THE SACHSENRING: SLOW DOESN’T MEAN EASY Michelin goes to the slow-speed but technically challenging Sachsenring aiming to build on a successful Dutch TT, where Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) scored his third victory of the season and where three of the first four finishers were Michelin men, Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda Team RC212V-Michelin) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC212V-Michelin) following Rossi home in third and fourth. The Assen result highlighted the progress made by Michelin with its new construction rear slick, first introduced after the third round of the 2007 MotoGP World Championship. This new construction is designed to give riders more cornering stability, edge grip and acceleration traction, as required by the new breed of 800cc MotoGP machines. Michelin has an excellent record at the German GP, having won the last 15 premier-class GPs in the country, at Hockenheim, the Nurburgring and the Sachsenring. MICHELIN AND THE TECHNICAL CHALLENGE OF THE SACHSENRING The Sachsenring is one of the slower circuits on the MotoGP calendar. The German MotoGP venue’s lap record stands at 158.546km/h, only marginally faster than the championship’s five slowest circuits: Le Mans (158.255km/h), Jerez (157.265 km/h), Laguna Seca (155.953km/h), Valencia (155.159km/h and Estoril 153.759km/h. But just because the Sachsenring is slow doesn’t mean that it’s an easy venue for tire designers. The anti-clockwise track is all corners, with barely a straight worthy of the name, thus edge grip is a vital factor of performance, simply because bikes spend so much time leaned over. The Sachsenring’s defining feature is the long succession of left-hand-handers, from turn seven to turn 11, which has bikes leaning left for around 30 seconds, building serious heat into the left side of the tires. “It is an interesting track, quite different from the others,” says Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “We have to use quite different products for this race, so it’s interesting for us. The Sachsenring is a challenging track because it’s rather aggressive on tires, with a lot of long corners and invariably quite hot conditions in July. The layout is very asymmetric [ten left-handers against four rights], so there is a big difference between the compounds used on the left and right sides of the rear tires, though not quite as different as at some other places we go to. “Riders need a very stable front tire at this track because there’s a lot of braking, like at the crucial penultimate corner, plus a lot of fast corner entries, for which riders need real confidence. Our 16-inch front now works well everywhere and we think it should be good at the Sachsenring, especially since riders also need light handling for the slow corners. From the rear tire, riders need excellent edge grip, stability and traction for all the long corners, which should be good for our new construction.” DEVELOPMENT OF MICHELIN’S NEW CONSTRUCTION REAR SLICK Michelin’s new construction rear slick has so far been improved in three main steps ? the first tires were tested at Istanbul, following April’s Turkish GP, the second development at Le Mans, following May’s French GP, and the third at Catalunya, following June’s Catalan GP. “The new construction we’ve been working on since April has given us some good results, especially since our last MotoGP test session after the Catalan GP,” explains Weber. “We had very good results with the latest tires during those tests, during dry practice at Donington and during the race at Assen. “We have taken the main steps with this tire, now we are optimizing the product, based on ongoing feedback from our riders. We are still pushing very hard, our development teams and the people working in R&D are working very aggressively, making various detail improvements.” SACHSENRING DATA Lap record: Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC211V-Michelin), 1:23.355, 158.546km/h-98.516mph Pole position 2006: Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC211V-Michelin), 1:21.815 Recent winners of the German GP 2006 Valentino Rossi (Camel Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin), 41:59.248 2005 Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin), 35:04.434 (shortened restarted race) 2004 Max Biaggi (Camel Honda Team-Michelin), 42:23.287 2003 Sete Gibernau (Telefonica Movistar Honda RC211V-Michelin), 42:41.180 2002 Valentino Rossi (Repsol Honda Team RC211V-Michelin), 43:32.783 2001 Max Biaggi (Marlboro Yamaha Team-Michelin), 43:36.983 2000 Alex Barros (Emerson Honda Pons-Michelin), 43:54.632 1999 Kenny Roberts (Telefonica Movistar Suzuki-Michelin), 45:59.732 1998 Mick Doohan (Repsol Honda-Michelin), 46:00.876 1997 Mick Doohan (Repsol Honda-Michelin), Nurburgring 1996 Luca Cadalora (Kanemoto Honda-Michelin), Nurburgring Michelin’s 2007 MotoGP riders Carlos Checa (Honda LCR RC212V-Michelin) Colin Edwards (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda Team RC212V-Michelin) Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda RC212V-Michelin) Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC212V-Michelin) Kurtis Roberts (Team Roberts KR212V-Michelin) Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin)

