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After first saying it would be business as usual, Team Hero EBR has regrouped and found that it will not be continuing in the 2015 World Superbike Championship.

Though a change in announcements, the news is perhaps unsurprising considering the state of EBR and the economic troubles reportedly faced by Hero MotoCorp.

The team quotes the “recent bankruptcy of EBR and the re-prioritizing of efforts by title sponsor Hero” as the cause of its withdrawal, with Pegram Racing hoping to announce its future racing plans soon.

“This is a really hard pill for us all at Pegram Racing to swallow, as we always live by the philosophy of Never Give Up,” said team owner Larry Pegram.

What are you to do with a set of leathers, once they’ve been retired from protecting your motorcycling hide? The answer to that question is why Dainese has teamed up with Regenesi, an Italian firm known for recycling old products and turning them into new ones.

Taking the crashed leathers of Dainese’s sponsored riders, Regenesi turns the leather pieces into various lifestyle items, like wallets ($139), smartphone sleeves ($79), key fobs ($54), etc.

It’s been a long time since The Netherlands had a rider to cheer for as a nation, but Michael van der Mark is changing that. At just 22-years-old, Van der Mark is not only the reigning World Supersport Champion, but he also currently sits 7th in the World Superbike Championship, with the Pata Honda squad.

Don’t let his young age fool you, the Dutchman is all business on the track, most recently grabbing two podiums at his home round in Assen — an impressive feat for any true WSBK rookie.

Equally impressed with their rider, HRC Europe has put together a nice video that features and introduces the young man beneath the helmet, who will also be Casey Stoner’s teammate at the upcoming Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race.

We expect big things from Michael van der Mark over the course of his two-wheeled racing career. Remember his name, you’ll surely be hearing it more and more often in the winner’s circle.

Can you ever have too much motorcycle racing? You can if the amount of racing over one weekend actually exceeds the number of hours in each day.

That was pretty much the case last weekend, when we MotoGP at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit in Argentina, World Superbikes – including World Supersport, FIM Superstock 1000, the European Superstock 600 Championship, and the European Junior Cup – at Assen, British Superbikes at Brands Hatch (the very short, very fast Indy circuit, not the longer GP layout), the second round of the inaugural MotoAmerica series at Road Atlanta, and the 24 hour race at Le Mans in France.

Looking beyond motorcycle road racing, there was also the fourth round of the MXGP motocross world championship at Trentino in Italy, and a Formula One race at Bahrain.

Although the constraints of long seasons mean that there will always be clashes, this was a little ridiculous. Racing series are not completely free to set their calendars as they wish – they are tied down by a host of factors such as track availability, the weather, other events organized at the circuits, local government permission and many, many others – this weekend was one of the more spectacular scheduling SNAFUs. Let us hope this can be avoided next year.

For the upcoming weekend, the calendar is much more limited. The FIM Repsol CEV championship – what we used to know as the Spanish championship – has its first race at Portimao in Portugal.

The field is as varied as ever, with riders from all over Europe and Asia, as well as an Australian and an American in Moto3, an even more varied field in Moto2 – including exotica such as the Vyrus, ridden by British youngster Bradley Ray – and Barcelona-based American rider Kenny Noyes defending his title in the Superbike class.

Their Italian counterpart, the CIV championship, also kicks off this weekend with their first races at Misano. Both series will be streamed live, CEV on their Youtube channel, and the CIV via a specialist Italian motorsports channel called Sportube.

With the news that Erik Buell Racing has ceased operations and will be headed into receivership, doubt has been cast on the company’s racing efforts in the World Superbike Championship. Allaying some fears, Team Manager and Rider Larry Pegram spoke to the WorldSBK.com website, saying that the team would indeed race in Assen, as planned.

“For Team Hero EBR, nothing has really changed,” Pegram said while speaking to WorldSBK.com. “We are going to be racing this weekend and we plan to continue for the season. All indications are that we are going to be able to do that. There is obviously some restructuring and financial stuff going on in the USA, but we are over here in Assen and getting ready for a good weekend.”

Even though we just finished covering the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, Yours Truly is still on the road…and I’m actually all the way out in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (near Nice, France) for the international press launch for the MV Agusta Turismo Veloce 800.

We have just had the media debrief on the new Adventure-Sport machine, where MV Agusta President and CEO Giovanni Castiglioni had some interesting news.

First, the Turismo Veloce is the last of the new three-cylinder models from MV Agusta, as the Italian manufacturer feels it has completely exhausted the market segments for the three-cylinder platform.

Second, the MV Agusta is in the process of bringing out an all-new four-cylinder platform, which we presumably will start seeing as early as the 2015 EICMA show, as MV Agusta expects to debut four new models for 2016.

It’s finally here. After much speculation and teasing, the 2015 MV Agusta F4 RC superbike is finally officially official, with official pictures and official specs to boot.

Confirming much of what we already knew, MV Agusta’s spec sheet has the F4 RC making 212 hp with the race exhaust, or 202.5 hp in street trim, while peak torque is 84.8 lbs•ft in either configuration.

Thanks to carbon fiber fairings, titanium connecting bolts and exhaust, lithium-ion battery, forged aluminum wheels, and magnesium casings, the MV Agusta F4 RC is 33 lbs lighter than the RR model, with a 386 lbs dry weight.

As expected, the 2015 MV Agusta F4 RC is equipped with the MVICS 2.0 electronics system, which includes traction control, ABS, rear-wheel lift control, and quick-shifter.

To paraphrase a little bit, Troy Bayliss is absolutely, positively, for reals this time, never going to race in World Superbikes again, or so said the 45-year-old Australian after he completed the second WSBK race in Thailand on Sunday.

Bayliss has been filling in for the injured Davide Giugliano on the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike factory squad, but it seems the three-time WSBK champion will call it quits here in Thailand.

The announcement also effectively squashes rumors that Bayliss would do a couple more races with Ducati, as Giugliano is pegged to be absent for two more rounds.

On a hot, sweltering, hazy day in Buriram, race day began and ended in green — Irishman Johnny Rea on his Kawasaki had a belated St. Patrick’s Day celebration, absolutely dominating the field in almost every session.

The design of the new Chang International Circuit allows for several places to get shots of fast-sweepers, particularly in the second half of the lap – with a thoughtfully constructed concrete path for media scooters to quickly cover the track capturing the race.

However, the relative absence of texture – apart from lots of concrete and track markings – means the possibilities for creating classic images of riders at iconic corners are harder to come by.

Perhaps the most moving moment was when local boy, Ratthapark “Film” Wilairot won the World Supersport race. Parc ferme was a delightful chaos of emotion, with Film’s young son finding his way into his father’s arms. I Hope you enjoy this selection from race day.

The first ever round of the World Superbikes Championship in Thailand is underway this weekend. Here are a collection of images from the action on Saturday. — the combination of heat and dampness created for some interesting shimmers for the photographers.

As you will see, a rainy morning practice got the riders rather thoughtful. Phillip Island pole-sitter, Jonathan Rea, seemed to begin where he left off in Australia. In Superpole 2, he had five laps out of seven, any one of which could have got him into the Top Five. No wonder, he seemed all smiles afterward. Enjoy the photos!

The Chang International Circuit is an unknown for everyone in World Superbikes this weekend. A new track in a new country represents many challenges for the teams and the riders, as they try to figure the fastest way around it.

It is an unknown for fans, too, most of them only having seen the track layout map on the World Superbike website.

Fortunately, racing has already taken place at the Chang circuit. The Asian Road Racing Championship held a round at the track in November 2014, which included two races from the Supersport 600 class. On its YouTube channel, it also has the full races from every round of the series, including the races at Chang.