Our Italian cousins at Motoblog.it are at the Motor Bike Expo in Verona this weekend and at the Bimota stand found former Superbike rider Ruben Xaus who is now officially working with Bimota as their sporting director and was able to interview him.

MB: Bimota has several new things in store for their fans, so how did this partnership with them come around?

RX: By chance. I was talking to some very passionate friends from the Romagna region and was introduced to the Bimota world. I was at a crossroads, not knowing whether to continue racing or to dedicate myself to something else. On the one hand, there were the last season with many injuries and no replies, so I decided to take matters into hand and this collaboration was born. I wanted to take control of my destiny and decide what to do and when to do it.”

MB: What do you do for them?

RX: “I was only supposed to do some small things, instead I’m doing a lot. In the beginning my role was to be their image man, because I have riding schools in Spain, France and Russia, so we thought I’d use their bikes and my name for marketing, but as time went on and with my experience in asset management and finances (something that I’ve personally always worked in) we decided to expand my role and now I’m the sporting director, with the objective of outsourcing and expand the business with targeted marketing strategies. “

Continue reading: Ruben Xaus: "Bimota to wildcard World Superbikes in 2013"

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We’ve already mentioned that Ruben Xaus had taken up a new role as sporting director for Bimota and the Spaniard was on track at Almeria for a shakedown test for Bimota’s Moto2 and Superbike project as the first step in their comeback project.

Launched in the 70s, the brand has always been a protagonist introducing new technologies that later designed on its own models and now has set up the Bimota Research Development Department in a joint venture with EDO Racing that will manage the marketing and development area and new partnership with Bitubo suspensions.

At Almeria Xaus and the test rider tested their newest Moto2 version, the HB4 2012. A slighly improved motorbike where aerodynamic studies allowed an extremely low CX that led to improved timings and even less workloads.

Continue reading: Ruben Xaus tests Bimota Moto2 and Superbike

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Virgin Radio Italy is live at the EICMA show in Milan and while interviewing Ruben Xaus everyone’s favourite Superbike rider who bins it more than he rides it, the personable Spaniard who speaks better Italian than I do, revealed that he’ll Bimota’s new sporting director and image man for their Moto2 bike, the HB4.

The HB4 Moto2 was designed by Andrea Acquaviva and Enrico Borghesan and debuted last year at the Motor Bike Expo in Verona and raced in this the first ever Italian Moto2 CIV championship. The bike was fielded by QdP Racing Team.

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Ruben Xaus will miss the last Superbike round of the season and probably his last race with Castrol Honda. The Spanish rider has been ruled out following the neck injury he sustained at Magny Cours two weeks ago that also ruled him out of the French round.

To replace Xaus, Castrol Honda has called on Karl Muggeridge, again. The Australian rider who just completed the German IDM Superbike championship, was supposed to sub for Xaus (who had fractured his vertebra at Brno) at Silverstone, but he injured himself in a training accident just days before the round and had to withdraw leaving the door open for Fabrizio Lai.

Karl Muggeridge: Obviously, I’m sorry for Ruben because it’s never good to miss out through injury, especially the last round of the season. However, I hope I can bring something positive to the team to help the guys finish the year on a good note. I’ve got no pre-conceived ideas on where I should be over the weekend, so we’ll just take each session as it comes and try to make some steps forward in each one. I haven’t ridden at Portimao since the first race here in 2008 and the CBR that I’ve been riding in the German championship is a quite different bike to the current Castrol Honda version. So it’s a big task but one that I’m determined to make the most of.

Castrol Honda should announce this weekend who they’ll field as their second rider will be for the 2012 season, with MotoGP rider Hiroshi Aoyama tipped to replace Xaus.

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Castrol Honda’s two-day test at Assen was more or less a fitness test for both Jonathan Rea and Ruben Xaus.

Rea has been out of action since Misano after breaking his arm and wrist and Xaus sustained back injuries after crashing in race 1 at Brno.

The Northern Irishman was happy with the test and confirmed via video he’ll be back for round ten of the World Superbike championship that takes place at Nurburgring, September 2-4. Xaus however, has yet to confirm if he’ll be riding in Germany as he’s still only at 80% speed and could only ride brief stints.

Ruben Xaus: It was good to ride again, and my speed and lap times yesterday were not bad considering that I was really only able to ride at 80%. However, I could only do a few laps before my back became too uncomfortable to ride any more. I decided it would be too much to ride today as well and I don’t think I would have learned any more because it was too wet. My injuries have improved but there is still some more improvement to find.

With Castrol Honda’s regular riders still not completely in tip top physical condition, the Dutch based team also had Alex Lowes on track helping test new settings.

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World Superbike Castrol Honda team began a two day test yesterday at their home track at Assen, following their very unlucky Silverstone round where both replacement riders Alex Lowes (for injured Jonathan Rea) and Fabrizio Lai (for injured Ruben Xaus and Karl Muggeridge) lucked out in race 1 and in race 2 only Lai made it to the finish line in 16th.

Both Rea and Xaus are testing at Assen to get back into shape after recovering from their incidents at Misano and Brno, as is 20-year old Lowes who is still on call.

The Castrol Honda duo spent last week in Mumbai, India, helping Castrol to re-launch its Power 1 brand to a market that is expected to produce 35 million new motorcycle customers over the next five years.

