Troy Bayliss is the new World Champion 2008 Superbike and all media attention went to the new champion at Magny Cours which was a good moment for Twowheelsblog to have a talk with Troy’s teammate Michel Fabrizio, Ducati Xerox rider and Italian.

-I received some rumours about you, is it true that you are becoming the most friendly Italian rider after Frankie Chili?
I don’t know if I am more friendly than the other Italians but I try to be as friendly as possible to the fans and to the press. When I am not in the garage or preparing for sessions, I try to relax and spend time with my family and friends around the paddock. Frankie is also a good friend of mine.

-All the media is following Troy, is it not hard for you, don’t you lost your motivation? When Haga will ride next year beside you, will it be different?
Troy is a legend in world superbikes and much earlier in the year he announced his retirement from the sport, so it was obvious that he would get a lot of media attention. I don’t mind at all, I think it is normal, and it means I have been able to put my head down without too much pressure. This year was my first year with Ducati and so after a year of experience with the team, I hope to be able to improve on this year’s results next year and with results comes media attention.

Continue reading: Interview with Michel Fabrizio, WSB Ducati Xerox Rider

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Ducati Xerox rider Troy Bayliss is the new World Champion SBK 2008. A few minutes after the last race, we received this interview from Ducati Corse:

-A third World Title and in your final year of superbike racing, a dream result?
Yes, a dream result for sure. For several reasons…. for the fact that it’s my third title, in what is my last year of Superbike racing; for the fact that I’ve now won on three different generations of Ducati Superbike; and for the fact that I win for the third time as part of such a fantastic Italian team. We came so close to tying it up at the last round at Vallelunga but it wasn’t to be, it’s been a rollercoaster ride emotionally speaking and so I’m extremely happy and relieved to have done it this weekend!

-And the 1098 wins in its very first year? How was it and how did it compare to your previous race bikes?
The 1098 has been a fantastic bike, we’ve had to work a little on the settings throughout the year, but I can say that the bike and I have got on great together. Sitting on the bike, it’s not at all like the 999, but much closer to the older style Ducati bikes, more similar to the 996 or the 998.

-Was it as easy as it looked to win this year?
It may have looked easy but I’ve been up and down in the points, going up to 78 points and then back down to 28, then up to over a hundred, and back down after Vallelunga. So no, it wasn’t easy, it’s been a lot of hard work and although I’ve had some great races, I also had some little dramas. It just comes down to the fact that other riders have had more dramas than me I guess!

Continue reading: Interview with Troy Bayliss, the new World Champion SBK

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The friendly Dutchman Arie Vos won again the Dutch Superbike Championship. Twowheelsblog spoke to him:

Arie Vos “Champion Open Dutch Superbike Class”, how does it feel?
It feels great, although it is the fifth championship in three years for me. This one is very special because at the beginning of the season a lot of people thought that I didn’t have a chance to defend my title due to the switch from Honda to Ducati. But from the start of the season it went very well. The Fabricom-MCT Racing Ducati ran the whole season perfectly. To win the title in my first year with Ducati feels superb! I’ve shown everybody that I can win also on another bike than a Honda. That was also the reason why I was so motivated from the start of the season.

Was it a difficult year for you?
At the beginning of the season everything was new, not only for me, but for the whole team. But that didn’t give me any problems. From race one I was fighting for the wins. The mechanics have done a superb job. I have to give them a big compliment.

Continue reading: Interview with Arie Vos: Dutch Superbike Champion

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Valentino Rossi is really proving he’s number one and was smiling after his Indianapolis victory despite the weather and the race finishing early. MotoGP belongs to Rossi and his Yamaha team, though the rain and the news of his grandfather’s death dampened what was another historic win.

Rossi was disappointed that his grandfather didn’t get to see his last victory: “It makes me sad because I would have like to show him that I’d won another world title. But he was very unwell and these are things that happen. I’m happy, though, of having obtained another victory that I can dedicate to him.”

These are the first reflections from Valentino Rossi, a winner who, in a race that could have given him much joy if it weren’t for the news of his grandfather’s death, still managed a few words on yet another of his riding masterpieces. As he said after the race:

“Continuing would have been too dangerous, there was a really strong wind and the bike was moving, it was no longer controllable. On each lap I was hoping to see the red flag and luckily it finally appeared. But all in all, it was fantastic, because I haven’t won in the rain for a long time, and I can’t even remember the last time I won four races in a row.

