Following their controversial post-Monza press release and then continuing their protest at the Donington Park round without their hospitality, World Superbike Liberty Racing team who previous said that they would continue in the championship has decided to officially kiss and make-up with Infront.

Liberty Racing apparently appreciates the effort of the promoter who with the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza have decided to let those fans who kept their Monza tickets to return next year for free, and in turn Infront will allow the team to continue only with three riders and they will not have to replace injured Brett McCormick.

The symbolic olive branch press release after the jump.

Continue reading: Olive branch between Liberty Racing and Infront

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Four months ago we reported that World Superbikes CEO Paolo Flammini had signed a partnership agreement with Alexander Yakhnich, CEO of YMS Promotion Ltd to bring the series to Russia and yesterday in Rome and the deal was finalized making YMS Promotion Ltd the official organizer of the Russian Round of the FIM Superbike World Championship for the next ten years.

The first race in Russia is scheduled to be held August 26th 2012 and the venue chosen is the Moscow Raceway, a circuit designed by who else but Hermann Tilke, and located 77 km from the Russian capital.

Paolo Flammini declared: “In the last few months we have been working very closely with Alexander Yakhnich and his team and we have managed to define all the details in preparation for the arrival in Russia of the championship in 2012. To hold a race in Moscow, in the very first year, was our declared intention and we are therefore extremely satisfied with the choice of Moscow Raceway, a truly state-of-the-art circuit that is in an advanced phase of construction, and which will be completed in a few months time. World Superbike will be the first championship to arrive in Russia, a demonstration of Infront Motor Sports’ commitment to opening up important new markets for motor sport”.

Continue reading: World Superbikes to race at Moscow Raceway in 2012

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As widely anticipated back in June, private equity firm Bridgepoint, who also owns Dorna and therefore MotoGP, has acquired Infront Sports and Media AG, the rights holders for the World Superbike Championship with the announcment made earlier today.

With the acquisition, which is subject to the approval of the antitrust authorities, Bridgepoint will control both world championships, but as there is a lot of worries by loyal fans that World Superbikes may now become the poor relation of the two series with Dorna getting the precedence or eventually merge together (the new CRT teams in MotoGP seem a step in that direction), however the press release tries to allay these fears, by stating that both championships will continue to be managed separately .

“Bridgepoint will encourage the further development of Superbike and MotoGP although both series will continue to be organised and managed separately. Dorna and Infront Motor Sports are each fully committed to the long-term relationship with the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) as their strategic partner as well as the successful partnerships with teams and manufacturers, circuit owners, sponsors, broadcasters and other stakeholders of the series.”

Press release after the jump.

Continue reading: Bridgepoint now owns Infront Sports & Media

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Infront Sports and Media, is the Swiss agency that holds the majority rights to the World Superbikes series has been put up for sale on June 20th and supposedly one of the bidders will be Bridgepoint Capital, the investment firm who owns Dorna and therefore the MotoGP rights.

However Bridgepoint has been having financial problems in paying back its interest repayments and has been renegotiating with the banks for a reduction, and would they actually be interested embarking in this ulterior investment at this time?

Whatever the outcome, I can already begin to hear the screaming over here in Italy when this piece of news gets out. Fighting over whether WSBK or MotoGP is a better championship is a topic that comes up every race day, and there is a very deep and unshakeable belief that Dorna, in the person of Carmelo Ezpeleta is systematically out to destroy or at least is heavily encroaching into WSBK’s territory, with the new 2012 MotoGP rules which will allow production based engines in the series and that the FIM is siding with them on the sly.

Source | bikesportnews.com

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Every since Dorna announced in December 2009 the new 2012 rules that would allow modified production based motorycles to race alongside the pure prototypes, Infront Motorsports who run the World Superbike Championship has been grumbling and publicly voicing their displeasure.

This past year has seen statements from Maurizio and Paolo Flammini who have called on the FIM to address the issue on production based motorcycles in MotoGP (the FIM has often been accused of being pro-Dorna), as their series has the exclusive on this type of racing. Adding that chassis makers are simply wasting their time and money designing and building a Moto1 and they could legally try to stop them if they start competing, citing what happened to the WCM-Yamaha MotoGP effort.

So we sort of wonder if yesterday’s joint press release (after the jump) from the FIM and Infront, is the Federation’s attempt to take a stand and defend the SBK series when words like “the only Road Racing World Series for production motorcycles,” or “unique” are used, and are they sending a warning shot to Dorna or are they just caressing Infront’s ruffled feathers. You decide.

Continue reading: Infront and FIM still together

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Getting into motorcycle racing isn’t easy for hopeful and ambitious youngsters, it’s expensive and can take a big bite out of a family’s budget, (when Loris Capirossi started, his parents mortgaged the family house) unless you a have a big named mentor to put in good word for you and you’ve already picked up some sponsorship backing by helmet or gear companies.

The Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup has been in action for five years and helps kids from all over the world ease into the world of Grand Prix motorcycle racing (while Spain is way ahead of anyone in the world, on forming upcoming riders) and now Infront , who runs the World Superbike Championship, realizing how important it is to find new talent internationally, is doing the same thing.

They’ll be launching the European Junior Cup for 14 to 17-year-olds (who have held a competition license for at least one year in either road racing, motocross, enduro, supermoto, trials or minimoto) and the complete package will cost 18.950 euro and includes:

Continue reading: World Superbike launches European Junior Cup for teenagers

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While fans were shocked when they heard that Ducati would be pulling out their World Superbike factory team in 2011. Infront Motorsports, the rights holder to the World Superbike Championship series may have been disappointed but they weren’t completely surprised despite stating so in their press release (after the jump).

Ducati Corse had been threatening a pull out and was pushing for a change in the regulations in 2011 and were to meet at the upcoming Nurburgring round to further discuss the situation, demanding the removal of the air restrictors from the twin-cylinders 1200cc and a rpm limitation that would help reduce costs, but apparently they knew that the Flammini brothers and the other teams would not approve of more rule concessions that would favour the Italian manufacturer again and they decided to jump the gun than wait for another no.

Ducati will now concentrate on a new series of sport bikes and their new racing machine that should mount the new short-stroke ‘Superquadrata’ engine should debut in 2012 and the first version has already been spotted (sorry guys, no pics yet) at the Nardò circuit in Puglia that belongs to Pirelli.

After the jump the Infront press release and what the other WSBK team managers had to say about Ducati’s pull out

Continue reading: Infront and team rivals on Ducati factory pull out

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Infront Motor Sports has announced that their will be some changes in the event schedule for the 2010 season:

Here are the changes:

Superbikes:

The Superpole format has been slightly modified to Superpole 1 (14 minutes), Superpole 2 (12 minutes), Superpole 3 (10 minutes), with the 7 minute break between them remaining. The break between the end of free practice and the beginning of the Superpole has now been extended to 25 minutes from 15 minutes.

Supersport:

One extra qualifying session has been added at 5pm on Friday afternoon on a request from teams, and the race on Sunday has been moved forward by 5 minutes to 13.30 on a request from TV stations.

Continue reading: WSBK: Superpole Modified and other changes

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