French team Kawasaki SRC has won the 2012 Bol D’Or, first round of the Endurance World Championship (EWC). Riders Julien Da Costa, Grégory Leblanc and Olivier Four took their Ninja ZX-10R top the top spot to clinch the first victory for Kawasaki at the event since it moved to the Magny Cours circuit, 12 years ago.

Intermittent rain and low temperatures made it all pretty difficult for the teams, with the Kawasaki guys claiming victory in front of the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, whose riders Fabien Foret, Anthony Delahalle and Philippe Vincent completed the same amount of laps of the winners (781), but with a gap of 1 minute and 20 seconds. Third place for the Monster Energy Yamaha team of Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Gwen Giabbani, which completed 776 laps.

The Bol D’Or turned out to be quite a disappointment for the Honda TT Legends team of John Mc Guinness, which clinched 6th place among the EWC teams with 747 laps but closed 9th in the race overall behind the top three teams of the Superstock class (which registered yet another win for Kawasaki, with riders Debise, Delegue and Holub taking the ZX-10R of the 3D Endurance Moto Center team to the top spot). When their Fireblade was in 5th position, Cameron Donald lost the front end on the back straight and suffered a high speed crash. In line with EWC rules, the uninjured Australian pushed the Honda CBR1000RR back to the pits, where the team set to work repairing the extensive damage. However, the accident forced the team to lose quite some time, jeopardizing the final result. Classification and comments right after the jump.

View the full 2012 Bol D’Or photo gallery

Results 24H of Bol d’Or 2012
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS RESULTS

1. SRC KAWASAKI / Da Costa - Leblanc - Four / KAWASAKI / 781 / 24:00:23.531
2. S.E.R.T. / Philippe - Delhalle - Foret / SUZUKI / 781 / 24:02:04.586
3. MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA / Jerman - Martin - Giabbani / YAMAHA / 776 / 24:00:23.775
4. YAMAHA - GMT 94 - MICHELIN / Checa - Foray - Lagrive / YAMAHA / 776 / 24:01:19.039
5. YAMALUBE FOLCH / Ribalta Bosh - Dos Santos - Tizon / YAMAHA / 765 / 24:00:31.983
6. HONDA TT LEGENDS / Donald - McGuinness - Andrews / HONDA / 747 / 24:01:59.143
7. 18 SAPEURS POMPIERS / Molinier - Prulihere - Briere / BMW / 736 / 24:00:31.459
8. DUNLOP MOTORS EVENTS / Charpin - Maccio - Wolf / SUZUKI / 730 / 24:00:28.431
9. TEAM R2CL / Capela - Dumain - Cheron / SUZUKI / 727 / 24:01:23.776
10. SH TECHNOLOGIE-SCRUBS / Pouhair - Teramoto - Demarey / BMW / 722 / 24:01:29.039
11. NATIONAL MOTOS / Monge - Bocquet - Masson / HONDA / 704 / 24:00:32.759
12. SPACE MOTO / Nouvellon - Deneque - Gallerand / SUZUKI / 700 / 24:02:23.188
13. LEMAN RACING / Villarroya - Monnot - Vinet / BMW / 675 / 24:01:39.332
14. MAX ET YANN RACING TEAM / Thepaut - Cury - Laniel / SUZUKI / 668 / 24:00:27.251
15. FLEMBBO DIJAMANT SERBIA / Bosio - Cersosimo - Dehaye / KAWASAKI / 648 / 24:02:20.427

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS POSITIONS

1 Team SRC Kawasaki - 40
2 Suzuki Endurance Racing Team - 33 pts
3 Monster Energy Yamaha YART - 28 pts
4 Yamaha France GMT 94 Michelin Yamalube - 24 pts
5 Yamalube Folch Endurance - 21 pts
6 Honda TT Legends - 19 pts
7 Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers - 17 pts
8 Team Dunlop Motors Events - 15 pts
9 Team R2CL - 13 pts
10 SH Technologie Scrubs - 11 pts
11 National Motos - 10 pts
12 Space Moto - 9 pts
13 Leman Racing 8 pts
14 Max et Yann Racing Team 7 pts
15 Team Flembbo Djimiant Serbia 6 pts

