Thanks to Nieusmotor.nl website we can show you the press conference that World Superbike boss Paolo Flammini held after today’s Superpole at Nurburgring, Germany.

Flammini talks about Bridgepoint acquiring Infront Motorsports and the fact he is happy about it (as if he would deny it), confirming that the two championship will remain separate entities, skirted around the thorny subject of CRT teams in MotoGP, and also clarified that the 2012 provisional Superbike calendar that we also posted, is completely off track and Sepang will not be in the calendar next season.

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The Pirelli contract to Superbike has been renewed for another three years, taking the Italian tyre company through to 2015 with its supplier’s contract. The Pirelli-Superbike partnership started back in 2004 and will again include tyres for the Supersport, Superstock 1000 and Superstock 600 classes.

The press release states that the one-make tyre rule is essential to the Superbike championship, and it is reasonable to expect that it will continue in the future, beyond 2015. Infront Sports says:

The FIM Superbike World Championship has benefitted from stability, quality, competitiveness and fairness, and the one-make supply is fully in line with the philosophy lying behind the four championships, which is to give all competitors the same level playing-field regarding performance, service and costs, while Pirelli’s ongoing R&D in collaboration with the world’s leading production-based racing championships has led to its constant developments in advanced racing technology being transferred to its products for everyday use on the road. Other important factors in the supply renewal were Pirelli’s working methods, tyre performance, reliability and durability and top-level service quality.

Continue reading: Pirelli in Superbike to 2015

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Teams Pedercini and Supersonic are just two of the squads that have put forward requests to become the official Kawaski factory team next season in World Superbikes.

Paul Bird Motorsports is the current factory team, however Kawasaki’s technical director, Ichiro Yoda speaking to Italy’s Motosprint, revealed that Alstare Suzuki’s Francis Batta has also put in a request, as has WSS Motocard team and MSS Colchester (British Superbikes).

“We has received six requests, all from high caliber teams, which we are currently evaluating,” said Yoda, speaking from the Brno round. “We’ll make our decision in August because we want to start early in the organization. The ZX-10R is the novelty of the 2011 championship and is getting encouraging results and in 2012 we want to aim even higher. “

Continue reading: Everyone wants to be an official Kawasaki team in WSBK

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We have to admit that the FIM has great timing. After the list of the new teams eligible to join the new Moto1 championship in 2012 was once again delayed, the FIM felt the urgent need to repeat itself regarding the terms of using production based motorcycles in MotoGP, and the statement was issued coincidentally while the World Superbike round was running at Misano.

On the occasion of the San Marino Round of the 2011 FIM Superbike World Championship in Misano (ITA), and with reference to the interviews recently published on some motorsports web sites, FIM President Vito Ippolito reiterated what has already been stated several times:

Any complete motorcycle model derived from series production, homologated or not for the FIM Superbike/Supersport/Superstock is not eligible and will not be accepted in the FIM Grand Prix World Championship classes.

While carefully worded, it’s those three key words ‘complete motorcycle model’ that will allow CRT’s to run in Grand Prix without running afoul of the FIM rules and will keep the Flammini brothers from running to court, since CRT’s will be running production based engines, but they’ll be in prototype chassis’ and since they accepted the Moto2 class without any complaints, they’ll have to let Moto1 slide too.

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This has to be the worst story of the day, according to The Telegraph UK Border Agency has allegedly found a large quantity of drugs and a firearm in trucks belonging to Paul Birds WSBK Kawasaki team.

The trucks were stopped at Dover after returning from Italy (the team raced at Assen April 17th) where officers allegedly found 18lbs (8kg) of cocaine, 157lbs (71kg) of amphetamine tablets and more than 220lbs (100kg) of cannabis. A handgun and 35 rounds of ammunition were also found

Four technicians (Philip Roe, 40, mechanic and truck driver, Gary Matthews, 50, a truck driver and tyre technician; Mattia Fontana, 27, an Italian mechanic, and Daniel Swyer, 32, a mechanic) were arrested on suspicion of firearms offences and importing controlled drugs and were later bailed.

The team is scheduled to take part in next week’s WSBK round at Monza, but no word has come from Paul Bird on the matter.

Source | crash.net

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MotoGP riders weren’t the only ones to get the lowdown on anti-doping, the Superbike, Supersport and Superstock riders also got briefed during the Assen round last weekend.

The FIM’s Medical Director, Dr David McManus and Evelyne Magnin, the FIM Medical & Anti-Doping Coordinator, gave the same info to these riders, “This is another important opportunity to meet with the riders at the highest level of our sport because we are aware that there is concern, anxiety and uncertainty about aspects of anti-doping. It is an opportunity for us to clarify a lot of the issues, provide explanations and reassurance about what is the FIM anti-doping programme”. said McManus.