BMW READY FOR ANOTHER TOUGH CHALLENGE. The BMW endurance racing team are in Barcelona preparing for their next challenge – the 24 Hores Frigo de Motociclisme at the Circuit Cataluyna in Barcelona. Although the race is not part of the World Endurance Championship series, it will give the team a chance to continue the development of the 1200s bike they raced so successfully in the Le Mans 24 hours earlier this year. Since then, the bike has benefited from a weight reduction of some five or six kilos, improved aerodynamics and other small touches. The rear Brembo disc and caliper are lighter then before, as is the lower triple clamp. A new windscreen and subtle revisions to some of the streamlining has given the bike a better shape through the air. For this race, the team are allowed to use four riders, so they have called up Briton Richard Cooper. Richard may only be twenty-four years of age, but he is an experienced BMW rider and shows BMW’s commitment to youth. He joins the threesome who finished top in their class at Le Mans (and 16th overall) – Marcus Barth, Thomas Hinterreiter and Rico Penzkofer. Berti Hauser (Team manager) This race was in our schedule for the season and it gives us a chance to put into practice what we learnt at Le Mans. It gives us a good opportunity to test the ideas from that race and continue our development programme for this bike. We learnt a lot in Le Mans and we feel that our pit work will now also be better because we have a bit more experience of this category. Our target at Le Mans was to finish the race – and we did that – and our target this time is just the same. Of course, I’d like a top ten finish here, but you can never tell what’s going to happen in a 24 hour race. We want to make this a good race for all the BMW fans in Spain and show that we are a sporty brand. We chose Richard because he has experience of this kind of bike and because he is young. We want to show that young riders can have fun in this kind of team, on this kind of bike.

Rizla Suzuki racer Cal Crutchlow has completed an official two-day test at Croft in North Yorkshire – his first visit to the twisty circuit on a Superbike. The gutsy 21-year-old had plenty of wet time on track yesterday. He completed useful tests to determine an ideal rain setting for his Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000. After a tough weekend at the seventh round of the British Superbike Championship at Knockhill last weekend when he fell foul of the wet weather, his time was well used and resulted in him finding a comfortable base set up. Today the weather was much better, dry but windy. He completed numerous laps testing Ohlins suspension, geometry changes and several new electronic ignition maps. Cal said: “After Knockhill I needed a good test and that’s exactly what we got through over the last two days. In the future if it rains I will have a decent base setting for my Rizla Suzuki and if for no other reason that makes this test a real success. “Today I concentrated on testing parts and settings to try and build on the solid dry base set-up that I have. It was difficult as this is my first time here on a Superbike and I had to recalibrate my thinking to the increased speed. I think we ended up with good direction and will be looking to improve when we return for the races.” Team mate Chris Walker, starting with a strong wet set-up he found at Knockhill, used yesterday to fine tune his Rizla Suzuki for rainy conditions. ‘Stalker’ was quickly on the pace in the dry today at the 2.12-mile long circuit. He was pushing hard just before the lunch break when he lost the front end on his bike on the fast left-right turns at the rear of the circuit. He stayed upright but lost grip of the bars and headed out of the circuit and on the slippery wet rape-seed he travelled well into the adjoining field before falling off. “That was a fast crash,” he quipped. “Once I hit the rape-seed it was like I accelerated it was so wet and slippery. The good news is that the soft landing meant my Rizla Suzuki was not badly damaged. “I finished my test at that point. I was beaten up and twisted my arm awkwardly. I could have continued but I was a bit sore and decided not to risk any more injury. We had made good progress in the morning and we have a direction for when we return here for the races in August.” Rizla Suzuki Team Manager Simon Buckmaster said: “Cal rebuilt his confidence after a disappointing weekend at Knockhill and just as Chris was going in the right direction with set-up he crashed and that ended his test. “Both riders have learnt a fair bit about the circuit and how their bikes handle here. There is a lot more to come from them both when we return for the races in August.” Rizla Suzuki is in race action at the eighth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park on Sunday July 15th.

