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Category: Moto GP
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- ‘Bike Legends’ team to contest special Celebrity Race
- 500cc World Champions joined by Parrish and Costello
- World GP Bike Legends return for dramatic on track demo
- All tickets for the Classic must be purchased in advance
A quartet of two-wheel heroes will represent a Bike Legends team contesting the star-studded Celebrity Challenge Trophy showdown at this summer’s Silverstone Classic (28-30 July). The impressive Bike Legends squad features two 500cc World Champions – Freddie Spencer and Wayne Gardner – as well as multiple British champion Steve Parrish and renowned TT racer Maria Costello MBE. Spencer – aka ‘Fast Freddie’ – is one of bike racing’s true legends. The American was 500cc World Champion in both 1983 and 1985, notching up 27 GP wins from just 72 starts. Gardner’s success came later in the same decade; the Aussie ace capturing the coveted 500cc title in 1987 to become the first racer from Down Under to lift motorcycling’s premier class crown. Ten years earlier, Parrish finished fifth in the same 500cc World Championship when racing as team-mate to the great Barry Sheene. Since then, the Englishman has notched up multiple truck racing titles and become a familiar voice to television audiences around the globe. Costello also has a strong presence in the media but most of her awe-inspiring heroics have come on the Isle of Man. She was the first female solo rider to stand on podium in a race around the TT course and between 2004 and 2009 held the record as the fastest woman to lap the fearsome TT circuit. More recently, she stood on the Classic TT podium last year and is currently competing in sidecars at British Superbike level. Far from hanging up their helmets, all four have recently passed their ARDS test to secure a competition licence to race on four wheels and are now looking forward to their next motorsport adventure: racing in a pack of competition-prepared Austin A30 and A35 saloons at the Silverstone Classic. Harking back to the late fifties, these nostalgic cars are well-known in classic racing circles and were introduced a few years ago by the Historic Racing Drivers Club (HRDC) as a cost-effective route into historic racing. “It will be great fun as I could be finally racing a car that's older than me,” joked the notoriously gregarious Parrish. Having recently tested an A35, Costello grinned: “I’ve raced on both two and three wheels but I never imagined being on four wheels on track could put such a big smile on my face.” Both Spencer and Gardner have considerable car racing experience, notably Gardner who contested touring car championships in both his native Australia and Japan after retiring from bikes. “I’ve got ten years of car racing up my sleeve, so hopefully that will help,” said Gardner. “I went to last year’s Classic and was blown away by the number of people and all the incredible cars. Now it’s going to be very special to be part of the circuit racing show next month.” “Whether I’m riding or driving in anything I always enjoy it – this is going to be a lot of fun,” added Spencer. “I can’t wait to get out there!” Boasting such an experienced line-up, the Bike Legends team must start the Celebrity Challenge Trophy race as one of the favourites to contest the title but, although the majority of their famous rivals are racing rookies, their fiercely competitive nature is likely to prove a force to be reckoned with. While out to enjoy themselves, they will be out to win, too. Besides, there is prize money at stake! The victorious team will raise £10,000 for Prostate Cancer UK, the event’s official charity partner. As well as gunning for glory among the jostling A35s, all four bike stars will also be performing on two wheels as part of Saturday’s dramatic World GP Bike Legends demonstration display. They will be back aboard some classic machines from motorbike racing’s golden two-stroke era as well as an exciting new generation of sports bikes supplied by Yamaha. “The addition of bike legends was a big hit at the Silverstone Classic last year and we’ll be back with an even bigger and better show in July,” vowed an excited Gardner. Appropriately, the dedicated World GP Bike Legends showcase will be based adjacent to the Ace Café in the National Paddock. Fans wishing to see all these heroes in track action, whether it be on two or four wheels, must purchase tickets in advance. Adult admission starts at £43 and weekend camping and hospitality upgrades are available. All tickets provide access to racing paddocks, trackside grandstand seating, live music concerts on both Friday and Saturday evenings featuring the Bootleg Beatles and Tony Hadley formerly of Spandau Ballet, vintage funfair rides, air shows and car club displays as well as a host of other family-friendly demonstrations, activities and entertainment. www.worldgpbikelegends.com
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THE APRILIA RS-GP CONFIRMS GREAT POTENTIAL IN HOLLAND
ALEIX ESPARGARÓ IS BACK IN THE TOP TEN IN A RACE RUINED BY THE RAIN. CRASH FOR SAM LOWES
ALBESIANO: “WE HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO STAY IN THE TOP FIVE”
Aleix Espargaró is back in the points, finishing tenth in the Assen GP. This is certainly a positive result that ends Aleix's streak of zero point finishes, but the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Spaniard's race should have ended with a much different result.
