Biker.ie : Irish Biker's Discussion Forum - Racing and Trackdays

BMW parts supply problems

racerhead — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:18:08 GMT

Most of their race parts supply problems can be traced back to a certain Mr Xaus:lbhbh:
He was fine after this crash by the way:thumbsup2:

Attached Images

xaus.jpg (118.3 KB)

bishopscourt sunflower in october

yan64 — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 21:49:16 GMT

does anyone know if its open 2 clubman riders aswell or is it only national lads?
race entry is a lot cheaper than the masters in mondello,not 2 sure what 2 do,cant afford 2 do both:unsure2:

Suzuka 2010 Pics

iano — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:42:08 GMT

:shok::scared::shok::scared:

Fund raising auction Mcknight Racing

weecorey — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:02:37 GMT

Check out the classifieds section folks for my fund raisng auction. Thanks

http://www.biker.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=129212

Mondello Monday 13th

SvStuie — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:32:20 GMT

So who's down for this one......:woots:

I is, along with my side kick...............

Magnets :lbhbh::lbhbh::lbhbh:

Motogp LCR Honda to loose DePuniet ?

Blade RR — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:12:53 GMT

why oh why would DePuniet consider making the move to suzuki ?

Mistake or what !

:doh:

new chicane at killalane??

reilly46 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:40:59 GMT

just after paddock on the fast sweep, any else hear this??

SS 400's tyre pressures?

grahamh40 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:09:51 GMT

alrite lads, quik question..
new tyres on my zxr 400 track bike
wat pressures do ya's in dry tyres and wet tyres
much apprectiated :thumbsup2:

Mondello Masters line up taking shape.

Magnets — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:00:50 GMT

The final round of the Mondello Park Championship series takes place on the weekend of October 2nd & 3rd. The weekend will also see the return of the ever popular big money race 'The Mondello Masters' as well as being a scoring round of the Irish Superbike Championship.

The list of riders who have earned invites to the Mondello Masters through their performances in the Final at Mondello Superbike Champiosnhip rounds is as follows, 2010 ISB Champion Marshall Neill, Brian McCormack, Damien Byrne, Davy Haire, Rory Clarke, Gary Jeffers, Declan Swanton, Terry Bradley, Gary Robinson, James Rowe and rising star Glenn Irwin. These will line up alongside roads specialists John Walsh, Christian Elkin, Andrew Courtney and fan's favorite, Derek Sheils.

The following additional riders have also been confirmed as attending
Johnny Buckley
Michael Dunlop
Kirk Jamison
Gerard Kinghan
Marty Nutt

Further names will be added to the list over the coming weeks.

As per previous rounds of the Mondello Championship, any :bikerie: making themselves known to gate staff will be directed to fill out a ticket in the bar with a free trackday up for grabs for one lucky winner.

Last BSB race of the season

vanillagirl2203 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:03:07 GMT

OK, i'm heading over to oulton park as its near where i'm from and i'll be home that weekend.

Last race of the season! So should be exciting enough...hope its not pissing it down raining!

Anyone been there before? Know where the best spots are for viewing the races etc? :thumbsup2:

will be driving there with my mate in the car so does anyone know what the situation is for parking? it says free on the site but i'd assume thats bikes only.

Portimao and the S1000RR..a review

R1_Pete — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:28:13 GMT

Hi All,

Sorry I am only getting around to this now. Back in work a week now and its been nuts.

Anyway I just wanted to do a quick review of my experience at the Portimao Circuit last month as promised and share a few pictures from the two days.

Let me start by saying bl&@dy Portuguese! Such nice people and great fun, but they cant arrange anything. Finer details are ignored. You may remember I posted last month to say I had a call and was told that I was the only person booked in for the school and as a result would be having one on one instruction from Miguel Praia? Well what they meant was you are the only English Speaking person attending the school so Miguel will do his best to make sure you understand!

Anyway that aside!

Portimao is unreal! The track is gorgeous and so well designed, from the fast flowing last turn onto the straight which sees you enter onto the straight doing around 120 and saw me clipping 160 mph just before I braked for turn one right through to the back straight past the tower. But my absolute favourite piece of the track had to be from turn five which is a really tight left hander, actually a hairpin through to Craig Jones. Turn five Difficult to get right as you approach it coming down hill off the back straight and the track there is a bit rough from the cage racing stretching the tarmac, but when you get it right (I may have once!), it is sweet as it leaves you centre of the track accelerating up a gentle down hill left hander into another right handed hairpin..this is where it got interesting as you reach the bottom of the hill you are immediately faced with another climb up a much steeper hill, this actually drops off onto a left handed turn and is completely blind until you are on the crest of the hill. Its savage!

