If you thought that what happened during Sunday’s World Superbike round at Monza was now more or less laid to rest and everyone involved, Infront, Pirelli, teams, riders just wanted to sweep the whole nightmarish weekend under the rug and move on, but Effenbert Liberty’s team’s controversial ‘j’accuse’ press release has sparked a reaction from Paolo Flammini.

The CEO of Infront Motorsports told the usual Gazzetta dello Sport, that following the Italian/Czech team’s press release he now has attorneys looking it at (probably because the championship’s ‘macho’ image was tarnished) and that he talked with all the other teams and everyone agreed on the decisions that were taken on Sunday (however some did an about face).

He also emphasized that the decision to cancel Race 1 was not from a decision made by the more ‘famous’ riders (Marco Melandri, Max Biaggi, Carlos Checa, Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes who checked out the track situation also from the safety cars) but it came directly from the Race Direction and was taken due to the rain storm (it also hailed) that hit the circuit in that precise moment, and in those conditions they couldn’t go ahead with the race.

Marco Melandri, who appeared to be one of the ringleaders and wanted to stall the re-start (his BMW was completely binned) has just saw his head roll as Flammini said, “The Race Direction is reviewing the situation. Many of the riders wanted to race and it seems clear that Melandri does not represent the majority of the grid and he will no longer be a part of those riders that are going to be called on when these type of situations arise.”

Apparently Melandri could also pay a high price for voluntarily shutting down his BMW S1000RR and delaying the start of race 2 - there is talk that he could be stripped of his fourth place finish at Monza or be penalized on the starting grid at Donington Park.

And just to add a tidbit of gossip following the rumor that Donington Park could be Effenbert’s last round pending a pullout, the team could be on the grid with no sponsor banners.

Source | omnicorse.it

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When private equity firm Bridgepoint, who also owns Dorna and therefore MotoGP acquired Infront Sports and Media AG, the rights holders for the World Superbike Championship, the acquisition was subject to approval by the EU’s antitrust authorities and now that approval has come through and according to the guys that sit in Brussels have decided that even if there may be some overlaps between the two series it doesn’t raise competition concerns and that they’re limited.

EU Press release:

The European Commission cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Infront Sports and Media AG of Switzerland by private equity Bridgepoint Capital Group Limited of the United Kingdom. The Commission concluded that the transaction will not raise competition concerns due to the limited overlaps between the parties’ activities and to the fact that sufficient alternative sources of supply will continue to be available to the merged entity’s customers in all markets concerned.

Both Bridgepoint and Infront are active in the organisation of motorbike racing events (MotoGP for Bridgepoint and Superbike for Infront). The Commission examined the competitive effects of the proposed acquisition in particular in the markets for motor sport regulators (namely FIM, the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, which is the regulator for both MotoGP and Superbike), teams and manufacturers, circuit owners and local promoters, advertisers and TV broadcasters.

Continue reading: EU approves acquisition of Infront by Bridgepoint

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Dorna and Infront Sports are squaring off to have the exclusive rights to race at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia. The World Superbike Championship has had Valencia on their calendar since the year 2000, but they may be forced to find another venue in Spain to run their rounds.

According to one of Italy’s most read motorcycle magazine Motosprint, Dorna is trying to pose a veto against Infront in renewing their contract next year with the highly lucrative Spanish circuit.

No reasons have been given on why Dorna is taking this stance, though many are thinking that the problem may be stemming from the upcoming MotoGP 2012 series and that Moto2 is is running the same Honda CBR engine that’s in Supersport.

If Dorna is able to oust Infront out of Valencia, will they try to do the same with Phillip Island, Assen, Misano Adriatico, Silverstone and Brno racing circuits who host both MotoGP and WSBK rounds?

Source | motosprint.it

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