This evening Dainese presented its 2014 collection in front of selected UK media and supported racers including Pol Esparagaró, Nicky Hayden, James Hillier, Guy Martin and Luis Salom. The special event took place ahead of the 12th round of MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 at Silverstone this weekend, where Esparagaró, Hayden and Salom will continue their respective season assaults.

New products unveiled from the 2014 collection include the Laguna Seca Evo P one-piece suit, two leather jackets (Stripes Evo Pelle and Laguna Evo Lady) and two textile jackets (Carve Master GTX and Laguna Seca D-Dry).

Three new gloves were introduced, namely the winter-warm Scout Evo GTX, the classically styled Essential and the Veloce sports glove, as well as three new boots – the Lince GTX for touring, a casual sneaker-inspired Street Biker D-WP and the racing-styled TR-Course Out. There were also two new jeans, the D1 1K and the D1 1K Pred, as well as some updates made to the Manis back protector. More new products will be released from the collection later in the year.

Alongside the new products Dainese presented its D-air systems. Both launched on the market over the last two years the systems are designed to protect riders on track (D-air Racing) and on the road (D-air Street).

D-air Racing is a wireless system built into a Dainese one-piece leather suit that detects a fall or slide immediately and sends a trigger signal to activate the airbag. Not just an airbag, the system also features data acquisition software developed by German company 2D (2d-datarecording), which supplies some of the top teams in MotoGP and F1. The software gives D-air wearers an effective tool to monitor riding performance and record telemetry data, which can be downloaded and displayed on a computer.

The D-air Street is vastly different; the airbag and deployment facilities are fitted in the jacket and the mechanics of the whole system are fitted to the motorcycle. D-air Street features a fall sensor that is physically connected to a display unit on the bikes dash. This shows the rider system information, including when the device is connected, the battery life and information about the pillion’s system, if they are wearing one.

Both D-air systems are available from supported D-air Dainese dealers, while the new collection will start to be available in UK dealers from mid-October.

For more information, or to find your nearest dealer visit www.dainese.com

APRILIA RACING RIDERS, SYLVAIN GUINTOLI AND EUGENE LAVERTY, LYING FIRST AND THIRD RESPECTIVELY IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS, ARE READY FOR THE SEASON HOME STRETCH.

APRILIA HAS DOMINATED THE MANUFACTURER STANDINGS SINCE THE FIRST ROUND. THE POINT SITUATION IS NOW 336 AGAINST KAWSAKI'S 303, 276 FOR BMW, HONDA WITH 189, SUZUKI AT 165 AND 128 FOR DUCATI.

Noale, 28 August 2013 - The home stretch of the 2013 World Superbike Championship starts from the German Nürburgring circuit. After the summer break, the first of the remaining five rounds that will decide the rankings finds the Aprilia Racing riders taking to the track with their sights set high. The technical German track is well suited for the characteristics of the Aprilia RSV4 which made quite an impression last year, dominating both races, taking five of the six positions up for grabs on the podium and laying the groundwork to triumph in the 2012 world championship with the double title (Rider and Manufacturer).

Sylvain Guintoli's steadfastness, even able to limit the damage after injuring his right shoulder, has taken him to the top of the rider standings with a 13 point advantage over Tom Sykes. The French rider took advantage of the break to continue his recovery and his fitness conditions have vastly improved. In any case we will need to wait for the track to have the final word, which is the only way to verify Sylvain's physical stamina.

Sylvain Guintoli: “After 3 weeks off the bike and concentrating my energy on recovering as much as possible from the shoulder injury, I feel ready to take up the championship fight in the final 5 rounds. This is the final straight line to the end of the season and I am excited to see how much progress the shoulder has made. The answer will be Sunday”.

His brilliant performance in Silverstone, where he took a double podium in difficult conditions, shook up the order for Eugene Laverty, now lying third in the rider championship standings. His potential for the final victory are on the rise and the young Northern Irish talent makes no secret of his goal for the five remaining rounds. With the excellent support from his bike and his team, Eugene is anxious to close the points gap on his rivals this weekend. This will be no easy task, but it is certainly within the capabilities of the rider from Toomebridge.

