Motourage

Team Honda Australia came away from today’s QBE Australian Superbike Championship event at Symmons Plains very successful, with a Superpole and Race 1 win by teammates Wayne Maxwell and Jamie Stauffer respectively.

Symmons Plains race 1 winner Jamie Stauffer

A superb Superpole lap by Maxwell placed the Victorian rider in P1 this morning, recording a lap time of 53.595”. Stauffer recorded a Superpole lap time of 54.375” placing him seventh on the grid for the race.

The first race of the event was an extremely exciting one with Maxwell getting off the line strongly and looking comfortable in his pursuit of Josh Waters for the lead. Stauffer also made a solid start from P7 on the grid to fourth on the first lap and waged a strong battle, ultimately up to the lead to win the race.

Maxwell’s intentions for a Race 1 win from his P1 start were unfortunately not realized when he crashed at the notorious hairpin on lap 11 of the race although he managed to salvage his race to finish in seventh place.

“Putting my CBR1000RR on Pole this morning in Superpole for the 5th time this season was definitely a fantastic boost going into the race,” said Maxwell. “I got off the start line well and was feeling pretty good, but obviously things did not go quite to plan. Still, I take points from finishing 7th and will focus on tomorrow’s race.”

Race 1 winner, #27 Stauffer, is excited by the win especially as it places him closer to a possible championship title for the 2011 season. With Team Honda Racing having won the last five championship races, the momentum is definitely on its side, and the strength of the Honda CBR1000RR is plain for all to see.

“I’m really happy with the Race win today, although it was a very eventful race to say the least,” said Stauffer. “There is still more work to do on the bike this evening to get it where I want it to be for this circuit, but our plan is a strong one so I feel confident we will get there for tomorrow’s race.”

Superbike race 2 will begin at 1:10pm local time tomorrow.

Team Mack Trucks Suzuki’s Robbie Bugden topped today’s Superbike practice sessions at Tasmania’s Symmons Plains Raceway. The Queenslander led today’s combined QBE Australian Superbike Championship practice sessions, shooting up the timesheets as the clock ticked down during this afternoon’s final 20-minute session.

With the Superbikes book-ending the day’s proceedings, it looked like the early morning mark of Wayne Maxwell may have stood until a barrage of quick laps came in the closing minutes. But, on lap 13 of practice 2, Bugden set an unanswered best of 54.153” on his GSX-R1000, finding more than half a second since the opening session.

It’s a promising start to the penultimate round for Bugden, 29, who is hopeful of improving the pace of his Team Mack Trucks Suzuki even further tomorrow.

“I’m happy with today’s results but I think there’s still lots more to come from the bike,” said Bugden. “It’s a circuit I really like, very technical, and I knew if we chipped away at it this morning we could sharpen the bike up for this afternoon’s session. I’m just looking forward to getting out there and racing. If it’s dry it’s going to be a fierce, close race, the times today tell that story.”

Positions 1-7 on the overall timesheets were separated by just 0.332”, setting up a thrilling qualifying and opening race tomorrow.

Symmons Plains’ quickest-ever Superbike qualifier, Jamie Stauffer, finished second today, and is doing everything he can to stay in the hunt for the 2011 title. The winner of three of the past four Superbike races will need to keep his eye on the prize if he and his factory Team Honda are to hold off Glenn Allerton, who was a comfortable fifth.

“To be honest the pace wasn’t what I thought it would be, it’s slower than I expected and I think there will be a lot more we can do overnight to get a quicker bike for qualifying,” said Stauffer. “If the weather closes in it changes things. It looks like we will spend at least some of our time this weekend riding in the wet, if it has to be in the races then we’d really like to be able to get a setup tomorrow morning during qualifying. We’re going in the right direction and where we need to be at the moment.”

Josh Waters put his Team Suzuki GSX-R1000 into the top 3, edging out Honda’s Wayne Maxwell by just over one-hundredth of a second.

The difference between the times of Craig Coxhell and Troy Herfoss in sixth and seventh illustrated the evenly-matched affair – there was none. Both riders rounded out the day with a best time of 54.48”, unable to be split on the timesheets.

