The guys over at Motoblog.it were able catch up with Noriyuki Haga after the Pata Racing Team Aprilia presentation at the Motor Bike Expo in Verona, and the Japanese rider kindly gave them a couple of minutes of his time to chat about his first impressions of the Aprilia RSV4, the work that he and his team will be doing.

Here’s a translation of the interview:

MB: What was your impression of the RSV4:

NH: “The Aprilia is a great bike, and I was immediately at ease in the saddle. The tests that we’ve already carried out haven’t allowed us to interpret all the numerous adjustments, and we still have so much to learn about this new bike. Next week (tomorrow) we’ll be testing at Portimao and we’ll have to do well to get a good start to the season.

MB: What part are you focusing on?

NH: “The suspensions. I haven’t found a setting that makes me go fast as I want to. The engine is perfect as it is, it’s very powerful and we’re confident that we’ll go fast, we have to fine tune the settings and we’re going to be working on that at Portimao.”

MB: 2011 will see new riders, and the confirmation of others, who do you think is favoured to win the title?

NH: “That’s hard to say, I still haven’t figured out who’ll be the strongest this year, there are a lot of competitive riders and several teams that can do well. We have to wait to see who’ll be fastest in the first round, but I really can’t make a prediction right now. “

MB: Are you going to be one of the title pretenders?

NH: “Yes! I’m ready to win the championship.”

Simone Corsi currently rides in Team JiR Moto2 and has taken the Motobi chassis to two third place finishes and is sixth in the world championship with 65 points The 22 year old Italian who debuted full time in GP racing in 2003, answered some questions about the new Moto2 class and his season so far.

What’s your impression on the new category Moto2?

It is very interesting, for a rider, being aware that all competitors have the same engine. In terms of performance all the bikes are level, but the frame and suspension every rider must make his own interpretation of his machine. What is concerning me is that I try to tighten my cornering which is pretty important with how our bike performs.

We have seen several riders that have been competitive and then not so competitive at different tracks, what’s your interpretation of this?

The combination of frame and track is determinant on performance. This I believe is the main reason of the ‘up and down’ results. A good set up and efficient interpretations of the lines around the track can help you be fast.

Which one of your colleagues has impressed you most?

Toni Elias, for sure, is experienced enough to be competitive every Sunday, he has always been able to be consistent and the actual results so far underlines this advantage he has, even if the Championship has a long way to go yet. Talking about riding style, I haven’t seen any rider capable of dominating just yet.

What about your Championship?

At the first race I saw I could be immediately competitive and step-by-step I managed to move forward until the two podiums in Le Mans and Mugello. Bradl crashed into me in Silverstone and at Assen I had some troubles. During last race, instead, I made a mistake losing concentration when I was going for the podium, but this has brought me experience for the second part of the season.

What are you expecting during the second half?

I’m acquiring the consciousness and the skills to be always competitive. Already during practice at the last race at the Sachsenring I showed I can be in the first positions, with the fastest time on Friday and a good performance also on Saturday in the wet. I managed to stay with the best also in the race. I’m leaving towards Brno conscious of my capabilities, as the objective remains the same: to win!

While the media made a very big deal about Valentino Rossi breaking his leg and his comeback forty odd days after his injury, Motogp rider Randy de Puniet also shattered his left shinbone during the Sachsenring GP just two weeks ago and just inches above his ankle that he broke in a motocross accident two weeks before the Brno race last year.

The LCR Honda rider is hoping to return for the Brno GP just 27 days after his injury and talking to French website Sport-Bikes fills us on how he’s feeling and how his rehabilitation is going.

I wish I could say okay, but it’s not really the case.” said de Puniet. “For 10 days I’ll be doing physio in the morning to reduce the hematoma and then the hyperbaric chamber in the afternoon. Being locked up for an hour and half in a box doing nothing, is a bit painful, but it accelerates the healing, though it does not help the bone calcification. In a week, they’ ll take away the stitches and I hope to go swimming. The problem is they didn’t plate the fibula so I can’t do much and I have to be careful so it won’t crack.”

Asked whether this injury is worse that last year’s ankle injury Randy replied: “Oh, no! This is much less severe because there are no joints or ligaments affected.”

De Puniet is sure that he can make a fast recovery, but isn’t going to push it if it doesn’t work out considering this is the third time he’s broken his left leg.

“Yeah, it’s short, but what I experienced last year with my ankle in just twelve days was much worse. I think being able to return in 27 days. I will do everything to try to be there in Brno, but if there is any risk to my health, I will not take it. It is better to miss one more race and return a fortnight later in form than risk having big troubles later.”

We’re betting that Randy is going to try to be on track at Brno on Friday, August 13th and hoping that he isn’t superstitious, trying to ride his Honda.