Eugene Laverty: “I've enjoyed the summer break but I'm ready to get back to racing. We now have five rounds in eight weeks to finish the season and I feel that these are the most important two months of my career to date. My teammate Sylvain, Tom Sykes, and Marco Melandri will be tough to beat in the title race but I intend to give it my all. Nurburgring is a really strong circuit for the Aprilia and so I hope to gain points on my championship rivals this weekend”.

Michael Sweeney followed illustrious former race winners including Freddie Frith, Bob McIntyre, Charlie Williams and TT rider liaison officer Richard 'Milky' Quayle in winning the Junior Manx Grand Prix, appropriately on the day that the meeting celebrated its 90th anniversary with a past parade of former winners. The Irishman emulated his 2010 Junior MGP victory with a dramatic last lap victory after race leader James Cowton ran out of fuel on the last mile.

Northern Ireland's Stephen McKnight, who finished third in both the 2011 and 2012 Junior Manx Grand Prix races, had the honour of being first away from Glencrutchery Road but by Glen Helen on the opening lap Yorkshire man James Cowton, starting fourth, had established a lead of almost a second over Ireland's Michael Sweeney who was fastest qualifier. Stephen Harper was a further two seconds back in third with McKnight and Tim Poole completing the top five.

McKnight was first back to the grandstand (19:12.996/117.8049mph) but Cowton was the fastest on the opening lap with 18:55.123/119.659 which gave him an eleven second lead over second placed Michael Sweeney (19:06.369/118.485) with McKnight (19:12.996/117.804) in third and Andy Lawson (19:14.801/117.620) moving into fourth, pushing Stephen Harper (19:16.303/117.467) down to fifth.

Cowton held the lead on the second lap with 19:02.121/118.926 but an efficient refuelling pit stop from Sweeney's team at the end of the second lap saw him close the gap by an estimated six seconds with 2009 Manx Grand Prix Senior Race winner Michael Russell's lap of 19:10.118/118.099 moving him into the top three.

Cowton again put the hammer down and established an eighteen second gap by Glen Helen and his third lap of 19:52.315/113.920 saw him going into the last lap with a 25 second lead over Sweeney with Russell retaining third.

However, in a dramatic conclusion to the race Cowton, after going through the final checkpoint at Cronk-Ny-Mona still holding a 16 second lead was reported to be out of fuel at the Nook, just a few hundred yards from the finish of the near 150-mile race.

Sweeney came through to win in 1:17:20.911/117.070, with Michael Russell (1:18.01.810/116.047) moving up into the runners-up spot and 2009 Newcomer Race C runner up Andy Lawson (1:18.11.598/115.805), who moved from sixth going into the last lap, taking the final podium place.

A race report will be available on youtube by the end of the day via the Manx Grand Prix Races dedicated Youtube channel at www.youtube.com/themanxgrandprix

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

Monday night's practice at the 2013 Manx Grand Prix saw a number of challengers to Michael Sweeney posting their fastest times of the week ahead of Wednesday's Junior MGP.

The Irishman still tops the leaderboard with a time of 19:17.580/117.338mph that he set on Saturday's session but Stephen McKnight (19:24.856/116.605), Tim Poole (19:26.730/116.418), James Cowton 19:27.227/116.638) and Colin Stephenson 19:30.806/116.012) all set their fastest times of the week.

In the newcomers A race, Alexander Picket is clearly the man to beat following the 114.810 he set in Thursday's practice but Anthony Cooper posted his quickest time of the week with 112.730. Callum Collister (109.515), Joe Faragher (106.107) and James Neesom (105.528) all clocked their fastest times in monday nights session, while Ben Rea topped the board in the Newcomers C session with 104.162 from the qualifying session. Rea's time also nudged him into the Lightweight top five board, topped by Alistair Howarth 106.735) from last Saturday's session.

In the SuperTwin qualifying session, only Rab Davie of the top five qualified riders improved his time, clocking 110.675 with James Cowton's 113.041 set in last Saturday's session the fastest by over a second from Colin Stephenson (111.959).

Wednesday 28th will see the Newcomers A, B and C Races away at 10.15 with the Junior MGP race scheduled to be away at 13.30. The SuperTwin and Lightweight Race will take place on Friday at 10.15 with the 90th anniversary meeting concluding with the Senior MGP Race at 14.00.