Brodie Waters was the fastest of the Prostock competitors today, lapping his Team Suzuki machine in 55.862 seconds. Again it’s a case of must-win in this class for Waters, with current leader Linden Magee streets ahead on the points table.

The field will contest two 20-minute qualifying sessions tomorrow morning to determine the order for the eight-rider Superpole shootout.

Grid placings will carry over into the opening 16-lap race, to be held at 1:50PM local time.

Combined Practice Results, Symmons Plains:

1. Robert BUGDEN (QLD) / Team Mack Trucks Suzuki, 54.153
2. Jamie STAUFFER (NSW) / Team Honda Racing, 54.192
3. Joshua WATERS (VIC) / Team Suzuki, 54.209
4. Wayne MAXWELL (NSW) / Team Honda Racing, 54.222
5. Glenn ALLERTON (NSW) / Procon Maxima, 54.336
6. Troy HERFOSS (NSW) / Team Suzuki, 54.485
7. Craig COXHELL (VIC) / GAS Honda / Demolition Plus, 54.485
8. Ben HENRY (QLD) / CUBE Racing / Australian Outdoor Living / Weld West, 55.772
9. Brodie WATERS (VIC) / Team Suzuki, 55.862
10. Linden MAGEE (QLD) / Coastline Motorrad Racing, 55.928

The conditions for yesterday’s MotoGP free practice followed the same theme as for the 125cc riders: A wet track, ample opportunity to make a mistake and gray clouds in the sky. There were plenty of crashes in the premier class, and the wet asphalt also led to some changes to the established order in the standings. All riders were immensely motivated to start the Valencia GP in strong fashion, in order to pay homage to the late Marco Simoncelli. The afternoon session was a more positive one for Ducati, who had several of its riders high up on the timesheet. However, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa were the two quickest of day one. Today will further clarify the true state of affairs ahead of the final 800cc race.

Yesterday was a day of adaptation for Héctor Barberá at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit. The Mapfre Aspar Ducati rider -still recovering from injuries suffered at the Japanese GP- was cautious about riding in the wet. His workload was focused on electronics, with a few changes to the settings proving fruitless. The Spaniard continued to try things out; however, and gradually found his way at his home track. Despite the modifications not working out, he ended the day with the twelfth-best time of the MotoGP field, 1.4 seconds off the top spot. Héctor will be working in a different direction today, aiming to place well in the qualifying session.

Héctor Barberá, 12th, 1.46.967, 29 laps:
“The positive part of the day was that physically I feel a lot better than in Malaysia. It’s true that wet conditions are less demanding physically, but I haven’t had too many problems just yet. We tried out some electronic modifications today, and they didn’t end up working out. We had good results when we tried the same changes in Malaysia, but maybe the water on the track meant that there wasn’t the response that we wanted. We will take another step back to look at the big picture tomorrow, as we know what we want and I am sure that we can make a significant improvement. Because we focused on electronics today, we left the chassis set-up a bit on the backburner. It’s only Friday, so we still have all day tomorrow in which to improve.”

Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista led the way during yesterday afternoon’s second free practice session at the GP Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana as he took first place on the timesheets at the wet Spanish track.

Heavy rain started to fall over the 4,005-meter Ricardo Tormo Circuit at mid-day, and by the time Bautista and the rest of the MotoGP riders took to the track it was fully wet. Suzuki’s Spanish star acclimatized to the conditions well and produced consistent quick laps that consolidated his position at the top of the standings. His time of 1’47.975 was more than 0.3 seconds quicker than his nearest rival, and he looks to have a good set-up and a confident riding style for Sunday – if yesterday’s weather replicates itself for the race.

The morning’s practice session started in damp conditions, with Bautista again looking impressive, but as the track started to dry out he found grip difficult to find and finished in 11th place. Already-crowned 2011 world champion, Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner, took the honors on the drier track by recoding the fastest time of the day.

Bautista has one more free session this morning followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 30-lap race is the final event of the season, and with inclement weather forecast it looks like being a very interesting and entertaining race.

