World Supersport
Leon Haslam On Suzukis, WSBK vs Moto2 vs MotoGP And US Road Trips
Source: MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks - ... that MZ in Moto2 has a nice ring to it - Wednesday, 17th March 2010, 21:37 GMTIn the run up to the 2010 US World Superbike round in Utah, Miller Motorsports Park has been organizing a series of telephone press conferences with riders participating in the World Superbike and World Supersport series this season. Yesterday, it was the turn of Alstare Suzuki's Leon Haslam, son of Rocket Ron and current championship leader after the first two races at Phillip Island. Haslam is always an interesting interview subject, as the excellent interview which Jim Race of MotoGPOD did a couple of weeks' ago proved, and Tuesday's conference was no exception. Among the subjects Haslam touches upon are how he got into roadracing; the benefits of riding a range of machinery before landing a factory ride; the relative merits of good rides in Moto2, MotoGP and World Superbikes; and last but not least the quality of Virgin Airlines complimentary pyjamas. Find out all about it in the transcript below: read more Read article
Spinal Charity backing Laverty
Source: Insidebikes | Carole Nash » Bike News - Saturday, 13th March 2010, 4:56 GMTA North West spinal injuries charity has teamed up with World Supersport title challengers Parkalgar Honda in an attempt to raise £30,000 - and is calling on local businesses to back the scheme. The Southport based charity Spinal Unit Action Group (SUAG) is the supporting charity to the Regional Spinal Injury Unit based in Southport Hospital that funds holidays, travel expenses, driving lessons, equipment and monthly “nights in” with home cooked meals for patients and relatives. SUAG also provides specialist care for anyone with a spinal injury disability, including residential and respite care. The home has 12 beds within its property and is the only charity of its type in the UK offering this service to residents and their families. It is funded from donations and now urgently needs £30,000 to improve and maintain the standards of accommodation for residents and guests as well as complying with the latest regulations. In an attempt to raise much needed funds, the charity is calling on local businesses to give their backing to Parkalgar Honda rider Eugene Laverty, favourite to win the 2010 World Supersport championship, and his teammate Miguel Praia. Businesses are being encouraged to pledge every point that the team picks up in 2010, with Southport based claims handling specialist Plantec Holdings, the first to sign-up, committing £10 per point for every Championship point the team scores in 2010. “If Eugene wins the Championship and Miguel gets into the top 10 then they could score around 250 - 300 points which means we will be donating around £3000 to SUAG at the end of the race season,” said Plantec Holdings MD Lee Evans. “It only takes nine other businesses to commit the same and some public support and SUAG will hit its much needed target.” By teaming up with the World Supersport Championship title favourite team Parkalgar Honda, SUAG will be advertised to hundreds of thousands of potential contributors throughout 2010. Rider Eugene Laverty won the opening round of the Championship at Phillip Island in Australia last weekend and his team mate Miguel Praia finished ninth, already earning the team 32 points this season. “Spinal injuries are very common with motorcyclists and racing so I am happy to be supporting SUAG; anything to help people and their families with spinal injuries is a good thing in my book,” said Laverty. Racing over 13-rounds against the best riders in the world, donations or pledges can be taken at any time through the year and the plan is for title favourite Eugene Laverty to visit Southport in the summer to meet SUAG and its corporate sponsors and then end up at a bikers’ meeting point. To pledge support to the fund raising drive call SUAG on 01519-292535 or 01695-558455. E-mail SUAG on vjp24@hotmail.co.uk or alan.bridge41@btinternet.com. The total amount raised will be published at the end of October when the race season finishes. For more information on SUAG visit www.suag.co.uk, for more information on Plantec Holdings visit www.plantecholdings.co.uk and for more information on Parkalgar Honda visit www.performancetechnicalracing.com. Read article
2010 Phillip Island WSBK Video Highlight Reels
