provisional pole after the first qualifying practice on Friday, but no one else could catch Checa in Germany. Biaggi’s did qualify with his injured foot, but the nerve and tendon damage, along with a broken bone and the resultant swelling and cast kept him out of the action on Sunday. The order had a shake-up in the final warm-up, with Haslam leading Guintoli, Corser, Sykes, and Berger as the fastest five while Checa was only thirteenth fastest.

Carlos Checa (1:54.144) started on pole after dominating both the Superpole and practices for the 2011 World Superbike round at Nurburgring. No other rider could catch him but Max Biaggi, who led the Friday qualifying practice. However, he sustained injuries to his foot including a possible broken bone and nerve damage, leaving the Italian rider in pain and with a foot too swollen to fit in his normal boot. Still, Biaggi qualified on the front row between Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri, alongside Checa. He did not start Race 1, leaving Checa some measure of comfort in the championship fight.

Other than Biaggi’s foot injuries, no other rider had a major incident during the practice and qualifying sessions. Michel Fabrizio had a crash in Superpole 1, but continued on to qualify twelfth. Nurburgring marked the return of Jonathan Rea to Castrol Honda, though teammate Ruben Xaus was still out and replaced by Makoto Tamada. Perennially injured Chris Vermeulen, despite his protestations that he is fit and ready to sign for 2012, did not participate and was not replaced by Paul Bird Motorsports Kawasaki for this round. In the Sunday morning warm-up, Haslam led Guintoli, Corser, Sykes, and Berger as the fastest five. Checa was thirteenth fastest and Biaggi, who would not race, did not participate.

Carlos Checa (1:54.144) again stormed to pole, commanding each Superpole qualifying session for the 2011 World Superbike round at the Nurburgring and setting a new track fast lap. He will be joined on the front row by Eugene Laverty, the injured Max Biaggi, and Marco Melandri. Though the day was occasionally overcast, the track conditions were hot, as Checa refused to reliquish control of the weekend, having led every session but one. There were no major incidents in Superpole, though Michel Fabrizio did crash on his first lap in S1. He was uninjured and qualified twelfth.

Action was hot as the summer break wrapped up at the German circuit, with championship leader Checa (1:57.296) taking command in the first, wet, practice session. Lascorz, Smrz, Fabrizio, and Camier completed the fastest five, all within a second of Checa’s time. In the completely dry afternoon, though, Biaggi (1:55.524) led Checa, with the top thirteen covered by just a second. Melandri, Fabrizio, and Laverty completed the top five, despite Laverty’s brush with the wall during the session. Rea was back in at Castrol Honda, managing seventh fastest in the afternoon qualifying practice. Teammate Ruben Xaus has not yet returned to fitness and was replaced at Nurburgring by Makoto Tamada. Chris Vermeulen did not participate and was not replaced at Paul Bird Kawasaki.

News out of Germany this weekend is that 15 of the 17 riders racing in the MotoGP Championship have threatened to boycott the Japanese GP at Motegi later this year because of safety concerns. Lead by Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo, who publicly announced Saturday at the post-qualifying debriefing that they would not race in Japan, the riders are worried about radiation from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, despite Motegi officials (essentially HRC) declaring the Twin Rings circuit safe. The planned boycott also comes ahead of an independent study being conducted on behalf of MotoGP, which is supposed to be an objective assessment of the track’s safety for host MotoGP (the results of the study are due to go public on July 31st).

Development of the Horex VR6 street bike continues at the German company, with this latest teaser video hitting YouTube (we suspect it will put a sizable dent in the Royal Wedding viewership, at least it did for us). Using a time-lapse video technique, we see the Horex engineers assembling one of their Horex VR6 prototype motorcycles in just 46 seconds (less if you don’t want to count the end branding).

As the name implies, Horex is using a 1218cc VR6 motor, which offsets and staggers the six cylinders with a 15º “V” arrangement that allows for a more compact design across the bike’s width. Supercharged, the Horex VR6 will make nearly 200hp, while weighing 526 lbs, which should excite many road-going two-wheel fans. Check the video out after the jump.