Álvaro Bautista:
“Today has been a good day for us because we have had a full wet session to get some practice in those conditions. In this morning’s session I had a good feeling at the start, but as the track became drier it wasn’t as good and I couldn’t ride at the limit. The bike moved a lot and was spinning-up all over the track, so it was very difficult. In the second session, after the heavy rain, the track was much wetter and the conditions were a lot worse than this morning for all the riders, so it was essential that you rode smoothly and carefully. We changed some settings in the bike to help me get a confident feeling in the GSV-R and at the end of the session I was able to find a good rhythm. We finished first today and although it’s only the second free practice, you cannot improve as much in the wet as you can in the dry, so this is very good for us. I hope that tomorrow we can make some improvements in drying conditions like we had earlier today, but if it is totally dry we still have plenty of work to do to get ready. I am happy with the first day and looking forward to the rest of the weekend.”

Paul Denning, team manager:
“Winter feels like it has arrived in Valencia and it didn’t look like the most pleasant day to be on a Grand Prix bike out there. That said, cold and low grip conditions were always the situation that caused us the most problems and as we saw at Phillip Island a few weeks back – and again today – the steps that Suzuki has taken with the GSV-R have again proven to be very effective. However, improvements to the motorcycle aren’t enough because you also need a confident and capable rider and Álvaro looked very assured and smooth in the full wet conditions this afternoon – it was nice to see his name at the top of the sheets. I think Álvaro – and everyone else – would prefer some dry, sunny running over the next couple of days, but whatever the weather brings our intention is to push to the maximum and achieve the best result we can.”

GP Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana Combined Free Practice Classification:
1. Casey Stoner (Honda) 1’45.513
2. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +0.223
3. Valentino Rossi (Ducati) +0.315
4. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) +0.560
5. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) +0.595
11. Álvaro Bautista (Suzuki) +1.409

This weekend’s final round of the 2011 MotoGP season, the Grand Prix of Valencia, got underway yesterday in difficult track conditions. The morning practice was run on a partly damp but drying circuit and the afternoon session was fully wet. Yamaha Factory Racing rider Ben Spies took his first ride since withdrawing from the Malaysian Grand Prix, gradually building up speed to finish in sixth, 0.7 seconds from first in the difficult conditions. The afternoon session saw the Texan crash out after a small mistake braking into turn one, crossing the white paint and losing grip on the slippery surface. Spies escape relatively unscathed but sore and unable to complete the session, wrapping it up in 14th place.

Jorge Lorenzo’s replacement rider, Katsuyuki Nakasuga, was fully committed to the challenge of learning Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo Circuit in treacherous weather conditions. Nakasuga-san gradually built up confidence over the day as his circuit knowledge increased, moving from last place in the morning practice to 11th in the second session.

Ben Spies, 6th, 1.46.259, 26 laps:
“I’m a little beat up, but that’s normal after a crash. I got a little wide over the white line and hit a puddle and hydroplaned the front, lost it and went down. The bike was starting to feel pretty good and we were getting up to speed. It’s not the best way to come back; I’m not really happy about it, but we’ll look forward to tomorrow and make it better. We made a change at the beginning of the second session which was bad, then went back to the settings from the morning and were making progress so we’ll continue with that set up in final practice.”

Katsuyuki Nakasuga, 16th, 1.46.581, 37 laps:
“This is my first time at this track and it was pretty difficult at the beginning to learn the way. I’m more comfortable now as I can remember the layout. I would prefer a dry track as I think it’s very easy to crash here in the wet. On Sunday I believe I can challenge for a good position, this is my target.”

Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager:
“A rainy first day in Valencia. We were afraid because it can be very slippery and Nakasuga-san has never ridden here before. He did quite well in the end, step by step he improved and quickly understood the track conditions. The weather actually gave him a little extra time to slowly learn the track and build up pace. We are quite satisfied with the set up so far and also his performance. We’re not sure what the conditions will be like tomorrow but we believe he still has room to improve. A tough day for Ben, hitting the white line is bad under these conditions but thankfully the crash was not so serious and he is ok for tomorrow.”

Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director:
“Unfortunately, Ben crashed today and hit his shoulder on the ground. For sure this isn’t going to help his physical condition over the weekend as he’s pretty sore. Hopefully he can manage the pain and keep pushing to deliver as strong results as possible. Nakasuga-san did a good job today for his first time here in wet conditions. By Sunday he should be used to the track so we’ll see what he can do.”

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 riders Cal Crutchlow and Josh Hayes quickly got to grips with challenging conditions at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia today to finish a rain-hit opening of practice displaying impressive speed and consistency.

Tech 3 wild card and reigning two-time AMA Superbike champion Josh Hayes

Crutchlow was 10th quickest in this morning’s opening practice session on a damp track after heavy early morning rain had soaked the 2.489-mile circuit. He posted a best time of 1.46.581 to finish just more than a second away from the fastest pace.

The second session took place on a full wet track after torrential rain battered the Valencia circuit in the build-up to the start of the 45-minute practice. Crutchlow once again adapted himself superbly to the tricky conditions and he briefly topped the timesheets as he worked on improving the wet setting of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team machine to find better traction. With the track surface much wetter than in the morning session, lap times were slower as a result but Crutchlow’s best time of 1.49.350 secured the 26-year-old fifth place.

Today’s performance from double AMA Superbike champion Hayes, who is replacing injured compatriot Colin Edwards, was truly outstanding. Hayes has no knowledge of the tight and twisty Valencia track and he had never ridden Yamaha’s prototype YZR-M1 machine before today. The wet conditions didn’t make his task any less complicated but Hayes acquitted himself magnificently and this morning he was only 1.5 seconds away from the top 10.

Quickly adapting himself to the Bridgestone rain tires and the sophisticated electronics on the YZR-M1 machine, Hayes opted to gain as much experience as possible this afternoon by staying on track throughout the session. He completed 24 successive laps and managed to clock a best time of 1.50.509 to finish in 10th position. His time was good enough to comfortably outpace regulars Loris Capirossi, Hector Barbera, Hiroshi Aoyama and Toni Elias.

Crutchlow and Hayes rode with Sic58 stickers on the front of their Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bikes today in honor of Italian Marco Simoncelli, who lost his life in a tragic accident during the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang on October 23.

Cal Crutchlow, 10th, 1.46.58, 34 laps:
“Today was a positive start to the weekend and I think I could have gone a fair bit quicker at the end of this afternoon’s session and been challenging for the top three but I made a couple of small mistakes on my last lap. But I was still fifth fastest though and I felt pretty comfortable in the full wet conditions. I am happy enough even though the track hasn’t got much grip at all. It was very slippery and you’ve got to be careful because it is easy to make a mistake. But the bike definitely felt better in the full wet rather than when it was a bit sketchy this morning. I just hope we get a dry session tomorrow to get some time on the bike in the dry. Nobody wants to be starting the race with no dry track time, so we’ll have to see what happens with the weather. If it is wet tomorrow I’m sure we can make some improvements and go a bit faster.”

Josh Hayes, 15th, 1.48.037, 44 laps:
“My first day in MotoGP has been very difficult and quite scary at times to be honest. Before I went out this morning I don’t think I have ever been so nervous in my life. I was happy with my lap times this morning in tricky conditions but then in the full wet this afternoon it meant it was quite a scary introduction to MotoGP. Although I’ve not experienced the full potential of a MotoGP bike because of the wet conditions, it is obvious that the Tech 3 Yamaha is a very good motorcycle and the Team has done an excellent job to try and make me comfortable. All I had to do was ride the machine and try to improve. Right now it is not so much about the set-up of the bike, it is just me learning the bike and I will continue that process tomorrow. I just hope that at some point I will get to have a dry practice so I can get to grips with the carbon brakes. I don’t want to be going into the race on Sunday having to learn to ride in the dry and also adjust to the carbon brakes after two wet days. That would be the worst scenario for me, but I enjoyed today a lot. It was a great experience and once again I want to thank everybody at Yamaha, Tech 3 and Monster that made this possible.”

For the last race of his MotoGP career, Loris Capirossi carries the #58 plate in honor of Marco Simoncelli

A pair of free-practice sessions were completed today at Valencia, site of the final round of the 2011 MotoGP season, the GP Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana. Pramac Ducati’s Loris Capirossi, with the number 58 on his bike in honor of Marco Simoncelli, finished with the fifth-best time of 1:46.108. His teammate, Frenchman Randy De Puniet, finished two positions back, in seventh place with 1:46.371.

