Two victories for Aprilia at Brno

250cc

Alex Debon his won his second 250cc grand prix of the season after a thrilling conclusion to Sunday's Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno.

In marked contrast to his runaway win at Le Mans, the 32-year-old Spaniard snatched victory from world championship leader Marco Simoncelli with a skillful outbraking effort into the very final chicane, while Simoncelli's attempts to resist the Lotus Aprilia rider allowed Alvaro Bautista to also edge ahead.

But it wasn't all bad news for Simoncelli, whose third place finish marked his seventh podium in a row for Metis Gilera and extends his title lead to 16 points over Mika Kallio, who crossed the line at the back of the lead group in fifth position for KTM.

Race results 250cc - Brno:

1. Debon (Aprilia)
2. Bautista (Aprilia) +0.280secs
3. Simoncelli (Gilera) +0.325secs
4. Barbera (Aprilia) +0.827secs
5. Kallio (KTM) +1.249secs

125cc


18-year-old German Stefan Bradl has taken his first ever 125cc victory after rising to the top of a closely contested Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno. The Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing competitor, son of former grand prix rider Helmut, reached the front of an eleven-rider lead group by the halfway stage of the 19 laps - then pushed hard to gradually break clear of his nearest rivals.

World championship leader Mike di Meglio got the better of Gabor Talmacsi and Joan Olive to wrap-up the runner-up position, while Hungarian superstar Talmacsi saw a podium finish at his 'home' event snatched from his grasp by Olive. Nicolas Terol collected a safe fifth, while Bradley Smith dropped to sixth position after leading on the opening lap.

In the world championship standings, di Meglio has now pulled 44 points clear of Simone Corsi, who finished in tenth position at Brno.

Race results 125cc - Brno:

1. Bradl (Aprilia)
2. di Meglio (Derbi) +0.881secs
3. Olive (Derbi) +4.070secs
4. Talmacsi (Aprilia) +4.118secs
5. Terol (Aprilia) +7.048sec

AB-1 SXV's kicking ass in the Wera Nationals

The AB-1 Motorsports team from the US have been racing Aprilia SXV 550's in the WERA lightweight superstock expert and lightweight superbike expert classes. Racing against fast Suzuki SV 650's and other 1000cc twins. But they are no match for the SXV's. They have been kicking ass this season dominating pretty much every race so far. The other riders are getting frustrated by the dominance of the Aprilia and have been filing complaints that all have been denied. Only smart thing to do is to get a SXV yourself!

Check out the latest race report with videos here

Aprilia Rip it Report: AMA Supermoto round 2

Stafford springs, CT - After a long 2800 mile trek from the X Games to Stafford Springs, Connecticut, the Aprilia Rip It Energy Fuel Team arrived at Stafford Speedway for round 2 of the AMA Supermoto National Championship. Last season this event proved to be a huge success, and with racing legend, Doug Henry promoting the event, it once again produced a fine showing.

The Aprilia Rip It Energy Fuel Team owner and rider Darryl Atkins earned second place for the Unlimited event aboard the SXV 5.5. Darryl was amongst the front riders at the start rounding turn one in 4^th place. On lap number 4, he was able to pass KTM rider, Josh Chisum to move into 3^rd place where he was able to begin chasing the two front runners. In the end, the 2^nd place rider, Micky Dymond, crashed in the last lap while making a move for the lead. Atkins finished in 2^nd in the race and is currently 3^rd place in the point standings.

“It was important for me to get a solid result today and not to let the other guys get too many points on us. This championship is long, and now that I have started to recover from my broken wrist, and with today’s 2^nd place, I feel the racing is just getting started for me now, and really look forward to the next few rounds. I have moved into 3rd in the championship so I plan to keep the pressure on, and start winning some races to get to the top of the ledger board.” commented Darryl after the race.

Reining AMA Supermoto Unlimited Champion, Benny Carlson, is focused on the 450 Supermoto class this year on the SXV 4.5 and finished in 6^th place. “I did not get the result I wanted in the heat race as I went down in the dirt section,” explained Carlson. “That had me lining up on the third row of the grid however, I made some aggressive passes on the first lap, and worked my way back up to 6^th. Had I had a better start, I felt we could have gotten on the podium today.” Benny is currently is 5^th place in the Supermoto Premier class points standings.

RESULTS

Heat

Darryl - Unlimited Class - 2^nd

Ben – 450 Class - 5^th

Final

Darryl – Unlimited Class - 2^nd

Ben – 450 Class - 6^th

Championship points standings

Darryl – Unlimited Class - 3^rd

Ben – 450 Class - 5^th

2009 RXV?

Aprilia has posted a service manual online for the 2009 RXV and its showing pics of a red frame and a new straight swingarm. A side drawing also shows the new swingarm. I made a quick photoshop of the 2009 RXV with the new swingarm and red frame. But it's not certain the RXV 09 will end up looking exactly like that.

More v4 spypics

More spypics from the mugello test. You can clearly see that the frame is a lot different than the carbon RSV4 that was presented by the aprilia bosses at the beginning of this year.

V4 spypics

Aprilia WSBK rumors

Lately there has been some gossip about who will ride the RSV4 in the WSBK championship next year. Max Biaggi has been seen chatting with the aprilia racing bosses last week and now there are rumours floating around that Haga has been talking to Aprilia. And what about Alex Hoffman? He should know the V4 inside out by now after many testlaps. So imo it should be a very suitable rider for the job. But nothing is certain yet...who will ride for Aprilia in 2009? Time will tell...