The first few times I came around, despite knowing it goes left I kept shutting off the gas and upsetting the bike. After maybe three sessions I grew some stones and some confidence in the bike and was keeping it pinned over the crest. The bike naturally wheelies here (on the BMW it was no issue at all..anti wheelie!), and carries the front wheel as you start the descent. It felt like a monster wheelie, but im sure the wheel was only inches off the ground, still it was great! As you reach the bottom of this hill and the bike settles down I was tipping around the ton just as you hit the apex of the next corner, which is yet another right handed turn UP A HILL!, this is a pig to get right as it is also blind until you reach the top, and it leads into a deep right handed turn which I almost had to treat as two turns with mid corner adjustment on the steering to get around it. The trick here was to keep mid track and on the gas to you see the marshals box, then tip the bike in for the turn through Craig Jones corner and down hill again.

My only previous track experience was Mondello so I am hardly an expert or qualified to claim this is the best track in the world, but I cant imagine a more enjoyable one! It is so intimidating at first and really difficult to learn it, but when you do it just floes so well. Its like a giant roller coaster made of grade a tarmac! Up, Down, left, right, blind fast!! Awesome stuff. It was way beyond my abilities but I loved every minute of it!

As for the bike! What can I say! The S1000RR is unreal! I was toying with selling both of my bikes and buying one, until I rode it around Portimao! It is too good for the roads and would be wasted on me. It is an unbelievable machine, but to get the most of it you would need to be doing regular track days and I even think Mondello would be to small, sure you would enjoy it, but it’s a missile and needs room. It feels way lighter than you expect it to, and it is so easy to ride. I started off in Rain mode on day one and it was manageable, and quick, then I stepped it up to sport mode which was much crisper and had a lovely bark off the exhaust, but finally I went to race mode, the full 190 horses and much crisper throttle control and oh my god it was another bike! The thing is amazing and the sound when you are on it..stunning. I got on my R1 4 days later and it felt antiquated, like riding a Honda Noddy.

The BMW flatters even a Novice like me, it covers up mistakes with traction control and allows you keep the gas on when you normally wouldn’t as you have all sorts of gadgets to keep you on course. But I am realistic and I know that it way and above my capabilities and my usage of the bike and I would only ever scratch the surface of what it can do, but boy was it fun to do so!

A bit more detail on the two days for anyone who can be arsed to read it..

Day 1:
This was a track school, broken into Novice, Inters and Advanced. I was naturally in the Novice group. I had arranged the hire of a BMW S1000RR for the two days. This should have cost me €500 per day (yes honestly!), but as there was some other messing around with dates and stuff I had it reduced to €800 for two days. I had looked at all options including getting my own bike out, but in the end it wasn’t much more expensive to hire and I got the BMW for 2 days!!

I turned up at the track at 8am on the fist day, to be introduced to Miguel Praia, sound chap (dont think he appreciated my Laverty T shirt though) and he was very welcoming and friendly and only too happy top show me around the garages and introduce me to my mechanic and the guys looking after pit lane etc. AS all the briefings were conducted in Portuguese he kindly took me aside afterwards and gave me a one to one briefing and then assigned me to a lad called Marcus who is a Portuguese bike journalist and instructor there as he had great English.

The day consisted of a guided session with the instructors, stopping at various points on the track to see how they took lines around it. We then did a few slowish laps following them, and a few free laps where they followed us. After this we went back to the briefing room for some feedback on our riding styles and mistakes (lots and lots!). We then had a free session to familiarise ourselves with the track, and a video session in which the instructors recorded footage of us on the bikes while following us. It’s a real eye opener seeing your self from that perspective! I looked so stiff on the bike and was all legs and knees unnescearily. Then we were brought back to the briefing room where one of Miguel’s ex bikes was on paddock stands and used as a stationary training tool to show us some technique.

After lunch we had a Chrono/Timed Session in which I managed a paltry 2.34 lap, the slowest in my group by a good 7 seconds. The instructors spent a bit of time with each of discussing where and how we could improve our lap times and lines. Then we had two free sessions which were just great as I was starting to get comfortable with the bike and the track and getting a bit of a rhythm. We were also given a half hour session with Miguel’s own personal trainer who spoke about fitness and training for racing. This was in Portuguese and in fairness he offered to chat to me at the end, but its far from worrying about my race fitness I am so I didn’t bother.

