Happy
Holidays from FastDates.com!
Our newest calendar
girl Laura Niles is ready to ring out the old and bring in the new
aboard our tricked out FastDates.com Ducati 999S project bike. Laura
has been naughty, and nice, and has helped us put together a special
FastDates.com Season's Greeting Screensaver as our special Christmas
presnt for FastDates.com Pit Laane news readers. Just click on the
links below to download and find out more cool stuff!
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FastDates.com
1224 x 864 Holiday Screensaver HERE
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Meet
Laura Niles, New FastDates.com Calendar Girl HERE
and HERE
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FastDates.com
Ducati 999S Project Superbike HERE
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Order the 2004 FastDates.com Calendars HERE!
Dunlop
Tire Blowouts and High Speed Crashes
" SUPERBIKES HAVE OUTGROWN DAYTONA!"
-
AMA Superbike Champion Matt Mladin
Daytona Beach, Florida, USA (Thursday, 11 December)
– The annual Dunlop tyre test at the famed Daytona International
Speedway in Florida, came to an abrupt end after two of the scheduled
three days and has raised serious questions and doubts about the leading
superbike riders taking to the circuit for the opening round of the
2004 Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship on March 6.
The drama began after Yamaha rider, Jason DiSalvo crashed at over
270kph (170mph) on the circuit’s ultra-fast banked section on
the second day of the test. The cause of the accident was an alleged
rear tyre failure and is the fourth high-speed incident to have occurred
this year. The incident saw Dunlop officials call a premature end
to the test for the Superbike riders, leaving just the 600cc Supersport
competitors out on the track for the third and final day.
The 2003 season saw a number of high speed tyre failures, including
that of four-times American Superbike Champion Mat Mladin who had
a rear tyre let go at 270kph (170mph) while leading the opening race
at Road Atlanta in May. The day prior a privateer rider had a tyre
fail at almost the same place as Mladin, leaving the rider with multiple
injuries. In October, Mladin’s Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Ben
Spies had a rear tyre fail at Daytona during an end of season test
at Daytona. He suffered severe abrasions and is still unable to ride.
The spate of tyre problems has left chief supplier Dunlop working
frantically on finding a solution. This week’s three-day test
was designed to sort through more tyres in preparation for next March’s
opening round of the championship the Daytona 200. This week’s
tyre failure has left a number of riders concerned and undecided as
to the role that they will play in that opening race, including Mladin,
a two-time winner at Daytona and he is very concerned at the latest
incident and it’s ramifications.
“We were told in a meeting with Dunlop, the day before the test
started, that they essentially assured us (the riders) there wasn’t
going to be any trouble with the tyres of the same sort we have had
in the past, with tyre deflation etc,” said Mladin.
“Unfortunately there was one such incident on the second day
of the test and as I’ve said many times, the bikes and the speed
of the new 1000cc motorbikes has gotten beyond what this race track
is capable of and the tyres cannot handle the abuse that they are
given around here.”
“The point that must be made and I’ve said before, Dunlop
cannot be held totally responsible for what is happening. Any tyre
manufacturer that would come here and see what goes on with tyres
would be pulling their hair out with trying to develop tyres for this
track. They (Dunlop) cannot be held responsible, we have to hold someone
responsible at other tracks and Dunlop may be partly to blame there,
but here the AMA need to look at what’s going on and the performance
of the motorcycle.”
“The bikes have increased in performance so much in the past
five years that it is becoming frightening. The new Honda did essentially
310kph (190mph) on the 31° banking and with all of the funny things
that happen on the banking, the G forces are unbelievable.”
“If something is not done about it, I certainly won’t
be racing in the 200 under the circumstances we are at, at the moment.
I would rather put a set of tyres on a 600 Supersport and race that,
rather than a 200+hp Superbike as no one can guarantee our safety
when it comes to tyres here. Motorcycle racing is full of inherent
dangers and things that go wrong, but it has come to a point where
there are no guarantees that you’ll come around the next lap,
even if you don’t do anything wrong and I think that’s
a risk not worth taking.”
“Tyre wear is also not the issue or the reason why for the failures.
Ben (Spies) had a tyre fail after about four or five laps and then
(Jason) DiSalvo had one let go after about ten laps on a 1000cc Superstock
bike and we’ve got to do 20 laps on a tyre in the 200 race.”
“The problem Dunlop is facing is that they just don’t
know why it’s happening. They think they’ve got a handle
on why it happened and then they’ve got another failure. Don’t
get me wrong, I’m not criticising Dunlop for not working on
the problem as I know that they’ve worked day and night on this.
