Of all the World Superbike teams Castrol Honda is probably the best in offering fans more videos and sneak peaks into how their team works than any other, so this recently released video isn’t that surprising, but it is slightly different as they fitted Daniel Postmus, their tallest mechanic (6’10″ -2.1 meters tall) with a Go Pro camera to capture Jonathan Rea’s Portimao Superpole from another view point.

That Saturday afternoon Rea whipped his Honda CBR1000RR around the beautiful Portoguese track in a stunning 1′41.712 and breaking the track record in the final Superpole session of the 2011 season that gave him his second pole victory of the season.

Rea who endured an injury fraught 2011 took two third place podiums at the Portimao round, also thanks to the new ride-by-wire system that the team was allowed to use from the Imola round.

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How about some very sexy brolly girls to start brighten up a dull Wednesday morning. These hot young ladies were seen during the World Superbike’s 2011 season finale at Portimao. Enjoy.

Continue reading: WSBK Portiamo paddock and grid girl gallery

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The 2011 World Superbike season finale at Portimao, Portugal ended with reigning World Champion Carlos Checa and Marco Melandri splitting a win each and Checa with his 15th victory of season bettering Ben Spies and Troy Bayliss record number of wins from 2009 and 2002.

Portimao was also about silly season, with the official announcements that Checa will be staying with Althea Racing, Eugene Laverty signed with Aprilia, Hiroshi Aoyama will be riding for Ten Kate Honda, Michel Fabrizio with BMW Italia and Troy Corser is retiring and we’ll probably find out more about other contracts in the following days.

Check out what some of the riders had to say about today’s final double header and you’ll find race 2 video highlights and rider and manufacturer standings after the jump.

Carlos Checa (1st and 4th)

“Race 1 wasn’t at all easy because at the start I was having trouble with the tyre but we knew that it would perform better in the final stages and our decision turned out to be the right one. I was able to reach first Marco and Johnny and then Sylvain to win the race with a small advantage. This victory is for the team that has truly deserved it this weekend – I dedicate this win to all of them. In race 2 I was pushing hard but we’d changed tyre and with the softer solution I couldn’t do more than I did. This weekend has been very special; before Race 1 it looked like there was no way that I could stay with Althea Racing in 2012 and I was very upset about this but now it seems that Althea Racing and Ducati have come to an agreement and I am over the moon to hear that I can stay with my team and with my bike again next year. We have built something very special here and to leave would have been heartbreaking. More than a win, today has been a moral victory – in the space of two days I have lost, and thankfully regained my team.”

Continue reading: World Superbike quotes from Portimao and video highlights

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The final race of the final round of the 2011 World Superbike season at Portimao was a sort of slap in the face towards Yamaha who announced in August that they would pulling out of the series, as the win went to Marco Melandri, who took his fourth victory of the season, while team mate Eugene Laverty was second.

Jonathan Rea again the holeshot with Eugene Laverty, Marco Melandri and Carlos Checa hot behind him. The Castrol Honda tried to put a distance between the rest of the field, but the Yamaha riders wouldn’t let him escape as the Irishman caught both Melandri and Rea on lap 2 and lead the race for almost its entirety, until Melandri with a lighter tank began to hunt him down and then passed him with four laps to go and ultimately would cruise to victory, while Laverty had his hands full with an aggressive Rea.

The Castrol Honda rider made a couple of hard moves, but Laverty fended him off with his own hard moves and kept him at bay to the finish line to take second and three tenths of second ahead, however Laverty’s efforts weren’t enough to keep his third place in the standings which returned to Max Biaggi, as the Italian took seventh under the chequered flag.

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao: Marco Melandri says good-bye to Yamaha Racing with a win in race 2

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Carlos Checa gave himself a great birthday gift (he turned 39 yesterday) by taking another victory, his 15th of the season by taking the win in race 1 at Portimao. The Althea Ducati rider who still has announce where he’ll be in 2012, had to hunt down a surprisingly fast Sylvain Guintoli to claim the win.