The day concluded with a free session. All in all on day one we did 5 20/25 minute sessions around the circuit and plenty of time with the instructors. My advice on the school is that it was great and well worth it, but it would have been far more beneficial if there was a group of English speakers as then they would have been accommodated more and definitely would get more from it. It was great value at €140 for the day but really I would love to go back in a group (biker.ie trip anyone!?)

Having said that I cant imagine just turning up on the actual track day without the soft intro first……onto that.

Day two was a track day. It followed the same format with three groups, but oh my god there were some serious punters there. There were a handful of road bikes around, but the majority of bikes were fully track prepped. Full race fairings, race gearing, the guys all had tyre warmers (although with the 38 degree heat I couldn’t see the point!) There were some stunning machines in the paddocks with Aprilia RSV’s, Tons of Ducati 1198s and 1098s, one or two S1000RRs in full race trim, and host of R1s and Gixxers. There were lads there with support trucks and portable gennies, fold out tables and fridges and stuff! Amazing set up. Some of these guys take it so so seriously its unreal. All filming and reviewing between sessions, cameras front and rear of bikes so they could catch each other. Analysing the footage to see where they get better next time. There were a lot of Spanish as well as Portuguese and they really are passionate about there bikes!

The thinking out there is that if you have never been on the track you start in Novice, no matter how good you think you are on other tracks. So the novice group had some very very fast lads in it! There was group there called redomoto, (I think they own a bike shop in Spain) they all had Rossi styled bikes with the best of everything on them all carbon and pazzo, I was in awe of some of the machines. One of the bikes was a Kwaker done out in the Rossi 500 fans faces paint scheme, with all the gadgets you could thing of on it, and these boys were fast.

All in all the best two days on a bike I have ever had and I cant wait to go back!!

Cheers,
Pete

Attached Images

	Down in to the start of teh staright from podium.jpg (231.1 KB)
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	HRC Blade II. Portimao. august 2010.jpg (62.7 KB)
	Portimao.28.Aug.2010.Miguel Praia.jpg (53.3 KB)
	Rossi 500 Rep ZX10R 2.jpg (278.3 KB)
	Press Room-Briefing Room.jpg (180.1 KB)
	Rossi 500 Rep ZX10R 3.jpg (249.5 KB)
	Rossi Rep R1. Portimao 2010.jpg (350.7 KB)
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	S1000RR.Portimao august 2010.jpg (53.8 KB)
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	S1000RR 2.Portimao august 2010.jpg (47.4 KB)

race/track fairings wanted

gsxrd — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:09:17 GMT

any one no were i can get race fairings for zxr750

Calling all photographers

EICLRACING — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:22:48 GMT

As it's the last road race of the season this weekend, I am hoping to get a few decent photos of John Walsh #61 on the EICL Race bike.

I am hoping to get some good action shots (cranked over/on the back wheel - or perhaps on the front in John's case/jumps/grid/etc.) Anyone who gets some, please forward to chillers@eicl.ie. I'll happily pay (a small price) for a few good prints. Cheers, Pete

Tomizawa crash investigated

'oul Mr. Murphy — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:55:19 GMT

The prosecutor of Rimini has reportedly launched an investigation into the death of Shoya Tomizawa following the Moto2 Grand Prix at Misano.

According to the Italian ANSA news agency, Paolo Giovagnoli will begin an inquest into the 19-year-old�s tragic death in a move that could also see criminal charges being brought.

Tomizawa crashed on lap 12 of the race into the path of Alex de Angelis and Scott Redding, but the race was not stopped as track marshals swiftly stretchered him off the circuit.

However, Tomizawa was then accidentally dropped by a marshal when they stumbled whilst carrying through the gravel.

With an impending autopsy set to reveal exactly what contributed to his death, ANSA says Giovagnoli is considering bringing charges to individuals that are yet to be identified.

The news comes after MotoGP officials defended the decision not to stop the race to allow Tomizawa to receive treatment at the track, claiming they were better equipped to deal with his serious injuries behind the scenes.

Mondello 27 September

ascalon — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:53:28 GMT

Anybody heading for Mondello on the 27th for the open trackday?

I'm signed up, as is R1_pete.

Hoping for a dry day...

A

Photos Trackday report, Cadwell 23rd Aug & Silverstone 24th Aug 2010

750steve — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:05:38 GMT

Here's a wee report on a recent trip of mine which included a GJ Track Day & an always worthwhile visit to Cadwell Park to make the trip from N Ireland more enjoyable. I'll try not to bore anyone too much but the trip, for me, included a good few new experiences...........

