FastDates.com Pit Lane News - September 2004 page 2

FastDates.com September 2004
Page 1 • Superbike, MotoGP Racing & Calendar Girl News
Official Calendar of the SBK World Superbike Championship
Home of the official SBK Fast Dates & Team Ducati Corse Umbrella Girls

Page 2 - New Suzuki GSXR1000 • Ducati 999R05 • 999/S05
AMA Pro Racing and the Death of American Roadracing
Japanese MotoGP at Motegi Crash Fest toTomada

• Who the Hell is Ten Kate? Privateer Hondas Kick Ass in WSS and WSB
• Ducati 999R05 Our Exclusive First Test with Superbike girl Robin!
• AMA Pro Racing continues its destruction of roadracing in America
• 2004 LA Calendar Motorcycle Show - World Records, Beautiful Girls
• Calendar Angels Rock Laguna WSB Race Weekend Robin, Andra, Nicki
• Ducati DRE Race School with World Champ Marco Luchinell
• World Ducati Week 2004 May 17-24 The World's Best Sportbike Event!
• Isle of Man TT 2004 125mph average speeds on public roads!
• Poggipolini NCR Nera $164,000 Naked Superbike gone BAD!
• FastDates.com Ducati 999S Project Superbike bargain 999R?
• Paddock Garage FastDates.com Aprilia Tuono R Project Bike
• New 2004 Honda, Yamaha Kawasaki 1000cc Superbike

"What are you doing down there, lubing your chain again?"

The reigning AMA Superbike Champ gets a major redesign for 2005 -as if it even needed it!

All New 2005 Suzuki GSXR1000 Superbike
The reigning 2003/2004 AMA Superbike Champion
gets ready to kick a lot more butt in 2005

Screensavers / Enlarged views: GSXR1000 in Blue • GSXR1000 in Black

Sept 13th 2004: As if Matt Mladin's winning back-to-back AMA Superbike Championships in 2004 and 2005 (well almost, with one race still remaining as we write this) on the outgong G4 generation GSXR1000 wasn't enough, Suzuki of Japan is letting loose with an all-new, from the ground-up new generatin G5 modelGSXR1000 for 2005.

The 3 other of the Big Four Japanese manufacturers, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Honda all turned loose their new generation model 1000cc Superbikes this current model year 2004, and their factory AMA race teams pleaded they needed a race season to develop their new machines while Mladin was sounldly thrashin' them on his underpowered older generation GSXR. But now, unfortunately for the other Japanese Superbike teams, the new 2005 GSXR1000 is so far ahead of their current (soon to be old) Yoshimura Suzuki winning bike in the hands of Matt Mladinthat it should easily continue to dominate AMA Supertbike racing in 2005 and beyond. It is unfortunate that Suzuki will remain out of the World Superbike arena again in 2005, because Mladin and the Hamamatsu Hammer could certainly give reigning WSB champ Team Ducati Corse a serius fight.

The new "Hammer "is smaller, lighter, stronger, more powerful for 2005, and despite the total ground-up redesign, it is only priced $200 higher than last season at $10,849.00. A pretty incredible bargain when a comparable Italian bike will cost 2-3 times more. Check out the cool new radial front brakes, larger ram air induction framing the narrower front headlight, the huge GP style fabricated aluminum swingarm. Plus a full Titanium Exhaust System!

In street legal trim this puppy tips the scales right at the FIM weight minimum of 365lbs dry. As the world's principal source for Ti, its nice to have Russia as a world trading partner these days, and the super lightweight metal is becoming much more available and affordable. Prior to the end of the Cold War in 1990, the US aerospace and defense industry had a very expensive and difficult time getting titanium and had to smugglemuch of their needs from intermediate counties who Russia traded with. Interestingly enough, Russia never asked CZ in Czecheslovika whatever happened to all those Titanium motocross bikes they were susposed to be building? That's your FastDates.com trivia lesson for today.

Now don't get to excited about racing this new GSXR1000 just yet. As always, dealer deliveries are not expected until March of 2004, too late for the opening AMA rounds of the season. Still, factory teams like Yoshimura will get their bikes much earlier, probably December, for development and testing.