I can’t fault them for the amount of work and time they’ve
put in over the past three months, it’s been incredible. The
bottom line is that the speeds and the forces generated on the banking,
I don’t think can be replicated in a closed testing environment
and that makes it hard. The banking does have what feels like very
sharp holes, what would feel like stutter bumps on a motocross bike,
but at 270kph, so is this additional load causing the tyre to fracture.
That’s the thing at the moment, we just don’t know.”
“This is a big problem and it needs to be addressed now. What
is going to happen in a few years time when the manufacturers start
to develop 240hp bikes? Just six years ago we had 155hp and now we
have just over 200. One day it has to come to a point where it seriously
needs to be addressed.”
“We know that Daytona is the worst track on the calendar as
far as safety goes (Because of the concrete walls on the banking
it can not qualiy for FIM races -Ed.), but getting it taken off
the calendar won’t happen next year, so something has to be
done quickly. I think the series has outgrown Daytona. Even the 600cc
Supersport bikes are doing 270kph (170mph) on the banking.”
“We’re going to speeds with these 1000cc bikes of over
320kph after they’ve been in the draft and that’s crazy
as you are surrounded by a concrete wall. So far thDunlop Tire Blowouts
and Crashese recent incidents have been during practice, but what
will happen if a tyre fails during the race when there’s a five-bike
train happening and there are five riders on the track at 270k’s
and a field of bikes following them. You can imagine it’s not
going to be good.”
“We met the AMA officials late on Wednesday afternoon to discuss
ways of fixing it so that the race will happen next year with less
than three months before the race, a lot of things will need to be
sorted out.”
Mladin left the Daytona circuit on Wednesday afternoon and will return
to Australia for the festive season, before resuming his testing commitments
with Yoshimura Suzuki in January.
Editor's note: Michelin successfully concluded it's Superbike
tire tests at Daytona the week before with Team Austin Ducati running
theWorld Championship winning factory 999 Superbike and Valvoline
EMGO Suzuki their GSXR1000, both without tire failures. Troy Corser
reportedly broke 200mph at Daytona on his Michelin tire equipped factory
Ducati back in 1999 without tire problems. Nor has Michelin experienced
any major tire failures in MotoGP where the factory bikes turn out
200-240hp. The tire failure problems in AMA Superbike are definetlyan
inherent Dunlop design problem and the factory teams Yoshimua Suzuki
and Honda may be forced to leave theirbig bucks tire sponsor Dunlop
for another tire brand.
 New
Aprilia RSV1000R Nera
Bolonga, IT, Dec
10th, 2003: Aprilia is offering for sale on its website the
new limited edition Nera which wlil be produced in a quantity of just
200 bikes for the dear cost of $40,000. For $23,000 above the cost of
the new Aprilia RSV1000R Factory model with its already trick components
like the Ohlins suspension. The Nera offers lots of trick stuff in Magnesium,
Titanium and Carbon Fibre, as well as the cool looking bronze color
anodived aluminum frame. The engine's heads and case covers, as well
as the sexy red wheels replace the stock aluminum components for magnesium.
The fairing changes fromthe stock plastic to carbon fibre. And the engine
gets the optional Titanium Race Exhaust System and new EPU programing
which ups the power across the RPM range (advertised peak power of 136hp
is actually increased from magazine dyno tested 123 to 125hp). The bike's
dry weight drops to a mere 385 pounds.
Plus, Nera
owners get a custom made matching set of Dainese leathers, and an invitation
to hang with the Aprilia MotoGP team at a race round of their choice.
It's a pricey, but cool deal for serious Aprilia enthusiasts with too
much money to spend. We'd like to see Aprilia offer a more reasonably
priced $25,000 model with all the same feaures and 15hp more to compete
with Ducati 139hp 999R.
The first Nera
off the production line went to "Friends" TV actor Matt LeBlanc
who owns and rides a previous generation Mille R. Aprilia USA made a
big "To Do" of presenting Matt with his new bike in public
at their display at Long Beach International Cycle Show on Dec. 13th,
which probably means the $1 million per TV episide actor got his Nera
for free. When we asked Aprilia's marketing director if we could pull
off a Fast Dates Calendar shoot of the Nera with model before they gave
it to LeBlanc. He said he had to ask LeBlanc first, and then reported
back that leBlanc had said "No." So if Aprilia did give the
bike to LeBlanc they certainly wasted their money for the negative publicity
the less-than-personable actor, gave them. Aprilia now won't be represented
in the 2005 Fast Dates calendar because we feature trick exotic and
race bikes, not showroom stock production bikes.
