EDventure Racing, Lindemann Engineering Propel Wickersham And Fischer Motorcycle To California State Championship Class Title In his first-ever outing on what may be the first-ever race for a Fischer MRX, Bill Wickersham raced to a 5th-place finish in the Formula 40 Lightweight class at the California State Championship event at Willow Springs this weekend. In the process, combined with his results from the previous rounds, Wickersham took the class championship the first title for the U.S.-built, 650cc V-twin sportbike. EDventure Racing/Lindemann Engineering’s Ed Sorbo spent months transforming the street bike into a race-ready motorcycle, doing all the hard work of development on a bike with little established data from which to draw. In the end, working his way through uncharted territory patiently and methodically, Sorbo had honed the Fischer into a bike that Wickersham could race comfortably and confidently, and it paid off with a top-five finish and a championship trophy at the end of the day. Wichersham’s Fischer racing project is sponsored by EDventure Racing, Lindemann Engineering, Catalyst Racing Composites, MC Pro, Factory Pro and M4 Performance Exhausts. Contact EDventure Racing/Lindemann Engineering at (408) 371-6151, or [email protected]. More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Aragon Grand Prix debrief with Masao Azuma Round 14: Aragon GP Post-race debrief Motorland Aragon, Tuesday 20 September 2011 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium, Ex Hard. Rear: Soft, Medium This season the Aragon GP was held for the second time after its inaugural running last year, giving those teams and riders who competed last time, and Bridgestone, the benefit of experience. The race weekend started unusually when Friday afternoon practice was postponed until Saturday morning following a power cut in the region that left the circuit without electricity. Conditions on Friday and Saturday were very hot, but by race-day the clouds gathered and blocked the sunlight whilst a strong wind blew and ensured the temperature was much lower. Nevertheless, Casey Stoner set a new pole position record and a new lap record on his way to victory, ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo. Tyre wear was a big feature in the race and good tyre management and an efficient setup were especially important. Masao Azuma Chief Field Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport What can you say about tyre wear in the race? “Tyre wear was of course a crucial factor in the race, but within our expectations. Tyre wear was faster for some than others, as you would expect, but for example we can see from Casey that although his laptimes slowed after about mid-race distance, they did so consistently and manageably. “At this high level of motorcycle racing tyre compound selection is always a balance between warm-up performance and race-distance durability. You maximise one at the detriment of the other. This season riders have specifically been asking for tyres that have improved warm-up performance for improved safety in the early laps and were happy to sacrifice some race-distance durability for this, and this is exactly what we saw happen on Sunday. “A look at the laptimes indicates that the warm-up performance of our tyres was very good today even though the track temperature was 13 degrees Celsius cooler than last year’s Aragon GP. Casey was under the previous record on just his second lap of the race whilst his new record was set on lap four, and the top ten fastest riders all set their best within the opening six laps so you can’t ask for much more in terms of warm-up. And as I just said the flip-side of this, as the riders know, is that tyre performance will drop off later in the race as durability is not as good. “The tarmac and conditions at Aragon also encouraged tyre wear the circuit started off quite dirty on Friday and tyre wear was quite high then, again as you’d expect. As it cleaned through the weekend, the wear appearance improved but by the race it was still dirty off-line so those riders who were in battles would have suffered more from this as they moved off the ideal line to attack or defend. Tyre wear on Sunday was not a problem, it was just a factor of the above.” Why was there a step in front tyre compounds from Medium to Extra Hard? “We know from last year and our continued analysis of the circuit and its characteristics that front tyre stability would be crucial, especially under heavy braking into the downhill corners, and that good wear resistance and durability would be important. The medium and the extra hard compounds have a very similar temperature operating range so can be used in the same ambient