Source: MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks - ... that the winter is now officially over for racing fans - Sunday, 28th February 2010, 21:31 GMTThere was much disappointment around the world when it was announced, shortly before the first round at Phillip Island, that the 2010 World Superbike season would not be shown live online on the World Superbike website, as it has been done in previous years. The reason was simple: TV companies - who had paid sizable sums to Infront Motor Sports to screen the races live - were fed up of losing their audiences (and therefore their advertising income) to the website of the company they had handed their money over to. Fortunately, the World Superbike series can lend at least some succour to racing fans. For Infront has placed highlight reels of both World Superbike and the World Supersport race up on the World Superbike series' Youtube channel, Read article
WSS: Sofuoglu on the podium in World Supersport opener
Source: bikeracenews.com - Sunday, 28th February 2010, 18:39 GMTKenan Sofuoglu finished third in today’s opening race of the 2010 World Supersport championship at Phillip Island in Australia. The race was won by fellow Honda rider Eugene Laverty Starting from second place on the grid, Sofuoglu overshot turn four on the opening lap and was fighting his way back into contention when he crashed at [...] Read article
2010 Phillip Island WSS Race Results – Dominant Victory After Restarted Race
Source: MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks - ... that the winter is now officially over for racing fans - Sunday, 28th February 2010, 9:02 GMTResults of the World Supersport race at Phillip Island: Read article
Haslam and Checa share opening day victories
Source: WORLDSBK.COM | NEWS - Sunday, 28th February 2010, 6:29 GMTLeon Haslam (Suzuki Alstare) and Carlos Checa (Althea Ducati) took a win apiece at Phillip Island in what was a sensational start to the 2010 WSBK season in Australia. In dry conditions, in front of 65,500 fans, the action was intense in each 22-lap race, with the leading three riders within 0.769 seconds of each other in race one and the leading four within 0.837 seconds in race two. "Pirelli's opening race weekend saw spectacular racing with new faces on all accounts, starting from a Superpole led by Haslam, Fabrizio and Crutchlow on three different machines. Race 1 finished 7 seconds faster than previous year, a race so close between Suzuki and Ducati that it demanded a photo finish. New to Superbike, Sylvain Guintoli led Race 2 for many laps and set the Pirelli Best Lap on his first race on the Suzuki. Race time dropped by 4 seconds over 2009, and Checa impressively took his new bike and new team Althea straight to the top of the podium. The Supersport race, 5 seconds faster as well, Laverty lead a very precise race from start to finish on his Honda from Parkalgar. It's fantastic to see such diverse results from all the manufacturers, especially at the start of the season." Giorgio Barbier, Racing Director, Pirelli Moto. Race 1 It took a close look at the photo finish images to split Leon Haslam from his race long rival Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), but by only 0.004 seconds the Alstare Suzuki rider was given the win. It was the closest ever finish in the WSBK class, as Leon took his first career win in the Superbike World Championship. Fabrizio was originally awarded the victory but before the slow down lap had been completed, Haslam was confirmed as the winner. Noriyuki Haga took his Ducati Xerox machine to third, being part of the leading battle throughout. Jonathan Rea, Max Biaggi, Sylvain Guintoli and Carlos Checa battled it out over fourth place, with Jakub Smrz, Troy Corser and Lorenzo Lanzi completing the first race top ten. Haslam: "It's not sunk in just yet, especially as it was such a close finish and not knowing if I had won for a while. That definitely added to the anticipation. I can't thank my team enough they have been solid since day one and to repay them with this is great. I'm a little speechless now. I changed my style towards the end and I rode as smoothly as possible. It worked, but it was close at the end." Michel Fabrizio: "I thought I had won the race. When I saw the big screen after the finish I saw my family and the crew chief celebrating, so I thought I had it." Noriyuki Haga: "I did not have any big injury after my crash in morning warm-up but some swelling in my right arm. My personal trainer made a good massage before the race and I took some painkilling injections. The race was tough and I had arm pump, so that made me make some mistakes under braking. But it was fun to race with them at the front." Race 2 Carlos Checa (Althea Ducati) won a thrilling race two at Phillip Island, by only 0.307 from Leon Haslam, whom he passed on the final section of the track, in convincing style. Third went to Michel Fabrizio, but a great ride from new SBK rider Sylvain Guintoli put him fourth on his Suzuki Alstare machine in only his fourth ever SBK event. Noriyuki Haga was fifth, Jonathan Rea heading up a busy and exciting midfield battle in sixth, after losing ten seconds