Just after the mid-race point, the Espargaró-Aprilia package demonstrated its full potential. After a cautious start without forcing his pace too much, Aleix moved up from fifteenth to seventh, joining Crutchlow's group. An even more significant statistic is that during that part of the race (16th and 17th laps) he had lapped with the second best time and his gap behind the leader was less than seven seconds. In short, all the conditions were right for an excellent race finale, on the hunt for a top-five finish. Instead, raindrops began to fall and the altered grip conditions (Aleix had the hard tyre on the rear) ruined his pace completely. Aleix dropped back position by position to the end, in any case managing to defend a top-ten finish.
Notwithstanding, the Aprilia RS-GP confirmed once again in this race that a top-five finish is definitely within reach of a project which has made clear progress in terms of performance over recent months.
Sam Lowes, who had started from the fourth row for the first time thanks to outstanding qualifiers, crashed out in the ninth lap while lying fifteenth. There were no consequences for him and he can take comfort in a weekend where he demonstrated the biggest improvement of his rookie year in MotoGP.
ALEIX ESPARGARO'
"I cannot be entirely satisfied because our goal is still to be closer to the leaders. The race had started well. I managed the first part, successfully overtaking a lot of riders and maintaining a good pace. A few laps before the rain I had begun to visibly recover ground. The RS-GP was really working well and I was closing the gap quickly. Unfortunately, I did not have a good feeling on the damp track and I was unable to push. Today we demonstrated once again that we can be very competitive, but the weather got in the way."
SAM LOWES
"It was a difficult race for everyone. We had ridden on the dry track only on Friday and the track changed completely. I was in a good group. When Lorenzo overtook me I felt like I could stay with him and set my sights on a good position. I battled a bit with Baz. I was faster than him in some situations, but we overtook one another on practically every lap. I crashed as I was opening up the throttle. Maybe I was a bit too close to the white line, but this weekend I definitely took a step forward. I am pleased that there will be a race in a few days because we are on a positive trend."
ROMANO ALBESIANO - APRILIA RACING MANAGER
"Once again we expressed potential that is clearly worthy of the top-five which did not bear the deserved fruits due to a contingent situation. As long as the race proceeded in normal, dry track conditions, performance was very high. When it began to rain after the mid-race point, Aleix was just over six seconds from the leader. He had caught up to the group ahead of him without pushing too hard and he had a better pace than they did. Realistically, he could have aimed for the top-five. The level that Aprilia has achieved is a clear fact by now. We will keep going strong because if our potential is at these levels, we will soon be reaping the results.”
FAUSTO GRESINI - TEAM MANAGER
"With the dry track we rode a fantastic race. Aleix maintained a spectacular pace. He moved up through the ranks easily and was lapping with the same pace as the leaders. Those raindrops ruined the final result, but there are many reasons to be confident and even pleased to have finished the race in the top-ten anyway. These are points that boost morale after our recent DNFs. We draw confidence from the knowledge that we are close to the leaders in terms of performance and that is what we are taking away from this race.”
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- Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne scores two podium finishes
- Shakey moves into a Showdown position
- Glenn Irwin injured following a crash on Friday
Two podium finishes at Knockhill from Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne brought some good news for his Be Wiser Ducati team after they suffered a bad start to the weekend when Glenn Irwin crashed out of the first Friday session at the Arnold Clarke chicane.
Irwin, who won the North West 200 in his last race on board his Ducati Panigale R, suffered a ‘suspected dislocated shoulder and elbow' and has returned home for rest and further treatment.
Race 1
Starting from the front of the second row, Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne’s race could have easily been all over at the first corner. Jason O’Halloran (Honda Racing) ran in too hot at Duffus Dip with Shakey having to avoid clipping the Honda rider’s rear wheel, subsequently moving the Be Wiser Ducati Team rider several positions down in to 7th place.
By half race distance Shakey was up into 4th and starting to pressure O’Halloran for 3rd, eventually making a move in the inside into Taylor’s Hairpin and finishing behind Jake Dixon (RAF Regular and Reserves Kawasaki) and Luke Mossey (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) for a valuable podium position.
John ‘Hopper’ Hopkins (Moto Rapido Ducati) had started towards the rear of the grid in 18th after suffering technical issues during qualifying. But the American made several passes on the opening laps as he cut his way through the field and was running up in 9th by half race distance. Bradley Ray (Buildbase Suzuki) then crashed out while making a pass on Sylvain Guintoli (Bennetts Suzuki) meant an impressive 7th place finish.