DAY 1 (the boring bit)
We (Nig & I) packed the VW Transporter with 2 bikes & all the kit, it ended up so full you couldn't see the bikes, then we left my house at about mid-day drove to Dublin & got the fast boat from there to Holyhead, from there we drove through North Wales & into England crossing the whole way to Mart & Tracey's house with only 1 food stop at the most rank Burger King ever, we did have a couple of smoke breaks but this was only an excuse made by me to fumigate the small van from Nigel's ass gas. ;)
We arrived at about 9.30 that night & got the usual warm welcome, after a short time another mate arrived & then the real eejiting about started !! We went to bed fairly late & Andy told us he would be joining us on track the next day to take some pics, top man Andy :thumbup:, without his pics I'd have nothing to show for my Cadwell Experience.
News however was breaking of a severe weather warning for the next day, though at 1am, warm & bone dry we thought it would blow over, mistake no1..........

DAY2 (Cadwell Park)
The crap weather had arrived, this was gonna be a new experience for me, I had never ridden on wets before & this was a monsoon, however, no way was I driving all that way to leave the bike in the Van!! We signed on & went to the briefing to get our armbands, it was obvious that we were going to miss the 1st session as I needed to get noise tested & the wets needed fitted to my spare rims. Mart wisely decided so sit Cadwell out, a road bike & road tyres were going to be no real fun on a day like that, especially when you're used to a 'brisk' pace, the conscequences outweighed the reasons in this case!!
Tracey & Freddi done a great job of keeping us warm with cups of coffee & tea all day, as well as listening to us moaning! :lol:

All in all I was sooooooo glad I went out on the wets, I learned a lot & I was surprised at how much grip you had with them. I did have a couple of 'moments' at the start but im putting that down to unscrubbed tyres, a dry setup & ME being ham fisted! I had great crack & if anyone hasn't been out on wets then do it, you'll have a blast.
Most folk packed up after dinner & in our Inters group there were only 4 bikes on track for a session & in the last 2 sessions there was only Nig & I on track, at this point I fitted the GoPro HD camera I got a lend of to my tank with the immovable sucker cup & Duct Tape, when I rolled up to the holding area the nice people from MSV told me I had to take it off as they don't allow ANYTHING on the tank & the item has to be securely fastened, she muttered something about 1 coming off last week & causing an accident, next time the Veho Muvi will be sneaked on if I can't get a suitable mount for the GoPro, I gotta say I was a bit miffed at this as it was only me & my mate out on track.

Mart went & got his hire van for the trip to Silverstone & we then done the hateful bit of loading the van back up, Mart, Tracey & Freddi were in their van while Kevin, Nig & I went in the VW, Nig had his special pillow to bite on & it was a long slow drive to the Travelodge in Towcester where we put our heads down for the night.

Wheel Change

Getting my bearings in the wet

Cheeky!!

FLAT!!!

When i said wet i meant it.............

......But, you can brake harder than you think!!

Having a play.........both wheels next time!!!

DAY 3 (Silverstone)
Thank f*ck, a dry day!!! Early rise & only a 10 min drive to the Circuit, it's unbelievable how big this whole complex is folks, seriously, some towns would be smaller!! The briefing was short & sweet & surprisingly no noise testing was done, instead we were told that if we were over the 'drive by' trackside mic's DB limit that we would be pulled in for a very strict static test.
As usual I was rushing & had to remove the wet wheels & get my Ntec's in, I thought I wouldn't get out in the 1st session again but I just about got ready in time, I needed fuel in the bike but didn't have time to top up, I went out anyway as a new rear tyre (10 mins on the warmers) & a fresh track was best done behind an instructor for the usual sighting laps before being let loose on our own, I got about 2 laps before the fuel light came on, I done 1 more & pulled in, well, some laps were better than none & the tyre was scrubbed nicely.
The second session came & we headed out, some parts of the track look quite similar though at the end of a couple of straights the corners were a good bit different, I got a little cocky towards the end of the 3rd session & while overtaking round the outside of a corner (Village) I noticed the rumble strip getting close far too quickly, I looked over & seen some green cement on the far side of the rumble strip & made my mind up to run out wide on it, as soon as the front wheel connected with the cement, bang, down I went on my right side..........f*ckin astroturf!! Perversely I even liked the experience of crashing though this was a relatively minor one, I remember sliding & thinking, FFS, will you just stop, THEN I thought it a good idea to let go of the right handlebar!! Anyway, I picked the bike up, looked around it, let the tilt sensor settle & fired the bike up & rode back to the garage. All that was done was a frame slider worn down, a couple of scuffs on the paint, a footpeg broken & the toe-piece for operating the rear brake. I replaced the footpeg & all was ok for the rest of the day, thank god for crash protection & solid rearset footpegs or the damage would have been much worse, �60 now & its all sorted!! I got the GoPro on the tank for the 5th & 6th sessions, one of these is on my shopping list now, great quality!!!

