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Photos: BMW S1000RR WSBK Hits the Wind Tunnel

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As the BMW World Superbike team prepares for the 2011 season, Leon Haslam and Troy Corser took a break from their training regiment to spend some time in BMW’s wind tunnel facility in Bavaria. Looking to hone the maximum performance out of the S1000RR, both riders worked on their optimal streamlined body positions in speeds up to 150 mph. The BMW WSBK team also looked at the S1000RR’s fairing, examining how to optimize the bike’s Cx or coefficient of drag (we assume any modifications that were made were WSBK legal of course).

The team will get to test its results later this month in Jerez, and in the meantime Haslam and Corser will be shipped off to a BMW fitness training bootcamp with fellow BMW riders James Toseland and Ayrton Badovini from the BMW Italia squad, along with members of the BMW Enduro team. We don’t like the sound of this training camp, but BMW has given us 12 high-quality shots of the S1000RR in the wind tunnel, which we enjoyed.

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Ruben Xaus to Ten Kate Honda

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After being booted from the BMW factory World Superbike team at the end of the season, Spaniard Ruben Xaus has landed himself a new job with the Ten Kate Honda WSBK squad. The Captain of Crash in the 2010, Xaus and the BMW S1000RR seemingly couldn’t come to an accord on the fastest way around the race track, which often resulted in Xaus ending up on wrong side of the gravel traps.

With murmurs starting early in the season that the WSBK veteran would be given the boot, there was little fanfare or surprise when Xaus was replaced by Leon Haslam in the BMW World Superbike team for the 2011 season. Finding a place in the Ten Kate Honda team, Xaus in many ways is moving up in the WSBK paddock, as Ten Kate’s Honda CBR1000RR has been consistently competitive in World Superbike racing. Xaus will join Johnny Rea for the 2011 season, where the duo will fight again for the World Championship. The season’s opening round will be Xaus’s 200th start in World Superbike.

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Kawasaki Fielding Three-Man Team in World Superbike: Lascorz, Sykes, and Vermeulen

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Kawasaki, along with most of the WSBK grid, it at Aragon this week testing for the 2011 World Superbike season. Confirming that they’ll run a three-man team next year, Kawasaki has been testing with Joan Lascorz and Tom Sykes, while the injured Christopher Vermeulen has been spotted around the paddock. Kawasaki has retained Sykes and Vermeulen from the 2010 season, while bringing up Lascorz from the World Supersport class. The team, which is being managed by Paul Bird Motorsports, will of course will be running the all-new 2011 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R. Rider quotes after the jump.

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Toseland’s Fall from Grace – Signs with Satellite BMW Team

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It wasn’t that long ago (2007 actually) that James Toseland was on top of the world, handily winning the 2007 World Superbike Championship on his Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR. However the British rider has had nothing but a string of bad luck since his WSBK domination, entering MotoGP in 2008 with the Tech3 Yamaha team, and then back into WSBK with the factory-backed Sterilgarda Yamaha squad in 2010. Toseland failed to impress his rookie season in MotoGP, and his second-season toss-up with Colin Edwards over their crew chief swap didn’t seem to help matters much either.

Bumped out of the squad by American Ben Spies, JT was in World Superbike this last season, where many expected to see the part-time pianist play another tarantella of victories in the series. The Yamaha R1 had been the bike to have in the 2009 season, and Toseland was after all a former WSBK Champion; but the results didn’t materialize, and JT finished the season 9th, nearly 100 points behind his rookie Teammate Cal Crutchlow, who will be in Tech3 Yamaha for the 2011 season. The last man left standing in the silly season round of musical chairs, Toseland will see his stature in WSBK further slide into oblivion as he now joins the Italian satellite BMW squad for 2011.

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2011 World Superbike Official Test Dates Announced

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The World Superbike season may be over, but testing for 2011 is about to get underway, and Infront Motorsports has released its official testing schedules. Leading into the 13-round 2011 Superbike World Championship, the first official testing session will be at Portimao. For WSBK and WSS, tesing will start on Wednesday January 26th, while the the 1000 & 600 Supertock series will start Tuesday January 27th. Testing will conclude for everyone on Friday the 28th.