Continue reading: Rossi on Indianapolis: four victorious rounds in honour of "nonno Dario"

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The NCR Ducati Team won the Canadian Thunder Championship riding a Ducati 848.
Twowheelsblog contacted NCR’s CEO Michele Poggipolini and here’s the interview we promised:

We know NCR from the Italian Supertwin Championship, Desmo Challenge, the Millona, New blue. Is NCR a race team or a manufacturer?
The Italian Supertwins, Ducati Desmo Challenge and all the other Open 2V races are extremely important to develop this Ducati kind of engine family. In four years NCR developed his own racing motorcycle, based on the Ducati 2V engine, the Millona, achieving impressive results and championships victories.

While we are still developing this Ducati engine and special parts for the Ducati bikes that use it, we are also focused on developing engine parts and kits for the new 4V Ducati engine family and the 84 is the project that started this development.

Continue reading: NCR Ducati 848: interview with CEO Michele Poggipolini.

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Today we give you the introduction to Dutch rider Susanne Bolhaar. Susanne is 31 years of age and started racing after enjoying some track days in 2005.

Susanne said to TwoWheels: “After getting the necessary licenses I started to race in the Dutch KNMV races, the Dutch National Championship. I chose the Supercup 600 class. Because of the fun of racing I was thinking trying once in the EW cup, the European Women’s Cup. And I started in the Dutch town Hengelo. I did not expected the result: I finished 5th! So I decided to join the whole championship. In the general standings I finished 9th and I was happy with the result, because it was my first year in the Cup.

In 2007 I joined the podium twice during the KNMW races at Oschersleben but the year ended badly for me. I crashed out and I hurt my wrist. Until today I am working on a rehabilitation programme for my wrist. But, I hope to be back in competition soon. If you want to know more about me, you can have a look at my Dutch website. And I want to say “Hi, thanks for reading” to all TwoWheels Blog visitors!”

Thank you Susanne and sure, TwoWheels Blog will follow you to see you riding soon!

Dutch rider Susanne Bolhaar

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Team Yoshimura Van Zon won the 8 Hours of Francorchamps in Belgium with their two riders Werner Daemen and Olivier Depoortere. The Suzuki was too fast for the Metiss, from the Team Birh Metiss. Twowheels was present at Francorchamps and visited the Belgian winner, Werner Daemen.

Werner, congratulations with your victory, you are racing endurance worldwide but also IDM?
Yes, I am present at some different championships, but generally I am racing in the IDM. It’s the International German Championship. Together with the British championship this is the highest championship in Europe. The Top 15 riders are all prof. riders and this time I am under contract with Suzuki. This year they sended me to Germany to win some races and try to win the tittle, it looks good for me on the moment.

Continue reading: Werner Daemen asking for more media support!

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Masao Furusawa, Executive officer, Engineering Operations for Yamaha Motor Company gives his mid-season review. We will give you a part of the review, by the most 5 important questions:

1. What’s been te biggest change to the M1 this year?
“We have made many changes to the M1 compared to the 2007 version and we have improved it a lot; Valentino is satisfied with our work so far. Of course the biggest change for us has affected Valentino’s side only -the change of tyre manufacturer. After the switch we had a hard time learning how to get the best performance from the new tyres and of course we had no data. last however year Valentino predicted that changing would be the right for him and he was right, although of course we weren’t able to predict how differently the tyre would behave.”

2. Wat else have you changed on Valentino’s bike?
“We have had to work a lot on the chassis setting and we have also changed the geometry of the bike in order to get a good balance with the tyre character. since we moved from 990cc to 800cc higher corner speed is needed in order to get faster lap times and to win. Therefor we have tried many different chassis settings in order to find the best of bike geometry, centre of gravity, rider position, wheel-base length, chassis stiffness and so on.”

Continue reading: Masao Furusawa about Valentino Rossi and the M1 Yamaha

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Visordown.com and Jon Urry give us this great interview with Jeremy Burgess, who speaks of his history in motorcycling, including championships won with Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi.

Burgess is a man who always sits in the background, but like many of this type, his important role is not to be underestimated, both for the team and the riders. Below we give you some extracts from the interview, but I’ll come out and say that for me the most fascinating part in his comparison of Rossi and Doohan.

So how did you get to being a crew chief?
I used to race. I worked on all of my own race bikes and I enjoyed that side of it very much. I spent many hours tinkering in the shed at night dreaming about going faster. I think it helped me a lot to get a job at Suzuki in 1980. Suzuki knew me from when I raced in Australia and I had an RG500, and mine was always fast and ran all weekend at race meetings.

Continue reading: Interview with Jeremy Burgess: Rossi vs Doohan and championship satisfaction

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Chris Walker, known as “the Stalker”, speaks on video about his return to the SBK with the Vent Axia VK Team. Recorded at Oulton Park during his first test-session, watch and listen to his review on the Honda Fireblade, saying that whatever you’ve got on your wish list, it has it.

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