Donington Park
Donington Park lease reverts back to circuit owners
Source: Bike Sport News RSS Feed - Tuesday, 17th August 2010, 0:00 GMTThe Leicestershire circuit goes back to being run by the Wheatcroft family. Read article
Classic Racing: Donington to re-open for bike racing with the Classic Revival 3 day meeting
Source: bikeracenews.com - Wednesday, 11th August 2010, 13:39 GMTThe Classic Racing Motorcycle Club is staging a 3 day race meeting at this famous circuit to celebrate Donington Park’s welcome return to motorsport. The race action is set to be fast and furious featuring bikes from the heydays of the sport, remember the classic motorcycles that the likes of Agostini, Hailwood, Tait, Sheene and Grant [...] Read article
DONINGTON PARK RE-OPENS WITH CLASSIC RACING THIS WEEKEND
Source: Bike Sport News RSS Feed - Tuesday, 10th August 2010, 0:00 GMTThe CRMC kicks off Donington Park's return to racing this weekend Read article
Silverstone Facts & Figures
Source: WORLDSBK.COM | NEWS - Tuesday, 3rd August 2010, 10:55 GMTSuperbike • At Silverstone Cal Crutchlow won his first race, recorded the double and both fastest laps, entering the elite of twenty riders who have been able to record such a feat. The list is led by Troy Corser and Carl Fogarty, with six races dominated in similar fashion. Before Silverstone the last time it was recorded was last year at Donington (Ben Spies). • Cal also recorded his tenth front row start: in his short Superbike career he has never qualified lower than ninth.• For the fourteenth and fifteenth time in Superbike history the podium was locked out by riders coming from the same country, in this case the United Kingdom. It happened also this year in Assen in both races. With six total podiums in two races, the UK goes over the 300 total podium mark, at 304, moving closer to Australia, which leads with 329.• With the win in race one, Yamaha reached 200 Superbike podium presences, they are third in the all-time rankings behind Ducati (447) and Honda (295). Supersport • Tenth win for Eugene Laverty. He is at his sixth season win, only two shy of the season record of eight set by Kenan Sofuoglu in 2007;• Kenan Sofuoglu scored his fifteenth fastest lap, equalling Sebastien Charpentier at the top of the all-time chart. The Turkish rider is on his thirteenth straight podium, and also in this he has equalled the absolute record set by Charpentier from Brands Hatch 2004 to Assen 2005;• 80th Supersport win for Honda;• Maiden podium for Gino Rea: he is the sixth youngest rider to climb on the podium at 20 years, 11 months and 13 days. The record belongs to Yoann Tiberio, who was 19 years 5 months and 21 days old when he won in Monza in 2006. Superstock 1000 • Ayrton Badovini is mathematically champion with his seventh season win and for the fourth time he managed to score pole, win and fastest lap;• Thanks to Ayrton's performances, BMW reached Yamaha at the longest sequence of wins, seven. Yamaha posted their streak in 2004 with Lorenzo Alfonsi (3 wins) and Gianluca Vizziello (4);• Badovini's one was the 60th win by an Italian rider in Superstock 1000. Italy leads the chart in front of Great Britain (18) and Belgium (11). Read article
Crutchlow all fired up by home encounter
Source: WORLDSBK.COM | NEWS - Friday, 30th July 2010, 9:23 GMTIn his debut season in World Superbike Yamaha Sterilgarda man Cal Crutchlow looks to be well on his way to becoming the ‘Rookie of the Year'. Four podiums, all third places, as well as four poles and four fastest laps however are for the moment not a particularly satisfying tally for the 24 year-old from Coventry, who will be trying to propel himself and his Yamaha R1 to his and its first win of the year at the UK circuit. "The home race is no different to any other race," said Cal Crutchlow. "I always want to do well and give it my best shot. Last year in World Supersport at Donington I did the same. I especially hope that we put on a good show for all the fans that turn out to see the seven Brits in action. We had some tyre issues at Brno; hopefully these won't be repeated this round and we can focus on being fastest all weekend and delivering two race wins." Crutchlow's crew chief Marcus Eschenbacher is convinced that it will not be easy to find the right set-up on a track that is full of character. "Silverstone is a completely new track for us so we have to evaluate a new gearbox, chassis and electronic setup. The track has all kinds of character, a fast part and also a very tight infield. The challenge will be to find the best compromise in a very short timeframe. We will start the weekend with our base setup that we've developed bit by bit. We also have some new chassis setups to try; this will be introduced in the spare bike. So we hope to find the best gearbox and base setup on Friday and start fine tuning on Saturday." Read article
A look back at Silverstone
