For all of us on bikes…WorldSBK takes a quick look at the facts & figures that emerged from Round 4 of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship at Monza.
Maiden win on home soil for Marco Melandri: up to now the BMW rider had run eleven races on Italian tracks (including also Misano and Imola) but hadn’t been able to climb on the highest step of the podium in his home country. This was also the first BMW win in Monza, at their eighth race here. Continue reading →
Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) has taken revenge over Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) after first race defeat for the win to achieve a crucial victory in Eni FIM Superbike World Championship Race 2 at Monza. The Irishman grabbed the lead on the penultimate lap and defended the position from a competitive Melandri, who set the fastest lap of the race right before the chequered flag in 1’42.379.
With his 3rd race win of 2013, Laverty equals the same number of victories achieved in the past two seasons to close the gap on the Championship leader Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) to 13 points, with Tom Sykes 3rd at 18 points from the top.
The Kawasaki Racing Team rider completed the podium ahead of Guintoli, as both riders were part of the 4-way battle that characterised most of the 18-lap race. Continue reading →
The final race for Round 3 of eni FIM Superbike World Championship at Assen saw a close battle between race 1 winner Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team), who pulled away at the front in the early laps. Sykes stayed on the lead until lap 19, when Laverty decided to take the plunge and made a move on the Brit at Turn 6.
Sykes managed to stay with the Irishman until the end and tried his final shot at the win at Turn 16, with the two riders crossing the line side by side. A 0.089 seconds margin allowed Eugene Laverty to score his 5th career win, the 2nd one in 2013 after Phillip Island Race 2. Continue reading →
Aboard their Ducati 1199 Panigale RS13 Superbikes, Team Ducati Alstare riders, Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini, will now get a massive boost of support from fans enjoying the famous “Ducati Grandstands” organised for five rounds of the 2013 World Superbike Championship. Continue reading →
As the 2013 World Superbike championship kicks off at Phillip Island in Australia this weekend, it’s our pleasure to bring you an onboard lap of the circuit with Pata Honda rider Jonathan Rea. The 26-year-old rider from Northern Ireland talks us through a flying lap of the 4.445km circuit which was recorded by Gary Price of GSP Media at last week’s private test at Phillip Island. (via Newspress)
14 years is a long time by any means – unless you’re into inter-galactic travel – and the 2013 World Superbike Championship season is witness to Belgian outfit Team Alstare ending their stint with Suzuki Racing, and beginning a new one with Ducati Corse. We know that Team Ducati Alstare might sound a bit odd, thanks to the close association with Suzuki, but as they say, time heals everything. Check out the two videos by Team Alstare, which shows them say goodbye to Suzuki and hello to the Italian marque. Continue reading →
There has been much talk recently about upcoming changes and revisions that will dumb down World Superbike racing. With Dorna pushing an agenda that brings the top-flight production-bike class into something that are actually similar to the bikes on the showroom floor, there is, quite obviously, a huge number of enthusiasts who would hate to see the current machinery disappear. While the new rules may make WSBK more affordable, we’re sure to miss the eye-candy that are the current WSBK machines. Case in point, the WSBK-spec BMW S1000RR courtesy the BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK team. Check out the huge image gallery below. So sexy, it should be classified NSFW! Continue reading →
Have you seen Alfa Romeo’s Quadrifoglio Verde SBK, a limited edition MiTo that’s the result of a multi-year collaboration with the FIM World Superbike Championship? To mark the model’s arrival in the UK, Alfa coordinated a world-first driving dare involving precision driver Paul Swift and British Superbike rider Chris ‘The Stalker’ Walker. Four wheels met two at Silverstone circuit in a challenging manoeuvre with Chris on a Kawasaki ZX-10R Ninja ‘undertaking’ Paul in the Alfa MiTo SBK with the car up on two wheels. As Paul took the Alfa MiTo SBK around the sweeping Brooklands corner, Chris throttled in on the inside line, building up enough speed to get the bike over and, for a brief moment, go under the chassis of the Alfa MiTo SBK before speeding out the other side to safety.
To celebrate its WSBK-winning performance last year, Aprilia is coming out with a limited-edition sportsbike, the 2013 RSV4 APRC ABS SBK Special Edition. Based on the 2013 RSV4 Factory APRC, it will boast a new variation of Brembo’s monobloc caliper, with the hardware linked to a newly designed Bosch-sourced multi-mode ABS system. Continue reading →
Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam have completed a two-day test at Jerez in Spain, their first track outing in the new Pata Honda World Superbike livery and the final European winter test for the team.
The team used its second test at Jerez – new to the World Superbike championship calendar for the 2013 season – to concentrate on the new electronics package that is being developed from Honda’s MotoGP project. Continue reading →
Coming from Switzerland, a cool looking 1970 Triumph 650 Bobber by Chris Berther. Awesome!
Thanks Chris...
