From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

TYRE TEST TEAM AND CARLOS CHECA ON TRACK TOMORROW AT SEPANG

Shinichi Itoh to make his debut with the Ducati-Bridgestone Tyre Test Team Desmosedici. Sidelined with flu at the first Sepang tests, Carlos Checa also out on track.

Bologna, 9 February 2005 – After a fortnight’s break, the MotoGP teams are back at Sepang for a second successive test session at the Malaysian circuit.

Tomorrow is important for Ducati in that it will see the debut of the Tyre Test Team, the result of a joint collaboration between Ducati and Bridgestone with tester Shinichi Itoh. The aim of the totally new team is to specifically develop tyres for the Ducati Desmosedici and it will see Luca Gasbarro (Troy Bayliss’s former race engineer) in the role of track technical director and in charge of the Bridgestone/Ducati MotoGP project.

For this first test Itoh will be using a GP4, while from his next appearance onwards, scheduled for the IRTA tests in Barcelona, he will have a new GP5 at his disposal.

This structure will flank the Ducati Corse Development Team with Vittoriano Guareschi, which will be testing at Jerez on February 24-25.

Carlos Checa, sidelined by flu and still recovering from his minor incident at Madonna di Campiglio, was only able to test on the first day of a scheduled three-day session at Sepang at the end of January. The Spanish rider decided to make up for lost ground by opting to bring forward the start of his test session by one day.

Carlos will begin testing tomorrow in the torrid heat of the Malaysian track, where he will be joined by team-mate Loris Capirossi on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The positive results of the first tests carried out at Sepang in January, when Loris and Carlos had a GP4 and a GP5 at their disposal for eventual back-to-back tests, have convinced Ducati Marlboro Team engineers to give two GP5 machines to both riders. The performance of the 2005 Desmosedici is currently more than satisfactory and demonstrates that the bike is the result of a valid project and has a sound basis for future development.

The Ducati Marlboro Team will take part in the following test sessions:

February 10-13 at Sepang (Malaysia)
February 17-19 at Phillip Island (Australia)
March 1-3 at Doha (Qatar)

From a press release:

Las Vegas Racing’s Jack Pfeifer will be taking up the Aprilia challenge!

Beginning this month at Willow Springs International Raceway Jack Pfeifer will be competing on a 2004 Aprilia Mille supplied by active racing enthusiast and now sponsor David Nguyen of Archille Performance Inc. in Las Vegas Nevada.

Jack is excited to take up the challenge, and is very anxious to ride the new bike citing that riding a bike that looks as good as the Aprilia does–and which comes with lots of trick goodies on it–should make it a lot of fun!

To Pfeifer, starting a little behind in the points (being that he did not compete in the January WSMC Twins class race) just makes this task more of a challenge! And don’t worry, all you die-hard fans of the super fast Formula One class out at WSMC, Jack will still be competing in that class on a still undecided brand that should be that finalized really, really soon!

See Jack’s latest race results and info at www.jackpfeifer.com

From a press release:

Ben Bostrom will be stopping by and visiting Greg White today at Speed Channel’s studios in Charlotte and will be discussing his 2005 race plans in detail. Immediately after the show, Ben will be catching a late flight to Europe in preparation for this year’s World Superbike Championship. Greg’s Garage is scheduled to air at 8pm Eastern Time this evening as part of Speed Channel’s “Two Wheel Tuesday” lineup. Visit www.SpeedTV.com for more information.

From a press release:

We will be having our 9th annual Daytona 200 & superbike race party at Classic Sports yet again. Classic Sports is at 3300 S. Glenstone, Springfield, MO.

Race starts at 10:00 am Central and runs until 3:30 pm. There will be a lunch buffet. (Buffet tenative)

Sponsored by the Springfield Sport Riders Assoc.

call or e-mail Mark Lewellen (417)581-9604 for additional info. or: [email protected]

From a press release issued by NESBA:

Wyomissing, PA (February 8, 2005)-This year the Northeast Sportbike Association (NESBA) will host 111 track days at premier racetracks across the country. New to the schedule are dates at Autobahn Country Club, Joliet, IL; Calabogie Motorsports Park, Calabogie, ON; and Club Motorsports, Tamworth, NH.