Over the weekend live at the Assen MotoGP we spoke to Daniele Romagnoli, former team-manager of Jorge Lorenzo and current crew chief for the Tech 3 Moto2 team. As part of our behind the scenes look at the MotoGP, we talked about how he’s finding life in what he describes as the ‘difficult’ world of Moto2.

We discussed the technical aspects of Moto2 and what it’s like to have an image in this class. Tech 3 is a team that enjoys more financial backing than other’s in Moto2; it has its own box and doesn’t have to deal with the campervan land of the paddock. They even have umbrella girls to which Romagnoli replied by saying that a brolly girl doesn’t even cost him half a tyre and that he could hardly send out a hairy legged mechanic onto the grid. Read our interesting interview below.

You’ve said that Moto2 is difficult, what’s the main difference between Moto2 and MotoGP?

Here it’s another world. It’s especially difficult from a financial and economic aspect. The resources are inferior to the MotoGP and so you have to manage with the resources you’ve got. And then it’s obvious that with the MotoGP you have a company behind you that builds the bike, whether it be Yamaha or Honda or whoever. There are other bike builders but some teams, like ours, have to build their own bikes: designing it, building it, following a philosophy. But then it’s a challenge and I like playing.

Tech 3 box Moto2

There are some teams in Moto2 that have some financial problems. Do you think we will see less teams on the grid next year?

I don’t there will be less teams necessarily. We are at the sixth race and Moto2 has been very successful so far. So I think other teams will enter this class. Some teams are having financial problems and might not finish the season, but others will enter and take their place. It’s also clear that Moto2 is far more economical than MotoGP, but finding money outside of the MotoGP is very difficult. A team like this one costs a lot less.

Is Moto2 a valid substitute for the 250cc?

All of us passed from the 250cc class and it was one which we really liked. In terms of entertainment, the Moto2 class is a valid substitute, it’s less so in terms of technical satisfaction. Basically here there is no technology: you can’t touch the engine, the electronics are limited and you can’t do anything. With the chassis you can exploit it more and here we’re nearly at MotoGP levels in terms of the structural components, but generally there’s very little technology as such.

The Moto2 is a substitute that makes sense today racing with four-stroke engines. These days, two-strokes can’t really exist anymore because of their fuel consumption and pollution, and so racing with four-strokes makes more sense. The majority of engines are four-strokes, the costs are lower because we use series production engines which cost less. Giving that we’re in the early stages the costs are higher but I think that in two or three years’ time it will be much more economical compared to managing an official 250cc engine.

What do you think about the fact that 250cc might return to racing?

I won’t believe it even if they show it to me in front of my eyes. Because firstly the Moto2 has made a big impact in terms of its spectacle and entertainment, in spite of the fact that the performance specs in Moto2 are not those of the 250cc class. We will need some time to adapt and improve things but I don’t believe that 250cc will return; the days of two-stroke 250cc are dead and buried. I’m sorry about that because I came from that school but we can’t go backwards. If we look at the success of the MotoGP with four-stroke bikes, Moto2 is more similar to the MotoGP for this reason than any similarities between the 250cc and MotoGP. The only thing we’re missing now, and it will come but it will take time, is more technology to have bikes with more race-oriented engines. There’s no opportunity to intervene on the engines and I personally would like to see more chances to change things and more evolved electronics, to keep pace with current technology for example electronic acceleration control, ride by wire etc.

Can you have a career in Moto2?

Moto2 is a stepping stone to MotoGP. Many of the riders here came from 250cc, while others came from superstock and supersport, and the Moto2 is a category that works as preparation for the MotoGP. It’s still not at the stage that it should be, with the lack of intervention and tuning that we can perform on the bikes, and slightly bigger fairings, but the weight and the four-stroke engines are good preparation for the MotoGP.

Obviously you’re passionate about the technical side and this was your declared reason for leaving the post of teammanager to Lorenzo last year. Have you been able to achieve what you wanted?

Partly, yes. We built our own bike, over winter we had some problems with it, we’ve worked on it further, changing some of the design and improving our own knowledge to make ourselves better. I like it because I like being in touch with the reality of things. The last couple of years with Yamaha were exceptional for me, managing Lorenzo, being in the front row, gaining some victories. But here my real passion is to work directly on the bike both with the mechanics and electronics. The only thing I’m missing this year is to be more competitive, but I think we will be sooner or later.

Will you regret your decision if Lorenzo wins the championship?

No, absolutely not. The work that Lorenzo is doing at the moment is also the fruit of what we achieved in the past and the work that I did and the advice I gave him. They’ve worked to produce this rider and this year Lorenzo has made another step forward, particularly mentally. He has grown up a bit - last year he was very fast, too, but he needed to learn some self control. He wanted to be first always and sometimes if he had Valentino in front he couldn’t be happy in second place.