VICTORY FOR CREVIER AT RACE CITY Pro 600 Sport Bike win puts Fast Company rider second in points BRESLAU, Ont. Team Toyota Yamaha / Fast Company’s Steve Crevier rode his Yamaha YZF-R6 to victory in Sunday’s third round of the Yoshimura Pro 600 Sport Bike Championship at Calgary’s Race City Motorsport Park. After coming close to the win in Saturday’s opening race in the doubleheader weekend the Maple Ridge, B.C. rider took the lead from Andrew Nelson three laps from home in Sunday’s 18-lap race and held on for the triumph. “We had no qualifying so I didn’t know what to expect,” said Crevier, a four-time Pro 600 class champion. “Yesterday our gearing was too short but we changed it for today and it worked out better.” The 41-year-old Crevier used all his experience on the final lap, making timely passes on a pair of lapped riders to ensure Nelson didn’t have a shot at retaking the lead. “Traffic can go one of two ways,” he said. “I knew I had to get that one guy behind me in the chicane. Then at the end I was just covering my line.” Crevier almost had the win in Saturday’s race as well. He led at the start of the final lap but was passed by Jordan Szoke on the run into turn 1. Crevier tried to reply in turn 6 but was unable to sneak ahead of Szoke, and ended up dropping to fourth. “I made a couple of horrible starts,” said Crevier of Saturday’s race, which was restarted after a red flag early on. “I had to pick my way through and there are not many places to pass.” Szoke leads the Pro 600 Sport Bike standings with 150 points while Crevier is a challenging second with 123. Riding the Yamaha YZF-R1, Crevier finished fifth in both Parts Canada Superbike races in Calgary. “I feel I’m off to a bit of a slow start,” admitted the six-time Canadian Superbike champion. “With my set up we can’t seem to get the power to the ground. But we learned a lot from Saturday to Sunday. Going into Mosport we know the way to go with the suspension. And power won’t be an issue.” Crevier is fifth in Superbike points with 90, but just 15 points out of second place. Both the Parts Canada Superbike and Yoshimura Pro 600 Sport Bike series resume with another doubleheader at Mosport International raceway in Bowmanville, Ont. July 13-15. More, from a press release issued by WERA Motorcycle Road Racing: WERA Cycle Jam Draws Large Turnout, Surprise Winners BRASELTON, Ga. The annual WERA Cycle Jam at Road Atlanta had all of the expected elements: large grids, close competition and fast lap times. Last weekend’s racing also included some surprise winners, as new faces appeared at the top of the podium. Cycle Jam featured WERA’s Michelin National Endurance Series, Bridgestone National Challenge Series and most regions in the Pirelli Sportsman Series. During the busy three days of racing, there were 1082 sprint entries and 39 endurance teams. It was the endurance racing that got things underway on Friday. Ben Walters and Brett Champagne battled the heat and avoided numerous on-track incidents during the six-hour race to give Brand X the overall and Heavweight Superbike win on a Suzuki GSX-R1000. It is the first win for the team, who made their series debut just four rounds ago. Vesrah Suzuki, who led early on and has won each round prior to Cycle Jam, had a rear shock failure on their Suzuki GSX-R1000. Nevertheless, Tray Batey, Lee Acree and John Jacobi rallied to finish second overall. Suzuki Rider Development took the Mediumweight Superbike win on a Suzuki GSX-R600. Martin Cardenas, Chad Lewin and Morgan Broadhead also claimed third overall. The Mediumweight Superstock win went to fourth-place finisher Dalke Motorsports. The team’s Yamaha YZF-R6 was piloted by Brian Dalke, Wrenn Smith, Giovanni Rojas, Skip Salenius and Ryan Clay. Team Moe’s/TVR overcame an early crash to win Heavyweight Superstock on a Yamaha YZF-R1. Chuck Ivey, James Stroud and Joshua Day were seventh overall. Touring Sport Ducati earned their first Lightweght Superbike win, with Pete Friedland, Frank Shockley and Brad Phillips riding a Ducati SS1000DS. Sunday’s National Challenge Series also had some new names on the leader board. In the Expert ranks, AMA privateer Cory West won 600 Superstock, while Jeff Walker became only the second winner in Heavyweight Twins Superstock this year. Tommy Aquino won 600 Superbike, and Chad Hermann led the 750 Superbike field. Dane Westby and Robert Jensen each earned two wins: Westby won Lightweight Twins Superstock and Formula 2, while Jensen earned the top spot in Open Superstock and Formula 1. Lee Acree added a 750 Superstock win to his multiple podiums during the weekend. In the Novice division, Chris Vanover took his first Open Superstock win of the year. Russell Wikle continued to impress, winning 600 and 750 Superstock, and 600 and 750 Superbike. Josh Reed won both Lightweight Twins and Formula 2 Novice, and the Heavyweight Twins victory went to John Brasfield. The next round for the WERA Michelin National Endurance Series and Bridgestone National Challenge Series will be at Michigan’s Grattan Raceway from July 13-15. Complete results for the WERA Cycle Jam at Road Atlanta and more can be found at www.WERA.com.

