DUCATI MOTOLOGIC RACING TAKES THE WIN! There it is! The Ducati Motologic Racing Team have shed the monkey and taken first place overall in the Superbike category for the weekend at the 2010 MotoGP at Phillip Island. It has been a long time coming for the developing factory Ducati team. The race win has eluded them for many rounds despite #27 Jamie Stauffer recording the fastest lap times at many events and in fact even leading many a race only to find the first place slip from their grasp. It was definitely time for a race win. Although Stauffer did not win both races today, he was elated to be standing on the top step of the podium by the end of the day. Race one, declared a wet race began well with Stauffer getting off the line in front of the field. However, struggling with an unbalanced bike after the qualifying crash he was unable to match the pace of the other competitors. Stauffer finished Race 1 in 4thplace. #33 Jordan Burgess, having already nursed his injured foot through one race, finished this morning’s race in 13thplace, the wet conditions making it all the harder for Burgess. The second race of the day was dry and saw Burgess finish in 10thplace, improving with each outing on the circuit. The injured rider is sore yet pleased with the improvement over the weekend. “It has been fantastic to ride at the MotoGP on the 1198R and although I am fairly sore now, my race placements saw me improving throughout the weekend which is encouraging. I have a few weeks now to rest my foot and heal until the final round of the ASBK championship.” Race 2 for Stauffer was the race that the Ducati Motologic Racing Team had been waiting for, with Stauffer taking the lead off the start line and holding it until the end. With their hearts in their mouths, the team watched on as everything fell into place for their first race win of the season. Stauffer’s eyes were alight with excitement as he came in; finally, the win. #27 Jamie Stauffer: “I’m really happy to finally get that first place; we’ve come really close a few times this season. The conditions were pretty ordinary early in the day and the first race wasn’t too good. I got in front early on, but had trouble with turning the bike on the left hand corners and went backwards rapidly. In the second race it was the first dry session of the weekend. We had a really good setup for the dry conditions and got off the line well. It gave us the round win for the weekend. The team has worked so hard all season so it is great to have turned the corner and won the race. Now we can go into our final round with a view to finishing the season on a high.” Paul Free departs Phillip Island with a something resembling relief this weekend as well as the obvious excitement of the win. The team owner and manager is pleased to see his Ducati team finally take the win he knows they deserve. “Its so good to see Jamie take a race and round win, he has wanted this so badly…..its also good for team moral, its hard for guys to keep putting in event after event and not getting a win every now and then.” “The team have put so much into the season to develop the Ducati 1198R and watching Jamie record the fastest lap times at quite a few rounds and also lead many races, only to miss the win has been pretty difficult for everyone. I’m really proud of the team and the riders. It was terrific to be able to take the overall round win at the MotoGP and great for Jordy to finish 10th in the last dry race with the injuries he is carrying. It was also good to run the Ducati on the UK N-Tech Dunlop tyre this weekend, the performance of the tyre was obvious in the last race with Jamie setting some incredable lap times, I am really looking forward to our final round in Tasmania now and I feel sure both the Ducati riders will finish their seasons strongly.” The final round of the Australian Superbike Championship will be held at Symmons Plains Raceway on November 12-14. More, from a press release issued by Birchall Brothers Racing: BIRCHALL BROTHERS TAKE DOUBLE WIN IN IRELAND Mansfield brothers Ben and Tom Birchall rode to a winning double at Bishopscourt in Northern Ireland on Saturday and shattered their own existing lap record in the process. Ben and Tom were contesting the two sidecar races at the Sunflower Trophy meeting around the 1.824-mile circuit and proved their dominance from the off by claiming pole position for the set of two races. “We had a good battle for pole with Reeves/Cluze with positions changing all the time but we found a little bit extra and put in a quick lap in the dying seconds of the session to take the position by 0.3 seconds,” said Ben. As