Complete Details & Photos of the new 2005 GSXR600 / 750 / 1000 in Pit Lane New Bike

So many curves... so little time! Rockin' Robin does thenew 999R0R in our exclusive first world test.

FastDates.com World Wide Firsts and Exclusives!
"Rockin' Robin" Tests the new Ducati 999R05!

Our Exclusive World Premier of the killer new 140hp and 147hp Models,
and first ever road teat of the new 999R 05!
Our sexy own SBK Fast Dates Team Ducati Corse girl, Miss Texas and Miss Hawaiian Tropic
"Rockin Robin" Cunningham dishes the dirt on the world's sexiest new sportbike!

• New 2005 Ducati 999R Superbike - HERE
• The other New 2005 Ducati 999 and 999S Superbikes - HERE

Read all the sexy details in our FastDates.com Sportbike Index together with Exclusive FastDates.com Screensavers of Robin and the 999R05 doing their thing HERE

Robin dishes the inside scoup on whether the new $30,000 999R 05 high class Call Girl can deliver the goods, and how it compares to the Plain Jane $17,000 Ducati 999 girl next door, and her tarted up $23,000 Sister 999S.

Below: the new 140hp 2005 Plain Jane 999 Girl Next Door looks good enough to take home to mother.

FastDates.com Screensavers - Because Robin Loves You!
• Robin & 999R05 Screen Saver -Stunt Road
• Robin & 999R05 Screen Saver – Scott's Road
• Ducati 999R05 Screen Saver - Front • Ducati 999R05 - Rear

Robin Cunningham was our offical SBK World Superbike Fast Dates calendar Angel and Team Ducati Corse umbrella girl for World Championship points leader Regis Laconi at Laguna Seca. All the the sexy details are in Fast Dates News.

Also look for "Rockin Robin" featured as hostess on 3 new TV shows premiering this fall. Robin will be hosting the WB Channel's new X-Music Network show starting in September where she will be interviewing hot up and coming new bands. She will also be hosting on Black Belt TV, a new martial arts TV network premiering in November, as well as the new TV series Underwater Odessy about swimming with Dolphins on the ABC Family Channel.

Think of it as an aircooled V- twin that doesn't pick up chicks, but it's just as much fun to ride. Especially when it whoops sportbikes in the canyons.

New 2005 Multistrada S model
Sept 15th: Back in May we first gave the world its first look of this tricked out Multistrada with Ohlins suspension in our coverage from World Ducati Week 2004. The bike which was on display at WDW2004 was susposedly upgraded with parts form the upcoming 2005 Multistrada Ducati Performance Catalog. Now at this week's Intermot Motorcycle Show, Ducati has introduced this bike as a new higher performance Multistrada S model which is essentialy built up of bolt-on pqrts from the Ducati Performance package including the Ohlins superbike forks and rear shock, and carbon fibre front fender and cam belt covers. The engine remains the same as the base model Multistrada rated at 92hp. New bike color choices include Yellow, and Black (shown). Hopefull the new S model will be priced lower than if you replaced the stock Showa suspension on your base model Multistrada ( $10,500), with the upgraded parts from the Ducati Performance Catalog.

The Multistrada is our favorite all-around multi-purpose bike. And on the tight canyon roads in SoCal were we ride our sportbikes, the Multistrada's supermoto rider positioning makes it a quicker handling bike compared to hardcore sportbikes with clip-ons and 70 more horsepower.

Other Ducati Performance options for the Multistrada include a much lighter Termignoni race silencer with recalibrated CPU which we have on our bike, a slipper clutch, and any of the race wheel sets from the older 998 SBK models.

A wild Hopkins (now sliding on the ground, far right) takes out Capirossi (in red doing a headstand) in Turn One along with a few other innocent gus like Biaggi, Hayden, Edwards, and Roberts.. Really BIG CRASH

Grand Prix of Japan, Motegi, Round 12 of 17

Tamada Triumphs at Home Japanese MotoGP
Motegi, Japan, Sept. 17-19th - Makoto Tamada was magnificent and uncatachable on his factory Camel Honda RC211V riding on Bridgestone tyres, taking his home race at the Japanese Grand Prix at the Motegi circuit with a resounding win. In front of a vocal 67,000 crowd in beating heat, Tamada finished 6.168 seconds ahead of World Championship points leader Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha) with Shinya Nakano giving Kawasaki for with the manufacturer's first ever podium finsih .