While here in The United States of America the buzz is all about the new Motus MST sport-tourer and the Erik Buell Racing 1190RS sportbike, in Germany the talk of the town is the new Horex VR6 street bike, which began its road testing today. Horex released a photo of the supercharged 200+hp 1,200cc machine testing on a closed circuit, with Hennes Fischer, the man in charge of the VR6’s development, stating that “in this phase of the test series we mainly wanted to determine whether the current suspension configuration, basic geometry and engine tuning are correctly matched. It’s a big step from computer calculations and engine tuning on the dynamometer to a perfectly functioning bike.”

No, we’re not encouraging you to step away from any planned New Years Eve wedding proposals, but the Nürburgring Nordschleife does apparently need your help. Known throughout the motorsports community simply as the ‘Ring, the Nürburgring Nordschleife track plays host not only to car and motorcycle enthusiasts, but also serves as a formidable test track used by many OEMs when developing new vehicles (recently the track has also been a place for manufacturers to lay bragging rights for quickest lap times in sports cars).

It seems however that the ‘Ring, despite its popularity with track enthusiasts, is not the profitable endeavour that the German government thought it would be. Four years ago plans began to be implemented that would see other attractions added to the Nürburgring venue, which have reportedly done nothing to help boost the profitability of the track, and now in May of this year the ‘Ring was turned over to the same pair of businessmen responsible for that transformation, with the goal of boosting the track’s revenue, and that’s where the controversy starts.

If you ever wanted to know what a 1200cc VR6 motor sounds like on a dyno, well today’s your lucky day my friend. German restart Horex Motorcycles has put its 15° six-cylinder motor through its paces recently, and had the foresight to record the event on video. With a motor no wider than an inline-four, listen while the Horex VR6 concept idles and revs with German efficiency. And oh that whistle sound, yeah we forgot to mention this is the supercharged 200hp variant. Happy Friday.

What do you do when you are the only race team outside of the United States racing a Buell…and winning…a lot? Well you build a street bike concept of course. Based off the Erik Buell Racing 1190RR race bike, the folks at the German Pegasus Race Team have taken the 1190RR race platform and made the EBR 1190 Typhon streetfighter concept. Drawing inspiration from the lines of the Buell XB, some parts from the soon-to-be-released EBR 1190RS superbike, and the blessing of Erik Buell himself, the folks at Pegasus have put together one stunning 185hp bike.

With the idea that the EBR 1190 Typhon concept could pave the way to an EBR-made model down the road, Pegasus drew heavily from the Erik Buell Racing 1190RR’s design, as well as the general Buell ethos. “Our idea was with our years of experience in Buell racing to concept the ultimate Streetfighter with outstanding performance and a unique design,” said Team Manager Jens Krüper. “To combinate a cool minimized look with real good aerodynamics is a real challenge, especially if something is so powerful as that EBR Superbike,” said Heiko Jessat of Gruner Engineering, the company that technically assisted PRT with the design for the Typhon.

The 2011 BMW G650GS is a quasi-new model from the Bavarian factory, as the bike is built around the same F650GS platform we’re all familiar with, but adds a new headlight and bodywork package to the mix. Taking over from the old G650Gs which was built in China, the 2011 BMW G650GS is built in Germany at BMW’s central motorcycle plant, and is another model being shown ahead of EICMA by BMW, along with the 2011 BMW R1200R & 2011 BMW R1200R Classic.

With a 652cc DOHC liquid-cooled single-cylinder motor that puts out 48hp (and optional 34hp package is also available to comply with Spanish, and soon EU law), and 44 lbs•ft of torque. Tourers won’t be happy with BMW’s 14L (3.7 gallons) fuel tank for the G650GS, down from the previous 17.3L tank. That range trade-off has been made to help make the BMW G650GS more agile though, as the smaller tank helps get the 2011 BMW G650GS down to its 423 lbs wet weight, with a full tank of gas. A bounty of photos awaits you after the jump.