July

Year: 2011

Month: July

Silverstone WSB: Checa extends championship lead with double win

31 July 2011 by Austin Lindberg

Carlos Checa did the double at today’s round of World Superbike action from Silverstone. The Althea Ducati rider moved past Yamaha’s Eugene Laverty early in the race and was able to slowly eek out a...

Silverstone WSS: Davies wins in front of home crowd

31 July 2011 by Austin Lindberg

Chaz Davies extended his World Supersport championship lead to nearly two races worth of points after taking the win in today’s race from Silverstone. Davies, who’d spent most of the weekend outside...

Silverstone WSB: Checa cruises to victory in race one

31 July 2011 by Austin Lindberg

Carlos Checa cruised to a race one victory in today’s World Superbike round from Silverstone, claiming Ducati’s 300th win in the class for the Althea team. Checa worked his way up from his fourth...

Silverstone WSS: Salom takes pole, Lowes and Rea lead Brit charge

30 July 2011 by Austin Lindberg

Motocard.com Kawasaki’s David Salom will start from pole for Sunday’s World Supersport race, but will be joined on the front row by Brits Sam Lowes and Gino Rea. Lowes spent the session perfecting...

Silverstone WSB: Hopkins secures maiden Superpole

30 July 2011 by Austin Lindberg

John Hopkins took pole positions for Sunday’s World Superbike races from Silverstone after the Samsung Crescent Suzuki man put in a 2.04.041 in the third round of Superpole. Hopkins’ time broke last...

Silverstone WSS: Lowes raises the bar in Saturday’s free practice

30 July 2011 by Austin Lindberg

Sam Lowes asserted his dominance Saturday morning in the second free practice session in this weekend’s World Supersport races from Silverstone. Lowes put in a 2.09.019 on his Parkalgar Honda, more...

Silverstone WSB: World Superbike returns to normal as Checa takes provisional pole

29 July 2011 by Austin Lindberg

Carlos Checa closed out Friday as the fastest man at Silverstone, clocking the fastest time in the afternoon’s World Superbike qualifying session. With less than 10 minutes gone from the session,...

Silverstone WSB: Rea tops opening Supersport qualifying practice

29 July 2011 by Austin Lindberg

Gino Rea finished on top of Friday afternoon’s World Supersport qualifying session with a 2.09.362 on his Step Racing Honda, 0.228 seconds ahead of Parkalgar Honda’s Sam Lowes. Rea, who was fourth...

WSB kicks off at Silverstone

29 July 2011 by MCN

The British round of the World Superbikes championship kicks off today at Silverstone, with Free Practice at 11.30am and Qualifying Practice at 3.30pm. The season so far belongs to three men, Carlos...

Casey Stoner revelling in career best podium run

29 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Casey Stoner says he’s revelling in the best form of his MotoGP career in 2011 having extended his podium streak to eight successive races in Laguna Seca last weekend. But the Australian admits his...

Aspar to remain biggest squad in MotoGP paddock

29 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Spain’s high-profile Aspar squad will retain its status as the biggest squad in the Grand Prix paddock next season having confirmed plans to enter the new Moto3 four-stroke series in 2012. The team,...

Loris Capirossi not interested in World Superbike switch

28 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Loris Capirossi is expected to retire at the end 2011 rather than follow the likes of Max Biaggi, Carlos Checa and Marco Melandri from MotoGP into World Superbikes. The Italian veteran will shun the...

Stefan Bradl’s Moto2 squad still keen on MotoGP switch

28 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Stefan Bradl’s current Moto2 squad is not yet ready to abandon ambitious plans to move to the MotoGP world championship in 2012. The Viessmann Kiefer Racing squad had a self-imposed deadline of the...

Silverstone WSB 2011 Preview

27 July 2011 by MCN

Inside this week’s MCN (Wednesday 27 July), we preview this weekend’s British round of the World Superbikes championship at Silverstone. To get you up to speed with all the action we’ve spoken to the...

Nicky Hayden not giving up on GP11.1

27 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Nicky Hayden is likely to switch back to Ducati’s radically revamped GP11.1 machine in the near future, despite opting to stick with the older GP11 version in last weekend’s US Grand Prix. The...

Valentino Rossi cautious on aluminium chassis switch

27 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Valentino Rossi has once again played down the prospect of Ducati switching to an aluminium frame, despite Loris Capirossi’s admission that the Bologna factory is working on a radical new...

Valentino Rossi predicts intriguing title fight

27 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Valentino Rossi might not be competing for the 2011 MotoGP world championship crown, but the Italian says he’s still intrigued and excited to watch the scrap between Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo...

