Bimota

Phillip Island WorldSBK Round Up: Will The Ducati Whitewash Continue?

By Steve English |

There is no better setting for Round 1 of the Superbike season than Phillip Island. With the Bass Strait dominating the horizon it offers a truly unique setting. It also all but guarantees that we’ll have classic battles with the drive to the line, a slipstreaming battle separated by thousands of a second...it was just a shame that Nicolo Bulega didn’t get the memo.

Toprak threatens to walk away from WorldSBK

As ever the WorldSBK paddock is centred around Toprak Razgatlioglu. Last year it was for his stunning championship winning upset. This year it’s because the Turkish star is upset.

Coming to Australia it was clear that BMW would be on the back foot. A late change, mid-January, in the regulations saw them unable to capitalise on their former Super Concession status and upgraded chassis parts. The change in regulations was small but incredibly significant; a manufacturer developing a new bike can only use Super Concessions if they are still eligible. In the past BMW would have been able to continue to use the upgrades with their new homologation.

Jerez WorldSBK Test Round Up: Lessons Learned Despite The Rain

By Steve English |

In four weeks time the lights will go out at Phillip Island and the 2025 WorldSBK season will start. The campaign is already underway, as WorldSBK is in the middle of the Iberian Winter Test season. Two days at Jerez followed by two days at Portimao are ideal for getting ready for the new season. Four days of running will be complimented by two days of testing in Australia before the first race of the season.

It’s hard to find a better way to prepare for the year. The south of Spain offers the promise of good weather and the Algarve almost guarantees it. These winter sun destinations are popular tourist traps at the time of year. What could go wrong?

Quite a bit it seems. Two days of rain-interrupted testing saw the value of the Jerez days questioned by teams. WorldSBK regulations limit teams to just ten days of testing throughout the season for their race riders. Was it better to get track time now to be ready for Australia or to save the days for later in the year? The majority of teams opted to sit it out. The expense of travelling to Jerez was balanced by the value of running.

Bimota And Kawasaki - A New Focus And A New Branding Strategy

By Steve English |

The news that Bimota is returning to WorldSBK in 2025 came as a surprise to the paddock. The withdrawal of Kawasaki as a full-factory effort from the series, after eight World Championships, blindsided many but what does it actually mean for the series?

In many ways it will be business as usual. Provec Racing, the Catalan team that has morphed into the Kawasaki Racing Team over the years, has been the factory supported squad for the championship since 2011. In that time the team, led by the Roda brothers, became the standard bearer of the series. This success culminated in Jonathan Rea’s unprecedented six titles in a row. Since 2021, though, the team and manufacturer have fallen on harder times.

Switching from Kawasaki to Bimota is a decision that has been a considerable time in the making. In 2019 Kawasaki Heavy Industries purchased Bimota. KHI is a massive company and their motorcycle division is a tiny part of a massive empire. With almost 40,000 employees KHI is involved in a myriad of industries including aeronautical, shipping, off-shore structures, rail and many more. Motorcycling is the part we care about but it’s only a small part of what makes that company tick.

Brand value

Bimota To Return To WorldSBK, Joining Forces With KRT

By David Emmett |

A new name is to enter the WorldSBK paddock. Or rather, an old name is to make a return. Today, Kawasaki announced that Italian bike builder Bimota are to take over the running of their WorldSBK program, with the KRT team switching from Kawasaki to Bimota.

Though at first glance, it looks like a withdrawal by Kawasaki and the entry of Bimota, it is a little more complicated than that. As a major shareholder in Bimota, Kawasaki have decided to switch their focus from promoting their own Kawasaki brand to marketing the more upmarket and sports-oriented Bimota brand.

The KRT team, currently fielding Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani, will continue in 2025, though they will be running Bimotas - Kawasaki ZX10-RR engines in Bimota chassis. The team will run under the name Bimota by Kawasaki, to make the link between the two clear.

WSBK: Alstare And Iddon Respond To Accusation By Barrier

By Press Release |
At Laguna Seca, the third restart was caused by a red flag after a crash that left Sylvain Barrier lying on the track near the start line. Barrier tweeted (in French) that he blamed Christian Iddon for the crash, stating that Iddon hit him on the handlebars. Bimota Alstare, Iddon's team, sent out the following statement describing the contact as a racing incident.
 



2014 World Superbike Season Preview - It's EVO time

By Jared Earle |

As the 2013 World Superbike season ended, the question was how the series, now owned by Dorna, could once more fill the grids. With some races rewarding every finisher with points, while the cheaper Supersport and Superstock championships raced with full grids, it was clear that more seats were needed.

One part of the solution was the new EVO class. Essentially Superbikes with Superstock engines, EVO bikes are much cheaper and, from 2015, will be the standard specification of all bikes, and over a third of the full-time entries in 2014 are EVO bikes, with familiar riders taking some of the seats. Another part of the solution was the addition of several new and returning manufacturers to the series. Alongside Ducati, Aprilia, Honda, BMW, Suzuki and Kawasaki, we now have MV Agusta, Buell and, hopefully, Bimota bringing the number of marques to nine.

A new weekend schedule has been brought in, along with new qualifying rules, details are available here, with the new qualifying bringing World Superbike qualifying into line with the system used in MotoGP, for better or worse, and the Sunday races are timed to allow World Superbike not to clash with other motorsports events, with a view to increasing the audience. Along with the schedule change, Dorna has introduced a video streaming package for those without access to a broadcast of the events.

Kawasaki Racing Team returns with both Tom Sykes (1) and Loris Baz (76). World Champion Sykes will be wearing the number one plate on his bike, and he was characteristically quick in testing, with the Kawasaki looking like one of the strongest packages. The green bike is also a popular choice with EVO entries and the team fields a third rider on an EVO-spec ZX-10R.

Ratthapark Wilairot Update: Conscious, But Not Yet Speaking

By David Emmett |

More news on the condition of Ratthapark Wilairot, who was seriously injured in a road traffic accident that killed the rider of the motorcycle the Thai Moto2 rider was a passenger on. News emanating out of Thailand, in both the Bangkok Post and the website StayOnTheBlack.com suggests that happily, Wilairot's condition is improving.

According to the reports, Wilairot is now conscious, though the Stop&Go rider is still unable to talk. Fears of brain damage appear to have been allayed, as though Wilairot is not yet capable of speaking, he has been able to communicate with the doctors by a primitive sign language, and answer some of their questions.

Ratthapark Wilairot Seriously Injured In Road Traffic Accident

By David Emmett |

Ratthapark Wilairot, the Thai rider who raced for the Stop&Go Moto2 team in 2010, has been seriously injured in a road traffic accident in his home province of Chonburi, Thailand, according to reports from StayOnTheBlack.com. Wilairot was reportedly traveling as a passenger on a motorcycle piloted by a friend, when the pair crashed at 3am on Monday morning. The accident proved fatal to the rider, while Wilairot was taken to hospital in Bangkok with serious injuries, though the precise extent of his injuries are not known at this time.

The Thai rider is being kept in intensive care, but StayOnTheBlack.com is reporting that Wilairot has now regained consciousness and has spoken to doctors. Doctors at the hospital are expected to issue a statement on Tuesday.

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