You’ve been Lorenzo’s teammanager, this year is his year, but if Rossi were to leave what do you think Lorenzo’s future is?

Firstly, Lorenzo will have to win this year’s championship, but his future is to confirm his champion status again next year. He will be Yamaha’s leading rider and will have the responsibility of continuing on Yamaha’s competitive bike which was created in them with Valentino. But Lorenzo will have to continue that work and make that bike just as competitive in the future for himself.

What are Tech 3’s plans for the future?

We have to be patient. We thought we were going to have more fun than what we have at the start, we thought we were going to be more competitive. De Rosa has had some problems adapting to the four-stroke bike - it’s a bike that he’s never liked. But Yuki hasn’t been doing badly and in general the bike is going well. We can’t say it’s really going well until we’re more competitive. Our plan is to continue like this and continue with out Moto2 and to improve it.

And for you personally? Would you like to go back to MotoGP?

I would like to, eventually, but we’ll have to wait and see for the moment. It’s not that easy, I’m happy with what I’m doing at the moment but it’s still early to say because we’re not even a third of the way through the championship. But I would like to return one day.

Off the back of his own talent and on the strength of the Fiat Yamaha team, Jorge Lorenzo is the undisputed number one rider in MotoGP at the moment and we had a chance to talk to his team manager, Wilco Zeelenberg after today’s qualifying at the MotoGP Assen. It’s hard not to like Zeelenberg, with his twinkly blue eyes and enthusiastic manner.

While it’s clear he’s good natured, we think this probably belies his efficiency and professionalism in the box itself. With Lorenzo’s recent success, the team dynamic and the bike set-up has found its sweet spot for the moment, and the team is riding high right now. Zeelenberg still brings a down-to-earth attitude to the management as he knows they’ve got a long way to go yet.

Our conversation starts just as Zeelenberg gets a message about his old protégé, Cal Crutchlow, and Crutchlow’s start at the Misano SBK.

Given that you won with Crutchlow last year, would you have liked to see him on the Yamaha Tech 3 bike and how do you think he would have done?

Yes, of course. I think he deserved a seat on the superbike first of all. Ok, so he was planning on going to Moto2 but I’m happy he’s staying with Yamaha. Yamaha had an option on him, and I pushed for him to stay with Yamaha. I said “let him go and he will run against you the next three, four years”. I’m very positive about him, he has a strong mind, and he’s talented and fit. He has space for speed. Supersport was nice for him but has space to go faster and that’s what I saw last year, and what was already proven in superbike as well.

I think it would be very nice and interesting for him to make the jump. I would like to see him come over but I know how difficult it is. He’s a Yamaha rider, he’s committed to Yamaha and I think we can be proud of that, but Yamaha should also give him chances for the future. I think they are trying and willing to do that and I hope for him that he will be here as fast as possible. He needs a little bit of time to learn as well and MotoGP is a high class. Today he sent me an sms and he said 34.9 for the pole position for superbike and we did 34.5 so maybe I’m competitive!

Do you see any similarities between Crutchlow and Lorenzo?

They are different for sure, but mentally they are very strong. Jorge is a different rider who has a different attitude. Cal can be very rude and rough, so they are different. But they have room to go faster and to learn very quickly. Jorge wants to go out every time and learn and make himself better. Cal has that as well - when you talk, he listens. Every little bit of good information he picks up and goes faster.

You’re in a strong position now but how are you managing expectations for the rest of the season? Lorenzo is already being nominated champion.

When things go well, everything is alleluia, but things are going to be a little bit more difficult: in qualifying, or rain conditions or just practice errors or pressures. We can’t expect now that the next coming 13 races we will win. That would be a miracle, I would say. So I prepare Jorge like that. We have this same conversation I’m having with you. Today he was saying, Stoner is fast. But I said, hey we need Casey here you know. He said ‘why?’. I said, well, the guy behind you in the championship is Dovizioso, Casey is okay now at the moment. When Casey wins, he’s strong. We know that Casey can do good races but will he do four or five in a row? I don’t think so, and even if he wins five in a row he’s not the championship leader because that’s still you. He’s far away and you should concentrate on the next challenger and that’s Dovizioso and Pedrosa because they’re very close.

You seem to have resolved any traction or other problems you were having, are you happy with the bike set-up?

Yes, we have a very good base and I think that’s what’s helping us to be on top from the first session on. Ramon Forcada is doing a really good job. He investigated exactly what our problems were last year and we have a plan from the first practice. The bike seems to work really well. Even the problems we had last year are solved in the first three practices. 95 percent of that is because we have the same bike as last year with just some updates and improvements.