race one got underway the Birchalls didn’t get the start they were hoping for but soon made up ground to press Reeves/Cluze who had taken the lead. They pushed hard for the lead and waited until the final lap before making their move. They went on to cruise across the finish line to take the first win of the day with a 6.635s advantage over their opponents. “We are delighted with that result,” said Ben. “But our aim here today is to win the second race so we will be going all out for that later today.” True to his word, Ben shot off the start line at a fast rate of knots and remained in control at the front from the lights to the chequered flag crossing the finish line with a comfortable 2.297s advantage over Reeves/Cluze. This time the Nottinghamshire pair shattered their own existing lap record of 1m 10.921s which has stood since 2007 by posting an amazing 1m 10.369s in the second race on Saturday. “That was fun,” said Ben. “We would like to extend our thanks to our sponsor, Andy of Mitchells of Mansfield for his help as he very kindly introduced us to one of his business associates, Montgomery Transport of Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland and they agreed to be our title sponsors for the weekend. Mitchells stepped aside to enable us to run with the Montgomery livery here at Bishopscourt and we would also like to thank Paul Jackson at Montgomery for his support. “This is the second time we have won here at the Sunflower Trophy meeting and it has been a confidence boost ahead of the remaining two rounds of the Eastern Airways Battle of Britain championship, the first of which is at Donington Park next weekend (Oct 24).” There are two rounds six races left to race in the Battle of Britain championship and the Birchall brothers remain in third place overall. They are now only four points away from the runner up spot and 91 points behind Reeves who leads the series but with six races and 150 points still up for grabs it is still mathematically possible for the Mansfield pair to take the title. The penultimate round is at Donington Park on October 24 when Ben and Tom will be chasing a hat trick of wins to edge nearer to their rivals ahead of the final showdown at Mallory Park on October 31. * Ben and Tom were presented with the Marty Murphy Trophy and were honoured to be permitted to bring it back home to Mansfield Usually the trophy remains in Northern Ireland but on this occasion Ben and Tom have been entrusted to keep it for the year. It will take place of honour in the Mayor of Mansfield’s office until the 2011 Suinflower Trophy meeting when it will be returned and hopefully won again by Birchall Racing. More, from a press release issued by FTR MOTO: FTR CLOSE IN ON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RUNNER-UP FINISH FTR MOTO celebrated a 10th podium finish of the year as the FIMMCO Speed Up Team’s Andrea Iannone took third place in Sunday’s 15th round of the Moto2 World Championship at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia. Iannone qualified at the head of the second row, in fifth place, despite a crash in qualifying and was quickly at the head of the race, looking to add to his three races wins of 2010. The Italian grabbed the lead on the second lap setting the fastest lap of the race at the same time and was then involved in a battle for the lead with Scott Redding and eventual race winner Alex de Angelis. The third place finish means Iannone heads to the final two rounds in Portugal and Spain just two points adrift of Julian Simon, currently in second place in the World Championship points standings. Alex Debon continued his consistent run of finishes on the Aeroport de Castello-Ajo Team M210 by taking ninth place, the third finisher in a thrilling 10-rider battle for seventh place. The Spaniard fought hard throughout the 25-lap race after starting from 21st place on row six of the grid. Debon edged out fellow M210 rider Karel Abraham for ninth the Cardion AB Motoracing Team rider being forced wide at the left-hand Siberia corner in a frantic last lap. Abraham crossed the finish line in 10th place, all after qualifying in 10th place. Iannone’s FIMMCO Speed Up team-mate Gabor Talmacsi finished 18th after holding the same position for all of the 25 laps, the determined Hungarian rider completing a tough weekend after starting the race from 22nd place. All four of the FTR M210s remain in the top 15 of the World Championship with Iannone third, Talmacsi seventh, Debon 13th and Abraham in 15th place heading to Estoril and Valencia for the season finale. “Another podium finish for the M210 is all we hoped for and