Category: Moto GP

1. Bennetts-Backed Joe Francis Wins British Moto3 Title

   Posted on 7:49am Tuesday 8th Oct 2013

   Commitment to supporting grassroots racing remains key for leading bike insurance specialist

   Fifteen-year-old Chester racer Joe Francis continued his path towards motorcycle stardom by winning the Moto3 class of the British Motostar championship at Silverstone yesterday.

   Bennetts first backed Joe in 2011, providing financial backing to help the then 13-year-old complete his season in the Aprilia Challenge championship, a series which has helped launch the career of numerous world champions including Cal Crutchlow, Chaz Davies and two-time MotoGP champ Casey Stoner. After going on to take the title in thrilling style, Bennetts continued to back the prodigious talent as he entered the British championships as part of its policy of supporting young riders.

   This season saw Francis join forces with the professional Team WD-40, racing a Honda NSF250R Moto3 machine in the British championship. Starting with a second place in his first race at Brands Hatch, the youngster scored a podium finish at every round until Sunday’s Silverstone event, where he rode with maturity to take the fifth place required to secure the title.

   Joe Francis said: “It’s a fantastic feeling to win the British championship. We had a few problems in qualifying but I knew what I had to do going into the race and I was able to get the fifth place that I needed to win the championship with a race to spare.

   “Bennetts have supported me since 2011 and have proved a great sponsor, not only in terms of helping me raise the finances required to go racing but also in raising my profile and putting me in touch with professionals who can help me progress my career. In the past year I have worked alongside Scott Redding and James Toseland, Bennetts’ other ambassador riders, and been interviewed by national TV, radio and newspapers.

   “Being a Bennetts ambassador is a fantastic experience for a young rider and they’ve certainly played their part in helping me to become a British champion. My ultimate aim is to make it to MotoGP and become a world champion, and I hope to continue working with Bennetts as I move on to the next step in my career.”

   Bennetts is committed to supporting Britain’s top motorcycle racing talent and up-and-coming young riders. In addition to Francis, the company is currently in its third season of backing Scott Redding, who currently leads the Moto2 world championship, and retains an association with two-time former World Superbike champion James Toseland.

   Any young riders who think they have what it takes to follow in the tyre tracks of Francis and Redding are invited to email Bennetts at [email protected], detailing their racing history, 2014 plans, career objectives and sponsorship requirements for the 2014 season.                            

2. AN APRILIA FLAVOURED SUPERPOLE AT ISTANBUL: FOUR RSV4S IN THE TOP FIVE

   Posted on 10:29am Sunday 15th Sep 2013

   FIRST PLACE SLIPS THROUGH SYLVAIN GUINTOLI’S FINGERS AND GOES TO SYKES BY JUST 22 THOUSANDTHS OF A SECOND.

   EUGENE LAVERTY FINISHES FOURTH WITH THE TWO RSV4S RIDDEN BY GIUGLIANO (ALTHEA RACING) AND ELIAS (RED DEVILS) FINISH THIRD AND FIFTH RESPECTIVELY.

   Istanbul, 14 September 2013 – The Aprilia Racing riders had shown a promising feeling on the Turkish track at Istanbul from the start. Although it was preceded by two odd sessions with the riders waiting in their garages due to the wet track, the Superpole sessions this afternoon confirmed yesterday’s suspicions: Sylvain Guintoli just missed the pole by 22 thousandths of a second after an almost perfect lap, while Eugene Laverty wasn’t quite able to make the grade with his second qualifying tyre although he did finish with a strong fourth best time.

   Aprilia’s domination was confirmed by the final positions of the two “satellite” RSV4s: Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) will start from the third spot on the grid and Toni Elias (Red Devils), making his Superbike début on the missile from Veneto, took a promising fifth place.

   With a gap of just one point from the top spot in the standings, Sylvain Guintoli had made no secret of his ambitions for this Superpole. Comforted by the times he put on the boards yesterday and after being the fasted rider during the free practice sessions leading up to Superpole, the French rider easily came through the first two sessions. He aggressively took on his challengers in the top nine, succumbing only to the “specialist” Sykes, even admitting that he made a few small mistakes in the fast lap. In any case Sylvain takes home an excellent starting position for the two races tomorrow and he certainly has the tools to be able to aim for the top step of the podium.

   Sylvain Guintoli: “We came really close today. On my last lap I made a few small errors that may have cost me those 22 thousandths. It would have been nice to take the pole, but the most important thing is to start from the front row. I felt at home on this track straight away and I think tomorrow I’ll be able to aim for two good results. As I already said, the battle for the championship is really getting heated up now, so there should be two exciting races tomorrow on a track which is basically new for everyone”.