In celebration of Independence Day and the 231st birthday of the United States of America, here is a picture of a British racer riding a Japanese bike sponsored by a Mexican beer company on an American racetrack. In other words, here is former Superbike World Champion Neil Hodgson testing an American Honda/Corona Extra Honda CBR1000RR Superbike June 30 at California Speedway. Hodgson tested the bike for three days (June 29-July 1) at California Speedway, roaring in and out of Fastrack Riders track day riders like it was a real-life video game. Hodgson is planning to test the machine, a traction-control-equipped test mule for American Honda’s R&D department, again next week, privately, at another California racetrack. After the second test, the decision on whether to go forward and have Hodgson race the bike as a wild card in the AMA Superbike event July 20-22 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca will be made, according to Corona Extra Honda Team Principal Tim Saunders.

The two National races in Calgary were held under the sun. The qualifications planned for Friday were cancelled due to some storms and t he racers’ security was at stake since the conditions gave a semi wet and semi dry track. Thursday’s times were taken on account in order to set the grid. Nadine Lajoie started the race on the 4th row, 13th position. She ended the two races at the 11th place. She was able to improve her times by 5 seconds a lap. She now has a 10th place in the point standing of the Canadian Championship. « I was very happy with my improvement, especially Saturday during race with the struggles to get ahead of two racers», she states. She added: « Sunday, after a pass in the first couple of laps, I was by myself and was able to reach a lap time of 1.2499 min, which was my goal for the week-end. I was competing against myself on every lap. » She was able to catch up other racers for the 3 last laps. Passing them was however impossible. The next event will be Mosport for the Men’s National but also the Women’s Cup Challenge, from July 12th to July 15 th. Two races will be probably held in each category. Don’t miss this very busy and poplar event! More, from a press release issued by Dalke Motorsports: Hot, Hot , Hotlanta”¦.The National Endurance contestants battle Red flags, heat, blown engines and humidity in Round 4 at Road Atlanta. Dalke Motorsports team rode their Pirelli shod Interstate Cycle Yamaha R6 to a class win and fell just short of an overall podium in the 4th round of the Bridgestone/WERA-AMA National Endurance series at Road Atlanta. After testing new front tires at Miller Motorsports park and finishing 4th, Dalke Motorsports found a front tire that would go the distance in the heat of the grueling 6 hour races. We mounted the tires, installed the new brake pads and made some last minute adjustments to the suspension in order to run the whole race on one set of tires. Early on we could tell this was going to be a test of riders, tires and brakes vs. the heat and humidity of the famed Road Atlanta circuit as the top 4 mediumweight teams were separated by less than four seconds and were in the top 8 overall for the whole first hour. Fuel mileage came into play early as Dalke was able to stay out beyond the first red flag and make lightning quick fuel stops that put the team in third overall after the 2nd hour. When race leaders Vesrah Suzuki’s shock broke in the 3rd hour, Dalke inherited second overall. Dalke’s crew performed flawless fueling stops for the remainder of the race and each rider gave it everything he had to keep track position. In the 5th hour the Vesrah SRJL pads showed no signs of fading and the Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa tires were still working very well as lap times had hardly fallen off the first hours pace. A short off track excursion cost precious seconds and allowed the charging Suzuki Rider Development superbike team to get by and take the final overall podium spot away from Dalke Motorsports but we are very excited about getting the class win at our “home” track and making a great showing for our sponsors. We would like to thank the crew for all their hard work and all of WERA’s corner workers and officials that worked so hard in the 90+ heat and humidity of WERA’s Cycle Jam weekend to put on a great race and we look forward to seeing you again in Belding, Michigan for Round 5 at Grattan Raceway.

