» Motorcycle

T-Rex is tested at Fifth Gear on a rainy day

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:51:50 +0000

The Kawasaki-powered T-Rex is the fastest 3-wheeler in the world (157 mph) and Fifth Gear star, Tiff, takes it for a spin in some pretty harsh conditions. You don’t see a 3.5 seconds trike with a steering wheel being driven like that every day.

Read more from the source

DeGraaf Grand Prix Riders Shining at Wet Philip Island

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:47:52 +0000

The first day for the DeGraaf Grand Prix Team during the Australian Grand Prix went superb. Danny Webb just missed the provisional pole position and ended on a very good second place. Also Stevie Bonsey liked the wet conditions at Philip Island and finished the session on a seventh position. Dutchman Hugo van den Berg rode a superb session and manages to ride his best qualification till now and grabbed the tenth position.

The dry first session in the morning started good for British Danny Webb. During the session Webb was constantly in the top 10 and finish the session on a nice ninth position. Stevie Bonsey could found his rhythm fast and after several adjustments to the set-up the American ended on the 15th position. Hugo van den Berg had a little crash in the middle of the session but picked it up and could finish the session on a 28th position.

The wet qualification was superb for the DeGraaf Grand Prix Team riders. British Danny Webb started the session in the top 10 and when Webb came in for a pit stop he was on an 8th position. Webb let make a few changes on the bike and went out again. When Webb saw on his pit board the distanced to the pole, which was over the 4 seconds, Webb was going for it. The British youngster climbed up to 2nd spot with one minute to go. In his last lap he was even the fastest in nearly all the sections but lost it in the last section but still manage to stay on the 2nd spot.

Stevie Bonsey had fun in the rain. The American was constantly in the top 10 and went a bit faster and moved up to second. Bonsey manage to improve his lap times every lap and stayed in the top 3. In the last minutes Bonsey had some back markers in the way and dropped to a still very good 7th position.

Read more from the source

Dovizioso, 4th in Dry & 2nd in Wet at Phillip Island

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:35:27 +0000

The first day of free practice for the Grand Prix of Australia was held in weather which was decidedly variable, with sun and warm temperatures during the morning, followed by rain and a traditionally cold autumn afternoon. Andrea Dovizioso in dry conditions remained stable among the top ten, gradually improving his lap and quickly concluding the first session in fourth position. By the end of the second session Andrea was truly flying in the rain, putting on an excellent display of riding – despite the lack of grip – to take first position until a few minutes before the end, when he was edged out by Nicky Hayden.

The JiR Team Scot rider is confident of being able to tackle the second day of testing in good technical shape tomorrow and is looking forward to the race.

Gianni Berti – Technical Coordinator – JiR Team Scot

“This morning we started the practice session with the dry track and we started to set up a base set-up that has always yielded good results and allowed us to do a good job quickly. We are pleased with the new front forks and if tomorrow we are still in optimal conditions we will continue with the development of these. With the wet conditions we are ready to do very well indeed, even in the race.”

Andrea Dovizioso – Rider – JiR Team Scot MotoGP

4th-best time: 1′31 “051

“Today’s was a good result, with us immediately going fast in the wet, with a steady pace that left me in first place in the standings until I returned to the pit-box at the end of the session. We used data that we acquired during the Winter test before the season started, where we spent an hour in the rain and this proved to be a good starting point for us. Even in the dry we went well, but we are still aiming to improve. The times we did today are similar to those made in the test, but the weather conditions were better, with higher temperatures, but today was cooler. In the wet, we tried some new tyres from Michelin, which worked very well. Phillip Island is a track where speed counts, with the bike spending time in some long curves with little throttle movement to use up before full throttle. These are characteristics which our bike is handling well.”

Read more from the source

Hayden Topped Rain-Lashed Practice

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:34:13 +0000

Repsol Honda RC212V rider Nicky Hayden dominated this afternoon’s soaking-wet second practice session at Phillip Island, lapping the high-speed seaside track three quarters of a second faster than his closest rival.

The American has been using his Michelin rain tyres to stunning effect recently, topping last weekend’s rain-hit opening session at Motegi and finishing second in the hurricane-hit Indianapolis GP two weeks earlier. The 2008 MotoGP season is proving to be the wettest in memory, with rain falling at the vast majority of events so far.

In this morning’s opening session, run in dry conditions, Hayden was 11th quickest, working hard to find more traction around this high-speed track.