NESBA also initiated a brand new track day–Advanced-only days. The days, specifically for Advanced or expert riders only, are a test bed for other single/double class days in a response to requests by club members for more track time per day. NESBA is starting with three Advanced-only days and if all goes well, will start to incorporate more single/double class dates in late 2005 or 2006. In order to participate in the Advanced-only days, riders must be in NESBA’s Advanced riding class or hold an expert road racing license. Participants get an open track all day long.

This year’s schedule is as follows:

3/12-13 Virginia Int’l Raceway-South, Danville, VA

3/14 Virginia Int’l Raceway-North, Danville, VA

3/25-26 Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, AL

4/16 Pocono Int’l Raceway-East, Long Pond, PA

4/16-17 Blackhawk Farms Raceway, Beloit, IL

4/21 Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI

4/23-24 Summit Point Raceway-Jefferson, Summit Point, WV

4/25 Summit Point Raceway-Main, Summit Point, WV

4/30 Pacific Raceways, Kent, WA

5/1 Pacific Raceways, Kent, WA

5/7-8 BeaveRun Motorsports Complex, Wampum, PA

5/7-8 Putnam Park Road Course, Mount Meridian, IN

5/9 Portland Int’l Raceway, Portland, OR

5/14-15 Blackhawk Farms Raceway, Beloit, IL

5/14-15 Summit Point Raceway-Jefferson, Summit Point, WV

5/14-15 Virginia Int’l Raceway-South, Danville, VA

5/16 Summit Point Raceway-Main, Summit Point, WV

5/16 Virginia Int’l Raceway-North, Danville, VA

5/21-22 Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA

5/30-31 Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI

6/4-5 Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, AL

6/10* Summit Point Raceway-Main, Summit Point, WV

6/11-12 Carolina Motorsports Park, Kershaw, SC

6/11-12 Summit Point Raceway-Jefferson, Summit Point, WV

6/11 Autobahn Country Club-North, Joliet, IL

6/12 Autobahn Country Club-South, Joliet, IL

6/13 Autobahn Country Club-North, Joliet, IL

6/13 Pacific Raceways,Kent, WA

7/9 Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, AL

7/9-10 Summit Point Raceway-Shenandoah, Summit Point, WV

7/9-10 Putnam Park Road Course, Mount Meridian, IN

7/10* Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, AL

7/16-17 Virginia Int’l Raceway-Patriot, Danville, VA

7/17 BeaveRun Motorsports Complex, Wampum, PA

7/18 Virginia Int’l Raceway-North, Danville, VA

7/30-31 Blackhawk Farms Raceway, Beloit, IL

7/30-31 Spokane Raceway, Spokane, WA

8/5 Summit Point Raceway-Shenandoah, Summit Point, WV

8/6-7 Summit Point Raceway-Jefferson, Summit Point, WV

8/13 Pocono Int’l Raceway-FUSA, Long Pond, PA

8/13-14 Autobahn Country Club-North, Joliet, IL

8/15 Autobahn Country Club-Full, Joliet, IL

8/15 Pacific Raceways, Kent, WA

8/20-21 Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, AL

8/27-28 Virginia Int’l Raceway-South, Danville, VA

8/29 Virginia Int’l Raceway-North, Danville, VA

9/3-4 Blackhawk Farms Raceway, Beloit, IL

9/4 Pocono Int’l Raceway-East, Long Pond, PA

9/5 Summit Point Raceway-Shenandoah, Summit Point, WV

9/10-11 Carolina Motorsports Park, Kershaw, SC

9/10-11 Club Motorsports-West, Tamworth, NH

9/10-11 Putnam Park Road Course, Mount Meridian, IN

9/12 Club Motorsports-Full 3.3, Tamworth, NH

9/17-18 Pacific Raceways, Kent, WA

9/24-25 Autobahn Country Club-North, Joliet, IL

9/26* Autobahn Country Club-Full, Joliet, IL

9/30 Calabogie Motorsports Park-Full, Calabogie, ON

10/1-2 Calabogie Motorsports Park-Full, Calabogie, ON

10/1-2 Pocono Int’l Raceway-East, Long Pond, PA

10/8-10 Autobahn Country Club-South, Joliet, IL

10/8-9 Club Motorsports-West, Tamworth, NH

10/8-9 Portland Int’l Raceway, Portland, OR

10/15-16 Putnam Park Road Course, Mount Meridian, IN

10/15-16 Summit Point Raceway-Shenandoah, Summit Point, WV

10/22-23 BeaveRun Motorsports Complex, Wampum, PA

