Ten Kate Honda’s Jonathan Rea lead almost the entire three days of testing at Portimao except for the first day that was led by Alstare Suzuki’s Leon Haslam.

In dry and wet conditions over the weekend, Rea and Haslam swapped the fastest laps. Yesterday’s final test day saw Rea’s put in a best lap of 1′42.270 while Pocket Rocket Haslam did a 1′42.557. As a comparison, Ben Spies’ 2009 Superpole was a 1′42.412.

Althea Ducati’s Shane Byrne took third place with a 1′42.887. Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow impressed on Friday but could not better his time and a crash in the afternoon session didn’t help, but his previous times were enough for fourth.

Xerox Ducati’s Michel Fabrizio who was nursing a bad case of the flu all weekend finished fifth with a 1′43.157. James Toseland was down in sixth almost a second slower than Rea.

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao Tests - Brit Pack Flex Muscles

You can tell that we are finally approaching the new racing season when teams start their official presentations.

The new 2010 Althea Racing Team was officially presented on Saturday January 16th at a club in Fasano, near Brindisi (Italy). This year Althea Racing has switched from Honda’s to Ducati 1198’s and will see Carlos Checa and Shane Byrne contest in the World Superbike Championship while the team will also see Flavio Gentile ride in the CIV (Italian Superbike Championship).

The Italian team has a brand new red and white and blue racing livery designed by Maya Cohen, who also works as the team’s press officer.

Carlos Checa joined Althea having spent his first two WSBK seasons with Ten Kate Honda: “In few days we’ll leave for Portimao and I will be able to start to work with my new technicians in order to start the Superbike world championship in the best possible way. My team worked very hard to prepare the bikes and I’ll do my best starting from the first test session in Portimao because I want to start this 2010 season in the right way.”

Continue reading: WSBK - Althea Racing Launches 2010 Line Up

It looks like Shane Byrne is going to be leaving Marco Borciani’s Team Sterilgarda BRC Racing and is heading towards Althea Ducati in 2010.

The British rider had been spotted entering the Althea Honda (before switching to Ducati ) truck during the Portimao weekend and apparantly the rider is about to close a deal with Genesio Bevilacqua’s Italian team according to MCN.

Althea decided to switch marques for the upcoming 2010 World Superbike season and announced that they wanted another rider after signing up veteran Spanish rider Carlos Checa. Ducati Corse is keen on keeping Byrne on one of their satellite bikes and could help in finalizing the deal.

Byrne’s finished eighth in this year’s standings, after a lacklustre 2009 season begining came back very strong during the second half, taking second place at Misano and several fourth places.

UPDATED

Althea Racing has confirmed signing Shane Byrne. More after the jump.

Continue reading: WSBK: Shane Byrne to Althea Ducati?

Today’s Superpole at Portimao saw what could completely change tomorrow’s title race outcome. Points leader Noriyuki Haga qualified only 10th and did not make it into the final qualifying stint, while his rival Ben Spies not only took his 11th pole position of the season with a blistering lap of 1’42”412 but was also almost a second faster that the previous circuit record and more that 0.584s faster than Shane Byrne on the private Ducati Sterilgarda who took second.

Michel Fabrizio on the factory Ducati took third, while Jonathan Rea was fourth and will close the front row. The second row will see a battered Max Biaggi, who crashed in practice session, in fifth and Fonsi Nieto on another private Ducati whotook sixth followed by Leon Haslam and with Troy Corser closing the second row, but more than a second adrift from Nieto after a crash in the last superpole stint.

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao – Spies on Superpole and Haga to start in 10th

What WSBK riders had to say after the 9th Superpole at Donington Park.

Ben Spies - 1st

“It was a good Superpole session for us, we almost got caught out as I think I was the last one to leave the garage. As soon as I came out of the pit lane I could see the drops start to come so I had to really attack the warm up lap. I told myself to nail the first sector so I could relax a little bit in the back half in case it rained a bit more. The first sector was brilliant, in the second and third rain drops were coming so I wanted to be careful not to touch any paint down. It was good to get up there to the front as it’s a short start to turn one so it’s a good position for us. The bike is working great on race tyres as well so I’m looking forward to what will be an exciting race.”

Max Biaggi - 2nd

“It was a very exciting Superpole. During the last lap, I noticed that the first drops of rain were beginning to fall and I started
off immediately by trying to make the most of the track while it was still dry, and it went well. This time the rain helped us out. We had some rather good qualifying rounds, we’ve improved along the way, even if we aren’t as
fast as we need to be yet. We still have too much trouble at the slowest portion of the track. I hope to have a great race tomorrow on this track, which I like a lot.”

Shane Byrne - 3rd

“I’m really excited to start from the front row at Donington which is my home track. I’m happy for my best practice result of the season. I couldn’t have done it though without the crew who have done such a good job. They managed to combine the best features of each of the two bikes I worked on yesterday. I’m ready for any weather condition for tomorrow’s races. I’ll try and use the warm up session to choose the tyres for race 1 and hopefully do well in both”.

Continue reading: WSBK Donington - Superpole rider quotes

Many of you may not know that Shane Byrne’s Team Sterilgarda BRC Racing manager Marco Borciani is a rider himself and has twice won the Campionato Italiano Velocità (CIV) in 2006 and 2007. In 2008 he decided not to contest perfering to follow his WSBK team, but when his CIV team Chemiba GPM asked him to re-enter he ended up doing half a season. This year Borciani is ready to do the whole season and has been training this last winter.