Session 5

+ YouTube Video
ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

+ YouTube Video
ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

Session 6

+ YouTube Video
ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

+ YouTube Video
ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

Finally, this is about as clean of a lap as i could get, looking back at the video its easy to see where time could be made up, braking can be left WAY later into the corner after the hangar straight

+ YouTube Video
ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

Jeez that track goes on & on & on.........the slow down lap seems to last forever!!

Told you it was a trip with some new experiences!! :D I love doing this kinda thing & hopefully next year we'll get doing Donnington & Oulton Park in the same trip, Cadwell might even be included in that too ! :lol:

Big thanks to Andy for giving his time up & standing out in the pissing wet to take some very good pics of some 'Pikey's', and to Mart & Tracey for putting us up again, Mart is getting me back this week though, he's running round my house with a cloud of brown gas following him & making funny 'brrraaaaaappppppp' noises!! I dunno...........

idle control valve disqualifies gino rea

bikes — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:58:44 GMT

http://www.ginorea.com/index.php/lat...C3%BCrburgring

Watergrasshill "Trackdays".

Leprechaunlive — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:15:26 GMT

Hey guys,

For all the munster boys that dont really want to go all the way up to Mondello to have fun on a track, the Watergrasshill International Kart Circuit is available for road bikes. Okay, its a kart track, wich means if you'r good, yo can go around in 40-50 seconds, but its good quality and has got two bends that are suitable for some knee down action. :devil:

According to them, its 50eur a DAY, and you get to go on the track beetween karting bookings. Wich means on a very quiet day, you can potentially stay all day for 50 notes. Being totally new to trackdays, and living in Cork, i think im gonna have a go at this track.

If you knew that already, well, sorry about that the repost :lbhbh:

Has anyone ever tried the track?

Any good?

Thanks

400 or 600 Track bike?

jc42 — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:46:38 GMT

Well lads,

I'm thinking of getting a track bike soon but I'm not sure if i should be looking for a 400 or a 600. I'm not looking for the ultimate in performance. I just want something reliable that I can thrash without having to rebuild then engine every few sessions. At the same time I don't want to be the slowest bike on the track! Will a 600 require more maintenance than a 400? Is there much of a difference in the cost of tyres and other running costs. What would ye recommend?

Cheers:bikerie:

Photos 4th Sept ISB Kirkistown

Bru — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:34:30 GMT

All very samey so only a few for looksies, plenty of others on the website.

Will be looking for new hosting soon as the quality of the photos is getting seriously effected when I upload them and its taking the piss.

Photos Kirkistown ISB Sept 4th 2010

Steve7 — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:36:52 GMT

A few shots from Saturday..

http://www.skphotoscom.co.uk/

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Sunflower trophy Races 2010

Ironside — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:32:44 GMT

The Hillsborough Club have just got a new website up and running for the SUNFLOWER TROPHY MOTORCYCLE RACES and you can download race entry forms from there as well as get all the info you need.

They also have a brand new Facebook Group up and running too.

Irish Superbike

RR4U — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:31:42 GMT

Olie Linsdell. Official update

Magnets — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:22:04 GMT

OLIE LINSDELL�S MUM CAROLE PROVIDES UPDATE ON OLIE�S CONDITION

Carole Linsdell has asked the Manx Grand Prix Press office to pass on details of Olie�s condition in hospital in Liverpool following his accident at Bishop�s Court in the Post Classic Manx Grand Prix race on Monday 30th August.

�After a fairly tough few days Olie is now awake and off the ventilator, breathing for himself and aware of us. Friday was the first time he opened his eyes, and he said a few words to us for the first time on Saturday.
He knows who we all are, and is speaking a lot more. Taking into account the speed of the accident it is unbelievable that he has broken no major bones, although there's hardly a square inch of his body that has not got a bruise or abrasion, and he has damage to his right knee and forearm that will require some work.