For More Information
on the new 2004 Aprilia RSV Mille, Racing and Nera models go to: New
Bikes
Aprilia
Recommended
Christmas Gifts from FastDates.com thru Amazon.com
Performance
Machine and Jardine Performance
sign multi-year sponsorships of our
LA Calendar Motorcycle Show and FastDates.com Calendars
December 8th, Los Angeles, CA - Two of the
leading motorcycle aftermarket product manufacturers in America,
Performance Machine and Jardine Performance, have just just
signed long term multi-year sponsorship agreements for The Los
Angeles Calendar Motorcycle Show and the related FastDates.com
Calendars. Beginning in 2004 the agreement sees both manufacturers
being major participants of The Los Angeles Calendar Motorcycle
Show -the largest custom and performance streetbike show in
America, and the FastDates.com Calendars -the world's most popular
line of motorcycle pinup calendars and the leading streetbike
website in America.
The
new agreement extends Performance Machine's previously established
title sponsorship of the Los Angeles Calendar Motorcycle Show
with the continued participation of the popular Performance
Machine big rig display truck, and the Performance Machine Best
of Show Award for what is the premier custom bike contest on
the West Coast. PM is the leading manufacturer of streetbike
custom and racing wheels, handlebar and foot controls in America.
The
new agreement sees Jardine Performance joining The Los Angeles
Calendar Motorcycle Show as one of the event's important associate
sponsors, with the hugely popular Jardine West Coast Horsepower
Dyno Shootout which premiered at the Show in 2003, now becoming
an annual major component of the Bike Show weekend. Jardine
Performance is a leading manufacturer of automotive performance
exhaust systems, and the leading American manufacturer of custom
and performance cruiser and sportbike exhaust systems, and the
official exhaust system supplier to American Honda's Roadracing
Team.
The
Los Angeles Calendar Motorcycle Show Weekend is held at the
Queen Mary Event Park in Long Beach, CA, and continues to grow
each year as the most popular streetbike show in America catering
to the custom, cruiser and sport streetbike markets. Always
the 3rd weekend of July, the 13th Annual Show is scheduled for
Saturday July 17th and Sunday July 18th, 2004. The Show features
major spectator attendance with over 150 major manufacturers,
race teams and leading custom bike builders from across North
America. Performance Machine is the event's title sponsor, with
associate sponsors including Iron Works magazine, Jardine Performance,
Corona Extra beer, the FastDates.com Calendars, The Los Angeles
Times / ReCycler / Cycle Buys, together with Trader Publications
and SPEED TV’s American Thunder, The LA Calendar Motorcycle
Show is the premier streetbike event weekend in America. The
weekend includes a charity ride-in hosted by Iron Works magazine
to benefit the Olive Crest Shelter for homeless and abused children
and families.
Jardine now joins Performance Machine and Mikuni Carburetors
as associate sponsors the Iron & Lace Custom Bike Pinup
Calendar produced by FastDates.com which premiers at the Bike
Show each July. The most popular and well known motorcycle calendar
in the world today, Iron & Lace features the finest custom
bikes from the top celebrity builders in America, photographed
together with sexy lingerie clad celebrity models. Featured
in the upcoming 2005 calendar will be this past year's LA Calendar
Bike Show Performance Machine Best of Show winner, Jesse Rooke's
"Rockett" with Playboy Playmate Michelle LaVoie.
Jardine also joins Performance Machine, together with the SBK
World Superbike Championship and MotoWheels.com as associate
sponsors of the Fast Dates Racebike Pinup Calendar produced
by FastDates.com. The world's most popular racebike calendar,
Fast Dates features the top factory race bikes of the SBK World
Superbike Championship and AMA Superbike Championship, photographed
together with the beautiful SBK Fast Dates World Superbike Girls.
Featured in the upcoming 2005 calendar will be 2003 World Superbike
Champion Neil Hodgson's Ducati 999F03 together with Miss Great
Britain 2003 and SBK Fast Dates Ducati Corse umbrella girl Nicki
Lane.
The
announcement was made by Jim Gianatsis , Director of Gianatsis
Design Associates, the well known motorsports marketing and
photography agency and producer of the LA Calendar Bike Show
and FastDates.com Calendars. "We are really excited to
have the support of two of the motorcycle industry's leading
product manufacturers joining us on a long term basis. It provides
increased recognition for us and the sport in general, it offers
more value and excitement for motorcycle fans, and assures the
continued growth and popularity of both the Bike Show and Calendars."