Race 2
Shakey got a clean getaway as the lights went out for the second race of the day at Knockhill, holding on to his 5th place grid position. A couple of laps later he had got the better of Dan Linfoot (Honda Racing) into Taylor’s Hairpin for 4th. By 1/3 race distance the Be Wiser Ducati Team rider had passed Mossey and was now in 3rd, a position he held for almost half the race.
On Lap 23 of 30, Dixon took 3rd from Shakey on his charge to his second win of the day. But Shakey was not to be outdone and capitalised on the penultimate lap when Mossey went wide at Taylor’s Hairpin, taking 3rd from him again and claiming his second podium finish of the day.
Hopper had a much-improved grid position for Race 2, starting mid-pack in 11th. Sadly, the Moto Rapido Ducati rider suffered a lack of rear grip throughout his race - halting any progress and denying him an improvement on his earlier 7th place finish. Hopper passed the chequered flag in 17th.
Shakey now stands 3rd in the British Superbike Championship with 90 points, while his Be Wiser Ducati teammate Glenn Irwin (absent following his Friday crash) moves out of the Top 6 down to 9th with 63 points. Hopper is currently 14th with 31 points.
Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati #67) – 3rd “It’s been a very difficult weekend. Incredibly difficult. It was only until morning Warm Up today that I got to within 1 tenth to the time I did here last year. So, in some ways I guess you could say we’ve taken a step backwards which is really frustrating because I know how much effort the guys have put in and how hard I’ve tried this weekend.
We’ve just not been there this weekend. We’ve been thereabouts in lap times and we’ve been top of the time sheets but from a feeling point of view it just hasn’t been right. We’ve searched and searched and searched. We’ve probably made more changes this weekend then we do in 3 or 4 normal race weekends put together. We’ve had new forks in, we’ve had different pivot positions, we’ve had different offsets in it, we’ve had different springs in it. We’ve done literally everything and combinations of all of those as well. There’s no lack of effort from the boys and certainly no lack of effort from me. I feel like I’ve done two 24 hour races back to back. I never get tired riding this bike and I train really hard to make sure I’m always fit and always strong and I’ve trained especially hard just lately.
We’ve certainly got work to do, the other bikes appear to be a little more agile at these tight and twisty tracks than ours is. That said, going forward, we’ve got ourselves into the Showdown now, we got some podium credits, we’ve come away with two podiums on a bad day and we got a good run of tracks coming up for us and we can look forward to them and try and get ourselves back on the top step again.”
John ‘Hopper’ Hopkins (Moto Rapido Ducati #21) – 17th “I did the best I could in Race 1, we ended up finishing 7th and from where we started I was pretty happy with that. Knowing our pace and what we could achieve here and the level of the bike and so forth I really felt like we could get a podium here.
Race 2, I got off the line horribly, did a little bit of a stutter and then we ended up having some rear grip issue. I literally had no rear grip from the beginning of the race. I was skating into corners, sliding up every corner. And that combined with my hand – my breaking and throttle hand – on a circuit like this I literally could not hang on anymore. I stayed out in the chance that people would unfortunately DNF so we could salvage some points… I was hoping to get our season underway properly here, we’re going to have to roll that onto the next round and do well there. I’m still really confident we can make the showdown.”
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ESPARGARÓ AND LOWES CONFIDENT THAT THEY CAN DEMONSTRATE THE PROGRESS SHOWN IN THE FIRST RACES
The first Italian MotoGP round is an event not to be missed for Italian fans. Aprilia, playing on their home turf, intends to confirm the positive trend shown in the first part of the season with a good result. An important result seems to be within a shout, given the clear progress that the RS-GP machines demonstrated in the first races compared with last year, the Italian V4's début year in the premier category. The sixth place finish in Qatar, the ninth place in Jerez, but especially the race pace shown on several occasions are an excellent start for the Tuscan race.
Aleix Espargaró will take on Mugello with renewed ambitions after just missing a great result in the last race at Le Mans. Prepared by two days of testing in Barcelona, the Italian GP is the perfect chance for the Spanish rider to make it to the positions that count.
For Sam Lowes, the Italian weekend began earlier than usual, with a spectacular procession astride his RS-GP along the charming streets of the historic centre in Florence. The event this morning was certainly a unique change to hear the sound of the Aprilia V4 off the track, even rumbling through the streets and by the monuments that have written the pages of our civilization. The Aprilia Racing Team Gresini rookie, after taking his first championship points in France, has set his sights on a top 10 position in the standings. This is a difficult challenge, but he is encouraged by the excellent job he had done so far together with the team, as well as by his positive sensations in recent rounds.
ALEIX ESPARGARO'
"After the recent tests in Barcelona, I am even more motivated here at Mugello. It is definitely a very special race for us. Aprilia is playing on home turf and I really want to get back to earning important points. We have shown that we are at a good level, especially in the race. Now we need to confirm the hard work we have done on the track in this first part of the season."