Read more from the source

Kawasaki Confident of Improvement at Phillip Island

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:33:09 +0000

Kawasaki’s John Hopkins and Anthony West remain confident of a strong performance during tomorrow’s final practice and qualifying sessions ahead of Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, despite enduring a difficult opening day aboard their Ninja ZX-RR MotoGP machines at Phillip Island.

The curse of Phillip Island’s unpredictable weather stuck once again, with today’s two free practice sessions held in completely different weather conditions. Both Kawasaki riders struggled with rear traction issues during this morning’s hour-long free practice session, which was held in warm and sunny conditions. Hopkins and West made a number of changes to their Ninja ZX-RR machines to try and improve drive out of Phillip Island’s fast and sweeping curves, and despite running out of time before making significant improvements to their lap times, both are confident that they have a clear direction with their dry set-up.

Lack of rear traction was also an issue for the two Kawasaki pilots during the wet second session, with Hopkins in particular struggling to get his rear tyre up to working temperature around the 4.448km Phillip Island circuit. Despite the problems, the 25-year-old Kawasaki rider posted the 14th fastest time of the session, but was disappointed to finish more than four seconds off the fastest time of the afternoon, set by former World Champion, Nicky Hayden.

Read more from the source

New World Champion Gets Back to Work on the Island

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:31:48 +0000

Newly-crowned 2008 World Champion Valentino Rossi was back in action at Phillip Island today, just five days after clinching an incredible sixth premier class title, his eighth in all. The Fiat Yamaha Team rider finished a promising second in this morning’s dry session, before rain interrupted the proceedings this afternoon.

The Italian maestro has a peerless record at Phillip Island having won five times in the premier class, including twice with Yamaha during his championship winning years of 2004 and 2005, and he is keen to get back onto the top step of the podium this weekend. Bright sunshine this morning saw him in fine form, running second behind Casey Stoner, but this afternoon was a different story as rain and wind battered the coastal circuit. Rossi was sixth fastest this afternoon and, with unsettled weather expected for the rest of the weekend , this afternoon’s wet set-up time could prove useful. His team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who has won the 250cc race for the last two years here, was eighth in the dry this morning and fifth in the wet this afternoon.

Valentino Rossi

Position: 2nd
Time: 1′30.764
Laps: 49

“Today we are back to work after the championship victory but I can say that my motivation is still very high and I really want to have a good result here. I am quite happy with this morning’s session, second is not so bad and I managed to do some good laps and find a strong rhythm quite quickly. It wasn’t perfect however and we need to work a little bit on the tyres with Bridgestone. This track is very hard on tyres, especially the left side where there is a lot of stress and at the moment we have a bit too much rear spin. In the wet we were a bit slow and we lack some feel on the entry to the corner, so if it is wet again then we will need to work on this. Now we will have to wait and see what the weather does tomorrow in order to see what we have to focus on.”

Davide Brivio - Team Manager

“Yet again we’ve had another half wet, half dry day! It’s a pity this morning’s great weather couldn’t continue but anyway it seems we might be okay for the rest of the weekend. This morning we were reasonably fast, although we have some improvements to make, but this afternoon in the wet things weren’t quite as good. We still need to choose the best tyres for both conditions so that we’re prepared for rain or shine! Anyway, it’s only Friday so we will keep working like this tomorrow and hopefully make another step forward.”

Read more from the source

Vermeulen Third in the Wet on the Island

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:30:33 +0000

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP’s Australian racer Chris Vermeulen got his home Grand Prix off to a good start as he recorded the third fastest time during this afternoon’s wet session

Vermeulen moved into the top-three with a third of the session left and continued to lap consistently fast in the torrential conditions. He was very pleased with the improvements that have been made to the GSV-R since the Team last tested at Phillip Island, and is convinced that the base settings from today will put him in a good position for the rest of the weekend.

Loris Capirossi looked good in this morning’s opening session – held in pleasant spring conditions. His quickest time of 1’31.248 from his 28 laps gave him ninth place overall, but he was only two-tenths away from a top-three position. Vermeulen was 14th in the dry as he used the session to get the set-up right for his machine over the 4,448m circuit.

Phillip Island is certainly a venue of differing weather characteristics and it has been said that if you don’t like the weather you only need to wait ten minutes and it will change, and today was no exception. This morning’s practice was held in warm sunny conditions with clear blue skies and track temperatures reaching 30ºC, but in marked contrast this afternoon was overcast with heavy rain and the track only reached a chilly 15ºC. The fastest combined time was set by Casey Stoner during this morning’s session.