10/22-23 Virginia Int’l Raceway-Patriot, Danville, VA

10/24 Virginia Int’l Raceway-Full, Danville, VA

10/28 Summit Point Raceway-Main, Summit Point, WV

10/29-30 Summit Point Raceway-Jefferson, Summit Point, WV

11/19-20 Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA


*Advanced-only track day

Visit www.nesba.com for the most current schedule-more dates may be added.

NESBA is a non-profit, volunteer-run organization that sponsors track days and provides riding instruction at premier racetracks across the country, including Barber, Road America, Road Atlanta and VIR. For more information, visit www.nesba.com or call 1-877-AT-NESBA.

From a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda:

BAD WEATHER LIMITS TESTING FOR WINSTON TEN KATE HONDA

The Winston Ten Kate Honda team left the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, Spain early this morning, one day ahead of schedule after heavy rain prevented any further testing of the team’s 2005 Honda CBR machines.

Only superbike rider, Chris Vermeulen, and Katsuaki Fuijiwara of the supersport team took to the circuit yesterday (Monday) in cold and damp conditions.

“It’s unfortunate,” commented team manager, Ronald ten Kate, “but we can do nothing about the weather. There is a silver lining in these clouds, however, in that we can have an extra day to prepare everything for Qatar.”

The team will spend the next few days loading almost eight tonnes of equipment into 15 crates that will be shipped to Qatar early next week in preparation for a further test at the Losail circuit in Doha on 19-20 February, followed one week later by the first World Superbike and World Supersport championship rounds.

“We have been able to do further shakedown tests on Chris’s and Kats’s second bikes to ensure everything is working properly but there was no possibility of fully testing any new components,” added ten Kate.

“We always have to balance the benefits of testing against risk,” he concluded. “So, after the team launch in Milan next Tuesday, we fly straight to Qatar where we will hopefully get some dry track time at last!”


More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi-NCR:

THE RAIN STOPS THE VALENCIA’S TWO-DAY TEST

The heavy rain which flagellates the circuit area for all the night and the morning forced the end for the test of SC Ducati Team. The factory teams like Xerox Ducati Corse and Yamaha France rode some lap on the floated track to test some new rain tyre, but all the other teams preferred to run any risk at the eve of the first round of the championship.

“It has been a true misfortune to not make o good use of this two-day test session..” – said Stefano Caracchi renouncing to go on with the test. “Fonsi Nieto will fly in Qatar in practice without any experience of the 999RS. Yesterday Fonsi made an excellent job: without pushing he rode about 1,5 seconds slower as the top, but it’s obvious that he needs to practice more to get a good feeling with the bike in all racing conditions. By luck the first rounds are scheduled on circuits that he knows, at least we haven’t the unknown track doubts. However to start the season on a quite unknown bike which is very different of the 250GP he’s used to will be not easy also for a full experienced rider like he’s.”

“Lorenzo Lanzi suffered the light crash of yesterday morning.” – continues Caracchi. “Lorenzo has a enormous potential, he must force himself to ignore the pressure that all the people looking for his results could cause. But he’s not only very fast in riding, he’s a clever guy too, able to get experience out of his mistakes and I’m sure that he’ll be a protagonist od the racing season from the beginning.”

Late Caracchi starts speaking about Supersport program, which represents an important engagement for Scuderia SC Ducati this year.