The second testing session will be held at Phillip Island, which will also be the first venue of the 2011 season. Testing at Phillip Island for all the series will start Monday February 21st, and end Tuesday the 22nd. These dates are in addition to the unofficial testing sessions, which have been scheduled by the teams themselves.

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Ok, Now It’s Official: Biaggi Signs with Aprilia for Two Years

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Now officially official, Max Biaggi has inked a contract with Aprilia Racing, which sees the 39-year-old Italian riding on the V4 of Aprilia for the next two years. Suggesting to the Italian press that he will ride with Aprilia until he retires, Biaggi and the Noale brand will defend both the Rider and Manufacturer World Superbike Championships next year.

Biaggi gave the WSBK press a collective heart attack this weekend when an announcement of his contract failed to materialize during a homecoming festival held in his honor at Aprilia’s home town of Noale. Whether Biaggi and Aprilia have made this announcement in response to the growing concern that The Roman Emperor would retire, we will probably never know, but regardless of how it came to be, the official press release is after the jump.

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Max Biaggi Signs with Aprilia for Another Two Years

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Many expected Max Biaggi to retire at the end of the 2010 World Superbike season, but the 39-year-old still has some fight in him yet, as he’s signed-on with Aprilia Racing for another two years according to reports out of the Italian press. Expected to be announced tomorrow in a festival at Noale (home of Aprilia), Biaggi is the first Italian to win the World Superbike Championship, and this year also the first time an Aprilia has ever won the World Superbike Championship. You can expect the party in Noale to be appropriately rowdy.

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Source: Il Messaggero via MotoBlog.it

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Official: Michel Fabrizio to Alstare Suzuki

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Our World Superbike silly season round-up from three weeks ago is now 3 for 3, as Alstare Suzuki has announced the signing of Michel Fabrizio to its “factory” team, replacing the departed Leon Haslam. The announcement is a homecoming for Fabrizio, who raced for Alstare’s European Superstock team back in 2003, but the Italian rider has a ton of work ahead of him as Suzuki’s support for the WSBK team is still highly questionable. Fabrizio got his first taste of the Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 World Superbike while testing at Magny-Cours last week, his first time back on an inline-four, after riding an v-twin all these years.

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2011 Provisional World Superbike Calendar

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Now that MotoGP has finished its provisional calendar, World Superbike can release its dates for the 2011 season. With two tracks yet to be determined (one in Europe, and the other in Italy), the word provisional is very literal for this schedule. The April 17th date is traditionally done at Valencia, but rumors suggest that Dorna has strong-armed the circuit into disallowing World Superbike to race there in 2011.

Where WSBK will go in its stead remains a big question mark, as surely Infront Motors Sports would like an additional round in the ripe Spanish market (WSBK will be at Aragon June 19th as well). The other tentative venue is in Italy, which traditionally is the round at Imola. With budget and safety concerns surrounding the track, it’s again a country WSBK absolutely wants on its schedule, but finding the right host will be an issue.

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Tardozzi Fired from BMW WSBK Team – Mechanics May Strike at Magny-Cours

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According to our good friends at , Davide Tardozzi has just been handed his pink slip from the BMW World Superbike Team. The Italian manager has been instrumental in helping BMW get its house in order, but Tardozzi and the rest of BMW’s non-German crew are being purged from the team regardless. Tardozzi had apparently been banned from the BMW garage, as World Superbike heads to Magny-Cours this weekend, but the team’s mechanics are expected to work through the end of the season. Apparently not pleased with the idea of being replaced, the non-German mechanics are rumored to be planning a strike for Magny-Cours.

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Ducati WSBK Fans Lash Out Against Rossi at Imola

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There were some not so happy racing fans this weekend during World Superbike’s penultimate stop at Imola. A home track for Ducati, the race stands where filled with Italian racing red, and also some signs from some very unhappy Ducatisti. Perceiving Valentino Rossi’s switch in the MotoGP from Yamaha to Ducati as the reason for at the end of this season, Ducati WSBK fans aired our their discontent with anti-Rossi and anti-Ducati banners and stickers throughout Imola.

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