Alice French Grand Prix, Le Mans , May 13/14/15 2005, Preview DUCATI MARLBORO MEN AIM TO REAP OVERDUE REWARD. Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa return home to Europe following MotoGP’s first visit to China hoping for some pleasant early summer weather at legendary Le Mans. The past two GPs in China and Portugal were both affected by rain, preventing the team from showing its true potential. In China Capirossi qualified on the front row, just as Checa had done at Estoril a fortnight earlier, but their impressive speed wasn’t borne out by their results. “We hope to finally get the reward we deserve in France,” says Ducati MotoGP project manager Livio Suppo. “We are hoping for the best – Carlos got his best result of 2004 at Le Mans and Loris should now be fully recovered from the ankle injury he suffered at Jerez. We go there in positive mood because, has we showed during the practices in Portugal and in China, we know that we can be very competitive.” Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli shares Suppo’s optimism heading into the fourth round of the 17-race World Championship. “When our bike was born in 2003 we had some trouble at stop-and-go tracks like Le Mans but we don’t anymore because the bike is much better balanced,” says Cecchinelli. “Maybe we sacrificed some of the advantage we used to have at very fast tracks but overall it’s a much better machine now. Our latest Desmosedici is very balanced, with strong braking and acceleration performance. All we want at Le Mans is consistent weather. We have new tyres this year, so we would like good weather all weekend, so we can finally prove the potential we have already shown.” IS CHECA’S LE MANS SPEED IN THE BLOOD? Carlos Checa goes well at Le Mans – the dashing Spaniard has twice finished on the podium in his last four visits to the circuit. And he aims to be back up there on May 15. The Ducati Marlboro Team rider has a couple of theories about his impressive speed at the tortuous French track. “I’m not really sure why I go well there, maybe it’s my riding style or maybe it’s because it’s in my blood,” he laughs. “My younger brother (David, reigning World Endurance Champion) won the Le Mans 24-hour race last month, so maybe the track just suits my family! I actually like the circuit – there’s a lot of fierce low-gear acceleration, a lot of heavy braking and I really enjoy the final section, which reminds me of a part of the Calafat track in Spain.” If Checa’s results have yet to mirror his impressive speed on his Desmosedici, the Spaniard says the bike does offer him the feedback he needs to go fast. Racers need to feel exactly what the tyres and the bike are doing when they are approaching the limit, so they known exactly where the limit is. “The connection between me and the bike is really good now,” he says. “My riding style is quite smooth but it seems I can be more aggressive on the Ducati, so I can push harder towards the limit because it gives me a wider ‘safety’ area. “It will be interesting to see how the bike works at Le Mans because we’ve worked on a couple of things which should help us around tight circuits. First, we have improved the bike’s behaviour under heavy braking. Second, we have improved steering into slow-speed corners, just through minor adjustments to geometry and balance.” LE MANS WINNER CAPIROSSI NOW 100% FIT Loris Capirossi is confident that he will be 100 per cent fit for Le Mans. The Italian Ducati Marlboro Team rider cracked a bone in his left ankle when he fell during practice for last month’s season-opening Marlboro Spanish GP which affected his riding during the first three GPs. “The ankle was already pretty good when we raced in China a couple of weeks back but it should be 100 per cent fit for Le Mans,” he says. “That’s a big relief for me and I’m really looking forward to riding the bike fully fit.” Capirossi has already won a Grand Prix at Le Mans, the French 250 GP way back in 1994, but he is not the track’s greatest fan. “Le Mans is a lot of fun on a 125 or 250 but it’s not very interesting on a really fast machine because it’s just accelerate, brake, accelerate, brake, accelerate.” he explains. “But there’s a couple of fun corners – the Musee left-hander and the very fast turn one, where you need to be very brave! Last year at Le Mans we made some big steps forward after a few difficult races. This year we return in much better shape, despite what the results suggest, so we should have a good weekend if the bike/tyre packages work well”. THE TRACK Le Mans