conditions, but we selected the medium compound slicks for their better grip, which worked well for Álvaro and Suzuki, and the extra hard compound for better stability and wear rate. Given the conditions, these were favoured by the majority of riders for the race.” More, from a press release issued by QMMF Racing Team: Cardús plans all-new approach after a difficult weekend – tyre problems slow Al-Naimi QMMF Racing Team rider Ricky Cardús had a tougher than expected home Grand Prix at Aragón and finished in 25th position, well below of his own expectations. The 23-year-old from Barcelona, who wasn’t able to continue with a new Moriwaki prototype chassis after a practice crash on Friday, now plans an all-new approach at the next race in Japan, where he will use the revised Moriwaki chassis once again. Team-mate Mashel Al-Naimi found it easier to ride with a taller gearing, but ran into unexpected tyre problems early on in the race. Handicapped by a lack of grip and traction in the fast corners of the track, the 28-year-old from Doha/Qatar was forced to settle for 32nd position. “As we expected after yesterday’s qualifying, it turned out to be a difficult race for both our riders”, said team coordinator Luis Solano. “But we keep our chins up and we will stay motivated and focused. We will have a brand-new bike for Ricky and some chassis updates for Mashel at the next race in Japan, which will give us a new chance to get the results we are looking for!” Mashel Al-Naimi 32nd “In the warm-up, we changed the gearing and made it a bit taller, as it was very windy and the bike revved out on the back straight. In return, I lost time in some of the corners of the track. But it was still the right move because with this setting, the bike felt better than before. Unfortunately, I still couldn’t score a good result because my tyres were finished after just three laps. I have no idea why, because yesterday they lasted for more than 20 laps without any problems. On this track, it is essential to have good grip and traction in the fast corners, but I had lots of wheelspin!” Ricky Cardús 25th “This was not the weekend I expected. I really wanted to do well, but I had some set-backs and made some mistakes. It feels as if we hit rock-bottom and as if we can only improve from this point on. There are still a few races to go, and I want to re-start once more, with a fresh mind and on an empty page. In Japan we will have a new bike and a new attitude. We will look ahead with optimism, knowing that things can’t get any worse than the way they are now. Today I had similar problems to other races this year and I didn’t know how to confront and how to solve them. It’s my fault and I want to apologize to my team and to our sponsors. It’s now three races that I don’t feel comfortable on the bike, which is why I have to re-set the chip and start from scratch!” More, from a press release issued by Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team: THIRD POSITION AT MOTORLAND AND SEVENTH PODIUM THIS SEASON FOR MAVERICK VIÑALES WHO HAS NOW MATHEMATICALLY BECOME ROOKIE OF THE YEAR. JOSEP RODRIGUEZ DROPPED OUT WHILE HE WAS WITHIN THE POINTS. Motorland 18 September 2011. The Blusens by Paris Hilton RacingTeamrider achieved a fantastic result today as he managed to climb up to the third step of the podium, has become rookie of the year and widened the gap between him and Cortese by seven points in the battle for the third position at the world championship. Maverick made an extremely fast start to the race and managed to get the fastest lap on lap 4 but a rear tyre who wore down too fast prevented him from battling for a win and he dropped down to the fourth position before Faubel crashed out on the final lap as he was battling with Zarco. For his part Josep Rodriguez was forced to drop out although he was within the points at a pace which could have obviously taken him even further up in the ranking. In spite of his drop-out Josep definitely completed a very positive weekend in his debut within the Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team. 25 MAVERICK VIÑALES (3º, +18.929): “Yet another podium at home – that’s fantastic. The truth is we had the pace and the speed to think about a win but the rear tyre has a will of his own and decided something else. We rode really fast throughout the early stage of the race – we even got the fastest lap – but after five or six laps I noticed we were about to experience a few problems. The bike started to skid a lot and it was just impossible to maintain the pace. I managed to hold the fourth position and thanks to Faubel crashing out on the final lap I reached the podium. It’s a matter of luck sometimes…I am very happy with this result anyway as we have widened on the gap between us and Cortese and managed to become rookie of the year. We are in third position now and even if Terol is still seemingly going unchallenged for a win we will keep on working hard until the end of the year without throwing in the towel. I’d like to dedicate this podium to my dad – today is his birthday – to the team and to everybody who has been supporting so far”. 