“Farnè and his guys has done an excellent work on the 749R and yesterday we have seen the first results. That’s not a newness for him to pull out from the smaller twin engine all his potential. Unfortunately the bad weather doesn’t allow us to work on the setting of the chassis package. Nannelli looks to be very up and satisfied for the job done, we are satisfied for how he engages himself to develop the bike. I’m confident we’ll be able to contest a good championship in Supersport too.”


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

DUCATI XEROX TEAM SUPERBIKE TEST CUT SHORT BY RAIN

Valencia (Spain), Tuesday 8 February: The Ducati Xerox Team’s penultimate test before the start of the 2005 World Superbike championship season was cut short early in the afternoon of the second day of testing as rain continued to lash the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, forcing riders and engineers to pack up early.

Cold and wet throughout the scheduled two-day test meant that very little dry-weather track time was completed, but James Toseland and Régis Laconi were both quick in these conditions and declared they were satisfied with the set-up and the handling of the Ducati 999 F05 on the wet track.

Toseland was slightly quicker than his French team-mate today, the 24 year-old from Sheffield recording a time of 1:52.3 in his 18 laps.

“It was a pity about the weather conditions because I really wanted to come here and put in some endurance lapping on the bike to sort everything out,” declared the reigning world champion, “but it’s not a problem and we’re in a good position as we go to Qatar for two more days of testing”.

“The 999 F05 is ready, we’ve just got to get rid of the teething problems you usually have with a new bike. There are a lot of new parts and we’ve got to test everything. Everything is looking good, it’s just a case of having more time to do more laps”, added Toseland.

Laconi, just a couple of tenths of a second slower in his 23 laps, was upbeat about his and his bike’s performance despite crashing late in the morning.

“Today was OK in these conditions”, declared Régis. “We were running full wets because it was raining a lot out on the track but we worked very well to improve the 999’s handling and set-up in these conditions. The track was very slippery and I lost the rear on the entry to the final right-hander and had a small crash but there is no problem”.

“I am happy about what we found this morning and it feels so great to work with my engineers in the team again. We’ve still got a few things to do but I can’t wait for the season to start”, he concluded.

The Ducati Xerox Team now heads to Qatar for the final two days of pre-season testing on February 18-19 in preparation for the opening round of the 2005 championship at the Losail circuit in the Arabian peninsula state on February 26.


More, from a press release issued by Pirelli:

Test Session Report

7th-8th FEBRUARY 2005, Valencia (Spain) – Only few days before the Championship’s start and some of the main actors of the new season have met for a two days test session in Valencia, Spain.

Pirelli and the riders came here looking for both confirms and new indications for the development.

The work of Pirelli’s Technicians didn’t stop all the winter long, so the Spanish track was the best place for Pirelli to test the new improvements and for the private riders to check the last tires developed in accordance to the development teams.

After last December test, the R&D department has realized new solutions to be tested here by some of the development teams (with the 4 cylinders Honda and the Ducati). In the meantime the private riders have the chance to try the last released tyres, approved only two months ago and available for the first round in Qatar.

Together with the new products we could assist to the debut of some great names of the Championship, like the Japanese Abe with his R1 of Yamaha France, the first laps of the new Ducati Xerox team with the World Champion Toseland and his team mate Laconi, and the Spanish Cardoso and Fonsi Nieto with his new bike, for the first time on a track after the presentation of two weeks ago.

Unfortunately the weather made this all more difficult, with a really low temperature and an unusual rainy day for the Valencian track. Anyway nobody renounced to run some laps, even if with no trials for a lap time and most of them with rain tyres.

Giorgio Barbier, Pirelli Moto world racing manager:

“From the tests of November we’ve done a lot of work, and we wanted to test many new solutions that would be available for the first races. Today with this rain we had really a bad luck. Let’s wait for tomorrow even if we have already achieved a good result being able to deliver to this guys the last improved tyres, the result of the work we made after December. Unfortunately they could use this new tyres only during the last minutes of the day.

Anyway we go on working hard and we can see some good results. Our development teams are really fantastic partners and they allow us to present always some improvement that make this Championship more and more competitive and our products more and more reliable and performing.”

