world superbike Archives - Page 92 of 107

Racing

Leon Haslam to BMW World Superbike Team

By Jensen Beeler 09/28/2010 1 Comment

Now officially official, BMW has announced that they have signed Leon Haslam for the 2011 World Superbike season. Haslam had been linked to the BMW squad for sometime now, and his move to the German manufacturer was all but a guarantee when Alstare Suzuki announced that they would release the Brit from his contract early. Likely to tie up the the second place position in the 2010 Worldsuperbike Championship this weekend at Magny-Cours, Haslam was leading the WSBK series midway through the season.

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Racing

Haslam Officially Out of Alstare Suzuki

By Jensen Beeler 09/27/2010 1 Comment

Alstare Suzuki announced this morning that Leon Haslam has been let out of his contract with the “factory” Suzuki World Superbike team. Although only halfway through a two-year contract, Haslam is said to have a clause in his contract that guarantees him factory support within the team. With Suzuki’s involvement being brought into question for next season, Alstare team principal Francis Batta has had no choice but to release Haslam from team obligations after Magny-Cours. Although no announcement has come forth, Haslam is widely believed to be taking Ruben Xaus’s seat at BMW for the 2011 season.

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Racing

The Roman Emperor Clinches World Superbike

By Jensen Beeler 09/26/2010 7 Comments

Without giving too much away about this weekend’s WSBK race, Max Biaggi clinched the World Superbike Championship at Imola this weekend. For fans in Italy, this moment is being celebrated heavily, as an Italian rider, on an Italian bike, during an Italian race, has clinched a major championship title. For Biaggi fans, this title has been a long-time in the making, as The Emperor hasn’t won a championship title since his 250GP days.

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Racing

Troy Corser Officially Signs with BMW for 2011

By Jensen Beeler 09/23/2010 3 Comments

There hasn’t been much doubt in the World Superbike paddock that Troy Corser would be anywhere but in the BMW camp for the 2011 season (although the same can’t be said for teammate Ruben Xaus), so it’s no surprise that the German company has signed the Australian rider up for another season in WSBK. Having helped develop the BMW S1000RR from day one, Corser will continue honing the German superbike into the track weapon that Bavaria wants/needs. The only real question for Corser next year is who will join him.

The 39-year-old Corser has shown this season that despite his age, he’s still a former World Champion. With a handful of podiums, Corser has kept BMW on course with its stated objectives, and shown consistently marked improvements. However Corser hasn’t put the S1000RR on the top step, and BMW has made no secret about its intent to contend for the WSBK Championship title next season. The Germans are likely scouting their talent pool accordingly.

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Rumors

WSBK Silly Season: Haslam to BMW, Fabrizio to Alstare Suzuki, & Haga to an Aprilia [UPDATED]

By Jensen Beeler 09/21/2010 3 Comments

UPDATE 3: Michel Fabrizio has signed-on with Alstare Suzuki team for 2011.

UPDATE 2: Leon Haslam has signed with the BMW Factory Squad.

UPDATE: It’s being reported that Noriyuki Haga has agreed to ride with the DFX team on a factory Aprilia RSV4, with an announcement delayed out of deference to Biaggi’s impending WSBK crowning.

While the MotoGP silly season is just starting to wind down, the World Superbike shuffling of riders is apparently just getting underway. So far this silly season we’ve seen , confirming that he’d be with Ten Kate Honda next season, despite being only two years into a three year contract, which was a strange announcement at the very least.

After Ducati’s little spat with Infront Motor Sports last month, the Xerox Ducati Team will be no more in 2011, leaving factory riders Michel Fabrizio and Noriyuki S.O.L. when it comes to gainful employment, which is where our fist batch of silly season rumors starts us. If Moto.it‘s Carlo Baldi is to be believed (he is the listed press officer for Althea Ducati after all), Haga will find himself on a satellite Aprilia ride, while Michel Fabrizio will go to Alstare Suzuki. If you’re a die-hard WSBK fan you may realize that means that current Alstare Suzuki star Leon Haslam must be finding work elsewhere, with Baldi putting the British rider in the factory BMW squad. Still with us?