   Eugene Laverty also put in an excellent performance, steadily improving throughout the weekend until arriving just short of the podium in Superpole. The rider from Toomebridge put in the fastest time in Superpole 2, which was the best possible way to come through to the final session. Unfortunately Eugene struggled a bit with his second qualifying tyre taking the first spot on the second row of the grid. The two races tomorrow promise to be quite heated for him as well tomorrow with an excellent chance for a podium finish.

   Eugene Laverty: “I put in the best time in Superpole 2 but I wasn’t able to repeat the performance in the last session. In any case, fourth place is nothing to look down on and tomorrow looks like it will be a battle between four riders where we’ll all be able to make a play for it. Race 1 should be especially interesting because none of us were really able to lap a lot today on race tyres since the track was wet, so that will make things even more uncertain”.

    

3. New-look Pata Honda team heads to Asia

   Posted on 7:30am Thursday 12th Sep 2013

   The Pata Honda team will compete for the first time in Turkey in this weekend’s 11th round World Superbike championship event at Istanbul Park with a weekend schedule that runs an hour earlier than other SBK events.

   The 5.338km Hermann Tilke-designed circuit, which was completed just over eight years ago, lies on the Asian side of Istanbul and, for the Pata Honda team and riders, it will be a first racing visit to the Turkish city.

   The team will be without regular rider Jonathan Rea, who broke his left femur after crashing on another rider’s oil on 1 September at the Nürburgring in Germany. The 26-year-old underwent surgery that evening and is optimistic about a relatively quick rehabilitation for his injury.

   Rea will be replaced at Istanbul Park by Italian rider Michel Fabrizio, who has been competing in the 2013 World Superbike championship with another team. The 28-year-old from Rome currently lies in eighth place in the 2013 championship standings with one podium finish in the opening round at Phillip Island in Australia.

   Fabrizio joins Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam who continues his own rehabilitation from a broken leg sustained in a practice crash at Assen in The Netherlands in April. The 30-year-old British rider has been getting back up to speed over the last few races and will be looking to improve on his season’s best result of seventh last time out at the Nürburgring.

   Leon Haslam

   I’m really excited about going to race in Istanbul, even though some of the other Superbike riders have ridden there before. I’ve seen a few of the GP races there on video and it looks pretty awesome, but I won’t really know how it is until I get out there on the bike on Friday morning. We made some more progress last time in Germany but, although I was hanging on to the back of the leading group in race two, we still had some issues. But I do feel like I’m finally in a position – both physically and with the bike – to be fighting for podiums again. We need a few more things to fall into place for that to happen, but we’re nearly there.

   Michel Fabrizio

   I am very happy to come back to the Honda CBR after my earlier experience with the DFX Honda Team. To race with the Ten Kate boys in the Pata Honda team is a real honour for me and, of course, I will do my best to get Jonathan’s machine near to the front. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish Jonathan a fast recovery from his injury and I would like to thank the whole Honda Superbike team for their hard work to fix the bike in time for me to race in Istanbul.

   Michel Fabrizio – career details

   2002: 125cc GP World Championship

   2003: FIM Superstock 1000 champion (Suzuki)

   2004: MotoGP World Championship (10 races – Honda), World Supersport championship (two races – Honda)

   2005: World Supersport championship (Honda) – 5th

   2006: World Superbike championship (Honda) – 11th

   2007: World Superbike championship (Honda) – 11th

   2008: World Superbike championship (Ducati) – 8th

   2009: World Superbike championship (Ducati) – 3rd

   2010: World Superbike championship (Ducati) – 8th

   2011: World Superbike championship (Suzuki) – 12th

   2012: World Superbike championship (BMW) – 11th

   2013: World Superbike championship (Aprilia) – current position 8th

   2013 World Superbike championship, round 11

   Intercity Istanbul Park, Turkey – weekend schedule (local times – GMT+3)

   Friday 13 September

   11.45-13.15 Free practice

   15.30-16.15 Qualifying 1

   Saturday 14 September

   08.45-09.30 Qualifying 2

   11.30-12.15 Free practice

   14.00-15.14 Superpole 1

   14.21-15.33 Superpole 2

   14.40-15.50 Superpole 3

   Sunday 15 September

   08.20-08.35 Warm-up

   11.00 Race 1 (19 laps 95.226km)

   14.30 Race 2 (19 laps 95.226km)

4. Ducati Grandstand at Silverstone MotoGP to double in size for 2014

   Posted on 8:30am Thursday 5th Sep 2013

   Over 1000 fans shared the excitement of last weekend’s MotoGP from the exclusive Ducati Grandstand at Silverstone circuit. For 2014, due to public demand Ducati UK will more than double the number of seats available from 1055 to 2310.