What do you think about the return to the extra practice session on the Friday morning?

I hate the Friday at the moment because it’s a bit boring. There’s nothing to do in the morning. I don’t think it will make a big difference to Jorge. He’s a guy who can put the bike quickly on the pace when it has to be done. And if they go 45 minutes and 45 minutes there’s no extra time. For the mechanics and the way of working it’s a bit better because you have four chances for a good practice at the moment there’s only three. I don’t think it will make an impact on the rider safety issue.

Is Lorenzo the one to beat now? Do you think he could have done it with Valentino Rossi still around?

That’s a good question but I’m not able to answer that. I think he would have enjoyed it much more if Valentino were here.

What’s it like for Lorenzo to be in the box with such a high profile teammate?

It’s nice to have a teammate on the same bike as you, who is nine times world champion and that’s Jorge’s benchmark. You see that in many other things, too: Valentino is the benchmark for television, publicity. Everyone is looking towards him because he’s doing everything right. He’s always clever and to be on the same bike as him and to be so close so many times and even beating him is unbelievable for a rider Jorge’s age. He really enjoys that.

If Rossi does leave the team, that makes your side of the box the flag bearer for Yamaha. How does that make you feel?

I will be disappointed if Vale leaves because the whole team is built around him. All the staff are Italian and they love Valentino. Who doesn’t love Valentino? They are all Valentino fans. I’m working for Jorge and he has me as a fan now, too. I like Valentino, you know he’s a character and you cannot beat him on PR value. So I will be sad if he leaves the team.

While Rossi is the bigger personality and the more famous rider, you can compete with him on technical terms with the expertise in your box.

Yes. Jorge is a different kind of rider than Valentino. In some ways he’s a specialist, he can really focus and adapt himself to the bike. Valentino works more on the bike to make the bike work for him and Jorge does the opposite. Okay, he gets a good bike but he adapts himself to the bike.

What’s Jorge like to work with?

He’s very funny, he loves to joke. He’s young, he’s 20 years younger than me. He’s always fast on the bike and easy to analyse. Of course on the technical side… he doesn’t need to learn actually, he already says what he feels and that’s an important thing.

Does he have a talent that we don’t know about?

He can sing! He loves music and he can really sing quite well.

Do you miss racing yourself?

No because I’m fully involved. I raced and was active from four until like, 34. I really enjoyed that time but at a certain point you have enough of competition. You have enough of showing and proving yourself against the whole world. Then you do it for yourself, you want to win. But at a certain point you say “to who shall I prove that I can ride a motorcycle”? You’re not that focused anymore on beating somebody and you need that.

I still love to ride bikes, also on the racetrack but with a different feeling: to analyse the bike and the steering. Of course the adrenalin is nice but if you come in a couple of seconds after, who cares?

Would you like to try the M1?

Yes. I’m not stamping on the floor to do it because I know if you want to ride that bike well you need a day to ride it and you don’t get that time. They could say, okay you can ride it ten laps and in ten laps you can really do nothing. To analyse the bike and to speed up you need more track time.

Do you have a favourite bike?

The Yamaha T-Max [laughs]. The big scooter. I love that bike.

At a brief press conference at the MotoGP Assen, current number one in the rankings Jorge Lorenzo has stated that he’s not worried about next year. Commenting on the silly season contract rumours, Lorenzo has stated that he’s focusing on finishing number one this year. From his serious expression, we know that this is his big aim and there’s no reason at this stage to say he won’t achieve it.

We know Lorenzo was pleased with his performance last weekend and just how pleased has buoyed him for the coming races at Assen. He says: “I was not happy with Mugello but I was happy with Silverstone. Being at the front at the start creates less work for me on the track and we’ve been working to our best for each track.” He’s looking forward to racing at Assen, and we know he’s already said it’s one of his favourite tracks.

With other technical information discussed, including improving tyre choice at the MotoGP to make them less unpredictable and the move to extra testing for rider safety, the journalists present really want to know about the Fiat Yamaha team dynamic. Lorenzo says: “I’m not worried about next year. It really doesn’t concern me at all. I want to get to the end of this year and be in that number one spot at the end.”

On reaching the top spot in the rankings, Lorenzo is clearly proud about his achievement: “I’ve been given this opportunity and I intend to take advantage of it.” But the key question on the Rossi-Lorenzo relationship comes from an English journalist: “If you could choose between Valentino Rossi staying in Yamaha or going to another team, which would you choose?” And Lorenzo, with a slight smile simply answers: “Rossi with me.”

If you thought being an umbrella girl was a glam job, you can think again. How does a 5am start sound? And heels that don’t fit properly? We spoke to Zoe and Alexandra, the Yamaha umbrella girls at the MotoGP Silverstone, to see what a day in the life of a paddock girl is like.