we’ve gathered more data for next year and the M211 model,” said FTR’s Steve Bones. “Phillip Island offered a unique challenge in terms of set-up and I’m pleased that the FTR chassis has again proved to be adaptable. “It’s back to Europe and Estoril in two weeks and I’m sure all four of the permanent FTR riders will be keen to end the season on a high note and it would be great if we could get a fourth victory and end up winning around a quarter of the races.” More, from a press release issued by Jack & Jones by Antonio Banderas: Toughest Race of the Year for Kenny Noyes 2010 has been a season of highs and lows for Kenny Noyes and his Jack&Jones By Antonio Banderas team, and this weekend’s Australian Moto2 round had plenty of both. Heading to Phillip Island was yet another adventure for Kenny, and the American immediately fell in love with the layout, the location and the people. The weather, however, was a lot less agreeable, with strong winds and rain lashing the circuit for much of the weekend, with the start of practice delayed due to flooding on the track. As beautiful as the layout of the circuit is, it is the polar opposite of the kind of track that Kenny’s Promoharris Moto2 machine excels at. With lots of bumpy, fast corners, Kenny and the Jack&Jones By Antonio Banderas team were struggling with front end grip issues, a problem exacerbated by the extreme winds that blow in off the Bass Strait, which the Phillip Island track sits beside. Despite making his usual huge steps in each session, setting his fastest lap of the weekend during the race, nearly 3.5 seconds quicker than the time he set on Friday, Kenny struggled during both qualifying and the race, unable to get anywhere near the points. Kenny leaves Phillip Island taking plenty of positives from the weekend, however. With another race under his belt, Kenny takes yet more lessons and experience forward for the future. As the 2010 season winds down, with two more races in Estoril, Portugal and Valencia, Spain, Kenny is starting to look towards next season, and exploiting what he has learned in his rookie year in Moto2. Kenny Noyes 31st, fastest lap 1’37.710 Kenny said: “The track is awesome! I love the Island, I love the track, I love Australia. It’s such a spectacular place. It’s just a shame the track was such a nightmare for our bike.” “We got a real good start, my best start of the year, but we were losing too much in the corners. With so many fast, bumpy corners and all that wind, we were really getting thrown around out there, and we just couldn’t fix the front end problems we had. This was a tough weekend for us, the toughest weekend of the year, for sure.” “This has been really valuable as a learning year. I’m really looking forward to next year. We’ll be back and we’ll be in much better shape, we’ll know the tracks and be better prepared.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Relentless by TAS Suzuki’s Michael Laverty dominated this weekend’s Sunflower Trophy at Bishopcourt in County Down, Northern Ireland aboard his GSX-R1000 Superbike. The Pirelli-shod British Superbike contender dominated all three Superbike races to take home his sixth overall win in the event while Relentless by TAS team mate Alastair Seeley finished in fifth position overall. Sunflower Trophy Race Result: 1. Michael Laverty (Relentless Suzuki) 11:12.462 2. Ian Lowry (Kawasaki) 11:14.968 3. Marshall Neill (Honda) 11:21.945 4. John Laverty (Kawasaki) 11:22.204 5. Alastair Seeley (Relentless Suzuki) 11:22.793 More, from another press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Michael Laverty ended the 2010 season in fine style, taking a hat trick of Superbike victories on his Relentless by TAS Suzuki at the Sunflower Trophy Races on Saturday in Northern Ireland. Laverty dominated all practice sessions, comfortably dipping inside the Bishopscourt circuit lap record on his way to pole position, and when it came to race action, the British Superbike star put in three faultless performances. It takes his Sunflower Trophy success tally to six since 2002 and the 29-year-old now has a phenomenal record of 18 career victories in all classes at the prestigious end-of-season event. Team mate Alastair Seeley made a number of minor changes throughout the day, improving the set-up on his GSX-R1000 Superbike and ended the day with a podium, as did Relentless by TAS Suzuki debutant James Westmoreland in the Supersport class. Michael Laverty: “That was the perfect way to cap off what has been a successful and enjoyable season. It was quite a dominant weekend for us as we lead every practice session and every lap in all three