SUPERSTOCK CLASS RESULTS

1. 3D ENDURANCE MOTOCENTER / Debise - Delegue - Holub / KAWASAKI / 750 / 24:01:41.594
2. Penz13-Kraftwerk-Herpigny / Buisson - Fastre - Vallcaneras / BMW / 749 / 24:01:40.197
3. STARTEAM 67 / Lucas - Hardt - Diguet / SUZUKI / 748 / 24:01:28.775
4. DGSPORT HEROCK / Van Keymeulen - Cudlin - Vizziello / YAMAHA / 741 / 24:02:01.334
5. ATOMIC MOTOSPORT / Muteau - Jond / SUZUKI / 737 / 24:01:16.362
6. RACING TEAM SARAZIN / Gerouah - Kokes - Bernon / KAWASAKI / 735 / 24:01:59.649
7. LOUIT MOTO 33 / Baz - Guarnoni - Chevaux / KAWASAKI / 732 / 24:00:51.884
8. MOTO AIN RACING TEAM / Haquin - Mizera - Varesco / YAMAHA / 718 / 24:00:24.025
9. MCS RACING - IPONE / Devoyon - Belluci - Saseta / SUZUKI / 711 / 24:01:45.283
10. APRILIA LE MANS 2 ROUES / Boue - Parisse - Le Royer / APRILIA / 690 / 24:00:43.260

Julien Da Costa (Kawasaki SRC): “It’s my second victory here at the Bol d’Or, but maybe the most difficult one. I’m really tired now, but it’s a really good feeling to share this victory with the team.”

Grégory Leblanc (Kawasaki SRC): “It’s a really great moment in my career. Last year we were on the second spot of the podium and to be on the top stage today is a really sweet feeling. I’m sure we will be having a big party tonight to celebrate this victory!”

Olivier Four (Kawasaki SRC): “Under dry conditions I was lacking a little bit of race, but when I saw that the weather conditions turned to be very tricky I understood that it would be a perfect race for me. I’m really pleased to share my third victory in the Bol d’Or race with the Kawasaki SRC team.”

Gilles Stafler (Team Manager Kawasaki SRC): “We fought with an incredible pace during most of the race, despite the really poor conditions. I would like to thank all the team for this fantastic result, not only the riders, because today it’s the victory of the whole team. Of course Julien Da Costa, Grégory Leblanc and Olivier Four have done an incredible job. It was a really tough race and we were ready for the difficult conditions, but I think that the biggest contributor to our success has been that we didn’t make any mystake during the race.”

John McGuinness (Honda TT Legend): “Not the result we came for but it was one of our strongest rides yet. We were holding fifth and looking good in very difficult conditions. It was a gruelling race with temperatures as low as 2 or 3 degrees through the night. I got caught up in some of the bad weather and had to pit for tyres changes which meant I then had to do double stints with 50 or 60 laps at a time and that is hard work. After Cameron slipping off at probably 150mph and the bike cart wheeling its way though the gravel, luckily Cam was alright and the team did amazing job at getting the bike back out there. We wanted to be a bit further up but at least we’ve picked up some world championship points.”

Cameron Donald (Honda TT Legend): “After starting and finishing Le Mans last year I got to start and finish the Bol d’Or, which is really special. It was an absolute ordeal of a race. Everyone had their moments to shine and it was a big teem effort, but unfortunately we just didn’t quite come up with the goods. It was a little bit of bad luck and me skidding up the road didn’t help, but just to finish another 24-hour is a massive achievement.”

Simon Andrews (Honda TT Legend): “It feels good to finish my first 24-hour race. Ten months ago I was lying in a hospital and my first race back I’ve completed a 24-hour so I feel triumphant and I’m pretty happy. We were quick and we were safe, I did everything to the best of my ability and I’m going home with a smile on my face.”

Neil Tuxworth (team Manager Honda TT Legends): “I think the best we could have expected was fifth in that race. We couldn’t have come any higher at the pace we were going at. We still finished sixth overall in the EWC race which is good considering we lost time doing repairs after Cameron’s crash. It’s certainly been the most difficult endurance race that we’ve done and the one with the most problems. We’re going to analyse everything that has happened, figure out where the issues lie and continue from there. Hopefully we can have a better race the next time out.”

Paolo Chiaia’s and Graziano Rossi’s dirt track brainchild, the Zaeta 530 has officially been homologated and will be distributed in Italy through Bologna based dealer Royal McQueen.

The Zaeta 530 is homologated for two, the livery and chassis can personalized with any color of your choice and the tail can be the street legal version or a number plate for racing and will be sold at 13.500 euros which also includes, for orders placed in 2010, two track lessions with 3 times UK flat track champion Marco Belli, who is currently second in the European championship with the Zaeta.

After the jump more pics and a video of Belli doing some training at the Treviso horse track while getting chased by Graziano Rossi in a Porsche.

Source | motoblog.it

As usual moto.it has gotten another rider to explain the track secrets of the upcoming Gran Premio d’Italia TIM and who better than Valentino Rossi who has won at the Mugello seven times.