is one of the world’s most famous motorsport venues, legendary for its 24-hour races. The French track, based in the Sarthe region a few hours south west of Paris, has been hosting World Championship motorcycle GPs on and off since 1969. The Bugatti circuit, very different from the longer 24-hour car track, returned to the GP calendar in 1999, since when the event has built a huge following in bike-mad France. Le Mans has undergone various layout changes and safety modifications over the past few years. The daunting high-speed first turn was tightened for the ’99 GP and the Musee left-hander was also modified to lower speeds. Further modifications were carried out before the 2002 event and the track was fully resurfaced for last year’s race. The circuit layout is very stop-and-go, with plenty of slow turns where braking and acceleration performance are primordial. Riders and their engineers therefore concentrate on honing their machines’ braking stability, as well as improving rear-end traction for the numerous hairpin exits. LE MANS: 4.180km/2.597 miles Lap record: Max Biaggi (Honda) 1m 34.088s, 159.935kmh/99.379mph Pole position 2004: Sete Gibernau (Honda), 1m 33.425s DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM RIDER DATA LOGS LORIS CAPIROSSI Age: 32 (born April 4, 1973) Lives: Monaco Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP5 GP victories: 23 (1xMotoGP, 2×500, 12×250, 8×125) First GP victory: Britain, 1990 (125) First GP: Japan, 1990 (125) GP starts: 219 (49xMotoGP, 59×500, 84×250, 27×125) Pole positions: 36 (3xMotoGP, 5×500, 23×250, 5×125) First pole: Australia, 1991 (125) World Championships: 3 (125: 1990, 1991, 250: 1998) Le Mans 2004 results: Grid: 9th. Race: 10th CARLOS CHECA Age: 32 (born October 15, 1972) Lives: London, England Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP5 GP victories: 2 (500) First GP victory: Catalunya, 1996 (500) First GP: Europe, 1993 (125) GP starts: 171 (50xMotoGP, 92×500, 27×250, 1×125) Pole positions: 3 (2xMotoGP, 1×500) First pole: Spain, 1998 (500) Le Mans 2004 results: Grid: 2nd. Race: 2nd For further information: www.ducaticorsepress.

SLIPSTREAM THRILLER GUARANTEED AS DUCATI XEROX TEAM HEADS TO MONZA FOR WORLD SUPERBIKE ROUND 4 Monza (Italy), Thursday 5 May: World Superbikes head to the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza circuit this coming weekend for the fourth round of this year’s championship battle. A slipstream thriller is guaranteed around the legendary Formula 1 circuit as a multitude of powerful four-stroke Superbikes hit top speeds of close to 200 mph (320 km/h) down the long Monza straights. Top speed is something the Ducati Xerox Team riders James Toseland and Régis Laconi are not lacking as they get to grips with this early part of the season, both riders having set outright speed records for the championship (316 km/h for Toseland, then 318 km/h for Laconi) at the Phillip Island circuit one month ago. Régis Laconi was knocked cold in an incident with another rider during Sunday warm-up at Valencia, an incident that caused him to miss both races, but the Frenchman has now fully recovered and has set his sights on breaking the Suzuki stranglehold on the championship. “Last week was very tough for me as I was still feeling the effects of the crash and was very tired, but I went for a check at the start of this week and I am now 100% fit for Monza” declared Laconi. “I’ve even managed to do some training on the bicycle so now I am looking forward to getting back on my Ducati on Friday. “I really love the Monza track” he continued, “it’s very fast and it involves a lot of hard riding. I had a double win last year, and the Ducati always seems to go well there. The 999 is a very fast bike so we’re OK for top speed, now all we need to do in qualifying is find a good solution for rear grip for the fast curves, of which there are a lot at Monza, especially as you exit the Parabolica, but we were going well at Valencia until Sunday morning and I’m sure we will be in a good position for this weekend’s race.” James Toseland has had a difficult time since the start of the season on the #1 championship-winning Ducati 999 machine, but is convinced that at Monza everything will be in place to help him re-emerge as a front-runner. “At Monza we’ve just got to get things sorted out. We’re not a million miles away, the circumstances that have happened in qualifying have been bad but I’m not making any excuses” declared Toseland. “Monza is not very technical as a circuit – it’s just long straights