Bautista fastest on first testing day

After a couple of tests in Europe with bad weather conditions the 250cc teams finally had a completely dry day in Qatar to do some decent testing. 125cc World Champion Alvaro Bautista was the fastest 250cc rider on the first day of testing. Followed by his teammate Alex de Angelis and 250cc world champion Jorge Lorenzo. Team Toth rider Barbera clocked a 6th place. 250cc debutant Thomas Luthi finished the day in 9th place on his Caffe Latte Aprilia.

Aprilia of the Week: Lorenzo's Bike

This week it's the brand new Aprilia RSW 2007 thats in the spotlight. Gorge Lorenzo is going to try to defend his 250cc World Championship title on this bike. Not much details about this bike because its all top secret offcourse. But it sure is one piece of 2 stroke sweetness.

Aprilia's debut in the world of MX

This weekend was the first time the MXV 450 ever raced in a MX1 class and they didn't do to bad either. The riders are Cedric Melotte and Chicco Chiodi. In the first manche Melotte qualified 6th and Chiodi 9th. Melotte also finished the race in 6th but Chiodi crashed and had to be taken to the hospital. He injured his foot so he couldn't race in the second manche.

In the 2nd manche Melotte finished 5th. Great job since he had a very bad start and entered the first corner in 14th place. Chiodi and Melotte raced with a 2006 version of the MXV. In march they will debut on the 2007 version of the MXV during the World Championship race in Valkenswaard. Go here for more pics and a detailed report about the race

Aprilia of the Week: King Karl's SXV550

Please introduce yourself first. Who are you and where are you from?
Im King Karl, from Bradford, United Kingdom... I hang around with other Supermoto guys and were known all over Britain as the Flids

Which Aprilia model do you own?
Aprilia SXV 550

Did you add any mods to your bike?
Ohlins front forks
Prototype Ohlins rear
Suter slipper clutch
Silmoto full race exhaust
Custom mapped ignition
Alpina tubeless wheels
Xtrig triple clamps
Various carbon bits and pieces
Pro taper "carmicheal" fat bars
One off custom graphics
powder coated swing arm, subframe etc
painted black frame
Aprilia race number boards
Husaberg front number board
Acerbis front fender
Talon gold sprokets
DID gold chain
Acerbis hand guards
Irridium plugs
Michelin Pilot wets

Why did you buy an Aprilia and what do you like so much about it?
Becouse it was a blank canvas and i wanted to see how far i could go with it, its the best looking moto on the track

And what don’t you like about your bike?
Tank range, starter motor weakness

If you could ask Aprilia to design a new model what would it be?
An SXV 650

And finally do you have any motorcycling tips for the readers of Aprilia News?
Dont talk about it, do it

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Aspar teams up with Banjaca

Thursday the Aprilia Aspar team presented their team and bikes for the 2007 season. Also announcing a big sponsorship deal with spanish Banjaca. Last year this team claimed the 125cc title with Bautista and this year they will try again with Gadea,Faubel and Talmacsi. The 125cc champion Bautista will be riding on the 250cc bike this year together with Alex de Angelis.

Aprilia of the Week : Back in Time

This week we are going back into time for a little history lesson. This is the Aprilia 500cc 2-stroke from the 2000 gp500 season. The drivers Jeremy McWilliams and Tetsuya Harada didn't have a very succesful season. Altough McWilliams(14th overall) got 3rd 2 times. Harada(16th overall) never made it to the podium. The Aprilia team finished 4th in the constructors standings with 94 points. This bike was the last 2 stroke 500cc racing bike that Aprilia has ever build.

Lorenzo on top during pre-season tests

Jorge Lorenzo has been leading the scoreboards during the pre-season tests on the Catalunya track. After a rainy morning Lorenzo clocked the fastest lap during the dry afternoon session. His former team member Barbera followed closely on his Team Toth Aprilia. The rest of the top 5 finished the test with almost identical laptimes.

1) Jorge Lorenzo
Fortuna Aprilia -1.46.9
2) Hector Barbera
Team Toth -1.47.2
3 ) Julian Simon
Repsol Honda - 1.47.8
4 ) Shuhei Aoyama
Repsol Honda - 1.47.8
5 ) Alex de Angelis
Master MVA Aspar - 1.47.9

3 Pegaso Factory Reviews

Several Italian websites have tested the new Pegaso Factory. I must say the Pegaso Factory is very beautiful and looks like a very fun bike. And it only costs €7109 compared to the €6.490 standard Pegaso. The reviews are really positive and have a big selection of nice pictures. They are all in Italian but with babelfish you can translate them into English.

- Motorbox Review & Gallery

- Motoblog Review & Gallery

- Infomotori Review & Gallery

Team Aprilia Fortuna presentation

Team Fortuna presented their riders and the new Aprilia RSW250 in Madrid. The riders for the 2007 season will be 2006 250cc champion Jorge Lorenzo and Alex Debón. I hope the 2007 season will be just as succesful as the 2006 one. Check out a short video and pictures of the presentation here

Ice racing swedish Aprilia style

Olof Eriksson is a young talent from Sweden and he will be riding his SXV in the Swedish championship this year. But in the winter times Sweden is covered in snow so there is no way to do any supermoto testing. But that doesn't stop Olof. He threw some studded tyres on a RXV and went out to play. I'm glad he took a cameraman with him so we can also join the fun. Go check out the RXV ice racing video here (right click save as!) (thanks to Olof and Nordimotor)

Aprilia of the Week: Project RSVR550

This week another special. It's an RS250 with a SXV 550 engine. How sweet is that. Well very sweet. You take brand new a SXV 550 and an RS250 and together they make the worlds first RSVR 550. After 3 months of hard work the result is amazing. For all the Details about the build check out the project page

Here's a list of some of the features of the bike:

-RS250 frame
-SXV 550 engine
-Tyga Honda RS250 fairings
-Kawasaki ZX10 seat unit
-Ohlins rear suspension
-Carbon fuel tank
-Custom exhaust system
-Custom engine mount/cradle
-Custom Oil Tank

Aprilia starts Supermoto cup in the Benelux

After the big succes of the Supermoto cup in Italy Aprilia decided to start anoter Supermoto cup in the Benelux(also in Germany). Together with the KNMV(Dutch motorsport federation) Aprilia is organizing 11 races along the normal Dutch Supermoto Championship. For this cup they are offering a special package. A discount on the SXV 450 (without registration for the road) and a special 500 euro racing package wich includes:

-a leather Aprilia suit
-supermoto boots
-goggles
-back protector
-gloves

Racing in the Aprilia Supermoto cup only requires a KNMV license and no special expensive racing licenses. If you want more info about the cup check out Racesport