Fabiano Sterlacchini, Pramac Technical Director:
“It went well, apart from this afternoon’s result, which is a little misleading. We started with a pair of tires that was particularly old, and that caused some problems. It’s why we then decided to return to the setup form the morning, when Loris had done well, but unfortunately he began to lose some feeling. As for Randy, there’s not much to say; he had a perfect session. We hope he can repeat that performance tomorrow.”

Loris Capirossi, 5th, 1:46.108:
“It was an honor to ride with Marco’s number on my bike. Apart from that, it was a bad afternoon. The tires didn’t work, so in the final minutes, we had to use my tyres from this morning. They were a bit worn, but I still managed to improve my second-session time by three seconds. I’m happy with how the morning went, and I’m very optimistic for tomorrow. We can do well.”

Randy De Puniet, 7th, 1:46.371:
I’m satisfied. The track, this morning was quite dry, principally at the end of the session and I finished in seventh place. In the afternoon, instead, with the wet track I done well, dying with the seventh best lap time. The feeling with the bike is good, I hope it will also tomorrow. There are many chances to close this season with a good result. My thought is to Marco and his family.”

Team Honda ASBK's Wayne Maxwell

Wayne Maxwell took the overall round honors yesterday for the second consecutive event in the Australian Superbike round run in conjunction with the 2011 IVECO MotoGP at Phillip Island. With four races scheduled for the Superbikes at the MotoGP event, only three were run as Race 2 was cancelled due to an oil spill on the track, which caused lengthy delays.

After a convincing win in Race 1, Maxwell gave a repeat performance in Race 3 winning with a 2.514-second gap ahead of Glenn Allerton. Race 3 for Maxwell’s Team Honda Racing teammate,  Jamie Stauffer, was not so positive when he lost the front end of his CBR1000RR on lap 4.

Yesterday’s final race of the event for the Superbikes, Race 4, was declared wet when the heavens opened just before the race start, and it was then shortened to only five laps. Maxwell got off the starting line in the lead, but a spectacular moment on the first lap saw him leap from his seat but somehow manage to recover his composure, dropping him back to 3rd where he remained until the checkered flag.

From his P1 position on the grid, #27 Jamie Stauffer finished Race 4 in second place just .398 seconds behind Allerton. Stauffer finished eighth overall for the event.

Jamie Stauffer:
“It was good to finish the final race in second place, although I would have liked to have had more success in the previous two races. This round does not count towards our Australian Championship points though, so it was useful to gain more information on the set up of the CBR1000RR as we head to Tasmania for Round 7 of our Championship.”

Maxwell is also focusing on the penultimate round of the Australian Superbike Championship as he looks to increase his points and take a place on the podium.

Glenn Maxwell:
“Today’s race was a bit different to the other 2 with such changeable weather and having to swap bikes on the grid when the rain started. I got a bit caught out on the first lap with a near crash, but managed to recover which was good. Towards the end of the race I felt comfortable and was able to increase my pace. I finished 3rd which is ok and to take the overall win for weekend was terrific.”

Team Principle Paul Free is pleased to take the overall round win for Honda and comes away from the MotoGP with some valuable data to take into Round 7 of the Superbike Championship.

Paul Free:
“It has been a very successful but trying weekend for Team Honda Racing. It is awesome for Wayne to take his 2nd round win in a row and some race victories, but disappointing for Jamie to have the weekend that he had. The schedule for the GP for the Australian Superbike category is not ideal but it does provide some valuable track time on the very circuit we will finish our championship on at the end of the year. The information gathered throughout the weekend with incidents like Jamie’s crash highlights areas we need to develop to strengthen our motorcycle. Moving forward we know exactly what we need to do to win both remaining rounds of the Australian Superbike Championship in Tasmania and Phillip Island.”

Team Honda Racing will compete in Round 7 of the ASBK at Symmons Plains Raceway on November 12 and 13.

Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) won the 2011 MotoGP World Championship yesterday with a victory in difficult conditions on his home circuit of Phillip Island on his 26th birthday. Finishing behind Stoner were three Hondas, Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini), in a career best second, then Repsol Honda teammates Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa.

Stoner’s chances of winning the title greatly improved when his only title rival, Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), was declared unfit to race after injuring his left hand in a crash near the end of morning warm-up. That put Stoner in position to take the championship by finishing sixth or better, though he would rather have won in a straight-up fight. Since Stoner had been on the podium in every race he’s finished this year, finishing sixth or better was never in question.

Bolting from his 11th pole position of the year, Stoner controlled the pace on a cold, blustery, but mostly sunlit day, turning the race into a battle for second. Stoner had a lead of 7.4s on the 14th of 27 laps and was well on his way to victory when a light, then heavy rain threatened to turn the race chaotic in the final stages. Two riders pitted to change to motorcycles with rain set-ups, and three others fell, but Stoner survived one harrowing moment, maintained his composure and sped to his fifth consecutive victory at Phillip Island, today by 2.21s.

The win gave him an untouchable championship lead over Lorenzo of 325 to 260, with only 50 points remaining in the final two races in Malaysia and Valencia.

The title was Stoner’s second; he also won the 2007 MotoGP World Championship, giving him the distinction of opening and closing the 800cc era as world champion.

The victory came on a day when Honda celebrated their 60th Constructors Championship and 18th in the premier class, and 15th riders championship in the premier class. Honda has an insurmountable 75 point lead, 380 to 305, over Yamaha with two races remaining.

Though Stoner’s win was never in doubt, the same couldn’t be said of the other podium positions. By the fourth of 27 laps, Honda riders held the top four spots and began an inter-family battle that would go down to the final lap. Simoncelli took over second on the second lap and held the position almost to the end. Only on the 25th lap did Dovizioso find a way past, holding the position for two laps. But on the final lap, when the track was again dry, Simoncelli re-asserted himself to finish second, a career best in the premier class. Dovi was third at .244s, with Pedrosa dropping off the pace at the end to finish fourth.

What wasn’t known at the time was that Pedrosa’s front tire had degraded, taking away his corner entry speed and forcing him to abandon the podium fight. Rather than risk crashing, and losing valuable championship points, he made the wise decision to secure fourth, and give Honda a top four sweep.

Toni Elias (LCR Honda MotoGP) survived the adverse conditions to finish eighth, tying his season best. Elias was again troubled by rear grip issues, caused by the dropping temperature. Still, he rode a smart, calculated race using his experience to avoid the traps that befell a number of others.

Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) was also having a good race when he crashed four laps from the end on a wet track. At the time, the Japanese rider was immersed in a scrap with two other riders for eighth. One of the other riders also fell, leaving only ten finishers.

Aoyama will be joining the World Superbike Championship aboard a HANNspree Ten Kate Honda in 2012 and wants to finish his MotoGP career strongly in the final two races.

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Gigaset Mapfre Laglise Racing Team’s Jordi Torres snatched the 2011 UEM European Supersport Championship title, which took place on Sunday, October 9 at the Spanish circuit of Albacete, with

Only great racing was on display at Albacete with the top-five riders from the Spanish, French, German, Italian and Dutch national championships and the top four from the Scandinavian, Eastern Europe and Alpe-Adrian Championship contending for the UEM Road Racing titles at the Circuito de Albacete in front of 13,000 spectators.

Jordi Torres topped the time sheets all weekend and was the first to reach the finish line in Sunday’s race. Despite his lack of experience in the Supersport category, in Saturday’s second qualifying session Torres lapped the track in an impressive 1:30.815 to secure a comfortable pole position. Dominating the race from start to finish, Torres held off advances from Gomez on the first lap, and then proceeded to circulate alone in the lead until the very end. The Spaniard rode his R6 to the checkered flag in a clear win to clinch the gold medal and his first ever European Championship title.

Joining Torres on the podium were the Danish rider, Alex Schacht of the Schacht R.SBK ONE team, in the second-place spot and Dutchman Jos Van De Raa from Vice Versa AA Racing in third place.