For complete information about The LA Calendar Motorcycle Show
and the FastDates.com Calendars just visit http://www.FastDates.com
Go
to Pit Lane News Previous Page
Hot Calendar Girl News! Go to: Fast
Dates • Berm Busters
• Iron & Lace
click to see much more ...
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Cycle
World International Motorcycle Show Coverage
The
New 2004 FastDates.com Calendars now available!
Covergirls
Janelle, Chandi and Joanna Krupa get down to work
in the 2004 Garage Girls calendar available right here.
Josh Hays
to Race
Attack Kawasaki
in AMA Superbike
Dec 20th - Josh Hayes has renewed his contract with the Attack
team in AMA for 2004 aboard new Kawasaki bikes. There was initial
talk that Josh might go with an in-house Kawasaki factory team
until it was decided there would be no factory B team. Personal
manager Gina Prochard felt staying with team Attack where he will
ride in Superbike and Superstock class.
Team Volvoline
Suzuki team owner John Ulrich is said to be extreamely angry as
John had expected Josh to return to his team under a factory Suzuki
contract. But no firm contract was forthcoming from Suzuki and
Gina had a contract in hand from Kawasaki that need to be signed.
"Suzuki could have matched and kept us but they did not,
and John thinks we're wrong for not staying. they had 4 months
to sign Josh and didn't. We just couldn't wait any longer."
Superbike
girl
Janelle stars in
National Lampoon's Infamous Cuisine
cooking show on
Comedy Central
Dec
20th: Our own FastDates.com Calendar Angel and SBK Fast Dates
Ducati Corse umbrella girl for Ruben Xaus, Janelle Perzina is
staring in her own new TV cooking show on Comedy Central. Never
one to be taken too seriously, Janelle's show on Comedy central
is called National Lampoon's Infamous Cuisine.
The show and
Janelle take a comedic approach to Penelope Cruz's role in the
movie Woman on Top where Tom's squeeze hosts a spicy cooking show
to raise ratings. In her own real TV show our Janelle will be
whipping up such grade school delicacies as Jello, Smores, and
PB & J sandwiches.
The
Master of Slide
McCoy moves to WSB
Dec 11th - Garry McCoy has confirmed that he will ride for the
NCR Ducati squad in the 2004 World Superbike Championship.
The Australian rider, who was with the Kawasaki MotoGP team this
year, will replace Regis Laconi after the Frenchman left to ride
for the factory Ducati WSB squad in 2004.
A long time GP rider, McCoy is renowned for his spectacular all
action riding style and will be a welcome addition to the WSB
championship.
He said: " It’s great to get the ride. I was open to
most offers but the deal with NCR just came together easily. I’m
looking forward to being on a competitive bike and the WSB paddock
seems a fair bit more relaxed than MotoGP. "
McCoy was
a front line GP winning rider with the Red Bull Yamaha GP team
back in 2001, but lack of rides on competitive bikes during the
'02 - '03 season had relagated him to the back of the pack. Now
with a factory spec NCR Ducati superbike in WSB, Garry will be
adding a lot of excitement to the 2004 superbike season.
AMA
Pro Racing
to assess Daytona
tire test situation
December 11, 2003 - AMA Pro Racing, in concert with teams, riders,
Daytona International Speedway (DIS) officials and representatives
from the major tire manufacturers will work together in assessing
the situation resulting from two tire-failure related crashes
that occurred while tire testing at Daytona International Speedway.
Much was learned
from the just-concluded tests at the speedway, but two dramatic
incidents have forced all involved to carefully re-evaluate the
situation. Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo walked away from a crash
on Tuesday, day two of the Dunlop-hosted test, and Yoshimura Suzuki’s
Ben Spies had a similar crash while testing in October. Both incidents
were the result of tire failure at high speed.
AMA Pro Racing,
CEO Scott Hollingsworth was on hand at the Dunlop test and commented
on the situation: “Obviously we’re thankful that both
Jason and Ben are okay and that their injuries weren’t more
extensive,” said Hollingsworth. “We’re taking
this matter very seriously and are exploring all possible options
in terms of dealing with it. We’ve met with, and will continue
to meet with, every major team, DIS officials and representatives
from the tire companies to explore possible solutions. It’s
premature to say what those solutions may be, but restoring the
confidence level in the minds of each and every one of our racers
is just one of our objectives.”