by running wide on lap one, and then fighting through the pack. Troy Corser took his BMW to seventh in race two. Carlos Checa: "The plan was to start the second race well and we chose a softer tyre. We changed the bike and we improved in the braking points, so I could overtake people. When you are close to four other riders it is not easy to overtake and make it permanent but I passed in the right time and at the right places. This was one of the best races in my life, so thanks to my new team." Leon Haslam: "I had a few laps behind Sylvain my team-mate and in some corners I could not stay with him given the grip he had out of the corners. But I got the lead again and it was all going to plan until Carlos managed to come along and nip up the inside to win." Michel Fabrizio: "We didn't make any changes to the bike between race one and race two. I think it would have been very difficult for me to win, but if Carlos had not been in the mix I may have been able to push in the last three or four laps. I was having some problems by that time so it was very difficult to try and win." World Supersport - Laverty wins by clear margin Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) won the opening race of the year by 4.359 seconds with a masterful display of front running, heading up the official Kawasaki of pole man Joan Lascorz and the Honda of Kenan Sofuoglu. Laverty also set the race fastest lap, 1'35.204, on lap six. The first attempt at the race was first stopped and finally abandoned due to oil being dropped on the track, and a complete-restart was called. The subsequent 21-lap race saw Laverty lead from the early stages again. Behind Laverty, Lascorz and Sofuoglu, Triumph rider David Salom was fourth, and the privateer Kawasaki of Fabien Foret made it onto the top five also. Pirelli Performance Awards: SBK Race 1 - Pirelli BEST LAPLeon Haslam (Team Suzuki Alstare) 1'32.193 (Lap 2) SBK Race 2 - Pirelli BEST LAPSylvain Guintoli (Team Suzuki Alstare) 1'32.236 (Lap 3) WSS - Pirelli BEST LAPEugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) 1'35.204 (Lap 6) Read article
2010 Phillip Island WSS Warm Up Results – Lascorz Again
Source: MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks - ... that the winter is now officially over for racing fans - Saturday, 27th February 2010, 23:15 GMTResults of the warm up session for the World Supersport class at Phillip Island: Read article
Laverty’s Manager Speaks: Unsurprisingly, He Tips Eugene For WSS In 2010
Source: MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks - ... that the winter is now officially over for racing fans - Saturday, 27th February 2010, 20:41 GMTIn the runup to the first World Supersport race of the 2010 season, MotoMatters.com - like every other motorcycle racing news outlet - is swamped with press releases. Unlike most other news outlets, however, we do not bother our readers with them, for they are, for the most part, bland and uninteresting fare, and completely interchangeable. Not all of them are so insipid, however. In the press releases of some teams, the character of the riders, press officer or team manager shines through, spicing them up and making them a much more palatable affair. And they don't come much spicier than the missives from the pen of Parkalgar Honda World Supersport boss Simon Buckmaster. Buckmaster is not shy of expressing his opinion, and likes to do so forcefully and frequently. This makes him a breath of fresh air, and always informative and entertaining to talk to, whether you agree with him or not. Just prior to the first race of the season getting underway, Buckmaster fired off a press release with his view of how the season will unfold, and who he thinks will be champion this season. It will come as no surprise to find out that the Parkalgar team boss believes that his very own Eugene Laverty will be the man holding the trophy at Magny-Cours in seven months' time, but his reasoning provides a fascinating insight into the politics of the World Supersport class, and is a very entertaining read to boot. Here's what Buckmaster has to say: Simon Buckmaster says... read more Read article
2010 Phillip Island WSS QP2 Results – Surprise Entrant On Front Row
Source: MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks - ... that the winter is now officially over for racing fans - Saturday, 27th February 2010, 7:44 GMTResults of qualifying for the World Supersport class at Phillip Island: read more Read article
2010 Phillip Island WSS FP2 Results – Lascorz Edges Sofuoglu
Source: MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks - ... that the winter is now officially over for racing fans - Saturday, 27th February 2010, 7:33 GMTResults of the second session of free practice for the World Supersport class at Phillip Island: Read article