Crammed schedule worry for John Hopkins

27 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

The risk of burnout and loyalty to Suzuki and his British Superbike title commitments were the reasons why John Hopkins knocked back the chance to ride a Honda RC212V machine in Laguna Seca last...

MotoGP teams always committed to race in Japan

25 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

None of the current MotoGP teams had threatened to boycott the Japanese Grand Prix in early October because of radiation fears in the area surrounding the Twin Ring Motegi. Dorna and the FIM confirmed...

Casey Stoner standing firm on Japanese Grand Prix boycott

25 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Casey Stoner has hinted he won’t back down on his refusal to attend the re-scheduled Japanese Grand Prix, despite being told by Honda management they expect him to honour his contract and race at the...

Japanese Grand Prix gets go ahead

25 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

The Twin Ring Motegi MotoGP round, rescheduled for October 2 after a devastating earthquake struck Japan earlier this year, will go ahead as planned. Fears over radiation contamination in the area...

US MotoGP: Front-end woes continue for Valentino Rossi

25 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Valentino Rossi admitted that an on-going front-end issue with Ducati’s factory Desmosedici prevented him from improving on a distant sixth position in the US Grand Prix yesterday. The Italian got the...

US MotoGP: Casey Stoner roars back to winning form

25 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner rediscovered his winning touch in stunning fashion at Laguna Seca yesterday to claim his fifth win of 2011. Stoner bounced back from a difficult practice and qualifying...

US MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo takes brave second

25 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Battered and bruised Jorge Lorenzo had to play second fiddle to Repsol Honda again in Laguna Seca yesterday after he was powerless to stop Casey Stoner from surging to a fifth win of 2011. Riding with...

US MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa fades to third

25 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Dani Pedrosa’s impressive return to MotoGP action continued at Laguna Seca yesterday after he claimed his fifth podium finish of the season. The Spaniard looked like challenging for a second victory...

US MotoGP: Launch control issue proves costly for Ben Spies

25 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Ben Spies fought back superbly from a nightmare first lap to score fourth place in front of his home crowd at the Laguna Seca circuit in California. Spies dropped back from fourth on the grid to...

US MotoGP: Poor run continues for Cal Crutchlow

25 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Cal Crutchlow suffered another bitterly disappointing MotoGP weekend after he crashed out in the early stages of yesterday’s US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca. The British rider was trying to stay in touch...

US MotoGP: Stoner steals victory from Lorenzo

24 July 2011 by Tom Cambio

Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) stole an impressive fifth win of the season from Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) at Laguna Seca. Lorenzo made a strong start and led for the majority of the race,...

US MotoGP: Huge crash fails to slow Jorge Lorenzo

24 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

A huge high-side after the end of final practice failed to prevent Jorge Lorenzo from claiming a stunning pole position for today’s US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca. The reigning world champion suffered a...

US MotoGP: ‘I was a one-lap wonder’ admits Casey Stoner

24 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Casey Stoner fears he doesn’t have the race pace to fight MotoGP world championship rival Jorge Lorenzo at Laguna Seca later today. The Australian qualified his Repsol Honda RC212V machine in second...

US MotoGP: Ben Spies rues late qualifying crash

24 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Ben Spies saw his hopes of starting his home race at Laguna Seca later today from pole position ruined by a late crash in qualifying. Spies briefly held top spot to the delight of a large and...

US MotoGP: Valentino Rossi equals best qualifying in 2011

24 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Valentino Rossi equalled his best qualifying result of the season in Laguna Seca, but the nine-times world champion says he’s still got work to do to compete for a top six finish in today’s 32-lap...

US MotoGP: Lorenzo bounces back to claim pole

23 July 2011 by Tom Cambio

Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) bounced back from crashing out of the final practice session at Laguna Seca to claim pole for tomorrow’s race. Unshaken by a big highside suffered at turn 5 after...

US MotoGP: Nicky Hayden expects to race old Ducati

23 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Nicky Hayden made his debut on Ducati’s new GP11.1 machine in Laguna Seca yesterday, but the American is unlikely to race the revamped Desmosedici in his home race. The Kentucky rider clocked a best...

US MotoGP: Valentino Rossi perseveres with new Ducati

23 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Valentino Rossi has opted to continue riding Ducati’s radically revamped GP11.1 at Laguna Seca, the Italian resisting the temptation to revert back to the older GP11 model. Rossi had requested the...

US MotoGP: Ben Spies confident big gap can be reduced

23 July 2011 by Matthew Birt

Ben Spies is confident he can get closer to the fastest pace in Laguna Seca after he finished the opening day of practice for his home MotoGP round in fifth position. Spies finished over half-a-second...