World Superbikes 2010

[Testarossa6000]

For the bikers amongst us .... 28 days before kick off to the racing season (yea, I know Dakar and Monte done already), but this is where it starts for me and I come out of hibernation to the roar of engines at Philip Island. Hmmm ... a tough one. Nori on the Duc or JT on the Yam ... Decisions decisions.

Here is the provisional entry list from Crash (http://www.crash.net/world+superbikes/news/156199/1/provisional_wsbk_entry_list_revealed.html?utm_sour ce=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss):

41 Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098R
84 Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098R
35 Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda Team Yamaha YZF R1
52 James Toseland GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda Team Yamaha YZF R1
65 Jonathan Rea GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR
76 Max Neukirchner GER HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR
2 Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Racing Aprilia RSV-4 1000
3 Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing Aprilia RSV-4 1000
50 Sylvain Guintoli FRA Team Suzuki Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000
91 Leon Haslam GBR Team Suzuki Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000
11 Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad BMW S1000RR
111 Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad BMW S1000RR
66 Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki WSRT Kawasaki ZX-10R
77 Chris Vermeulen AUS Kawasaki WSRT Kawasaki ZX-10R
96 Jakub Smrz CZE Borciani-Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R
95 Roger Lee Hayden USA Team Pedercini Kawasaki Kawasaki ZX-10R
TBA TBA Team Pedercini Kawasaki Kawasaki ZX-10R
TBA TBA DFX Corse Ducati 1098R
7 Carlos Checa ESP Althea Racing Ducati 1098R
67 Shane Byrne GBR Althea Racing Ducati 1098R
31 Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA Squadra Corse Italia Honda CBR1000RR
23 Broc Parkes AUS ECHO CRS Grand Prix Honda CBR1000RR
88 Andrew Pitt AUS Reitwagen Motorsport BMW S1000RR
123 Roland Resch AUT Reitwagen Motorsport BMW S1000RR
49 Makoto Tamada JPN Pro Ride SBK Honda CBR1000RR
99 Luca Scassa ITA Supersonic Team Ducati 1098R

[Bikus]

Great ! Hope to see good races .

[Testarossa6000]

Saturday test results - looking more like British superbikes by the minute - just need Shakey and JT up there. Last year the most exciting racing was here with the Superbikes - so I am also looking forward to some great races, Bikus.

1. Jonathan Rea GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 1min 49.107s
2. Leon Haslam GBR Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 1min 49.391s
3. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 49.606s
4. Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha WSB YZF R1 1min 50.168s
5. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R 1min 50.616s
6. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1198 1min 51.167s
7. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 51.170s
8. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 1min 51.253s
9. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 1min 52.108s
10. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R 1min 53.854s
11. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Racing RSV-4 1min 54.008s
12. Chris Vermeulen AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R 1min 54.816s
13. Max Neukirchner GER Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 1min 54.829s
14. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1198 1min 55.094s
15. James Toseland GBR Yamaha WSB YZF R1 1min 55.478s
16. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA SCI Honda CBR1000RR 1min 57.001s
17. Shane Byrne GBR Althea Ducati 1098R 1min 57.963s
18. Javier Fores ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1min 58.409s
19. Broc Parkes AUS Echo-CRS Honda CBR1000RR 1min 58.896s
20. Roger Lee Hayden USA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1min 59.721s*

* Fastest lap set in AM session

[Bikus]

Some pictures :

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/1764/Motorcycle-Photo-Gallery/2010-World-Superbike-Season-Gallery.aspx

BTW , this is one of my favourite " bikes " site :

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/

Hope you gonna like it . ;-)

[Testarossa6000]

Thanks, Bikus - cool site - it's been added to my Reader. I tend to use http://www.worldsbk.com/en.html and http://www.crash.net/world_superbikes.

Here's my boy:
http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/PhotoGallerys/xlarge/James-Toseland-valencia-test-1.jpg

[Testarossa6000]

The Brits are on fire!