Copyright 2005, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

While Roadracingworld.com and Roadracing World & Motorcycle Technology magazine are all about taking it to the racetrack while wearing appropriate safety equipment, and while we do not advocate excessive speed and stunting on public roads, we have to admit that the post on a law enforcement website reached by using this link sent to us by former 250cc GP racer Ashley Peterson appears somewhat shocking (What we don’t know is, is it real or is it a hoax?):

http://forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?s=cd65cc5076ba7fe1d1d244b6bcd8e997&threadid=25938&perpage=20&pagenumber=1

From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

DUCATI XEROX TEAM GETS DOWN TO BUSINESS IN SPAIN

Valencia (Spain), Monday 7 February: The Ducati Xerox Team, which was presented to the international press at the Ducati factory in Bologna last Thursday, saw its 2005 World Superbike campaign get off to a wet start on the first day of a two-day testing session in Valencia, Spain.

Rain fell most of the morning at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit and the cold and wet conditions prevented James Toseland and Régis Laconi from putting in much track time on their Ducati 999 F05 factory machines as they start the countdown to the new season, which gets underway in three weeks time in Qatar.

Laconi (45 laps) was the quickest rider throughout the day with a time of 1m41.3s while Toseland (40 laps) recorded a 1m43.6s, but today’s times are not significant due to the poor weather and track conditions.

2004 champion Toseland was slightly disappointed with today’s testing: “We haven’t done many full laps and it’s been a disappointing day because I was looking forward to this last test before going to Qatar,” he declared. “We haven’t been able to do much all day, the track dried up a bit but it was intermediates to slicks and we didn’t get a good run at it today.

“Tomorrow if it’s dry I’ll be OK and will be able to push and do some decent lap times. I just don’t want to go away from this test feeling it’s a bit of a waste of time because of the weather. I feel ready and the bike’s ready but we’ve still got to test everything. It’s just a case of having more time to do some more laps,” concluded Toseland.

Ducati Xerox team-mate Laconi was of the same opinion, the Frenchman commenting: “Today it was really hard out there, the cold and the wet didn’t allow us to conclude much.

“Towards the end of the day we fitted a slick on the rear but the track still had patches of damp all around and it was impossible to push hard. Let’s hope things will improve tomorrow to enable us to leave for Qatar with a better idea of where we are” he added.

Testing at the Spanish track concludes tomorrow, Tuesday.


More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi-NCR:

THE BAD WEATHER HINDERS THE VALENCIA’S SUPERBIKE TEST

The bad weather doesn’t give any respite to the World Superbike teams engaged at Valencia for a two-day test. Cloudy sky, rain showers and a temperature which reached only a maximum of 13°C degrees characterised the debut practice day, vanishing the efforts of the teams here in Spain for the final setting of the bikes at the eve of the 2005 Series debut, scheduled for next February 26, Saturday, on the Losail circuit at Doha, in Qatar.

Fonsi Nieto finally found his season challengers; the Spanishe rider rode a total of 50 laps to improve his 999RS Ducati knowledge, with a better score of 1:43.80, absolutely to appreciate looking at the minimum experience of Fonsi on a four stroke machine.

“I must say once more that’s a bike totally different fron the bike I’m used to.” – said Fonsi Nieto at the end of the day. “This difference is very big, so I drove quiet, without pushing, trying to learn the maximum possible. The bad weather didn’t help us and that it’s really a pity, because the championship debut is very close and I’ve been not able to get any complete test before. But I’m confident because I see the team that works very hard, I found a good feeling with my chief-mechanic Marco Mozzone and all the crew’s guys. Now we must hope in a better weather tomorrow, so could be possible to push, but the weather forecast are not good.”

Many eyes were looking to Lorenzo Lanzi in this test, but an early crash in the morning didn’t allow to complete the test program scheduled for today.

“It’s actually a fantastic debut.” – jokes with a bitter smile Lorenzo Lanzi. “It was the first lap of the day when I’ve lost the front at the first chicane, I’m sure for the cold tyres, and I had a bad shot at the right knee and hip, which now give me some pain. The bike in those weather conditions is good, as we saw during the last test session in December, but now we need to test in dry conditions. Today I’ve been able just to ride for five laps and, of course, it’s impossible to speak about fast laps. I hpe that tomorrow we’ll be able to do something bette.”