and braking at the limit. We’ve got a few things to try there, so with a track that’s not very complicated, with the speed of the Ducati and everything else, hopefully it will be a weekend in which we have two solid results to get everything back on track. “My confidence and the team morale have suffered a few knocks recently but I can assure you that there’s nothing wrong with us or the bike and we want to find the form again. I’ve got a good team behind me and we’re going to work hard this weekend to be back up front”, concluded James. CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (after 3 of 12 rounds) : Riders – 1. Corser (Suzuki) 141; 2. Kagayama (Suzuki) 110; 3. Vermeulen (Honda) 90; 4. Laconi (Ducati Xerox) 54; 5. Abe (Yamaha) 44; 6. Neukirchner (Honda) 41 … 10. Toseland (Ducati Xerox) 30. Manufacturers – 1. Suzuki 150; 2. Honda 93; 3. Yamaha 65; 4. Ducati 64; 5. Kawasaki 50; 6. Petronas 1. THE CIRCUIT – Name: Autodromo Nazionale di Monza; Length: 5.793 km; Pole Position: Left; Corners Left/Right: 5/8; Finish Line Length: 1.195 km. STATISTICS – Best lap: Hodgson (Ducati) 1m46.981s (2003); Lap record: Bayliss (Ducati) 1m47.434s (2002); Superpole: Hodgson (Ducati) 1m46.981s (2003); Race distance: 2 x 18 laps/104.256 km. 2004 RESULTS: Race 1 – 1. Laconi (Ducati); 2. Toseland (Ducati); 3. McCoy (Ducati). Race 2 – 1. Laconi; 2. Toseland; 3. McCoy.

Shannonville Motorsport Park Shannonville Ontario April 30-May 1 2005 R.A.C.E. Super Series Round 1 2005 Jordan wins the first race of the year, proving he is back in a winning mode by capturing both legs of the opening double header! The inaugural race weekend for the RACE regional Round #1 using the short (original) track layout of Shannonville Motorsport Park 7 turn layout was a great start for two time Parts Canada Superbike Champion Jordan Szoke. Aboard the Honda CBR1000RR prepared by Fast Company, Jordan was using this regional race to set the new bike up for the Parts Canada Superbike Championship national series due to start May 19-22 here at Shannonville, but using the longer ‘PRO’ track layout. This was Jordan’s first ride aboard the 2005 Honda CBR1000RR Superbike, and the tail section of the new bike was not even painted yet. In fact Scot Miller of Fast Company on had a few weeks to build the bike, as Honda only recently was able to provide the 2005 model to the team for construction. Scott worked some very long nights to get the new bike up to a race ready status, and there are still items to be sorted out. Jordan began the weekend by starting the Qualifying race in the rain on Saturday, from dead last on the grid, to finish a credible 3rd place in the rain, even though he elected to use his 2004 Honda CBR600RR due to the cold rain that was falling. He was reluctant to risk the new Superbike as this was a regional race not counting for his quest for his third Canadian Championship. The CBR600RR originally prepared by Fast Company and rode by Jordan in last year’s Hindle Pro Sportbike Championship was borrowed back from friend and supporter Mike Rush who bought the bike at the conclusion of the 2004 season. Mike has a collection of Jordan’s race bikes, and rides them himself as an amateur racer. This weekend was a double header, with races scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, but with the weather and some track delays, both Superbike races were held on Sunday. Jordan started from the front row in race 1, but did not get a good start, taking a few laps to snatch the lead from current RACE Super Series Champion Frank Trombino in the fast right hand turn two to hold it for a win by just over second. In the second race, Jordan got a slightly better start, but was third taking a few laps to grab the lead from Frank and Matt McBride, to pull away slightly just as rain began to fall. The rain did not dampen the track very much, but Jordan did back the speed down a touch to be conservative, only to be harassed by Frank. Jordan held the lead as a red flag was shown two three laps later due to a track incident, finishing the race on lap 6 of 10. This gave Jordan the second race victory. All Jordan could say is ‘I’m back’, after only winning only one race last year and finishing second in the Parts Canada Superbike Championship for 2004. Jordan has a philosophy that second place is the first loser, and he is aggressively looking to win the Championship this year. If this first race any indication of the Fast Company prepared bike coupled with Jordan’s talent, it certainly looks and feels like a Championship!