Fourth place for KWS Aprilia at Barber Motorsports park

The Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies scored it’s best finishes of the year in Sunday’s Daytona SportBike race with a sixth place result from Ben Thompson and a fourth place finish from Chaz Davies, only .027 of a second off the podium.

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Motorcycleusa reviews AMA Daytone Sportbikes competitors

Motorcycleusa tested three bikes that compete in the AMA Daytona Sportbike Championship. THe Buell 1125R, Aprilia RSV1000R and Kawasaki ZX-6R. There has been some contreversy about the rules in the series. Racing a 1125cc V-Twin against a 600cc inline four doesn't make a lot of sense. Or does it make sense? The guys at Motorcycleusa tested the bikes on the track to find out.

Read the review here and check out the video here

MCN tests the RSV4 on the road

Biaggi finishes strongly in Monza

Monza is synonymous with excitement, not only on the track, but also in the stands and more than 118,000 people rushed to the historic Autodrome throughout the weekend to witness two amazing races.

Race 1 was almost unbelievable both for how it evolved and its incredible final. Spies took off like a rocket with Fabrizio, Haga, Biaggi and Kagayama right behind him but the Yamaha and the Ducati broke away after five laps at a pace that was just under this little track’s record from last year. The three drivers battled it out for first place up to the very end, and Spies seemed to be in the best position up until the entry to the last curve, the legendary Parabolica, when his R1 ran out of gas and died. So, Fabrizio took the victory, just ahead of this teammate Haga, while Biaggi conquered third place, followed by Kiyonari who had moved up from the rear. However, when he climbed atop the podium, the loudspeaker announced a 20 second penalty for the Roman driver because of a suspected, yet highly debatable cut at the second chicane in the seventh lap. So Kiyonari took Biaggi’s place on the podium and Max dropped down to eleventh position. Nakano finished in thirteenth place after a decent recovery.

Instead, Spies made no mistakes in Race 2. He started off strong and broke away from everyone else, holding on to a five second margin halfway into the race up until he reached the chequered flag. Behind him there was a battle for the podium among Fabrizio, Kiyonari and Rea and Biaggi also got back in to the groove in the fifth lap after a bad start. However, at the tenth lap, the Roman driver made an error at the first chicane and lost contact with the group. He tried to recover, but ended up in fifth position in Rea’s wake. Michel Fabrizio stepped onto the second level of the podium after beating out Kiyonari in a gruelling battle. It was a twelfth place finish for Nakano, who had a good race and drastically improved his time.

Full report

Biaggi 7th in WSBK Monza Superpole

Max Biaggi qualified 7th in today's WSBK superpole at the famous Monza track in Italy. Nakano didn't do that good with a 17th place.

Full results

MCN RSV4 Launch report

Race report WSBK Valencia

Race 1

Biaggi had a good start from the eighteenth position, but got stuck in the pack at the first curve, miraculously remaining upright after a series of contacts with his adversaries. The Roman driver pushed forward, trying to recover as many positions as possible on the track, even though it proved to be extremely challenging to pass the other drivers. After the first lap he was in fifteenth place and by the fifth lap he had moved up to eleventh. Halfway through the race he was in ninth place and during the sixteenth lap he managed to pass Byrne on his Ducati to take over eighth position. Max tried his best to catch up to Sykes and Kagayama, but the attempt failed and in the end he crossed the finish line in eighth place at 16:316 behind Haga.

"We analyzed all of the available data after yesterday’s Superpole,” declared Luigi Dall’Igna, Technical Director of Aprilia Racing, “and we didn’t encounter any specific problems with the bike. We brought a number of novelties with us to try out here in Valencia. Some of them were used during the race, and gave us very positive results. We decided not to use the others because they still need to be developed. We can certainly say that we brought a much more evolved RSV4 here with respect to the round in Qatar.”

Race 2

Biaggi started off well, but just as in Race 1 ended up stuck in the pack at the first curve. This time, however, he managed to avoid contact with his adversaries. The Roman driver threw himself into the race in an attempt to recover as many positions as possible and he was in tenth place by the eighth lap. Then a battle for eighth place ensued with Sykes, Kiyonari and Hopkins, which saw the drivers fighting for impossible breakaways along the backstretch, perhaps the only place where it is possible to pass on this track. During the twentieth lap Max managed to launch a final attack and finished the race in eighth place.
Shinya Nakano is doing well after undergoing surgery yesterday to repair the compound fracture to his left shoulder blade.
The operation, which required the application of a metal plate and eight screws, went off without a hitch and now Shinya and his physicians are deciding if he will undergo physical therapy here in Spain or return to Japan.

"It was a very difficult race,” said Biaggi. “I gave it my all, but it’s very difficult to pass on this track and I also took a lot of risks trying to do even better. These two eighth place finishes may seem disappointing, but after the bad results in the Superpole, it really was impossible to do any better. We did pretty well during the single-lap trials, but we weren’t able to set the pace with the racing tyres. My team-mate and I, to whom I wish a speedy recovery, experienced the same problem with vibrations at the back of the bikes that we had at Philip Island. We tried changing the alignment but the situation didn’t improve and the Superpole reflected the situation we found ourselves to be in. This can be viewed as a success in that it has taught us to better evaluate the problems that we encounter and find solutions as quickly as possible.”