Source: WORLDSBK.COM | NEWS - Wednesday, 28th July 2010, 14:50 GMT2007 - After Donington, another race of the 2007 championship on British soil was marred by the weather: in Silverstone the rain was heavy on Sunday and the first race was almost processional as the riders tried to avoid costly mistakes. Bayliss, Haga and Corser ran in formation in the second part of the race, without any major episodes among them, and finished in that order. All attention however was on Toseland: James fell in the early stages and broke a pipe in his cooling system. He climbed back on the bike and was able to finish eighth, with practically no coolant in his radiators! Race two was cancelled due to the extremely poor weather conditions. 2006 - At Silverstone heavy rain was present on Saturday and pole position went to local boy Tommy Hill. The races were dry and the usual suspects were out in front: Haga took the lead followed by Bayliss, Walker, and Xaus. Ruben passed Walker on the third lap, and after three laps put his 999F05 Ducati in front of the works 999F06 of Bayliss for second place. Xaus was able to stay in second place until lap thirteen, where the absence of a sophisticated traction control unit started to tell on the tyres and Bayliss went past him. Xaus had to slow his pace, while Bayliss was free to catch up on Haga, passed him on lap nineteen and went for the win in front of the Japanese rider. A bad race for Corser, who fell on the opening laps. In race 2 it was down to Haga and Bayliss once again, with the Japanese rider all over the back of Troy's exhausts. At one point Bayliss let past Haga and studied him for an entire lap. On the following lap he went back in the lead and quickly pulled out a good gap between him and the Yamaha rider who was able to maintain a good pace, but not enough to prevent another Bayliss double. 2005 - The Ducati factory team was having a low-key season, but their resurgence came in the European round at Silverstone. Despite being only third and seventh on the grid, Laconi and Toseland managed to win respectively the first and second race. In race 1 Corser tried to pull away, chased by Haga, but once Laconi was able to dispose of Walker it was clear that he was a force to be reckoned with. He recorded the fastest lap on lap 9 and caught the leaders on lap 11. Haga didn't resist long and had to concede second place on the following lap, then it was Corser's turn. The Australian fought fiercely and Laconi was able to conquer first place for good only on lap 16. In the meantime Toseland had snatched third place while Kagayama fell and Haga was forced to slow down and eventually retire in the final laps with fuel pump failure. In race 2 the story was exactly the same, with the only change being that it was the Toseland who did what Laconi had done in race 1. The Corser-Haga duel lasted for the first eleven laps, but then Toseland stormed in, caught them by lap 12 and with a couple of passes on laps 16 and 17 took the lead, leaving Corser in second and Haga in third. Read article
Donington reopens for business
Source: Insidebikes | Carole Nash » Bike News - Wednesday, 28th July 2010, 9:16 GMTDonington Park is open for business once again, with the circuit opening its doors to motorcycle track day events less than a year after a stalled redevelopment plan left the circuit in a state of disrepair. Focused Events are offering bikers the opportunity to be amongst the first people to ride at Donington Park circuit after its failed attempt to attract F1 racing, with a double track day event on August 21st/22nd. For £159 on either Saturday or Sunday, riders will get top BSB instruction from Niall Mackenzie and Chris Walker as they look to master the national circuit. Bikes from the Focused Events hire fleet will also be available for hire. The track weekend will also host a round of the TTXGP ‘zero emissions’ series (practice on Saturday lunch break, race Sunday lunch break), the first major event since the circuit was decommissioned after the former promoter, Donington Ventures Leisure Limited, went into administration after failing to secure funding for the £135m package needed to make Donington suitable for hosting F1. For more information on this and any other Focused Events activities please call 0845 0267272 or info@focusedevents.com and for full event and circuit details see www.focusedevents.com Read article
Brno – A look back at 2009
Source: WORLDSBK.COM | NEWS - Friday, 9th July 2010, 8:16 GMTIn Brno a battered Haga, suffering from his Donington fracture, tried to limit the damage from a rampant Ben Spies. The Texan took yet another pole, narrowly beating Michel Fabrizio and Max Biaggi, with the first five riders in less than one second. At the first corner of the first race Troy Corser was able to take briefly the lead in front of Rea, Biaggi and Spies, but it was only a matter of time before Ben worked his way to the front after a couple of failed attempts. Spies took the lead at the third lap and the front group quickly stretched out, with Biaggi able to stay close to the American, Corser a few meters behind and then Fabrizio, who passed the Australian and at the beginning of the fourth lap closed on Biaggi. Fabrizio passed Max on the last Esses (a spot where in the past he was able to snatch several important places, notably in the final laps) and recorded the fastest lap in the process, a clear indication of his strength on the Czech track. Michel however overdid things on the following lap and tried the same move on Spies, who was already turning in on the left hander, the Ducati rider fell and collected the American. He immediately went to Spies to apologize, but the damage for Spies was done and Haga, Fabrizio's