28 JOSEP RODRÍGUEZ (NF): “I didn’t make a good start but I quickly managed to scrape my way up.The sure thing is that I was really feeling at ease in spite of the wind and I thought I had my chances to get a good result. All of a sudden the motorbike began to slow down until I had no other choice than dropping out of the race. It’s a pity because I was within the points and I quite seriously thought I could have gone even further up. But I am happy with the weekend overall as I think I did work well”. More, from a press release issued by Ridersdiscount.com: Team RidersDiscount.com #20 Sam Gaige returned to his winning ways over the weekend of 17-18 September, 2011 at Summit Point Raceway for the combined Northeast and Mid-Atlantic WERA Sportsman Series. The Rochester, New York native earned four wins on his Markbilt-prepared Yamaha YZF-R6 in cool conditions that were marked with a bit of peril and some unexpected changes in the weather too! It all started off promising with weather predictions in the mid-60’s and no chance of rain. Evaluating notes from his last weekend at the West Virginia track, Gaige applied a few quick changes to his bike’s setup, installed a new clutch pack and added the Dunlop tires best suited for the anticipated weather. Arriving at the track early Saturday morning to sub-50°F air temps was expected, but then the rain came, and Sam chose to sit out practice. Without having any chance to evaluate his bike in practice, Sam went to his start position on the fifth row of the Heavyweight Expert Solo grid. After the green flag, Sam quickly made his way to the front on the still-drying track for a flag-to-flag victory. With one win in the bag and a bike handling impeccably, Gaige was ready for Sunday. On Sunday, conditions were much the same, only without any precipitation. Gaige went to the line for his first race on the day, C SuperStock, looking to take another win. After a great start, coming into turn four on the second lap, his Yamaha starting shaking so violently that he immediately pulled off the track only to discover that the chain had wrapped itself around the rear sprocket! WERA officials quickly retrieved the bike and, having returned to the pits, Sam discovered that the countershaft sprocket had come off his bike! Luckily for him, the damage was only a pair of sprockets and a chain. With the issue addressed, Sam went on to convincing wins in B SuperStock, C SuperBike and B Superbike races. Along the way, only Brad Burns hounded Sam for a few laps in the last race before taking out a front-straight gap all the way to the checkered flag yet again. Sam Gaige “It was fun, I was riding really well and managed to set the fastest 600 lap of the weekend. I got there Saturday morning where it was a cool 48° and just as I was getting the bike ready it started to rain. Riding in the cold is one thing, but with the rain I decided to sit out practice along with the Middleweight Solo and do the Heavyweight Solo instead. For that race, the track never did dry completely and there were some sketchy patches out there, so I just built up a lead and held it to the end. “Sunday was better without the rain except for the chain coming off on the second lap of the C SuperStock race! I’m really lucky to walk away from that. The chain just wrapped itself around the rear sprocket and wore down some teeth. The crash truck got out there in no time, which allowed me to get everything fixed since nothing else was damaged. After that, the bike was great and it just worked perfectly for me. I’m really happy to come here and get a few wins on my Markbilt-prepared, Dunlop-shod Yamaha YZF-R6.” Next up for Sam Gaige and Team RidersDiscount.com is the WERA Sportsman three-region event at Nelson Ledges Road Course in Warren, Ohio this coming weekend 24 & 25 September, 2011. Sam has had a great deal of success on the fast, flowing track where stability over the bumps is paramount for competitive lap times. About RidersDiscount.com: About RidersDiscount.com: RidersDiscount.com is a retailer of quality powersports gear, apparel and accessories. A company run by racers, you can draw on our experience for anything you need. RidersDiscount.com ships equipment for every riding style to customers worldwide, backed by expert sales and superior customer service.