Gianluca Nannelli on the 749R Supersport made a great size of test work and at the end of the day look to be quite satisfied about today job: “The team has done a lot on the bike, thank Franco Farnè and the guys, and today finally we could test all the evolution done. I’m very satisfied because the torque problems we found in the past test look to be solved.The engine is more linear with a better power range until the limiter works. So for the engine I must say to be satisfied. Unfortunately in such weather and track conditions is not possible to have any valid information about the suspension setting. I rode a total of 40 laps and the team clocked me a better lap in 1:43.96.”

From a press release issued by Proforma:

LEO VINCE EXHAUST SYSTEMS ANNOUNCES ROAD RACE CONTINGENCY AND SUPPORT PROGRAMS FOR 2005

LeoVince USA announced today their 2005 road race contingency and support programs for competitors in virtually every regional and national road racing series in the U.S. Riders purchasing and using LeoVince SBK exhaust systems are eligible for over $300,000 in the different road race organizations, series and classes.

“LeoVince is excited to provide this unprecedented level of support to road racers in the U.S. for 2005,” said Tim Calhoun, sales and marketing manager for LeoVince USA. “These programs will encourage racers to use our products and to experience the performance and quality that has made LeoVince SBK the premier exhaust system manufacturer in Europe for over 50 years. LeoVince is fully established in the U.S., ready to support our riders and win championships.”

The foundation of the contingency program is the support for the regional road racer, with postings in AFM, CCS, CMRA, CRA, MRA, OMRRA, WERA, WMRRA and WSMC for the entire season. Payouts for the LW, MW, HW and Open Superstock classes (or their equivalents) for both Novices (Amateurs) and Experts will be 1st-$75, 2nd-$50 and 3rd-$25.

Riders taking on the challenge of running the national series can earn LeoVince contingency in the Formula USA, WERA National Challenge and WERA National Endurance Series. Payouts in all of the national series classes will be 1st-$150, 2nd-$100 and 3rd-$50. In Formula USA, the posted classes are Sportbike, Superbike and Formula Sportbike. For the WERA National Challenge Series, the payouts will be in the 600, 750 and Open Superstock Expert classes, and in the WERA National Endurance Series events the MW and HW Superstock as well as LW, MW and HW Superbike classes are supported.

All four classes in the 2005 AMA Superbike Series are supported with contingency awards as well. Riders in Superbike, Superstock, Supersport and Formula Xtreme are eligible. Payouts in all classes are 1st-$1,000, 2nd-$500, 3rd-$250, 4th-$100, 5th-$100, 6th-$100, 7th-$75, 8th-$75, 9th-$50 and 10th-$50.

LeoVince USA is also currently accepting resumes for the 2005 LeoVince Corsa Support Program. More information on the contingency and support programs is available by calling (817) 244-8552 or by e-mailing [email protected].

LeoVince is a division of Sito Gruppo Industriale based in Monticello d’ Alba, Italy. Sito is the largest exhaust manufacturer in Europe. LeoVince
USA brands include SBK for sportbikes, Silvertail for cruisers, Scoot for scooters, and X3 for off-road and ATVs. For more information visit www.leovinceusa.com. LeoVince products are distributed to U.S. motorcycle dealers by Western Power Sports.

From a press release:

Desmo Of Indiana, a northern Indiana club that has been conducting track days for over a decade, has announced its 2005 track day schedule. It will be holding track days at Putnam Park Road Course in Mount Meridian, Indiana on May 29, June 18, and August 6, 2005. Desmo Of Indiana’s track days are are open to riders of all brands of motorcycles who are at least 18 years old and possess either a vaild motorcycle operator’s or competition license. For more information, go to Desmo Of Indiana’s website at www.desmoindiana.org

Schedule:
All events at Putnam Park in Mt. Meridian, Indiana.
May 29
June 18
August 6