His team will be BRC Racing Chemiba sponsored by Sterligarda Altea and Chemiba. The team manager/rider from Brescia will be using a Ducati 1098 RS.

Borciani will be competing against Italian CIV riders of the caliber of Brignola, Chiarello, Mauri Gramigni and Conforti and new arrival Ivan Clementi (ex Triumph WSS).

Also partecipating as a wildcard for Team Guandalini will be Gregorio Lavilla, former WSBK rider who lost his ride with ProRide, when his team folded and pulled out of the WSBK championship due sponsorship problems.

Source | racergp

Continue reading: Marco Borciani in Italian CIV

Alex Polita who graduated from Sterilgarda’s BRC Racing Team in the Superstock 1000 Championship to ride in WSBK for Sterilgarda Ducati is now out of ride due to sponsorship economic woes thus leaving Shane Byrne as the sole rider for the team.
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I’m really sorry about the situation that does not allow us to enter Alex Polita as planned. Unfortunately the economic condition of companies at the moment means that we do not have the support of several sponsors, who were supposed to help us for the 2009 season. I feel really sorry for Alex, who is a talented young rider with whom I hope to again be able to work with in the future” said team boss Marco Borciani.

Borciani however insists it is still their intention to get a second bike on the grid for the first European round of the season in Valencia.

Source | teamsterilgarda

Continue reading: WSBK – Sponsorship problems and Sterilgarda drops Polita

Ducati lover? Got some loose cash stashed under the mattress? How about buying Shane “Shakey”Byrne’s 2008 winning 1098 R British Superbike?

GSE Racing have put one of Byrne’s racebikes up for sale alongside both of Leon Camier’s bikes and a massive spares package.

The three bikes are for sale at £80,000 each. If your interested, you can call GSE at 01283-532543.

Source | bikesportnews

Continue reading: Shane Byrne's Ducati Up for Sale

After the break, tests and New Year a new World Superbike Championship will start and it will definitely be an exciting Superbike year. With two new manufacturers and many rider changes, 2009 in WSB will not be easily forgotten.

This is what we are expecting of the line up for WSB 2009:

Ducati Xerox: Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio
Yamaha Italia: Ben Spies and Tom Sykes
Ten Kate Honda: Carlos Checa and Ryuichi Kiyonari and Jonathan Rea
Alstare Suzuki: Max Neukirchner and Yukio Kagayama
Paul Bird Kawasaki: Makoto Tamada and Broc Parkes
BMW: Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus
Aprilia: Max Biaggi and Shinya Nakano
Team Sterilgarda Ducati: Shane Byrne and Alessandro Polita
Stiggy Motorsport Honda: Leon Haslam and Roberto Rolfo
Althea Honda: Tommy Hill
Pro Ride Racing Honda: Gregorio Lavilla
Celani Suzuki: Karl Muggeridge
GMT Yamaha: David Checa
YZF Yamaha: Katsuyuki Nakasuga

Continue reading: WSB 2009 teams and riders line up

Marco Borciano’s team for 2009 in the World Superbike Championship will change names to become “Team Sterilgarda”.The partnership with “Go Eleven” expired and the team wants to thank the company for the partnership during the last season.

The Italian team with headquarters based in Lonato (Brescia) is a top team in the championship, founded by Marco Borciani in 2005 after he ended his career as a Superbike rider. In 2009, Shane Byrne and Alessandro Polita will ride in the Italian team.

Source | gmbracing

Continue reading: Ducati Sterilgarda team changes name

The Ducati Sterilgarda Go Eleven Team set the fastest lap time with new comer in World Superbike Shane Byrne. The British champion rode the Ducati to a best lap time of 1 min 43.6 seconds on Wednesday at the Portimao racetrack.

The Roman Max Biaggi is not riding the Sterilagarda Go Eleven Ducati but rather his new Aprilia RSV for the first time. He came in third after the American Ben Spies with his Yamaha Motor Italia YZF-R1. Lorenzo Lanzi and Regis Laconi rode a 9th and 10th position on the DXF Corse Honda CBR 1000RR.

The Ten Kate Honda Team, Alstare Suzuki, Ducati Xerox and the new BMW Team did not come to Portimao but choose to test at Valencia.

Continue reading: SBK Portimao test results

A Monster 696 giveaway is being held to benefit the International Rett Syndrome Foundation. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Rett syndrome is a childhood neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by normal early development followed by loss of purposeful use of the hands, distinctive hand movements, slowed brain and head growth, gait abnormalities, seizures, and mental retardation. It affects females almost exclusively.

Tickets for the raffle (held in California) cost 25 USD and are limited to 500 total. Tickets are available at the Pro Italia online store or in the US, in Los Angeles and are available until October 24th. Pro Italia is an American online store in Southern California.

The motorcycling world often helps out in charity causes, as seen in Shane Byrne’s charity project to raise money for Mcmillan Cancer Support. The British Superbike Champion’s helmet was recently auctioned on ebay. Shane said: “I suffered a big loss in my life because of cancer. I hope that the money raised from the auction of this helmet can go some way, however big or small, towards helping others similarly affected whilst also highlighting the great work carried out by the people at Macmillan Cancer Support.”

It’s great to know that the motorcyclingworld and even riders are continuing these fund raising initiatives for charities in these difficult times.

Source | Pro Italia (thanks to Lowell Goss)

Continue reading: Monster 696 raffle for charity project