Tamada started from his second consecutive pole of the season, but it was Rossi who made it into turn one first as a huge pile-up set off by John Hopkins took out out six of the front runners: Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V), Colin Edwards (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V), Max Biaggi (Camel Honda RC211V), Kenny Roberts and Hopkins (both Suzuki) and Loris Capirossi (Ducati) never got further than turn one.

Tomada dominated at Motegi on his home test track where his Bridgestone tires are developed. But with 2 wins now this season, he emerges as one of the top Championship contenders for next year.

The Preview
September 15th: This MotoGP season always looked like it would be the tightest of contests. The three main protagonists believe the fight will not be resolved until the very last of this 16-round season at Valencia in Spain. But there will be plenty of action to come before that.

Motegi marks the start of the five-race title run-in with a series of ‘flyaway’ races where the predominantly European-based teams embark on a month-long stay in the middle and far-east in late September and October with four races in five weeks. Then the last round at Valencia – back in Europe.

Apart from the logistical nightmare of transporting the hundreds of tons and machines, spares and tools, the teams and riders hardly have a let-up between races – and whichever rider gains early momentum in these vital races, is likely to gain an advantage in morale as tiredness and jet-lag take their toll.

The current MotoGP series leader is Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) who heads Sete Gibernau (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V) by 29 points. Max Biaggi (Camel Honda RC211V) lies 22 behind Gibernau. One of these three will win the title. Colin Edwards (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V) on 111 points is the only man to have scored points at all races so far – and despite a mathematical chance of overall honours, he cannot properly be considered a title contender.

Naturally, the man on top starts the run-in at an advantage, but Motegi, north west of Tokyo, is a track that will suit the Honda RC211Vs of Gibernau, Biaggi and Tomada. The 4.801km Twin Ring Motegi track built in 1998 is made largely of constant-radius second and third gear turns – precisely where the RC211V excels with its smooth drive and seamless power.

With eight right-hand corners and six left, Motegi has an exceptionally smooth surface and there is no camber. Set-up requires a bike stable both under fierce acceleration and equally severe braking. Front/rear balance and suspension settings are key.

But the track also features gradient and a spectacular tunnel. The back straight is downhill into a tight right-hand bend. And although the main straight is only 0.762km long, the tunnel between turn five and the 130R turn more than makes up for a long main chute in terms of spectacle – and rarity value. No other MotoGP track boasts a subway section.

There are still 125 points to be won in the remaining races. And although Biaggi fell on the first lap of the Portuguese Grand Prix two weeks ago, the Italian could not be further from abandoning his World Championship aspirations.

“Racing at Motegi is something that will help me get over what happened in Portugal,” said Max. “Not only because I like the track, but also because I like being in Japan, I have a lot of friends there and an exceptional fan club. As regards the GP itself, I aim to do a good race like I did last year. I have worked very hard with the team on the bike, none of us have rested for a second.”

His team-mate Makoto Tamada (Camel Honda RC211V) riding on Bridgestone tyres said, “I can’t wait to ride in Japan. I love Suzuka and this year there was no race, but at last the Motegi race has come around. I left straight from the Portuguese GP to spend a bit of time at home but now I’m eager to get out onto the track. The bike is going well and the tyres have improved considerably. My aim is to get a fantastic result in Japan.” He was cruelly disqualified from last year’s event after tangling with Gibernau.

Sete said, “I am staying focused on myself and am thinking about each race as an independent one. I cannot think about what track I like or which one is better for my RC211V because each race will be determined from the speed with which we are able to get the bike set up correctly. It will be important to know how to cope with the pressure and Valentino is very good at this. Until now he has been world champion, I have never before found myself in this situation, and with each day I learn to be a better rider and with me my team betters itself also.”

John Hopkins on his way to the Front Row at Motegi with the top Championship contenders. The factory Suzuki is right at home on the tight, twisty track.