Portimao Testing - Superbike Overall (Friday/Saturday/Sunday)
by federica.marti@infrontsports.com (Federica Marti)

1 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'42.270
2 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'42.557
3 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1'42.877
4 35 Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1'42.960
5 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'43.137
6 52 Toseland J. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1'43.157
7 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. 1'43.364
8 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1'43.417
9 76 Neukirchner M. (GER) Honda CBR1000RR 1'43.471
10 50 Guintoli S. (FRA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'43.508
11 7 Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1'43.629
12 2 Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. 1'43.749
13 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'43.931
14 77 Vermeulen C. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'44.108
15 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'44.365
16 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1'44.570
17 23 Parkes B. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 1'44.751
18 31 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'45.348
19 95 Hayden R. (USA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'46.990
20 12 Fores J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'47.293

[Testarossa6000]

... and the season begins at Philip Island with the Superbikes :-bounce. Provisional superpole to Checa - here's the blurb from Worldsbk.com and here are (http://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/latest-news/1530-phillip-island-superbike-qualifying-1st-session.html)the results of 1st qualy. For those dedicated ... 04.00 27/3 on Eurosport 2 for Superpole; and on Sunday Race 1 on @ 01.00 Eurosport 2 with Race 2 @ 04.30 (with Supersport inbetween).

Scorching weather conditions for the first qualifying session at Phillip Island saw Carlos Checa (Ducati Althea) continue his good testing form with a 1'32.155 lap, leading Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) and Leon Haslam (Suzuki Alstare). Checa was only 0.007 seconds ahead of Fabrizio, 0.218 ahead of Englishman Haslam.

The air temperature in qualifying was 33°C, the track temperature a very high 51°C, which made the hour-long session hard work for all competitors.

Checa's team-mate Shane Byrne went fourth fastest but suffered a fast highside crash at the final corners of his last lap, while trying to improve his ranking still further. Several riders fell in what was an expectedly close and intense period of qualifying.

Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) was fifth today, Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing) went sixth fastest but was also a faller in the final session of the day.

Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) was top Honda rider in the opening qualifying battle, seventh, with Sylvain Guintoli's Suzuki eighth.

Jakub Smrz was ninth fastest on his privateer Pata B&G Racing Ducati, and the top ten was rounded out by Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha World Superbike) the top Yamaha rider.

Chris Vermeulen scored 12th on his Kawasaki Racing Team bike, Troy Corser, another late faller, put his BMW Motorrad Motorsport S1000RR 16th, but was on course for a vast improvement in lap time before his fall.

James Toseland was a faller in the session, while Ruben Xaus crashed three times today, but recovered each time and went 19th in the ranking.

One more session remains for riders to try and qualifying for Superpole on Saturday, with Superpole determining the final top 20 grid places.

The top 20 riders were all within 1.910 seconds, the top ten within 0.883 seconds today.

Carlos Checa: "I know what I can do. I have to confirm my time tomorrow but I know that I wish we had the same weather as today for the race. The crash in qualifying was not a problem. Ducati's work very well at Phillip Island and my pace at the moment is very good. I do not know yet if it is good enough for the race."

Michel Fabrizio: "We tried different tyre solutions this morning and various small things that my engineer wanted to test. I had a fall, losing the front, but without causing myself, or my bike, too much damage thankfully. Then in the qualifying session we sorted a lot of things out and with the tyre solution that may well be the one to choose for the race many riders were able to drop their times. During my fast lap I lost a couple of tenths through the last corner but I'm fairly happy anyway; we've worked well and I'm satisfied with the results. We have a good race pace but a lot will depend on Sunday's weather."

[Testarossa6000]

The Suzukis on form - thank goodness Haslam is keeping the biaggi at bay. It was too much to take with no3 taking the double - got to say that his Aprilia was flying on the straights. Ah well. My boy - JT, of course, is improving with every race and looking really good on the bike. These boys know how to race - this is really edge of seat racing.

Excellent schedule here with Superbikes in the morning and MotoGP in the evening and a peppering of supercars thrown in at Le Castellet - excellent the motorsport season is well and truly here!

TV timings:

Saturday
Eurosport 2
14.00 WSBK Superpole
17.00 Superstock Superpole

Sunday
Eurosport 2
09.30 – 15.30 Live World Superbikes

Official site here (http://www.worldsbk.com/en.html)

[Bikus]

Haslam is in good shape so far . Haga ? I was afraid that last year was his really " last " year in the Ttitle fight . I don´t believe in his motivation anymore . Sad but true . Anyway , like you said already , races were great . Fingers crossed for your " boy " too .;-)

[Bikus]

Well , I'm glad Haga proved me wrong . What a racer . Brilliant style .

[Testarossa6000]

Excellent race by Haga - was great seeing Nitro Nori on form again - he really is a class act. Unfortunately, he can't seem to keep doing it race after race. Last year had Fabrizio given way, he would have had it, but hey ... Tardozzi decided no team orders - so that was that.
I just hope that the biaggi does sneakily win the championship by keeping on the podium in each race - that would be sickening!

Anyway, onward to Assen - just love that track - we should be in for some good racing this weekend. Shame about Motegi! Good thing is we have a longer motogp season!