What makes the Mugello race track so special? How about its straight where riders reach top speeds of over 330km/h and Dani Pedrosa clocked in 349.3km/h (217.1mph) last year during practice or downhill on the Casanova and Savelli and how Rossi eloquently showed us how scary it is with his 2008 Face helmet or the Arrabbiata one and two that are done at 200km/h and Rossi writes there you have to have balls and you’re braking without seeing where your going.

The Mugello often offers us the best show, hopefully on Sunday we’ll be seeing some good and close racing, besides the usual track invasion by crazy Italian fans.

The usual motorcycle vs car video, but this time it’s the Aprilia RSV4 and the 2010 Alfa Mito Quadrifoglio Verde (green cloverleaf) going against each at the Temple of Speed, the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza.

The idea was to see which machine with more or less similar performance features was faster on the turns and chicanes. The Aprilia liter bike pours out 200hp and has 125 Nm of torque, while the Mito is equipped with the 1.4-litre TB MultiAir engine with 170hp and 250 Nm of torque. The maximum speed for the Mito is 219 km/h, while we know that Max Biaggi using his RSV4F went throught the speed traps at 327km/h during the Monza SBK free practice earlier this month

What was the result of this speed test? An almost a tied match according to Motociclismo.it, who did the test using GPS.

The car was slightly faster on turns one and two and at the the Ascari, while the Aprilia was 3 to 4 km faster at the Lesmo and Parabolica, the big difference was at the Curva Grande where the RSV4 showed off it’s enormous superiority in acceleration.

Linear Edge’s track maps could be an interesting idea the family house or office or simply a gift idea for the racing enthusiast.

Linear Edge produces track maps from all the current MotoGP, Formula 1, SBK and NASCAR road tracks and are fabbricated in laminated birch plywood and formica and they can custom make any track of your choosing.

The tracks are priced at $199, about € 137, but if you want something a little cheaper to remind you of your favorite track, why not check out Circuiti Gioielli’s track map thongs?

They don’t have all the tracks that Linear Edge does, but they do have Misano, Mugello and Valencia and one of these could become your favorite if worn by the right lady.

Source | hellforleather

Take a look at Scott Nicholls and Russian teenager Emil Sayfutdinov brawling at the British Speedway Grand Prix at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

Sayfutdinov was not happy when Nicholls ran him wide for third place in heat five and began pushing at each other as they returned to the pits, where they got off their bikes and started to go at it each other like Ali and Frazier.

Sayfutdinov was fined £375 and Nicholls £312 for this brawl.

In the video above, Valentino Rossi tests the Dainese D-Air racing suit, with seriously high-tech features. The video is in Italian, but is of Rossi asking questions about how the inflation mechanism works on the D-Air Racing suit.

The suit’s protection includes padding around the shoulders and collarbone, with inflation feature that can be activated in a crash. The air-bag style inflation reduces the movement of the neck during a crash, and can then be deflated when re-entering the race.

For more information, see the Dainese site.

Take a look what havoc can happen when a throttle gets jammed.

Source: oliepeil

Take a look at our pics from the presentation of the Bimota 2009 Oronero (Black Gold in Italian) that was presented at the 2008 Eicma Milan show. It’s a limited edition and will go on sale in February 2009. If you fancy it and would like to buy it, you can do so immediately, but expect to pull out a hefty amount of cash, because this gorgeous bike goes for about € 39,960 and that excludes registration fees.

So what do you get for € 40,000? A 1099cc v-twin sourced from Ducati’s 1098, the central section of the swingarm and all the bodywork is in carbon fibre, the rear tire suspension springs are in titanium and the front brake mounts a double 320mm WAVE floating disc. You also get GET (Global Engineering Technologies) digital instrumentation and GPS integrated system that allows you to download on your personal computer racing lines and track speed, all this and much, much more.

Aérosphalte from Eric on Vimeo.

Aérosphalte is the name of a brand new racetrack. This new racetrack in France is close to “Disneyland” and about a one-hour drive from Paris. It’s not yet finished but we will receive more news about it soon. It will be 3.5 km long and built for motorbikes, cars, quads, karts and more. In the video you can see a nice presentation of how it’s going to be soon.

I hope we can visit this place soon for trackdays and some championships, Superbike, stunts and, of course, some French paddock girls!

Source | aérosphalte

Here’s the second half of the gallery from the MotoGP weekend in Spain.

Here’s the first part of our gallery from the MotoGP weekend in Barcellona (both qualifying rounds and race).