American John Hopkins (Suz) on Provisional Poleahead of Rossi at Motegi!
Friday 17th: Mid-pack MotoGP contender, American youngster John Hopkins in his first GP season on the less than competive Suzuki , came out of nowhere to post the quicket time 1'47.230s in Saturday's final timed paractive session leading up to this weekend's Motegi MotoGP in Japan. Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi today continued the strong form that has given him a substantial MotoGP series lead, finishing a narrow second fastest in this afternoon’s first qualifying session for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix. His team-mate Carlos Checa fared less well in the afternoon session, suffering two falls; a stark contrast to the fastest time of all that he set in the unofficial first qualifying session this morning.

Rossi headed the time sheets early in this afternoon’s session but just after thirty minutes of the permitted one hour had elapsed Alex Barros (Honda) deposed him, just when Rossi took some time to adapt his Yamaha YZR-M1 to the nuances of the stop-go Motegi circuit for race conditions.

With 19 minutes left Rossi once more took the provisional pole position but a late flurry of competition soon after, between the Suzuki of John Hopkins and the Honda of Makoto Tamada, saw the name at the top of the time sheets alternate three times.

In the final minutes, a rear tyre change allowed Rossi to set his best single lap of the day, a 1’47.275s, only 0.045 seconds from provisional pole man Hopkins. The provisional front row was rounded off by top Honda rider of the day Tamada in third, with a 1’47.650. All three of the front row runners beat the previous track best, 1’47.696s, at the first time of asking. Checa’s late session misfortune put him 13th overall, with a best time of 1’48.658s. Rossi’s closest challenger for the overall title, Sete Gibernau (Honda) ended his day tenth quickest, on 1’48.195s.

Tamada takes Saturday's Pole, Hopkins hold onto Front Row
Motegi, Sept 18th Makoto Tamada (Camel Honda RC211V) riding on Bridgestone tyres at his home track set a pole lap of 1m 46.673s to put himself more than half a second ahead of his nearest challenger John Hopkins (Suzuki). Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) completes the front row in third place.

TV commentar and former GP star Randy Mamola discusess fast lap times and the MotoGP fashion look with John Hopkins.

Sultry conditions prevailed as the final hour-long session got underway, and within minutes of the riders getting on track rain spots fell, and the white flag with a red cross came out to warn riders. But despite the threat, the small drops never became any bigger, although they reappeared with 15 minutes to go. Max Biaggi (Camel Honda RC211V) was the first rider to improve his time from yesterday and the Roman title contender was to feature again this session when he put a move on Sete Gibernau (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V).

The pair were circulating in close company in the early stages when Max slid underneath Sete after the tunnel section and then gestured to his Spanish title rival. Sete then re-passed him and the duo continued their feud in pitlane on their ‘in-lap’ when Sete chopped in front of Max before entering his pit garage.

This was the high point of the session until the final ten minutes when the high-pressure laps on qualifying tyres began. HRC test rider and wild card entrant Tohru Ukawa improved to eighth with a 1m 48.154s lap, but this brief effort was to prove well short of the standard required for even a top ten start.

With five minutes to go Colin Edwards (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V) hoisted himself to fifth place and Max had now done enough for a short-lived third place. But there was a feeling that Tamada would be the man to deliver the knockout blow here – and what a powerful punch it proved to be.

Valentina Rossi, the championship points leader, experienced some problems with his Yamaha M1 in the latter stages of the session, and was thus robbed of a final chance to challenge eventual pole position winner Makoto Tamada (Honda, 1'46.673) and second place rider John Hopkins (Suzuki, 1'47.230). Front-end troubles held back the smooth progress of Rossi in the last 20 minutes, a disappointment after an otherwise fruitful period of pre-race preparations.

Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha) third - 1'47.275 "For sure we were lucky because we did a great lap time yesterday, so we knew we could be on the front row, even if we did not improve on our time today. Sete is further back which takes the pressure off slightly. This morning the setting was OK and the rhythm was good but this afternoon we had problems with the front of the bike - a bit like the brake was sticking. I couldn't try with the qualifying tyre and we were not able to improve. It just felt wrong so I had to come back in."

