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Great weekend for Aprilia at Qatar

Yamaha's WSBK rookie rider Ben Spies took a spectacular double win in the second round of the Hannspree FIM Superbike World Championship at the Losail circuit in Qatar. The 24 year-old Texan powered to his third win in the opening four races, dominating both today's 18-lappers and twice finishing ahead of Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) and Max Biaggi (Aprilia), who were classified second and third to make up identical podiums. Nakano scored 4th in the first race and 7th in the 2nd race.

Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing): "I tried to keep up and have a good rhythm without losing concentration. We have a new bike and every session we try to improve, but it's not easy to win right away. These guys did a great job, I rode very hard and today I was comfy, both front and rear, and looking good."

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Biaggi starts 3rd at Qatar, Nakano 6th

After dominating the two WSBK qualifying sessions, Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) powered to the same result in Superpole with his second success in two races. The 24 year-old Texan lapped the 5.380 km Losail desert circuit in a time of 1 minute 57.280 seconds, almost eight-tenths of a second quicker than Troy Corser's best mark from 2008. The starting-grid was similar to the opening round in Australia, but this time Jakub Smrz on a customer Guandalini Ducati 1098R placed second, a fraction of a second behind Spies, and ahead of Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) in third. The front row of the grid was completed by Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox), who managed to move up to a fourth place slot following two below-par qualifying sessions.

With fifth place on the grid, Tom Sykes (Yamaha World Superbike) confirmed that the four-cylinder Japanese R1 machine is proving to be a very competitive machine indeed this year, and the British rider will start tomorrow's two 18-lap races with Japan's Shinya Nakano (Aprilia Racing), Spain's Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Shane Byrne (Sterilgarda Ducati) from the UK alongside.

Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing): "I'm very happy again to be fighting for the pole position, I think we did a very good job today. We tried to find the best set-up on both bikes, and I'm going to chose the one that feels the most comfortable. I have already made my tyre choice and feel quite comfortable so thanks again to my squad, they are great guys."

Biaggi 4th in 1st WSBK Qualification at Qatar

Yamaha's Ben Spies storms to provisional pole position for the second round of the World Superbike Championship in Qatar, ahead of Jonathan Rea and Carlos Checa.

The first qualification of the WSBK race in Qatar also went quite well for the Aprilia team. Biaggi finished strong in 4th place and Nakano followed in 10th.

Full results

Aprilia USA's Sales Were Up 66.4% In 2008

Aprilia USA, the U.S. importer and distributor of innovative, technology-driven motorcycles and scooters, finished 2008 with strong sales gains across its expanding product range. The company sold 66.4 % more bikes and scooters to customers in the U.S. market, spurred by the addition of four all-new motorcycles, three fresh scooter models and continued strengthening of its dealer network. Along with plenty of new product arriving from the Noale, Italy based factory, Aprilia USA also continued to add racing successes to its long list of championships, such as the U.S. company’s second consecutive MOTO-ST road race championship and first place in the 2008 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb 750cc category.

For 2009, company executives see more opportunity. “Our 2008 sales results are remarkable, especially in light of overall declining motorcycle industry sales,” says Gary Pietruszewski, Vice President Sales and Marketing, Piaggio Group Americas. “Much of our success can be attributed to a broader product range in dealer showrooms. For 2009 we expect to continue sales growth, thanks to new product like the much-anticipated RSV4 superbike and continued expansion of the dealer network. Add our new Aprilia Adventure demo program, new race teams competing in the AMA Daytona SportBike series and Aprilia’s return to World Superbike racing, and you have all the ingredients for a very exciting year.”

Aprilia’s U.S. motorcycle sales rose over 19 percent, fueled by new introductions like the company’s first-ever mid-size V-Twin, the SL 750 Shiver. Industry accolades for the Shiver include its superior rideability, all-day comfort and signature technical innovations, such as its unique tri-map ride-by-wire system.

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Chaz Davies 7th on the KWS RSVR at Daytona

Debuting under the lights at Daytona International Speedway, the new Daytona SportBike series kicked off the season with a first-ever night-time running of the Daytona 200 on March 6. No less than 9 different motorcycle brands lined up in the 84 bike field giving a very different and very welcomed new tone to two wheeled racing in the US.

Chaz Davies scored a very admirable 7th place on his KWS Aprilia RSVR in the Daytona 200 last weekend. He also scored the fastest lap of the race. His teammate Ben Thompson finished 22nd.

Full results

Biaggi fights for podium to the end

The Aprilia WSBK team got off to a pretty good start of the season. While Race 1 was not so succesful because of tire problems(Biaggi finished 11th and Nakano 15th), race 2 was a lot better with Biaggi taking the lead in the beginning of the race and battling for podium positions. After that he dropped back a bit to 4th place where he was battling with Fabrizio and Haslam. Unfortunately he ended up in the gravel in the last lap because he had to go wide not to hit the riders in front of him who took a strange line into the corner. But a 4th or 5th place was definately possible, unfortunately the gravel incident caused Biaggi to finish in 15th place. Nakano finished in 12th place but was battling for place 6 the whole race untill he dropped back with tyre problems.

It looks like the Aprilia RSV4 certainly has some great potential but they need to put some more development time into it to unleash its full potential.

Detailed report with interviews