All posts tagged wsbk mmp
Max Biaggi reads and responds to Jonathan Rea
Let’s specify upfront that the incident between Jonathan Rea and Max Biaggi during race 1 at Miller Motorsports Park was just a racing incident and since the cameras didn’t catch it we can only speculate on who was right and who was wrong, unless the Race Direction decides to release footage from circuit feeds or from onboard cameras like the did in regards to Max Biaggi’s penalty after cutting the chicane at Monza.
While both riders were still floundering in the trackside mud, Rea was the one who was more visibily irked about the crash blaming Biaggi - you don’t have to an expert in body language or have watched Lie to Me to have understood it.
Biaggi who picked up a cracked rib in the crash said it was Rea’s fault, while he was sitting sidelined in his garage watching the final laps of the race and Honda’s Carlo Fiorani reported that Rea told him it was Biaggi’s fault.
Continue reading: Max Biaggi reads and responds to Jonathan Rea
Video highlights and rider quotes from Miller Motorsports Park
The maestro of all things in Utah, especially Miller Motorsports Park, Carlos Checa dominated both races yesterday and took his sixth World Superbike race of the season and leaving the rest of the field to fight over leftovers.
Here are several rider quotes and video highlights from both races for you to check out.
Carlos Checa (1st and 1st)
“Two amazing wins today, especially after what happened to us here last year. In Race 1 I rode cautiously during the first laps as the conditions were a little mixed but after a while I found good feeling with my bike and was really able to push. The bike really behaved well despite the slightly strange conditions. I was able to pass those ahead of me, though it wasn’t easy, and then I tried hard to build an advantage. In the final stages I stayed calm, controlled the margin and I did it! It was really funny because as I was returning to parc ferme’, I saw some fans who wanted to give me a flag so I went “offroad” to get it only to find thick mud which caused me to crash – the happiest crash of my life I would say! The feeling that I had with the bike improved for race 2 and I could really enjoy the race. A wonderful day, especially for my team and for Ducati. I want to thank everybody, my team, Ducati and the sponsors. This was not only a double victory but a moral victory.”
Continue reading: Video highlights and rider quotes from Miller Motorsports Park
WSBK MMP: Carlos Checa wins Race 2 with big margin
Carlos Checa once again showed why Miller Motorsports Park is one his favourite tracks dominating Race 2 from flag to flag. The Althea Ducati rider got the holeshot and after the first turn opened his throttle and at the end of lap 1 had already put a full one second lead while saying ‘hasta la vista, baby’ to the rest of the field.
Heading to Misano in 10 days, the Spaniard takes home a full 50 points and lengthens his lead in the championship standings to 61 points over Marco Melandri and 62 points over Max Biaggi.
While the race 1 podium saw all Ducati’s, race 2 saw again another Italian manufacturer sweep up the final two spots, but this time it was the Aprilia’s, with an excellent Leon Camier taking the second spot and reigning World Champion Max Biaggi, who bounced back from his DNF in race 1 to take third.
Continue reading: WSBK MMP: Carlos Checa wins Race 2 with big margin
WSBK MMP: Carlos Checa wins Race 1 with an all Ducati podium
As widely predicted Carlos Checa easily won Race 1 at Miller Motorsports Park. Starting in pole position the Althea Ducati rider dropped to fifth on the opening lap, but the surgically picked off his opponents one at a time to then overtake front runner Troy Corser on the sixth lap and from that point on there was no longer any doubt in any one’s mind that the Spaniard would take his Ducati to the top spot of the podium.
Checa not only won in his impressive style he also lead a Ducati 1-2-3 podium, with Effenbert-Liberty’s Jakub Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli taking the final two spots on the podium confirming their fast pace shown during Sunday’s Superpole and that the twins were able to conserve much better their Pirelli tires than the rest of the field, especially in the latter stages of the race.
