2006 Ducati Other on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Rainy BSB tests are nothing new

THE combination of bad weather in the UK and a European testing ban means that most BSB teams will now start the season with very little track time. This sounds like a disaster for the top teams but history has proved this isn’t necessarily true and it sometimes doesn’t matter how much pre season preparation has taken place.  Back in 2002 Sean Emmett won on the IFC Ducati at the opening Silverstone round after first riding it in unofficial practice the same weekend. Steve Hislop took the other win on Pauls Bird’s well sorted Ducati. More recently in 2009, Leon Camier took an untested new model R1 Yamaha to victory at the Brands Hatch opener after GSE took delivery of the bike just the week before. Sylvain Guintoli won the other race on a well developed, well tested Crescent Suzuki. You could argue if no one has had testing then it is a level playing field but you have to feel for riders moving up to the superbike class in the world’s toughest national series.  Tyco Suzuki’s PJ Jacobson is one such rider but having spent some time with him over the past few weeks he seems to be taking it all in his stride. It may be the confidence of youth or maybe the fact he has won in every other class he has entered in his short BSB career, but I suspect he fancies at least standing on the Superbike podium at Brands (He also does a bit of ice racing which is not dissimilar to the this year’s UK testing).  The testing ban was implemented with all the best cost cutting intentions and if it had been any other year in the past decade all would be well. The teams may be feeling frustrated but the fans should be excited. With so many unknowns, the 2013 BSB opener at Brands Hatch could be the best ever!

WSBK: 2012 Phillip Island Results – Video

Max Biaggi won the opening race to the 2012 World Superbike Championship while defending champion Carlos Checa came back from a high-speed crash in the first race to win the second at Australia’s Phillip Island circuit. Reigning champion Checa of Althea Ducati had a stunning high-side crash while leading on the sixth lap of Race One. The WSBK paddock was already in shock with the death of 17-year-old Oscar McIntyre in the Superstock 600 race the day before but thankfully Checa was not seriously injured.

Ducati 1199 Panigale on the Podium in Superstock 1000 Debut – Video

We’ve already reported on the Ducati 1199 Panigale’s domestic racing debut (and first race victory) but the 1098 successor has finally made its international racing debut in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup. Barni Racing‘s Eddi La Marra captured pole position on the Ducati 1199 Panigale and led for the first six laps before the race was red-flagged after Team Brazil racer Heber Pedrosa crashed his Kawasaki ZX-10R. The race was restarted as a five-lap sprint.