For them it started at 5am when Zoe went to pick up Alexandra, a girl she’s never met before, at a hotel because Alexandra had to be a bridesmaid the day before the MotoGP Silverstone final. They came to the track, and got dressed here. It’s not a job where you get pampered by others, but a job where you do your own makeup and hair, grab an umbrella and troop down to the box to have your ears blasted out by motorcycle exhaust systems.

Zoe and Alexandra are both local British girls who found their brolly girl job via a local agency. They do have day jobs - Alexandra is a make-up artist and Zoe is, in fact, a special needs teacher who is on a gap year from university. Both have been motivated differently to come to Silverstone as brolly girls.

Umbrella girls live pics silverstone motogp

Zoe loves the PR aspect. As a chatterbox, she’s good value as a brolly girl - friendly, obliging and cheerful. She actually loves cars and has previously worked at Mallory Park and Donnington. While not a MotoGP nut, she found the oppportunity of seeing Jorge Lorenzo in the flesh quite exciting.

Alexandra is the British beauty of the couple, with lighter hair and a more mysterious, diffident attitude. Generally doing more modelling jobs, this was Alexandra’s first time as a brolly girl and she quietly confided that the idea of being on television and the internet was actually quite exciting. In fact, both girls had told boyfriends and family members, who in turn were recording the race or at least watching the television in case of getting a glimpse.

So what does the overall experience give you? Alexandra and Zoe posed on Rossi’s bike with the “That’s Rossi’s bike!” celebrity influence overcoming them for the moment. They saw Lorenzo: with Alexandra sailing past and saying ‘hi’ without realising who he was, and Zoe saying “That’s him”. They stood up most of the day, in short skirts in chilly weather (trying to warm themselves at the pit-box by standing in front of the tyre warmers) and now have sore feet. But they did it with grace and friendliness, with unending poses and politeness for guys passing and wanting photographs.

World famous mechanic and Valentino Rossi’s crew chief has left a long interview with SuperBikePlanet in which he reveals many aspects of his long and rich career with riders like Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan and Freddie Spencer. Jeremy Burgess discusses some fascinating moments of MotoGP history and the riders themselves. Some quotes from the interview, on being chief mechanic at Honda for Wayne Gardner:

“Honda, as a company, if they saw that you could offer more to them, or you had the potential to do more, if you didn’t do that, you weren’t doing the best for Honda. So it basically came down, when he explained it to me, “you don’t have a choice. You’re either going to be the chief mechanic for Wayne Gardner, or you’re shirking your issues.”

On the difference between Gardner and Doohan, Burgess says:

“To draw the parallel of him [Gardner] and Mick (Doohan), Wayne you would have to go and tell him that “you can beat those guys. You beat them last week. You can do it. You can do it. You can do it.”

If you said anything like that to Mick Doohan, he’d look at you, and he’d look down at you, and he’d say, “What, don’t you think I can do it?”

And on how to balance life with work and personal family commitments:

Ah, well, it always works out on my personal side, because I’m right and everybody else is wrong.

It’s a long interview, but one definitely worth reading for the history of the MotoGP and a few pearls of wisdom left in the midst of the reminiscing. There’s plenty on the Valentino Rossi era as well, for those of you who want the juicy bits on the current MotoGP world champion and Burgess’ and Rossi’s work. Check it all out on SuperBikePlanet.com.

On the classic Australian circuit of Phillip Island where the official Infront tests took place last weekend before the season opener, one of the newest additions to the World Supersport grid is Paola Cazzola, who rides the #33 Honda for Kuja Racing.

Dave Contini got a chance to talk to Paola and asked her a few questions about her newest racing adventure.

Q: You’re one of the fastest women riders on the planet, you’ve shown that you deserve to ride and compete at an international level. How was the first impact with testing at Phillip Island?

A: Firstly, I’d like to thank you for the compliments, I want to say that I know a lot of riders who deserve to ride at world level, but in our field as everyone knows, money talks and maybe being the first women to take part full season in the series has helped me.

My first impression was that for the first three laps at Phillip Island I seemed to be inside a video game, the track is very fast, with turns that you do in full fourth and fifth gear that make you hold your breath! The track is much tighter than I expected and at certain speeds if you miss your marks even by a little …it’s not pretty!

Q: The Australian circuit certainly isn’t one of the simplest for a debut, a great track with several very technical points. Which areas of the track are you already confident with and in which areas do you think are more difficult and you need to improve?