Polesitter Jonathan Rea got the holeshot followed by Guintoli coming off the second row, but the French rider was riding aggressively and on the third lap took the lead from the Castrol Honda rider who couldn’t match his pace.

Guintoli was running in the front with more than a 2 second lead, while the reigning World Champion began to dispose first of Marco Melandri and then of Jonathan Rea as he started to hunt down the his fellow Ducati rider. With just three laps to go Checa caught the Effenbert Liberty rider and just went around him with a slight leg wave, and then cruised to a 2.860 second margin victory, leaving the impressive and much disappointed Guintoli with second place.

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao: Carlos Checa takes the win in race 1

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Today’s last Superpole of the 2011 season at Portimao went to Jonathan Rea, but the main topic of the session was silly season. And more specifically why is Ducati refusing to support Althea Racing next season, after Bevilacqua’s team brought them two World Championship titles with Carlos Checa and Davide Giugliano and the manufacturers title after a two year drought.

Less than 24 hours before the season officially end,s 2011 World Champion Checa has still to sign with a team as Ducati will not help Althea Racing keep him, so he is pondering over two offers, one from Effenbert-Liberty and one from BMW who is offering him a big contract by Superbike standards, along with complete factory backing.

The Spaniard isn’t the only rider who has signed yet, including Eugene Laverty who is expected to be in Aprilia Alitalia, but there is a strew of other riders who have yet to find a ride for 2012. Hopefully by the end of tomorrow or Monday at the latest, we’ll have more definite news of who is going where.

Here’s what some of the riders had to say after the Superpole.

Jonathan Rea - 1st
To be honest, I’d much rather swap this pole position and the one at Magny-Cours for two good results tomorrow, but I’m still very happy with today. I’m enjoying riding the bike so much right now and go out with a smile on my face in every session. We had quite a different strategy with tyres today but it looks like being quite a difficult race with the temperatures here and we think the race will probably start around lap ten. For now though, we’ll just savour the moment and I’ll try my best tomorrow, which is another day after all.

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao Superpole highlight video and rider quotes

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Jonathan Rea took his second Superpole of 2011 during the final round of the World Superbike season at Portimao. The Northern Irishman headed the top of the timesheets when it counted the most, in SP3 he stopped the clock with a stunning lap of 1.41.712 that broke Cal Crutchlow’s 2010 record by almost three tenths of second.

World Superbike champion and birthday boy Carlos Checa, who is donning a special edition helmet celebrating both the Superbike crown and his birthday will be taking off in second and he was just a little more than two tenths of a second adrift. Closing out the front row will be the soon-to-be ex-Yamaha riders, Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri who were 3rd and 4th respectively. Checa and Laverty have yet to announce for which teams they’ll be riding for next season.

Opening the second row will be Effenbert Liberty’s duo Sylvain Guintoli and Jakub Smrz. While Joan Lascorz finally had a decent Superpole session and outqualified Kawasaki team mate Tom Sykes for 7th, while Noriyuki Haga was the best rider for Aprilia, albeit for the Pata team in 8th, as Aprilia factory riders Leon Camier didn’t make it out of SP2 and was 12th while team mate Max Biaggi didn’t qualify for the Superpole and he will be taking off in 17th.

Ayrton Badovini was the highest place BMW rider with his 9th spot, while Tom Sykes took 10th after both were bumped out in the last seconds of SP2 by Lascorz and Guintoli.

Continue reading: Jonathan Rea nabs Superpole at Portimao

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Jonathan Rea was the fastest rider at Portimao in this morning’s second qualifying practice. The Castrol Honda rider who will be partner Hiroshi Aoyama next season, laid down a best lap of 1’42.569, which was a little less than five tenths slower than Cal Crutchlow’s race lap record at the Portuguese track.

New Superbike champion Carlos Checa took second and was 0.152s adrift and still has to comunicate where he’ll be riding next season, while future BMW team mates Marco Melandri and Leon Haslam improved their laps times to finish third and fourth respectively.