Leon Camier took the fourth spot after an error cost him at least a fight for the podium, while team mate and reigning World Champion Max Biaggi got mixed up with Jonathan Rea on lap two and both crashed out. Biaggi would later blame Rea for the crash and Honda’s Carlo Fiorani speaking for his rider said it was Biaggi’s fault for cutting the Castrol Honda rider off. Unfortunately the cameras only caught the two arguing off track covered in mud, with Rea much more upset than the Roman Emperor.
Continue reading: WSBK MMP: Carlos Checa wins Race 1 with an all Ducati podium
WSBK MMP: Superpole superquotes
Carlos Checa will start the today’s races at Miller Motorsports Park from pole position, his fourth in five rounds so far this 2011 season. The Spaniard who seems to be a master at the Utah circuit, admitted he was surprised of being up front considering that he was able to snatch the pole from a hard charging Jakub Smrz in such tricky weather conditions.
Here’s some rider quotes and couple of videos from after the Superpole session:
Carlos Checa - 1st
“Considering the conditions, this was the most difficult and most surprising pole of the season so far. I really didn’t expect to do it on the wet seeing as we were struggling to make the top eight this morning. I would have been happy with the front row for tomorrow but the pole is fantastic, and also unexpected! We had a good setting and I gained confidence in each session of the Superpole, improving as the grip began to pick up. Maybe I could have pushed a little harder in certain sections of the track but I didn’t and it was an amazing surprise when I realised I’d made pole! Tomorrow we hope for drier conditions, but of course I will give it my all whatever the weather.”
WSBK MMP: Carlos Checa pips Smrz in Superpole
The riders prayers were answered during today’s Superpole at Miller Motorsports Park, the rain held off for the 36 minute session and the track went from full wet in SP1 to patchy dry in SP3 and consequently lap times improved. It was in this last part of the Superpole that Carlos Checa came through again, but it wasn’t easy for the points leader who had to make a last lap lunge to grab the pole position from wet specialist Jakub Smrz and doing it by just 0.075s.
The front row will also see Marco Melandri take off in third on his debut at the Utah track with Yamaha team mate and Monza winner Eugene Laverty right next to him.
An impressive Sylvain Guintoli on the other Effenbert Liberty Ducati took the fifth spot followed by Troy Corser and reigning World Champion Max Biaggi, who drove off track at the Right Hook in the last seconds of the session and ended up tipping over in the mud when his Aprilia finally got stuck. The only BMW rider who made into SP3 was Ayrton Badovini who’ll take off in the eighth spot on tomorrow’s starting grid.
Continue reading: WSBK MMP: Carlos Checa pips Smrz in Superpole
WSBK MMP: Leon Camier leads in QP2 washout
The expected rain and cold hit the Miller Motorsports Park track right on schedule and qualifying practice 2 was a total washout, with the riders venturing out for a lap or two and then wisely electing to return to their garages and stare at the dark skies, hoping that this afternoon’s all important Superpole session will see a slight respite in weather conditions.
Lap times were naturally far from normal, some 16 seconds off pace with Leon Camier being the fastest rider in these treacherous conditions, with a 2.04.901 lap followed by Jakub Smrz, Leon Haslam, Carlos Checa, Sylvain Guintoli Max Biaggi, Tom Sykes, Ayrton Badovini and Jonatha Rea. Marco Melandri was the only rider to crash.
Out of the Superpole action will be Joan Lascorz, James Toseland, Mark Aitchison, Maxime Berger and Roberto Rolfo.
WSBK: Kart race at Miller Motorsports Park (w/video)
The World Superbike weekend at Miller Motorsports Park got underway on Friday on four wheels not the usual two, with the first ever MMP Celebrity Mega Kart Race, and thanks to Honda Europe Racing and Jonathan Rea we can show you a part of the event.
The race saw 15 teams, each one made up of a World Superbike or AMA rider, a member of the media, a representative of the Armed Forces and a fan who won a competition organized locally for the event compete in race.