A: Actually you’re right, a debut at P.I. is a debut with a capital D. The track is wonderful and very fast, but personally I don’t think it’s that super technical. Here you need a pair of big ones and a bike that’s perfectly balanced, because like I said the track is very, very fast and you have to have a very good feeling with the bike to keep your throttle open on these turns. My confidence at the moment .. I don’t have any in any section, but I can say that I do like T1 and T2. Turn 3 for me is a blood bath, and the turn that goes into the straight towards the finish line is like wow … it’really gives me some of the greatest feelings every lap. Where do I have to improve? Everywhere!

Q: At Phillip Island, in your opinion which is the point that you can get you best lap time?

A: To me it’s at T3 and the turn that heads to the finish line. Favourite tracks … I haven’t seen that many, so I’ll have to answer you at the end of the season. The ones that I really know are the Italian ones, Portimao, Assen and Phillip Island and so far the one I liked the best is Portimao.

Q: How do you feel with your bike and team? Where does your racing #33 come from?

A: I don’t really know know my bike yet, I have to start working on finding a good base set-up, and there’s a lot of possibile combinations and this complicates things. I’m getting to know my new team. I worked for three years with my old one and they knew how I rode and I could give them just a look and they knew what I wanted, so naturally in a new team we have to get to know each other and find a common language, but I’m convinced it won’t take long, and the feeling between is already very good.

Number 33 was the number that they officially gave me when I first started racing in motocross, and I’ve never been injured using this number and it’always brought me good luck.

Q: WSS has always been a spetacular championship with great racing duels and this season it looks like that Kawasaki is doing well, as is Honda. You’ve had a chance to ride along side the other riders, who do you think is going to be the fastest this season?

A: WSS is a hard fought series and this year there’s going to be great fight between Sofuoglu, Lascorz and Laverty and hopefully also for the Italian colours, because Pirro is riding for a top team this year.

Q: Tell us something about yourself, do you have any habits or rituals before riding? And for the technical aspects of your riding, do you have any peculiarities like using the rear brake?

A: I don’t have any habits, but I do I have a ritual … let’s say that I often talk to my bike before starting a race!
I don’t think my riding technique is different from the norm, maybe sometimes I’m too delicate on the throttle and this has its pros and cons, it’s good when it’s wet, but a little less when it’s dry.

Q: What are your expectations for the championship and how would you encourage another female rider who wants to follow in your footsteps?

A: My expectations are to continue to get better and beat my limits. I’d like to get three to five points by the end of the season. I hope that a lot of women can reach out and live, what I’m sure will be a great adventure. I’m living a dream and in order to do so .. you can never stop believing!

Our staff would like to thank you for your availability and hope that you have a successful season. We hope to hear from you soon.

Thank you and I hope that I can really twist that throttle. Above all, I’ll try to do my very best, I owe it to all those guys that deserve to be here .. but aren’t!

We’ve got another interview today with Italian superbike rider Luca Scassa who will be racing in the World Superbike Championship for Supersonic Racing, the team from Parma will be debuting this year after moving up from the Italian Superstock 1000 series.

The team will be receiving their Ducati’s at the beginning of March and won’t be taking part in the official tests this Sunday and Monday at Phillip Island and will miss the first round, but #99 will be starting from second round in Portimao with his new Ducati.

Dave Contini interviewed Scassa for us and here’s what he had to say.

Q: You’re ready for the 2010 championship, what are your feelings regarding this season?

A: I’m delighted to be able to ride in this championship on a Ducati and with Supersonic Racing. The 1198 R is a fantastic bike and I’m sure I can do well. Potentially we can aim for the top, but since we’ll be receiving the bike only in March, I’ll have to first ride it and after we can judge our true potential.

Q: What do you think your results can be, considering the extremely high level of competitiveness in WSBK?

A: We’ll be starting with one less round, but this doesn’t frighten me because I already have an excellent relationship with the team and that’s fundamental in a garage, it helps find the right harmony and concentrate solely on getting the job done. I have to thank our team manager Danilo Soncini for the this and I’ve discovered that we get on well together. I’m happy, confident and highly motivated. Our goal is staying in front of all the private teams and maybe keeping some factory rider behind us. It would be nice to get points in every race and maybe get into the top ten, we’re certainly going to try our best.

Q: What kind of training have you done in these months?

A: I’ve always kept in shape with a specific program for the two WSBK races. The guys at the Four Fitness in Arezzo have been helping me and we’re working on stretching and stamina. I feel great and can’t wait to ride.

Q: Who do you think will be the rider to beat?

A: The English guys are strong and I’d add Max Biaggi.

Q: You’ve always had a great relationship with your fans, what’s your secret?

A: I think that fans are an important part of our work, so you have to take care of them. Sometimes it’s demanding, but then you see the enthusiasm and it becomes contagious. I’ve got my fan club and use Facebook a lot. Honestly, I’ve always looked up at two of the greatest riders in this sport: Troy Bayliss and Valentino Rossi. You can learn a lot from both of them, including their relationship with the public.