Reece White has left his post as Public Relations Manager for Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and has accepted a job with Grand American Road Racing, the NASCAR-affiliated organizer of Grand-Am sports car and MOTO-ST motorcycle racing. Details will follow when available.

Honda Engineers Receive Safety Awards for Advances in Vehicle Safety At the 20th International Technical Conference on Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV) held in Lyon, France on June 18, 2007, Honda development engineer, Satoshi Iijima was recognized for his extensive contributions to improving vehicle safety by being chosen as the recipient of a United States government award for Safety Engineering Excellence. Iijima was honored for his extensive efforts of more than 30 years of research on motorcycle crash safety, and development of new motorcycle safety devices, highlighted by the launch of Honda’s specialized airbag system for motorcycles. Mr. Iijima’s team began their fundamental research into motorcycle airbag systems in 1990. His research findings on motorcycle airbag technologies have been presented at international conferences such as ESV on many occasions, and his dedicated efforts have made a large contribution to the enhancement and improvement of motorcycle technologies related to the crash safety field. The highly advanced motorcycle airbag system was introduced for the first time on a production motorcycle in 2006 when it was integrated into Honda’s flagship luxury touring model, the 2007 GL1800 GoldWing. Already renowned for offering the very latest and finest in comfort, convenience and safety features, the GoldWing was selected as the first full-production motorcycle to be equipped with Honda’s first airbag system, subsequently winning worldwide recognition and praise for its effective promotion of rider safety. ESV is one of the world’s leading conferences for vehicle safety discussion; it is a forum that brings together researchers, engineers and government officials worldwide. For more information about Honda’s innovative air bag system go to www.powersports.honda.com

SECOND OF FOUR TRACK DAYS FOR KAWASAKI OWNERS AND ROK™ MEMBERS SLATED FOR JULY 9 AT ROAD AMERICA Track experience blended with professional instruction and two-up rides with Daytona 200 winner, Steve Rapp. Riders of Kawasaki (ROK™) will hold the second of four planned track days at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Monday, July 9. The full-day of track riding and professional instruction is highlighted by the participation of Daytona 200 winner, Steve Rapp, as well as other motorcycle competition superstars. The program, which is administered by Sportbike Track Time, includes novice, intermediate and advanced level classroom instruction, and is open to ROK members and Kawasaki owners, with all street legal motorcycles welcome. ROK track day participants may also be eligible to ride around the famous Road America circuit on the back of Rapp’s Ninja® ZX™-10R. Observers and riders not participating in the track day will have an opportunity to ride their motorcycles on escorted parade laps around the four mile Road America track during the lunch break. Joining Rapp at the July 9 event will be racing legends Gary Nixon, Jay Springsteen, and Jimmy Filice, as well as young road racing sensation, Elena Myers. The Road America racing circuit has been a regular stop on the AMA professional series calendar for more than 25 years, and non-competing riders rarely have an opportunity to test their skills on the scenic course. “These exclusive track days are a way for ROK to team with event organizers and offer our members and other Kawasaki riders a deep discount on something very special that isn’t normally available,” said Derek Natvig, ROK club coordinator at Kawasaki. The complete track riding and instructional experience includes lunch. Those interested can sign-up at www.sportbiketracktime.com, or call 888-390-4020. Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A. (KMC) markets and distributes Kawasaki motorcycles, ATVs, personal watercraft and utility vehicles through a network of more than 1,500 independent retailers, with an additional 7,700 retailers specializing in power products and general purpose engines. KMC and its affiliates employ nearly 2,400 people in the United States, with 400 of them located at the Irvine, California headquarters. Kawasaki’s tagline, “Let the good times roll.™”, is recognized worldwide and the brand has become synonymous with powerful, stylish motorcycles for over four decades. Information about Kawasaki’s complete line of recreational products and Kawasaki affiliates can be found on the Internet at www.kawasaki.com.