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Category: IOM TT - Manx Grand Prix
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The Honda TT Legends team has signed an agreement with Motul, Europe’s leading motorcycle lubricants company. Motul will support the team as it contests the World Endurance Championship, the Isle of Man TT and the Northwest 200 aboard the 20th anniversary Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade.
The team will use the lubricant specialist’s Motul 300V Racing Kit Oil, which has been specifically developed for the Fireblade in conjunction with Honda Racing Corporation and uses new Ester technology for maximum power output and engine performance.
Motul already has significant links with the endurance championship through its support of other leading teams and uses the demanding discipline for extensive research and product development. The company also acts as the official lubricant supplier for the Isle of Man TT and, having crowned over 50 world champion titles, is hoping to add a TT victory to its list of triumphs.
The Honda TT Legends rider line-up of John McGuinness, Cameron Donald, Gary Johnson and Simon Andrews will compete in EWC, while McGuinness and Andrews will form a two-man squad for the TT and the NW200.
Neil Tuxworth, Honda TT Legends team manager
We are really pleased to announce the agreement with Motul. The company has valuable expertise in EWC, so this is an ideal collaboration as the team enters its all-important second year of competition. As an official partner at the TT, Motul is also ideally placed to support the team on the Isle of Man. We are looking forward to seeing the results of the relationship.
Hervé Amelot, Motul managing director
We are delighted to reinforce our links with motorcycling through our support of Honda Motor Europe’s endurance and road racing programme. The Honda TT Legends team has assembled an excellent rider line-up for 2012 and, in light of our role as official lubricant supplier to the Isle of Man TT, what better line-up is there to be involved with than the fastest man around that course and the 2011 fastest newcomer?
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The re-introduction of the Lightweight TT into the 2012 Isle of Man TT Races, this time under the guise of Supertwin machines, has seen an excellent response with over 60 entries submitted as entries closed. As well as being high in quantity, the race is also set to be high in quality with six former TT race winners in the line-up.
KMR Kawasaki’s Ryan Farquhar is an early favourite for honours, given his track record and the fact he’s been a major flag bearer of the class. He will be bidding for TT win number three but can expect tough opposition from a number of riders, not least his new team-mate Michael Rutter. In another terrific coup for the race, the Midlands based Rutter, a double TT winner himself, will ride a Farquhar-prepared ER6 Kawasaki. This will be his only appearance in the Supertwin class in 2012, and he will certainly be a potential race winner.
Another early contender for the race win will be Northern Ireland favourite Michael Dunlop. Winner of the 2011 Royal London 360 Superstock Race, Michael Dunlop has announced he too will contest the new 3-lap race on an ER6 while brother William, who will be chasing his first TT podium, has also entered with an ER6.
Cameron Donald and Ian Lougher are two more TT winners who have confirmed their entry in the class on the Kawasaki machines, the Australian riding for the DP Coldplaning team and the veteran Welshman in the colours of Stewart Smith Racing.
Indeed, the Kawasaki is the most popular choice of machine with James Hillier riding another bike prepared by Farquhar although he will run it in his regular Bournemouth Pr1mo Kawasaki livery. Last year’s fastest newcomer, Simon Andrews, 3 times TT winner Adrian Archibald and Irish road race aces John Burrows and Davy Morgan can also be expected to feature on the leaderboard on their ER6 bikes.
Although Kawasaki’s dominate the entry, Suzuki will have a strong presence with their hopes resting with Dan Kneen and Ben Wylie. The young duo not only have a great chance of spoiling Kawasaki’s hopes, but also claiming their first TT podium in Friday’s 3-lap race.
Meanwhile, a number of leading privateers have, as hoped, embraced the new class with Ian Mackman, Ian Pattinson, Paul Shoesmith, Russ Mountford, Rob Barber, Stephen Thompson, Dean Harrison and the returning Olie Linsdell all entering. TT Rider Liaison Officer John Barton will also contest the race whilst newcomer Jamie Hamilton will be the third orange and black KMR Kawasaki lining up on Glencrutchery Road. Winner of the corresponding race at last year’s Manx Grand Prix, Dave Moffit, is also amongst the entry.
Paul Phillips, TT and Motorsport Development Manager, Isle of Man Government commented:
“We’re really pleased with the quality of the line-up, which is exactly what we’d hoped for when we announced the race. We’ve had great response from teams and riders and this race already looks like being one of the highlights of this year’s event.”
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Both Honda World Superbike Team riders, Jonathan Rea and Hiroshi Aoyama, took two top ten finishes in today's opening round of the 2012 World Superbike championship at Phillip Island in Australia.
With the race victories going to Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa, Rea took seventh and fourth places in the two 22-lap outings, while his team-mate Aoyama finished eighth and ninth.
Starting from the outside of the second row, 25-year-old Rea enjoyed good starts to both outings. In race one, however, a lack of rear grip had dropped him back to seventh at the flag, while in race two, he held second place for much of the race after a set-up change improved grip levels. However, with just two laps to go, he slipped behind Biaggi and then lost out to fellow Brit Tom Sykes on the final straight.
After problems in qualifying, World Superbike rookie Aoyama, started from 16th on the grid. Opting for the softer rear tyre in both races, the Japanese rider fought through to the top ten in race one, while a small set-up change allowed him to make it a double in his debut SBK outing.