“It was amazing to be part of the Castrol India re-launch of Power 1 last week,” said Rea. “We took part in a couple of events with Bollywood star John Abraham, which was great, but seeing parts of Mumbai was also incredibly humbling. ” Check out the launch with the Indian star after the jump.

“Now it’s back to work,”said Rea who did 35 laps in yesterday’s morning session,“and I’ve been so excited about getting back on the bike again. My wrist has been feeling really good, but we’ll have to see how it stands up to the forces involved.”

Continue reading: Castrol Honda two day test at Assen (w/video from Power 1 launch)

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Castrol Honda rider Ruben Xaus has been ruled out of this upcoming World Superbike round at Silverstone and the team has called Australian Karl Muggeridge as his replacement rider.

This means that the WSBK team will have two replacement riders for the British round, Alex Lowes, who is continuing his duties for the team in place of recovering Jonathan Rea and recently completed a two day test with the team at Assen, and now Muggeridge for Xaus.

Xaus crashed out during race 1 at Brno and sat out race 2 because of some leg and back injuries, Although initial scans did not reveal any major injury, continual pain in his back took him back to his doctors to undergo another scan last week, which revealed a fracture to vertebra L3, however Xaus is expected to be fit enough to contest the 10th round of the season at Nurburgring in September.

Continue reading: Ruben Xaus ruled out of Silverstone, Karl Muggeridge in as substitute

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The Castrol Honda World Superbike team completed a two-day test at Miller Motorsports Park ahead of this weekend’s round of the championship, and just a reminder for Europeans, the races will be run on Monday and not on Sunday, as it’s Memorial Day in the States.

Strangely enough the Dutch based team chose the Utah circuit as their test track this season, because as Jonathan Rea quaintly puts it “they sucked here last year.” The team spent Sunday and Monday testing in drizzly weather some new parts that included a new swingarm and suspension components.

We nominated Miller as our test track this year because last season we really struggled with bike set-up. I really enjoy riding here in America but the bumpy nature of the circuit makes it very difficult to find the optimum settings for the bike,” said Jonathan Rea, who put in 100 laps over the two days. “My team have pulled out all the stops though, and we had a lot of new items to test. The weather wasn’t on our side, so the track conditions were pretty dirty out there. I found a better feeling for corner entry with a new swing-arm and this really helped the feeling when the tyre life starts to drop. I also had some new suspension items to test and, while we found some positives, it will take more time to get it dialled in properly. We are in much better shape now to start the weekend and as always we will do our best.

Continue reading: Video: Jonathan Rea talks about testing at Miller Motorsports Park

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The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza is historical (1922) and legendary and the just saying that magical word Parabolica sends shivers down your spine and evokes some memorable racing at the Temple of Speed, but when Castrol Honda team manager Ronald Ten Kate describes it as the ‘biggest dyno room’, we can only agree, remembering Max Biaggi speeding down the straight last year on his Aprilia RSV4 at 205.1 mph.

Will Biaggi be able to repeat last year’s double win at this circuit and where his numerous Jolly Roger flag waving fans are still waiting for him to take a victory this season? Who knows, but Castrol Honda with Jonathan Rea and Ruben Xaus are both gunning to try to spoil the Italian’s plans, so check out the video that also highlights Rea’s crash last year and when he couldn’t find his Honda.

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Both Castrol Honda riders, Jonathan Rea and Ruben Xaus had very mixed fortunes at this weekend’s World Superbike round 1 at Phillip Island.

Watch a shirtless Ruben Xaus who finished 16th and 10th in the double header talk about his races and the interview from very exhausted and physically drained Jonathan Rea..

We understand the need to enlighten fans, but really, couldn’t Honda Europe wait for the poor guy to finish his much needed massage before bothering him?

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Castrol Honda Superbike team just completed a private two-day test at Phillip Island before the official tests next week that precede the opening round of the season.

Weather conditions were mostly dry, but wet conditions during the Thursday morning session saw Jonathan Rea head out on wet tires and crash at turn 1, leaving the Brit rider with a sore neck and getting carted off to the hospital for scans, which fortunately showed no injuries, but he did miss the final half day of testing.

Rea talking about his test and crash said, “Everything felt really good yesterday and we did more laps than we’ve done during the whole winter in Europe. This morning it was wet but, when it stopped raining and looked like clearing up, I went out but got off the bike quite quickly at Turn One. I hurt my neck a bit, but the paramedics insisted on putting me in a brace and taking me to hospital where it took about four hours to get a scan. Everything was fine and it was a little frustrating to lose the time, but yesterday showed that we’re in a pretty good place, so I’m looking forward to some more testing on Monday.”

Continue reading: Castrol Honda wrap up two day test at Phillip Island

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Ruben Xaus will be reaching for a goal at this year’s season opener at Phillip Island and no, it’s not the number of crashes he’s had in his career, but his 200th start in World Superbikes.

The Spaniard will be joining the likes of Carl Fogarty, Noriyuki Haga, Troy Corser, Aaron Slight, and Frankie Chili for the number of race starts, and if you ever wondered why Xaus uses #111 as his racing number, it’s because each digit is dedicated to the names of the women in his life, his wife and two daughters.

Source | motociclisti.myblog.it

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