Thanks Luca, good luck and have a great championship.
Thank you.

With the upcoming opening round of World Superbikes Championship, that is shaping up to be one of the most exciting seasons ever, with highly talented and big named riding stars, we caught up with Lorenzo Lanzi before he left for Phillip Island.

After a difficult past season, Lorenzo has been signed up to ride for DFX Corse, for whom he raced for last year (replacing the injured Regis Laconi) and the bike could not be anything less than an awesome Ducati 1198, a highly professional team, for an all Italian duo and with six Italian riders on the WSBK starting grid, great racing will be a guarantee.

Here’s some questions that we asked the rider from San Piero in Bagno, including his expectations for the upcoming season.

Q: Finally you’re going to be back riding a Ducati, how do you feel physically and mentally?

A: “I’m really happy to have found a place in the DFX team. I’m finally back in the series and for the entire season and really want to do well from the start. I have to say that I’ve always believed that I’d be back, so I’ve always been in training to prepare for the double races. I knew that if I raced in other championships in the end it would have paid off. I’ve always believed in my talent, but being a rider without personal sponsors, it wasn’t easy finding a place, and today I’m here and I’m grateful to the team and believe that I can hold my own in the championship.”

Q: What do you think of the riders you’re going to face this season?

A: It’s going to be a great championship, there are a lot of world champions and there’s a lot of anticipation for the start of the season. It’s going to be hard competing at the highest level, but we’re going to do our best.

Q: What do you believe will be your level?

A: Fortunately there’s going to be two day’s of testing before the opening round. We’re pratically starting from zero and I’ve been out for several months. We really needed this opportunity to test and I’m hopeful for the championship. It’s going to really tough, especially in the first two or three races, but I think that we’ll reach a good level by the Valencia round. Obviously in a championship of this level and so full of talent it won’t be easy staying with the front runners, but I think if we can constantly stay in the top ten, it would a great result and if we can fight for a podium position, and why not a victory like in 2008, I’m certainly not going to pull back.

Q: Six Italian riders in the series and we want you all to be leaders.

A: Yes, this year there’s a lot of us and I hope we can come up with some great racing

Q: We’d like to thank you for your availability and would like to wish you the best of luck for the season.

A: Thank you and all the fans!

We’d like to thank our friend Dave Contini for this interview.

When the Voltra electric concept bike from young designer Dan Anderson first came across our desk, we were eager to know more. Below is our interview with Dan about his electric motorcycle design project, and believe me: the more you get to know about the Voltra and its creator, the more impressed you’ll be.

Dan grew up around bikes and his natural passion for the subject matter really comes through in his technically interesting Voltra. It’s not just a project put together so that his university thesis looked good - it’s a truly original effort, well studied and well-built. If you think that electric motorcycles are playing an important part in the future of motorcycling, this interview is s must-read. See how a young, aspiring motorcycle designer views the future of motorcycling, and the role that electric powered bikes might play…

Firstly, tell us something about yourself. Are you a motorcyclist yourself? How did you embark on the project of making an electric motorcycle and did you have a team to help?

I’m a 23 year old, recently finished Industrial Design student born and raised in Sydney, Australia. I’ve been around motorcycles my whole life. My father raced classic British bikes when I was young so I spent a lot of time at the track having my hearing ruined by unsilenced exhaust megaphones! The sights, sounds and smells really stuck with me and bikes have been a fixture in my life ever since. I ride a lovely old Ducati Pantah 600 which I restored in the summer holidays. I have a ‘thing’ for old bikes; even if they spend more time on the workbench than on the road!

Dan Anderson Voltra electric

I developed a passion for design, drawing and building things which led me to Industrial Design at the University of Western Sydney. So the Voltra motorcycle is really the logical culmination of those two passions. We were given free reign over our final year thesis projects and there was no way I was going to chose anything other than a bike! I didn’t have a team to help (sometimes I wish I did!), though I did get a lot of good advice from my father, Chris.

Why did you choose an electric motorcycle for your thesis project?

The choice of electric power system over internal combustion engine was simply a matter of interest and curiosity. Initially, the brief was ‘alternative power system’ rather than specifically ‘electric’. However during the research phase, electric was found to be the best way to go in terms of power output and practicality.

Electric power also gave a whole new dimension to the project in terms of how can I make this new, impersonal technology appeal to riders who have evolved with the internal combustion engine (ICE)? It’s clear that motorcyclists are quite conservative when it comes to the adoption of new technologies or revolutionary concepts and it really interested me to try and break through that wall with something plainly desirable. Whether or not I’ve achieved that is up to you, but it was fun trying!