SAM LOWES
"I can't wait to race at Mugello. I have had a lot of good results on this track and I have always managed to be fast. The feelings are positive. I feel like the team and I are working in the right direction and we are ready for another step forward. Especially in Aprilia's home round."
ROMANO ALBESIANO - APRILIA RACING MANAGER
“Mugello is our home race and it is a circuit that both of our riders really like. The recent tests have helped us to further understand the way the bike works with different settings, both electronics and chassis architecture. Compared with last year, we have taken huge steps forward in terms of handling and this is progress that should let us be more competitive this weekend. I hope to be able to celebrate a good result on Sunday and maybe have a pinch more luck than in recent races.”
FAUSTO GRESINI - TEAM MANAGER
"Mugello is our first home race and Italian teams are always quite motivated here. There are high expectations to do well and we really want to bring home a good result. We are working well and we have already demonstrated that we have the potential to aim for important goals. Aleix is positive and full of energy. Same is improving his approach race after race and the team is working to give them full support. Now all that's left is to wait for the response on the track."
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Please find below an obituary for Nicky Hayden issued by the Hayden family.
Nicholas “Nicky” Hayden passed away on Monday, May 22, 2017, at the age of 35, following a May 17 bicycle accident in Italy.
Born into a large extended Catholic family in Owensboro, Kentucky, Nicky was the middle child of Earl and Rose Hayden, with two brothers and two sisters. The entire family loved motorcycles, and shortly after he could walk, Nicky declared that his dream was to be a world champion. Although life on a farm meant that animals - horses, pot-belly pigs, even llamas - were a part of every day, for Nicky they were just novelties and while he was a natural athlete, childhood sports leagues were little more than a lark. Racing - for the whole family, but especially for Nicky - was everything. Apart from an annual spring-break jaunt to Panama City, Florida, family trips were to racetracks, first around the Midwest, then the Eastern U.S., and eventually the entire country.
That said, there was never any doubt about where home was. Even after he began traveling the globe to race in exotic locales, Nicky would always return to his beloved “OWB.” He received his education through local Catholic schools - Precious Blood Elementary School, Owensboro Catholic Middle School and Owensboro Catholic High School - and his first jobs comprised helping out at his uncles’ nearby farms, where he began developing the tenacious work ethic for which he would be known throughout his racing career. He remained close with his core group of childhood friends throughout his life, and he helped many young local racers to pursue their own dreams.
For Nicky, a distinguished amateur dirt track and road racing career transitioned into a successful stint in the AMA Grand National Championship and AMA Superbike series, in which he earned the 1999 AMA Supersport and 2002 AMA Superbike crowns with American Honda. He was promoted to the FIM MotoGP series with Repsol Honda, for whom he achieved his dream of earning the World Championship in 2006. Nicky also rode for Ducati and Aspar Racing in MotoGP, and last year he transitioned to the FIM Superbike World Championship with the Ten Kate squad. Along the way, his charisma earned him legions of fans the world over, while his dedication and professionalism earned the respect and admiration of his teams, teammates and competitors.
Among those who knew him best, Nicky was cherished for his generosity, kindness, and mischievous sense of humour. His famous grin was never far from his lips and he invariably had time to engage with others, even strangers. The life of any party, Nicky loved to dance, wear funny costumes, and pull pranks, often with a microphone in hand.
Throughout it all, family was Nicky’s anchor. Many Americans who race internationally opt to relocate overseas, but Nicky always preferred to return home between events. Well into his professional career, he resided in an apartment above his parents’ garage, and even after purchasing his own home nearby, he religiously showed up for his mother’s 6 o’clock dinners when he wasn’t traveling. Several years ago, he purchased and refurbished an old building on an Owensboro lake, and what he dubbed Victory Lane Lodge became the family’s preferred location for functions of all types, from Sunday get-togethers to weddings. He loved children and was a model uncle, and friends and family say he was never happier than after meeting girlfriend Jackie, with whom he became engaged last year.
Nicky is survived by his parents Earl and Rose; his siblings Tommy, Jennifer, Roger, and Kathleen; his fiancée Jacqueline Marin; nieces Olivia, Klaudia, Vera, Kyla Jo, and Kate; nephew Colt; and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.
Visitation will be from 2 to 8 p.m. CT Sunday at Haley-McGinnis Funeral Home in Owensboro. Funeral services will be at noon Monday at St. Stephen Cathedral Church, and will be streamed live on Nicky’s facebook fan page. Donations may be made to the Nicky Hayden Memorial Fund, which helps local children in the community Nicky loved so much.
www.nickyhayden.com
www.facebook.com/NickyHaydenUSA/
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