As the FIM has an obligation to comply with the WADA World Anti-Doping Code, it was neccessary to explain the policies to riders, and to allow them to ask questions, adding that it is important to have frequent contact with the riders so that everyone is comfortable, informed, and safe.

Continue reading: World Superbike, Superstock and Supersport riders get the dope on anti-doping

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We may only be in 2011, but Infront Motor Sports who promote the World Superbike Championship is already on the look out for a tire supplier for the 2013-2015 seasons.

Rumors over the last months or so, have it that current supplier Pirelli, who is entering its eighth season as WSBK’s official one-make tire supplier, may be looking to pull out and may have strung themselves out too much with supplying both Formula 1 and British Superbikes.

We’ve heard rumors that Michelin would like to return to motorsport action, after they were virtually kicked out of MotoGP at the end of 2008, but we could see bids from Bridgestone or even Dunlop.

Press release after the jump:

Continue reading: World Superbikes searching for a tire supplier for 2013-2015

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Kawasaki Paul Bird Motorsport and BMW Motorrad Italia will be holding a two day private test at the Spanish circuit of Motorland Aragon tomorrow and Friday.

This new test, ahead of the second round of the WSBK season at Donington Park, will allow the privateer BMW team with James Toseland and Ayrton Badovini, to get more testing time on their S 1000 RR’s after several sessions were cut short by bad weather.

While the Kawasaki team will continue its development on the Ninja ZX-10R, Chris Vermeulen is also expected to be present at Aragon track, in order to catch up on his team mates after skipping all the pre-season testing and the first round at Phillip Island due to the long road to recovery following his knee surgery.

Source | bikeracing.it

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Valentino Rossi is a fan of World Superbike racing and in many interviews talks about how much he enjoys watching WSBK racing (he’s always present at the Misano round), how much more exciting it is compared to MotoGP, and the idea of the Superbike duel in the desert against Troy Bayliss in 2008, was the talk of the internet and a promoter’s wet dream.

After his fitness tests on a Yamaha R1 and a Ducati 1198, Rossi again talked about how great and enjoyable these bikes were, with Ducati bosses hinting but more likely teasing, that they would actually let him do a wildcard entry if he wanted to, and the 9 times World Champion has once again hinted that he might switch to the ‘other’ racing series at the end of his MotoGP career.

“In a few years, when I’m older, I could even race in Superbikes with Ducati,” said a smiling Rossi talking at Ducati’s MotoGP Night.

No rider has ever won both a MotoGP and a World Superbike title, but we sure like to see Ben Spies try to break that taboo this season.

Source | gazzetta.it

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As we reported yesterday Chris Vermeulen cut short his debut test on the 2011 Kawasaki due to pain and swelling in his knee and has also decided to skip the official Portimao test that takes place later this month to continue his rehabilitation, and try to get back in shape for the Phillip Island test on February 21 and 22, before the WSBK season opener on February 27th.

“Chris rode on day one of the Sepang tests and was very impressed with the performance of the new bike,” said team manager Paul Risbridger. “He has made great progress with his knee recently, and his recovery is well on schedule. After day one we all decided that he did not need to run on track any more at this stage and it was better for him to go home and carry on with his rehabilitation. We also came to a consensus that there was no point in him coming all the way back to Europe for the Portimao tests, as it would just interrupt his overall recovery. Riding the bike is not assisting his recuperation at this stage, so Chris will carry on with his very effective programme of physiotherapy and exercise so that he is ready when it matters most, at the start of the new season.”

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The World Superbike championship is becoming more Europecentric, with only two fly away races scheduled on the 2011 calendar, Phillip Island and Miller Motorsports Parks, so the rumors that WSBK organizer Infront, is looking for new racing venues is pretty interesting news.

Infront’s CEO Maurizio Flammini, who is also trying to organize a F1 race in Rome, is looking to Russia to host one of the superbike rounds and open up that vast motorcyle market.

At the present the only track that potentially show ups on the racing radar would be the new Sochi circuit that should be completed by 2014, but it doesn’t hurt to get negotiations going and try to pick up a plum racing date to avoid bad weather.

Source | crash.net

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It looks like Yoshimura Suzuki has had a small change of heart or their economic situation is getting slightly rosier, because the team will be making another wildcard appearance in the 2011 WSBK season opener at Phillip Island.

The Yoshi team was to compete in three wild card races in 2010, while planning to race on full time basis in the 2011 championship, but after their debut at Monza had to pull out of the Imola and Magny-Cours rounds and put all their international racing plans on hold due to the hard hitting economic crisis.

This time the bike will not have Daisaku Sakai or Yukio Kagayama as riders, but by Josh Waters, the 2009 Australian Superbike champion.

Source | motosprint.it

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