Hollingsworth
was upbeat about the valuable input put forth by several participants
in the test. “By and large, everyone has a good grasp of
the challenges and most are offering good, productive ideas to
mitigate the concerns,” said Hollingsworth. “It’s
a matter of ‘do you want to be part of the problem or part
of the solution.’ I’m happy to report that there’s
a high level of effort being expended to arrive at answers.”
Hollingsworth
welcomes the opportunity for the teams to test again at Daytona
before the 2004 AMA road racing season begins in March. “Ultimately
it’s going to require additional testing to resolve this
matter and DIS was able to free-up a date in late January for
another tire test.” said Hollingsworth. “That’s
significant because it will now allow the tire makers to analyze
their data, determine what’s causing these failures and
arrive at new solutions. Essentially it comes down to a balancing
act between grip and wear and this added test should go a long
way towards delivering tires that adequately achieve both objectives.”
Hollingsworth added that the additional test will be open to all
tire makers competing in AMA Superbike racing.
A Daytona
Speedway official expressed the opionion that the tire failures
were a result of the new high horsepower superbikes and the tire
manufacturers' attempts to build softer compounds, and that the
problem needs to be corrected by the tire companies. "Daytona
is the one constant in this equation that has not changed over
the years."
MotoGPTest
Valencia, Spain, Dec 11, 2003.
Temperature: 15 degrees C
Weather: Sunny
Weather Improves, Times Drop
Brilliant sunshine greeted riders on Thursday morning for the
second day of the three-day end of season test at the Ricardo
Tormo Circuit in Valencia, Spain, and with it came a vast improvement
in lap times. All of the Honda riders went faster, with some running
better than their race pace from the season-ending grand prix
just over a month ago. Most put it to the next generation engine
parts that were being tested as a prelude to the new Honda RC-211V
that will debut in the new year.
Top honors
went to Camel Pramac Pons’ Max Biaggi who lapped consistently
in the low 1:33 range with a best of 1:32.8. With good weather
from the start of the day, Biaggi was able to work on the various
engine combinations for a full 88 laps, coming away with nothing
but praise for the pace of development. “Normally to test
something different you have to wait to February,” the Roman
said.
Telefonica
MoviStar Honda’s Sete Gibernau and Pramac Honda’s
Makoto Tamada both lapped at 1:33.4, with Gibernau constantly
on the number while trying the new Michelin 16.5 in front tyre.
This was purely a development tactic and Gibernau was swimming
in uncharted territories, knowing full well that lap times might
not show the progress of the new engine. “It’s difficult
to get the right feeling from it,” he said.
Tamada continued
to work with the new engine parts while refining his chassis settings.
The Japanese rider, who just finished his debut season in MotoGP,
took delivery of a new chassis at a test just after the season
ended and is using the Valencia test to continue his learning
curve. So far, so good, he said. “We had a test right after
the race and my lap time was much better than the race,”
he said.
Telefonica
MoviStar Honda’s Colin Edwards, a longtime proponent of
the 16.5 inch front-he rode it to the 2002 World Superbike Championship
on the Castrol Honda-struggled with it on the Honda RC-211V. Regardless
of how many laps were on the tyre, he couldn’t crack the
1:34 barrier. “To me it’s telling me there’s
a wall there where it’s comfortable and after that I have
to find the limits,” the lanky Texan said.
The test concludes
on Friday, after which there’s a one-month moratorium on
testing which will end with the Honda teams testing in Malaysia
in mid-January.
More
Exciting
2004 Calendars!
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Extensive
Coverage of
SUPERBIKE and
SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
on EUROSPORT
The
2004 Superbike and Supersport World Championships will enjoy extensive
live coverage on Eurosport following recently concluded negotiations
with the leading pan-European sports channel.
Full live coverage of the entire season will be provided on Eurosportnews
as well as British Eurosport. This will be supported by additional
broadcast coverage on both a live and deferred basis on the continental
Eurosport channel.
In 2003 Eurosport flighted more than 45 hours of World Superbike
and Supersport coverage.
"Eurosport is delighted to continuing its partnership with
Superbike by offering a large exposure of all 2004 superbike and
supersport events. The Superbike series is very popular among
motorcycling riders and completes the unique and extensive 2 wheels
offer of the Eurosport Group", said Vincent Chupin, Program
Acquisitions Director of Eurosport.
FGSport President, Paolo Flammini, added: “We are delighted
at the coverage that will be generated over the course of next
season and are very pleased that we can offer fans, sponsors,
teams and partners this level of improvement across so many key
markets.”
World Superbike Championships will benefit a large coverage as
Eurosport reaches over 250 million viewers in 95 million homes
in 54 countries.
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