He is very sore and drowsy but has eaten some ice cream and already tells us he wants to get up! It will be a while before he's up to that but he has amazed us all- as someone said today, he's definitely back in the room.

We have been overwhelmed by all the messages from our dear friends, family and his wonderful fans and sponsors- too many to name. Steve, myself David and of course Olie thank you all.

We�d also like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff at Nobles and Walton Hospital for the incredible attention that they have given Olie, and to the marshals and medics who treated Olie at the scene.�
Peter Gibson, who was injured during Friday�s Senior MGP race has had an operation on his arm fracture. John Thompson, who had an accident at the Creg Ny Baa has now been discharged from hospital. Tim Venables condition, following his accident at Greeba Castle, is described as serious but stable.

Get well soon lad.:thumbsup2:

Valencia GP

eoinocag — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:49:16 GMT

Hey All,

Just wondering if anyone could give me info on the Valencia GP, it. watchouts recommendations etc. What is the situation with camping at the track, does the 3 day pass allow you to camp if available, and also parking, is there an additional pass required for parking or does it all come under the one?

Cheers in advance!

Melandri confirmed to Yamaha WSBK 2011

Kwaka Rules — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 19:29:37 GMT

Taking Crutchlows spot and Tardozzi rumoured to be his new boss at Yam

http://www.crash.net/world+superbike...th_yamaha.html

Marco Melandri will become the latest MotoGP rider to defect to the World Superbike Championship after he was confirmed as having signed with Yamaha for 2011.

The Italian has been the subject of rumours linking him to a switch to the series in recent weeks, but while it was originally anticipated that he had been approached by BMW, it is with Yamaha that he will contest the 2011 season.

Coming on the back of the announcement that Cal Crutchlow will move to Tech 3 Yamaha in MotoGP next season, long-time grand prix racer Melandri subsequently takes his place.

Reuniting with the manufacturer that gave him his break in MotoGP back in 2003, Melandri follows in the footsteps of Max Biaggi, Carlos Checa and Sylvain Guintoli et al in turning his back on grand prix racing in favour of a move to the Superbike arena.

It is a challenge that Melandri is thrilled to be accepting, the 28-year-old expressing his confidence that he will be challenging for the title in his first season.

“I'm very happy with this new challenge, it's a big change and I want to fight for world superbike wins,” said Melandri, who finished runner-up to Valentino Rossi with Gresini Honda in 2005. “It's nice to be back with Yamaha; I know many people there; I was very young when I rode with them before, now I'm much more mature.

“As the reigning 2009 champions The Yamaha Sterilgarda Team have proved to have a very competitive package and are one of the top teams in World Superbike. I realise Superbike is not easy and I know I have to work hard. I'm looking forward to feeling the adrenalin again and fighting for the championship.”

Melandri's arrival also confirms the participation of Yamaha, which was believed to be in doubt earlier in the season. Although his team-mate is yet to be confirmed, rumours circulating at the Nurburgring this weekend suggested that former Ducati and current BMW team boss Davide Tardozzi could be joining his countryman in helming the team in 2011.

For the moment though, Yamaha's Laurens Klein Koerkamp was simply pleased to have landed a coup in signing Melandri.

“Marco is a great signing for the World Superbike Team. He has massive experience at the pinnacle of motorcycle racing and is extremely motivated to have the opportunity to challenge for race wins again. Whilst it is sad to see Cal leave us to move on up in the Yamaha family we are excited to have a serious title contender such as Marco joining us.”

During a grand prix career that spanned 14 seasons, Melandri has won 22 races – including five at MotoGP level – and managed 62 podiums.

Laverty

Dave-R — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:40:47 GMT

http://www.rte.ie/sport/motorsport/2.../lavertye.html

Gwan Eugene, do it do it :thumbsup2::bikerie::bikerie:

:Ireland::Ireland::Ireland::Ireland:

Clubman championship table?

kezzer998 — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:33:46 GMT

Where can I find up to date championship tables?I checked out irish bike racing but they have not been updated for a good few rounds.

RIP Shoya Tomizawa

cork bikeboy — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:15:03 GMT

Incredibly sad news, he was a great racer and such a happy guy
He'll be missed greatly. Thoughts are with his family and friends
RIP Shoya

Lap Timer

gerby — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:49:38 GMT

I'm thinking of buying a lap timer, but know nothing about them.

I'd appreciate any information, what to look for, what to avoid, where to buy, what they cost, etc. Any comments on this one? http://www.otto-racing.co.uk/lap%20timer%20page.htm