Read more from the source

Wet Setback for Team San Carlo Honda Gresini

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:29:33 +0000

Team San Carlo Honda Gresini began their preparations for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island today, although a wet afternoon proved to be a familiar and unwelcome hindrance.

Following a dry opening session in which both riders established a good feeling with their machines, set-up work was severely set back in the afternoon after a heavy and consistent downpour.

Despite crashing in the slippery conditions, Alex De Angelis remains confident that his positive work in the dry can prove decisive as he looks to recover his feeling with the bike after a difficult Grand Prix of Japan last weekend.

Shinya’s work together with the team was also slowed by the wet track and conditions he rarely feels comfortable in.

However, the Japanese rider is also happy with his progress in the dry and hopes for better weather tomorrow.

Alex De Angelis (3rd - 1’31’’043):

“I’m really pleased with how first free practice went this morning because we rediscovered some of the feeling we’d lost in Japan. It is obviously only one session and we have to keep working because we still have a lot of other things to try. Unfortunately we didn’t get chance to do that this afternoon because of the rain and the crash was another setback. Now I’m really looking forward to tomorrow because the forecast is good and I’m keen to get out there and make more progress.”

Read more from the source

Alice Team Looking to Bounce Back at Phillip Island

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:28:17 +0000

After the Motegi race where Alice Team riders, Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli, didn’t make it to maintain the good level found in the last races, MotoGP doesn’t stop and lands in Australia for the sixteenth round of the 2008 season. Phillip Island circuit is one of the most fascinating in the MotoGP calendar.

The many fast turns need a powerful bike but very well balanced to give the maximum confidence to the riders so that they can ride smoothly in the many directions changes. Last year the Alice Team duo, which were riding with two different bikes, have respectively concluded in fourteenth and fifteenth position with Guintoli in front of the Catalan rider. Elias has never been lucky on the circuit located in the region of Victoria, stepping on the podium in only one occasion in 2001 when he was riding in the 125cc category.

Alice Team Technical Director, Fabiano Sterlacchini, wants to see a positive reaction from his riders:

“Last weekend we couldn’t manage to turn things in the right direction. We thought that we could achieve a good result; instead we had one of the worst races of the season with too many complications. Now I want to see two hungry riders, with many motivations. Elias will have to find back the good level maintained in the second part of the season, while Guintoli still have to show us his true value. One of the principal characteristics of this Grand Prix is surely the climatic condition that can change many times during the day. The ideal for us would be to find good weather for the all three days to prepare the bike in the best way possible, but it seems like we will have a weekend full of unexpected changes.”

Toni Elias will try to improve his last performances obtained on the Australian circuit:

“I never obtained great results here. It is strange because I really like the track and I think it suits my riding style, but for some reasons I only stepped on the podium in 2001. Too much time has passed. Now I feel better and fever seems to have gone. I will give my best to give to my team some good results before the end of the season.”

Read more from the source

Aussies Lead Bridgestone Charge in Wet & Dry

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:25:30 +0000

Australian riders Casey Stoner and Chris Vermeulen were the top performing Bridgestone-shod riders in the opening two practice sessions for Sunday’s Australian GP after a mixed day of weather conditions at Phillip Island.

Stoner led the way in this morning’s dry and sunny session with a massive 0.670s advantage over his nearest challenger Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi. Rossi, who clinched the 2008 MotoGP crown with a win at Motegi last Sunday, was in turn three-tenths clear of San Carlo Honda Gresini man Alex De Angelis who completed an all-Bridgestone top three in the dry conditions.

As clouds gathered over the island, rain made yet another unwelcome visit to a MotoGP weekend this season in time for the afternoon practice session, which saw Chris Vermeulen take top Bridgestone rider honours in third position for Suzuki behind wet pace-setter Nicky Hayden and second-placed Andrea Dovizioso. It was very much a day of two halves but with six riders in the top ten in both sessions, Bridgestone’s Australian GP preparations have started solidly.

The Phillip Island track is renowned for its technical complexity with the dominance of fast left-hand corners placing a firm emphasis on performance and durability on that side of the tyre. Bridgestone hopes for improved track conditions for tomorrow’s practice and qualifying session as it works to extract a performance level from its tyres similar to that seen in last year’s Australian event in which Ducati riders Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi took a 1-2 finish.

Read more from the source