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Racing

Aprilia Halts RSV4 WSBK Development

By Jensen Beeler 09/15/2010 3 Comments

Aprilia is either confident or cocky, because according to MCN, the Italian manufacturer’s racing department has halted development on the 2010 World Superbike spec RSV4 Factory race bike. Comfortable with Max Biaggi’s 58 point lead over Leon Haslam and his Alstare Suzuki, Aprilia wants Biaggi to focus on racing with his current setup, rather than risk having a prototype part breaking, and costing the team and Biaggi the World Superbike Championship.

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Racing

Eugene Laverty Joins Marco Melandri at Sterilgarda Yamaha – Sends James Toseland Looking for a Job

By Jensen Beeler 09/13/2010 6 Comments

Yamaha’s factory-supported World Superbike team, Sterilgarda Yamaha, tipped part of it’s rider line-up last week when it announced that Marco Melandri would be making the move from MotoGP to WSBK. Now the Yamaha squad has released the name of its second rider, and we’ll give you a hint: it’s not James Toseland. Instead for the 2011 season, Sterilgarda Yamaha will be tapping into the young Irish rider Eugene Laverty, who is currently looking for a World Supersport Championship with the Parkalgar Honda squad.

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Racing

Jonathan Rea Continues with Ten Kate Honda

By Jensen Beeler 09/12/2010 1 Comment

Hanspree Ten Kate Honda has announced that it has retained the services of Johnny Rea for the 2011 season. Rea is two years into his three-year contract with Ten Kate, with the Dutch-based team having an option to renew the Irishman for another year. Currently third in the World Superbike series, Rea joined Ten Kate Honda in 2008 as one of the team’s World Supersport riders, where he finished second to teammate Andrew Pitt.

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Banter

Video: Ducati Helps Xerox Sell Some Copiers

By Jensen Beeler 09/09/2010 2 Comments

Xerox essentially foots the bill for Ducati’s World Superbike racing adventures, so it’s not surprising that the company, whose name is synonymous with photocopying, would like to capitalize on that relationship. It’s hard to imagine how one can make an intriguing commercial about xeroxing some documents (see what we did there?), which may be why Rochester-based brand is involved with WSBK in the first place, as the company has tapped its relationship with Ducati to help sell some copy machines. The result is an actually semi-engaging ad, but we’re just not sure what Xerox is going to do next year. Video after the jump.

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Racing

Melandri to Yamaha WSBK – Tardozzi to Blame?

By Jensen Beeler 09/06/2010 1 Comment

Surprise! After being 99% certain to go to the factory BMW World Superbike team, Marco Melandri has head-faked the entire motorcycle industry, and landed himself a ride at the factory Yamaha camp instead. Announced at Nurburgring this weekend, Melandri will ride for Sterilgarda Yamaha in the 2011 season. Originally linked to BMW for a WSBK ride, Melandri’s shift in direction could be related to rumors that Davide Tardozzi, current team manager to BMW’s WSBK squad, is taking over the role of Yamaha’s Mario Meregalli, who is in-turn rumored to be going to the Factory Yamaha team in MotoGP.

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Bikes

2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R SBK Now in Green

By Jensen Beeler 09/02/2010 9 Comments

Kawasaki will be officially be “unveiling” its 2011 World Superbike-spec ZX-10R at Nurburgring this weekend, but has released photos of the bike, finally showing the ZX-10R in its green livery. Team Green has slowly been leaking photos and videos of the new 10R through a massive online social marketing campaign, which centered around the company’s Next_Ninga twitter account.

Kawasaki is putting a lot of weight on the superbike’s shoulders after being un-competitive in World Superbike racing, and withdrawing completely from MotoGP. Hoping the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-1oR will turn around Kawasaki’s racing fortunes, Kawasaki is also hopeful that the bike will help spur its fading sport bike sales.

For 2011, Kawasaki says it has down a top-down approach to the ZX-10R, starting for the first in the company’s history with making the race bike before the street model. This hopefully means that the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R will be a no-compromises race/track weapon with turn signals, but we’ll leave that hyperbole until A&R gets a leg over one.

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