Jonathan Rea – 7th and 4th
We’ve still got a bagful of points to go on to Imola with but we wanted to be on the podium in both races. I honestly feel like we got a bad tyre in race one and in race two we didn’t want to run in the same situation, so we were thinking about changing the tyre, but all our logic and race runs throughout the weekend told us to keep this [harder] tyre in the heat. Directly, I had more grip – OK, the temperature was even hotter, which would go against our logic – but the tyre felt like it should feel and I was able to ride strong and consistent until probably five laps to go when durability fell off and I was going backwards. I felt fresh and strong in both races and the guys have worked well all weekend. We had a little crash on Saturday and the boys worked so good with the one-bike rule to get us back out there. You have to think that this circuit is a bit unique with the tyre character, how long you’re on the side and the heat generated in the tyre. Now we move on to some tracks that are good for us and there’s a lot of work to do back at base. The guys need to find some speed, so that’s on the agenda; I’ve just done a de-brief and everything feels OK. I want to say thanks to everyone for all their help this weekend – it feels good to get to the start of the season fit and healthy and I’m looking forward to round two now.
Hiroshi Aoyama – 8th and 9th
I think it’s not so bad for my first Superbike weekend. We had a not-so-easy start on Friday when I had one crash and we had a lot of problems. That didn’t help us to go much faster and we tried many things but couldn’t improve. In the races we managed to finish in the top ten with eighth and ninth and I want to say thanks to all the guys who worked for me. It was a tough weekend but ended up not too bad. I’m looking forward to the next race in Imola – of course I’ve never ridden there, so it’s going to be tough for Friday. We have month to improve the bike a little bit and, if I can find a better feeling, I can push a little bit more and this is what I am looking for. Anyway, considering the situation now, it’s not so bad!
Riders' comments are available to view on video at the following link:
2012 World Superbike championship, round one
Phillip Island, Australia – 4.445km, 22 laps
Race 1 results:
1 Max Biaggi (ITA) Aprilia 34m13.963s
2 Marco Melandri (ITA) BMW +7.104s
3 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Ducati +7.378s
4 Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki +12.189s
5 Jakub Smrz (CZE) Ducati +16.424s
6 Michel Fabrizio (ITA) BMW +20.200s
7 Jonathan Rea (GBR) Honda World Superbike Team +20.223s
8 Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Honda World Superbike Team +24.108s
Race 2 results:
1 Carlos Checa (ESP) Ducati 34m26.728s
2 Max Biaggi (ITA) Aprilia +5.707s
3 Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki +12.521s
4 Jonathan Rea (GBR) Honda World Superbike +12.665s
5 Leon Haslam (GBR) BMW +18.179s
6 Marco Melandri (ITA) BMW +18.831s
9 Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Honda World Superbike Team +19.554s
Championship points after one of 14 rounds:
1 Biaggi 45, 2 Melandri 30, 3 Sykes 29, 4 Checa 25, 5 Rea 22, 6 Guintoli 16, 9 Aoyama 15
Next round: Imola, Italy – 30 March - 1 April
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Padgetts MMCG Racing, the Yorkshire based racing team that operates out of its Batley based showroom, has confirmed an exciting line up for the 2012 TT Races, fuelled by Monster Energy, that contains three race winners from last year's races.
Eight-time TT race winner Bruce Anstey, who won last year's Monster Energy Supersport Race 1, has again signed up for this year's meeting and will race for the team in the Monster Energy Supersport 1 and 2, Royal London 360 Superstock, Dainese Superbike and PokerStars Senior Races.
Bruce will be joined for the Supersport and Superstock races by last year's teammate John McGuinness, who, with seventeen race wins under his belt, added the Superbike and Senior races last year to his list of victories.
John also won the overall title last year, helped by runner up finishes in both the Superstock and second Supersport Races on Padgetts machinery.
The experienced pair have a new teammate this year in Gary Johnson, who achieved his maiden TT victory in last year's second Supersport Race. Gary will race the Superbike and Senior races for the Padgetts outfit.
The Padgetts MMCG Racing team has become a byword in consistency at the TT with 9 wins, including Ian Hutchinson's record breaking five in a week in 2010, in the last four years.
Since 2007, the team has taken a total of fourteen podiums with four fastest laps including two lap records in the Superstock class in 2009 and 2010. In total, the team has twenty-four top five finishes from the last thirty one races they've started in the same five year period. Between the 2008 and 2010 Senior Races they won eight out of the eleven races held.
Clive Padgett, team boss at Padgett's MMCG Racing, is clearly looking forward to the new season and said: "We've got a great team again this year and I know that all the lads enjoy racing for our team. Everyone gets on really well and feels part of the family when they climb onto our bikes. I'm delighted to welcome Gary on board and I'm sure we can help him, and John and Bruce, to add to their wins on the mountain course. Roll on June."
Paul Phillips, TT and Motorsport Manager, Isle of Man Government, commented:
"Padgetts has established themselves as the team to beat on the Isle of Man. There's a saying on the Isle of Man that to win the race you've got to finish it and Padgetts consistent performance has meant that they have had an unbeatable record over the last few years."
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Double TT winner Cameron Donald has confirmed that he'll be contesting the new Lightweight TT in June this year.
The Isle of Man TT will be the only event where Donald will race in the class and the 34-year old will ride a high-spec ER6 Kawasaki for Mick Charnock's DC Coldplaning team in the 3-lap Lightweight TT, which will take place on the final Friday of race week.
Charnock and Donald have a successful history together on the Isle of Man having joined forces back in 2005 when the Australian made his TT debut. He went on to take 11th and 16th in the two Supersport TT Races that year and picked up the coveted Newcomer's Trophy in the process.
Cameron has since gone on to become one of the TT's star performers, winning the 2008 Superbike and Superstock Races. He has also recorded a further four podium positions including the runner-up slot in last year's Dainese Superbike Race.
He is expected to be one of several previous TT winners making his debut in the new class with further announcements due on the line up once entries have closed at the end of February.
Paul Phillips, TT and Motorsport Manager, Isle of Man Government, commented:
"We've already had a great reaction to the Supertwin class and a number of the leading teams and riders have confirmed including a few surprises. It's going to be a very competitive race and represents something different for the fans this year."
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