Superbike races. My Relentless by TAS Suzuki was working perfectly and never missed a beat. I was almost a little over confident and when Ian upped his pace during the main event, I was caught off guard and had to respond. I wasn’t at my limit and had plenty in reserve, so I managed to pull a small gap and won the Sunflower Trophy for the sixth time. It was an enjoyable day and I’d like to thank the whole team for a big effort and all our sponsors for making it happen.” Alastair Seeley: “I was a bit frustrated and disappointed but that final race podium lifted my spirits. I got involved in a drag race off the line with Michael in the last Superbike race, but when Marshall dived under me then got ejected, I had to brake hard to miss his bike and Michael got away. Ian then came past and tried to make a break, but I managed to get onto the back of him, although I couldn’t quite get the drive I wanted out of the turns to have a go at him. I didn’t want to bin it, so I just brought my GSX-R1000 Superbike home for a podium to finish the season on a positive note. I also took a second off my best ever lap around Bishopscourt so I was pretty pleased with that. Thanks to the boys in the workshop and the whole team for a very enjoyable year.” James Westmoreland: “It was always going to be a difficult weekend on a new bike at a new track, but we were realistic and did a good job in a limited timeframe. It took a bit of time to set the bike up to suit me on Wednesday and Thursday, but I was very impressed with the whole set-up within the Relentless by TAS Suzuki team and really enjoyed riding their GSX-R600. I have to say I was not on the limit with their bike, and had we had a little more time I could have done a lot more, although I was happy to give the team a podium in the second race. That was the icing on the cake. I must say it was a real pleasure to work with team; they worked very hard and did everything they could for me and I gelled well with them. I would like to thank Hector and Philip for the opportunity.” Philip Neill – Team Manager: “Today was the perfect end to a fantastic season for our team. Everyone has worked so hard and to win the Sunflower Trophy for a fourth time – Michael’s sixth- is testament to our group effort. Michael again proved he is a master of the Sunflower event and with his effortless style he never looked like he would be beaten all day, also demonstrating the strength of the Relentless by TAS Suzuki GSX-R1000. “Alastair also showed progress this weekend by lapping faster than he has ever done before at Bishopscourt, and in his defence he came up against some stiff opposition, which included a World Superbike machine. It was very pleasing to see him end up where he started his season at Brands Hatch: on the podium. “James Westmoreland joined us for a one-off appearance and with very little track time on an unfamiliar GSX-R600, he posted a podium behind two former World Supersport machines. What made his performance particularly impressive was the fact that he was running a specification we may see in the British Supersport Championship in 2011. Basically the bike had no electronic gimmicks like traction control. “Finally I’d just like to thank our riders, team members and our loyal sponsors and partners for their support throughout 2010 in what has been a great season for everyone involved.” Sunflower Race: 1 Michael Laverty [Relentless by TAS Suzuki] 11: 12.462; 2 Ian Lowry [Kawasaki] +2.506sec; 3 Marshall Neill [Honda] +9.483; 4 John Laverty [Kawasaki] +9.742; 5 Alastair Seeley [Relentless by TAS Suzuki] +10.331; 6 Barry Burrell [Kawasaki] +16.385. Superbike Race 1: 1 Michael Laverty [Relentless by TAS Suzuki] 10:09.509; 2 Marshall Neill [Honda] +3.552sec; 3 Ian Lowry [Kawasaki] +3.715; 4 John Laverty [Kawasaki] +3.948; 5 Alastair Seeley [Relentless by TAS Suzuki] +7.653; 6 Brian McCormack [Honda] +16.555. Superbike Race 2: 1 Michael Laverty [Relentless by TAS Suzuki] 10:07.309; 2 Ian Lowry [Kawasaki] +7.331sec; 3 Alastair Seeley [Relentless by TAS Suzuki] +8.006; 4 Barry Burrell [Kawasaki] +18.269; 5 Michael Dunlop [Honda] +21.856; 6 Brian McCormack [Honda] +25.426. Supersport Race 1: 1 Marshall Neill [Honda] 10:21.827; 2 Sam Lowes [Honda] +0.122sec; 3 Ben Wilson [Kawasaki] +0.441; 4 James Ellison [Honda] +2.959; 5 Kirk Jamison [Yamaha] +4.792; 6 James Westmoreland [Relentless by TAS Suzuki] +11.186. Supersport Race 2: 1 Marshall Neill [Honda] 10:24.603; 2 James Ellison [Honda] +0.955sec; 3 James Westmoreland [Relentless by TAS Suzuki] +5.447; 4 Billy McConnell [Yamaha] +5.896; 5 Michael Dunlop [Honda] +6.146; 6 Kirk Jamison [Yamaha] +6.475.