To be honest, I was never particularly enamoured with the idea of an electric motorcycle. Like everyone else I really enjoy the sounds, smells and riding experiences of ICE powered bikes; even oil leaks! Working on this project however, has shown me that electric power could be just as much fun as petrol, just different.

Take us through some of the design elements and themes. It has been described as a ‘café racer’, but what look did you want to achieve? How did you arrive at this particular design?

A big part of the research phase in the project was studying motorcyclists and motorcycling communities to determine the most suitable market for the introduction of an electric design. Eventually the ‘premium’ sportsbike market (Ducati, MV Agusta et al.) was chosen for a wide variety of reasons and this informed the design direction of the Voltra. Styling analyses of the market and a profile of the associated riders found striking similarities with Café-Racing culture so I incorporated those elements in my design. The look of the Voltra was mainly dictated by the findings of my research though I did manage to throw in some of my own influences such as the overall minimalist design.

How important is the style of an electric motorcycle to its appeal? Is the market more interested in how it compares to fuel versions in terms of performance?

The importance of styling varies over the markets just as it does with ICE machines.
However, for electric bikes, which are trying to break through the conservatism of the motorcycle market it can only be very important. If electric power technology is currently viewed as dreary and incompatible with motorcycling then it’s important to try and counteract that in other ways such as styling.

For the near future anyway, electric bikes will probably be viewed more critically when introduced to the market and so will need to be impeccably designed to withstand that initial ‘suspicion’.

Despite our increasingly environmentally conscious society, do you think the ‘petrol head’ culture means electric sports or superbikes are a way off for the mainstream market? How do you see the future of electric bikes?

The depth of identity and mythology which has evolved around the ICE motorcycle, and which is known so intimately by the motorcycling community, is amazing. It exists in the car community too but to a lesser overall proportion of enthusiasts. So that ‘petrol head’ culture is not to be taken lightly as it seems to form such a large part of the collective motorcycling ideology.

Eventually electric bikes will develop their own identity and mythology in the way ICE bikes have done over the last 100 years and ‘petrol head’ culture will no longer be relevant; succeeded by ‘volt head’ culture I suppose.

Ultimately, the pessimist in me sees ICE powered motorcycles being legislated out of possibility and a new age of transport beginning in which electric bikes play a part - probably the ‘fun’ part. People will always crave speed on two wheels, that’s fundamental, and if electric power is the way in which that speed is generated then bring it on!

What’s the Voltra made of? Have you used any recycled materials? How does the electric motor component work?

The Voltra’s frame is a monocoque structure made from carbon fibre. High-temp foam filler is used to give thickness and shape where strength isn’t important; to cut down on expensive composite material used. The carbon fibre used isn’t particularly recyclable, more ‘re-usable’. Composites like Flax-Fibre reinforced polymer are more recyclable but carbon was chosen just for extreme weight savings. The trellis style frames are made from ‘nanosteel’ which is an emerging metal with similar characteristics to carbon fibre, though without the brittleness. It’s fully recyclable. Most other components are made from aluminium which is very recyclable.

The AC electric induction motor is powered by lithium iron phosphate batteries and is controlled by a programmable motor controller which allows the power delivery characteristics to be tuned as desired. The motor is housed in an aluminium assembly which incorporates the swingarm pivot and drive sprocket on a single axis.

This arrangement was simply due to packaging- it’s very compact- allowing more room for batteries! The co-axial drive/swingarm pivot is also nice. The Voltra currently has direct drive, however future development would likely incorporate a gearbox system as gear changes are such an important part of the motorcycle riding experience.

Can you give us some technical specs and performance figures?

Sure can!

Ride time estimate: 1 hour 40 mins @ constant half load and 80% discharge depth
Travel range: Dependant on riding style and gearing.
Recharge time: ~2 hours
Torque: 129 Nm
Top speed: 200+kph dependant on gearing.
Frame: Carbon fibre monocoque with foam filler pieces for thickness
Batteries: Lithium iron phosphate
Motor: AC Induction with programmable controller
Weight: ~200kg

What’s the future for the Voltra? Will it ever become a production version? Are you interested in designing more electric bikes, and would you ever consider participation in something like the TTXGP?

There has been some interest in building a working prototype of the Voltra though the enormity of the task in terms of time and finances is not to be underestimated. It’s not impossible, though only time will tell.

Fairly obviously, my ultimate goal is to be a motorcycle designer, whether that’s working with electricity or petrol. Every new motorcycle design is a unique, challenging and fun prospect so it makes no real difference to me at this point.

As for the TTX GP, what better fun! I’ve always wanted to get over to the Isle to see it for myself, and now there’s an electric version too! I can’t wait!