The race consisted of each rider completing five laps, with the aggregate best times of each team member making up the standings, and the win going to the team that lapped the quickest and Troy Corser’s team (Corser, Rick Aaron, a correspondent with the local Fox television affiliate, racing fan Kellen Birch, and soldier Ryan Whitehouse) took the first win.
Runner up was Team Paris, with AMA Pro Racing’s Melissa Paris and Team Checa took third, other WSBK riders included Max Biaggi, Leon Haslam,Tom Sykes and Eugene Laverty.
AMA riders included Josh Hayes, Roger Lee and Tommy Hayden, Ben Bostrom, Larry Pegram and Elena Myers, and also taking part were Scott Russell, Greg Miller and Paolo Ciabatti.
WSBK MMP: Carlos Checa tops field in QP1
The first qualifying practice at Miller Motorsports Park saw Carlos Checa once again topped the time sheets with a best lap of 1.48.260 besting his earlier lap time in free practice by more than seven tenths of a second and leaving the rest of the field adrift by a massive 0.795s.
The second spot went to Leon Camier who continued his good form into the provisional pole ahead of team mate Max Biaggi who was more than a second off from the Althea Ducati rider, but his top speed was 315.5 km, 15 km faster than Checa’s Ducati 1198.
Tom Sykes brought the Kawasaki Ninja into fourth followed by Troy Corser and Jonathan Rea. Jakub Smrz dropped to the seventh spot while Eugene Laverty moved up one to eighth. Michel Fabrizio also dropped back from the earlier session from fourth to ninth, while Ayrton Badovini closed out the top ten, once again faster than Leon Haslam who could struggled to 16th on the factory BMW.
WSBK MMP: Carlos Checa dominates FP1 despite problems
Carlos Checa who wants to break last year’s bad luck at Miller Motorsports Park, ended up being on the top of the timesheets during FP1, but was unlucky again. First an engine problem his first bike sent him back to his garage at the beginning of the session and then he crashed his second bike after setting the fastest lap in practice.
Despite all his problems, the Althea Ducati rider was still 0.653s faster than the rest of the field with a best lap of 1′48.914, which left Leon Camier in second. The British rider definitely didn’t have any of the usual technical problems that have recently plagued his Aprilia RSV4.
Third went to reigning World Champion Max Biaggi who was a tenth of second slower than his team mate and playing catch up with points leader Checa, after his ride-through penalty at Monza in race 2 that dropped him to third in the championship standings.
Continue reading: WSBK MMP: Carlos Checa dominates FP1 despite problems
Max Biaggi 'absolves' Paolo Ciabatti
Max Biaggi is ready to take on the next round of the World Superbike championship at Miller Motorsports Park, where he won both races last year capitalizing a full 50 points after Carlos Checa suffered two DNF’s when his Ducati stopped due to technical problems while leading.
Writing on his website the Black Corsair has decided to absolve Paolo Ciabatti from his recent crime of stringently applying the chicane cutting rules at Monza (the open letter probably helped soften him up). Here’s Biaggi’s thoughts:
“Hi guys, Here I am again, I needed to cut off with the normal race routine just for a while. The beat of Monza has certainly had a bad influence on the my moral. I have accepted the punishment that has been inflicted me and I have excused the good Ciabatti for the taken decision. I have now turned page and my thoughts and ambitions are turned toward Salt Lake City. The 2010 American races has been very lucky for us but this it does not mean that we will be the team to beat there. Every single race has its own verdict and we should work very hard for regaining what has been somehow removed in Monza. Therefore I want to say: strength and courage also to all of my Team that works so hard and I know it very well. I have taken advantage of this race to come down here in California for few days; it is always a pleasant place. I want to send a big thanks for the whole support that you daily showing me guys, thanks to all of my fans , we will be back soon in the positions that compete us.”
Source | motoblog.it
Video: Jonathan Rea talks about testing at Miller Motorsports Park
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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