An incredible Davide Giugliano took the fifth spot and was just 0.527s from Rea’s best time. The 2011 World Superstock champion who may become Althea Racing’s main rider next year, finished ahead fellow Ducati riders Jakub Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli. Tom Sykes was eighth while Eugene Laverty dropped to ninth after his excellent showing yesterday. Joan Lascorz took tenth which will allow him into this afternoon’s Superbike.

The biggest news of the qualifying session was that Max Biaggi didn’t make it into the Superpole. The Italian who is still nursing a painful foot injury failed to make the cut, finishing 17th and missing the 16th spot by 0.114s. Also not progressing to the Superpole session will be Troy Corser, Karl Muggeridge, Javier Fores, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Josh Waters and Santiago Barragan.

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao: Jonathan Rea retakes command in QP2, Biaggi out of Superpole

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Carlos Checa set the pace in this afternoon’s QP1 at Portimao. The Althea Ducati rider had to work for it, as the top of the timesheet changed hands several times between Jonathan Rea, Sylvain Guintoli and Eugene Laverty in the 60 minute provisional pole session.

Checa put in 1.43.579 lap which was just enough to pip Eugene Laverty by 0.087s, with lap times tight down to the 13th position. Effenbert Liberty’s Sylvain Guintoli also had an impressive session, finishing third fastest ahead of Castrol Honda’s Jonathan Rea. Recovering Max Biaggi clocked in at fifth and was little more than three tenths of a second off pace and the last rider to be in the 1.43 bracket.

Joan Lascorz moved up to sixth after finishing 10th this morning and he was followed by Tom Sykes. Marco Melandri made a tremendous jump forward shaving off more than a second from the earlier practice session to take 8th. Noriyuki Haga was also another rider who jumped into the top ten with his 1.44.144 lap that gave him the 9th fastest time. Closing out the top ten was Jakub Smrz.

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao: Carlos Checa takes provisional pole

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The first free practice of the final round of the World Superbike season at Portimao, saw Jonathan Rea top the timesheets with a best lap of 1’43.945, pipping the newly crowned Superbike champion Carlos Checa for the spot

Checa, still hasn’t decided where he’s heading in 2012 after receiving a big offer from BMW (who could decide to move Leon Haslam to the BMW Italia team if the Spaniard should accept) was just 0.036s adrift.

An impressive Ayrton Badovini was third followed by Tom Sykes and Sylvain Guintoli, who suffered technical problems on his Ducati 1198 as did team mate Jakub Smrz who finished the session in ninth. Leon Camier in what may be the last weekend with th Aprilia Alitalia team took sixth, while soon-to-be ex Yamaha rider Eugene Laverty grabbed the seventh spot. Max Biaggi returning from his injury at Nurburgring took a solid eighth and was a little less then nine tenths of a second off pace. Kawasaki’s Joan Lascorz closed out the top ten in what may be his last weekend with the Green team.

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao: Jonathan Rea leads in first free practice

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Max Biaggi will be returning to action in this weekend’s last round of the World Superbike season at Portimao. The Italian missed the last three crucial rounds due to a freak incident at Nurburgring that fractured his foot, which dropped him out of the title running against Carlos Checa, who lifted the 2011 crown at Magny Cours.

Even if he isn’t completely healed, Biaggi is making the effort to finish the season in style and try to repeat his 2010 double victory at the Portughese track, Carlos Checa permitting.

“I really hoped to get back onto the track quickly,” said the Aprilia Alitalia rider. “This is the first time in my career that I’ve missed races. Obviously my condition is not at 100%, but the desire to get onto the track in Portimao is very strong. The kind messages I received from my fans certainly helped to speed up my recovery! Portimao is a beautiful track, very demanding and spectacular. Last year I took the first double victory for myself and Aprilia, so we’ll know straight away during the Friday practice sessions what results we can aim for. I’ve worked as much as possible to recover muscle tone and to prepare as best I can.”

Team mate Leon Camier is also looking to end the season in style, in what will be his last race with the Aprilia factory team, as it is almost 99% certain that Eugene Laverty will be replacing him on the RSV4 next season.

Continue reading: Max Biaggi to return to action at Portimao

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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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