team-mate, could enjoy an immediate gain of two places. This was a dramatic turn of events for the championship, as with the positions on the fourth lap Spies would have gained 19 points over Haga, on the other hand, with Haga eighth and Spies sidelined by Fabrizio the Japanese rider gained 8 points on the Texan. From that point on the race was pretty much processional, with Biaggi already with more than one and a half seconds clear of the rest: on his favourite track Max had only to control the gap over second placed Checa and take his first win after nearly two years, as his last success was in Vallelunga, 2007. In race 2 Corser was able to enjoy a good start again and took the lead, but that lasted only a few laps like in race 1, then Spies, Fabrizio and Biaggi took command and pulled away from the rest. Biaggi seemed increasingly tired of sitting behind Fabrizio and tried every lap to pass him between turn three and four, every time ending up wide. Biaggi only managed to claim second on lap 15, at his sixth attempt, and recorded the fastest race lap, setting his sights on Spies. Four laps from the end Max made a couple of attempts and lined up Ben, but every time he had to give up: Spies after the race admitted he was braking later than usual to avoid possible attacks by Max, but this nearly ended in tears when he nearly high-sided his Yamaha in the middle of the Esses which make up turn 3 and 4. This enabled Biaggi to close in on the uphill section, but Spies was able to brake very late and keep a tight line on the final Esses to emerge as the winner. Read article
Ducati Xerox riders recharged and ready to race
Source: WORLDSBK.COM | NEWS - Thursday, 8th July 2010, 12:15 GMTAsk either Ducati Xerox rider, Michel Fabrizio or Noriyuki Haga, what their favourite circuits are and somewhere high on the list would be Brno. Its intoxicating mix of fast and flowing chicanes, plus frequent changes of elevation wrapped in a wonderfully scenic backdrop make Brno a favourite with many riders. Despite Haga not winning there since 2005, and Fabrizio not winning there at all, it is a circuit each rider believes he can do well at come raceday on Sunday 11th July. Said Haga after a busy period of testing at Imola, "I like the Brno track and don't really know why I haven't done better. I have won a race there but that feels like a few years back now! Last year was especially hard work after the accident at Donington. I needed lots of painkillers in order to get through race day and all in all the results were not so bad; of course we want to do a lot better than that this year though." For Fabrizio, Brno is something of a magic track, for the most part at least, and he has secured podiums there more often than not. "Traditionally I've done well at Brno in recent years but, although I've had a lot of podium success, I haven't ever won a Superbike race there," said Michel. "I was happy to be back on the podium at Misano just recently but I really had to fight tooth and nail to get there; the competition won't be any easier to beat at Brno, but I'm feeling confident that I can do well." Both Haga and Fabrizio have won races in 2010 already, Haga at Valencia race two and Fabrizio in race one at Kyalami. Currently Haga is fifth, Fabrizio eighth in the rankings. Read article
Donington close to rescue deal
Source: Insidebikes | Carole Nash » Bike News - Thursday, 27th May 2010, 10:54 GMTDonington Park owner Kevin Wheatcroft has agreed a deal in principle that could save the East Midlands circuit and see cars and bikes racing down the famous Craner Curves once again. Donington has been out of use since the British MotoGP last season after a £135m development to make the circuit capable of hosting F1 fell through, plunging circuit promoter Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd into administration and leaving the race circuit in a state of disrepair. Since then, no events have been held at the venue but the Wheatcroft family, who bought back the circuit from DVLL, claim that they have agreed a deal in principle with Worcestershire-based Adroit Group for a 25-year lease that could see racing return to the famous venue. “We are particularly pleased that after a long interview process we feel we have found the right people to move Donington forward into a new and exciting future,” said Wheatcroft. “Adroit impressed us from the first time we met them and we have every confidence in their ability and vision for Donington.” Overhaul Managing director of Adroit Group David Broome stated his desire to restore Donington Park to “a world-class standard”, adding: “The entire site needs attention, whilst much of it will require a total overhaul. That is from the track itself to the medical centre, hospitality suites, phone, radio and PA systems, IT systems, CCTV and general ground work. There is no magic wand, but through a calm, cautious, credible and sensible approach we know we have the experience, expertise and absolute commitment to bring the glory years back to Donington. “There is a ‘Save Donington’ Facebook site with 14,500 members. I’m looking forward to welcoming every one of those enthusiasts to a ‘Donington is Saved’ group. The racing world needs to see Donington put back on its feet, and that is exactly what we are going to do.” Read article