   The Luffield B Ducati Grandstand was the place to be as Ducati fans found themselves in prime position to see the best of the action at Silverstone. The covered Luffield B Grandstand provided spectators with a view of the bikes thundering down the Wellington Straight into the braking zone for Brooklands Corner before negotiating Luffield. The Luffield complex gave the spectators not only a fantastic view of all the significant action of the race but also produced an amazing atmosphere.

   The stand was a sea of red as Ducati fans made use of some of the goodie items provided by Ducati UK which included a Ducati flag, water bottle,T-shirt and Lanyard/Ticket holder. The spectacle and atmosphere created by the Ducati area was such that with many spectators in other areas enquired about obtaining tickets for the Ducati Grandstand for next year.

   For 2014, Ducati UK have secured the entire Luffield Grandstand which will seat 2310 fans making this one of the biggest Ducati Grandstands on the MotoGP calendar.

   Weekend tickets for the Ducati Luffield Grandstand are now already available with Weekend Tickets currently at a special ‘early bird’ price of just £90. Usual ticket price is £100.

   Sunday only tickets are also currently available at a special ‘early bird’ price of £75. Usual price is £85

   http://www.silverstone.co.uk/events/motogp2014/

   The 2014 MotoGP takes place at Silverstone on 5 – 7 September*

   Ducati UK remains committed to providing fans and owners with unique experiences and events, follow us on twitter @ducatiuk and www.facebook/ducati or click on www.ducatiuk.com for further information on events in 2013/14.

5. HIGHS AND LOWS FOR RAF RESERVES AT CADWELL

   Posted on 10:57am Tuesday 27th Aug 2013

   After a terrific fourth placed qualification followed up with a battling third place in the race, the RAF Reserves in association with Honda were excluded from the results at Cadwell Park due to rider Simon Andrew’s part in the crash with another rider.

   The verdict was a bitter blow for the RAF recruitment-backed team that had shown their true pace all weekend. The tight and twisty Lincolnshire circuit favours a bike with handling ability over outright horsepower and the team worked tirelessly to hone the chassis.  

   Immediately showing pace in the practice sessions, Andrews, 30, went on to produce a qualifying lap that was just 0.042s off a front row position to lead the second row in fourth. For the team made up from of two MOD civil servants and an RAF Cpl based at RAF Marham, they were still making improvements to the bike for morning warm-up and for the race so that Simon could challenge for the win.  

   When the lights went out, Andrews was baulked by one of the front row riders and almost had to take to the grass to avoid contact. Despite losing a couple of places, the Evesham rider regrouped and set about reducing the gap to the leaders and set the fastest time of the race on lap 4.   With the faster Ducati of Palmer in his sights, Andrews knew he had to make his move quickly. On the entrance to Charlies corner, the pair unfortunately clashed and saw both riders take to the grass. The no.6 Fireblade was able to re-join the track and cross the line in third place, but Palmer crashed heavily.  

   Despite taking the podium and spraying the champagne, championship officials elected to ‘exclude (no.6) for unfair manoeuvre which resulted in an accident to another rider (no.33)’. Though a hard move, many figures within the paddock described it as simply a racing incident.   Stripped of the 16 championship points, the team left Cadwell Park secure in the fact they had shown their potential and vow to continue the momentum to the next round at Donington Park on September 8.  

   After the race, Simon Andrews said: “Well, Superstocks is supposed to be level playing field but we’re quite a bit down on power. So I have to overtake mid corner or somewhere that’s not power orientated. The manoeuvre I put on Tristan was a bit rushed by me; we both went for the same bit of tarmac and, unfortunately, we both ran off track. I spoke to him after the race and apologised for the incident, but in my eyes, it was a racing incident and not a dangerous overtake.  

   “The officials’ decision is a real shame for the team not to get this result as we have been strong all weekend and made some changes to the bike that have worked fantastically. But we’ve got a good set-up for Donington, but it’s a horsepower track so we’ll have a fight on our hands with the Kawasakis and BMWs, but we’ll try our best as usual.”  

   Team Manager, Lee Hardy, said: “It’s great to be back at the front and be able to show our true potential. It’s taken a long time to get here, but the Honda is now working well and we’re finally in a ‘sweet spot’ with set-up; every change we made went in the right direction. Just shame the race ended the way it did.   Regarding the incident, it’s a narrow track and that sort of thing happens. The Ducati of Tristan Palmer was a lot faster than our bike and the move by Simon was aggressive but - according to many people in the paddock - not over hard. But we take the rough with the smooth and are confident for Donington Park.”  

   The next round is at Donington Park, 6-8th September