With Hopkins sitting on pole with his Friday time intact, Tamada timed his run to perfection and simply annihilated the rest of the field with his lap. Fastest in every section of the track, the Japanese looked devastating and when his time flashed up more than half a second faster than the best of the opposition, it was no real surprise.

Tamada said, “This is a very important race to have pole for. This is a hard track to overtake on in the early stages of the race and everything needs to perfect at the end too – and the tyres we have are working well. Thanks to the team for giving me the means to ride a lap like this.”

Tomada (6) pressures Rossi (46) in the opening laps before passing for the lead.

The Race
Hopkins Takes 5 Riders in Turn One, Tomada Runs Away from Rossi
Sunday 19th: Tamada started from his second consecutive pole of the season, but it was Rossi who made it through turn one first as a huge pile-up took out six of the front runners; John Hopkins (Suzuki), Loris Capirossi (Ducati), Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V), Colin Edwards (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V), Max Biaggi (Camel Honda RC211V)and Kenny Roberts(Suzuki).

The melee was set off by Hopkins (confirmed by numerous TiVo replays from the Speed TV broadcast) who was second off the line behind Rossi from his grid spot on the far side of the front row from turn one.... Approaching the first turn with much of the field to his inside, rather than hold a sensible wider line, Hopkins cut unexpectedly across the entire track and the entire field of persuers to dive for the apex of turn one without looking to see if he was cutting anyone off. Loris Capirossi was charging up the inside on his factory Ducati and collided right into Hopkins who came out of nowhere to block his line. They tangled, went down and skittled the other victims behind them..

There were no serious injuries although Roberts suffered a dislocated elbow and Hopkins two broken ribs. It could have been worse. It was an unfortunate racing incident with no direct intent on the part of either Hopkins or Capirossi, but both were partically to blame for being so agressive into the TurnOne without anticipating any other riders. Hopkins was also involved in a Turn one incident last year at Motegi, for which he was penalized from entering the next race weekend..

The debris from the clash, human and mechanical, was cleared quickly enough to prevent the appearance of red flags and it was Rossi who led Tamada and Marco Melandri (Yamaha) into lap two. Tamada was right up with Rossi and they had a 2.9 second advantage over Melandri by the time lap three began. It looked like this would be a two-way fight until lap 10 when Tamada rocketed past Rossi on the downhill entry to the tunnel at the end of the back straight. Rossi stuck with him until half-race distance when it became clear that Tamada had the determination and the tire grip to maintain a higher pace. Tamada had already set a new lap record of 1’ 48.524 on lap five, 0.361 seconds inside Rossi’s 2003 record.

Meanwhile Tohru Ukawa (HRC Honda RC211V) had fallen on lap nine and Norick Abe (Yamaha) who had been holding fourth place retired with machine failure a lap later. And Tamada had a 1.3 second advantage over Rossi by lap 12.

The pattern was now set for the top two steps of the podium, but there was more exciting action to come in the dispute for third. Melandri could not hold on to his place and Nakano got past him with the green factory Kawasaki on lap 19 and the Japanese fans went wild. But a fast approaching Troy Bayliss one the sole remaining factory Ducati with Alex Barros (Repsol Honda RC211V) in tow were quickly reeling them in and and ready to pounce, then Bayliss went down in a corner and his race was over.

Alex Barros, who’d had a wretched time in qualifying was making his way through the field and after disposing of Melandri he ran out of laps to wrest third from Nakano. He finished fourth. Sete Gibernau (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V) was another title contender who suffered here. He never got comfortable and a distant sixth was the best he could manage.

Tamada was delighted with his win. “I had a feeling everyone was going into turn one a bit too hot. And you saw what happened. I was behind Rossi and so I missed it all. I attacked early and the bike and tyres were fantastic. I took Bridgestone’s advice after the warm-up and they, like Honda, gave me the means to win. Thanks.”

Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha) second "I made a great start and that put me in front. That was very important because behind me hell arrived at the first corner! I tried to stay with Makoto and tried to win. After leading for the first ten laps he overtook me and then I started to slide a lot and I had a little problem exiting the corners under acceleration. It was impossible for me to get back in front of Makoto and for sure I would've preferred to win. This second place improves our championship position though, another ten points of a gap. This was an important race for us in every respect."

Sete refuses to give up on his World Championship hopes. “The most difficult Grand Prix of the season,” he said. “I almost thought about returning to the pit garage, but because of the turn one incident I decided to finish the race. Sixth place means points, and although the World Championship will be really hard now, I won’t give up.”

Colin Edwards was a key witness to the turn one carnage. “I got hit by Capirossi,” he said. “A pity because I had good feel and the set-up was fine. But this is racing and the same thing happened last year when I got hit by Hopkins at turn one. But the Japanese should be happy with two riders on the podium.”

Hayden said, “There was so much dust I couldn’t see a thing at turn one. I was nearly stopped and then ran into a bike and put my bad leg down and just keeled over. It’s frustrating but I guess these things happen, especially in turn one. We just got to keep going forward and not think about what might have been.”

Max told it how it was. “I saw a Ducati and another bike at turn one going in the opposite direction – the wrong one. Somebody hit me very hard but I managed to stay on board. I went into the dirt and then another bike crashed in front of me making me crash. Disappointing, because today felt like I could run a great race.”

MotoGP Results: (24 laps = 115.224 km)
Pos/ Rider / Nat / Team / Motorcycle / Time/ KM/H
1 / Makoto TAMADA / JPN / Camel Honda / HONDA / 43'43.220 / 158.128
2 / Valentino ROSSI / ITA / Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha / YAMAHA / 43'49.388 / 157.757
3 / Shinya NAKANO / JPN / Kawasaki Racing Team / KAWASAKI / 43'56.616 / 157.325
4 / Alex BARROS / BRA / Repsol Honda Team / HONDA / 43'58.655 / 157.203
5 / Marco MELANDRI / ITA / Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 / YAMAHA / 44'06.797 / 156.720
6 / Sete GIBERNAU / SPA / Telefonica Movistar Honda Mot / HONDA / 44'10.598 / 156.495
7 / Carlos CHECA / SPA / Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha / YAMAHA / 44'19.054 / 155.997
8 / Neil HODGSON / GBR / D'Antin MotoGP / DUCATI / 44'31.196 / 155.288
9 / Ruben XAUS / SPA / D'Antin MotoGP / DUCATI / 44'33.101 / 155.177
10 / Alex HOFMANN / GER / Kawasaki Racing Team / KAWASAKI / 44'39.327 / 154.817
11 / Olivier JACQUE / FRA / Moriwaki WCM / MORIWAKI / 45'04.457 / 153.378
12 / Jeremy McWILLIAMS / GBR / MS Aprilia Racing / APRILIA / 45'10.903 / 153.014
13 / Shane BYRNE / GBR / MS Aprilia Racing / APRILIA / 43'49.679 / 151.167
14 / Nobuatsu AOKI / JPN / Proton Team KR / PROTON KR / 44'09.067 / 150.061
15 / Youichi UI / JPN / WCM / HARRIS WCM / 45'35.870 / 145.300
Fastest Lap: Makoto TAMADA 1'48.524 159.260 Km/h Lap 5

World Championship Positions:
1 ROSSI 229, 2 GIBERNAU 190, 3 BIAGGI 158, 4 BARROS 115, 5 TAMADA 114, 6 EDWARDS 111, 7 CHECA 102, 8 CAPIROSSI 84, 9 HAYDEN 83, 10 MELANDRI 75, 11 NAKANO 62, 12 ABE 55, 13 XAUS 53, 14 BAYLISS 42, 15 ROBERTS 37.

GP 250cc Results: (23 laps = 110.423 km)
Pos / Rider / Nat / Team / Motorcycle / Time / KM / H
1 / Daniel PEDROSA / SPA / Telefonica Movistar Honda 250 / HONDA / 43'36.798 / 151.911
2 / Toni ELIAS / SPA / Fortuna Honda / HONDA / 43'39.972 / 151.727
3 / Hiroshi AOYAMA / JPN / Telefonica Movistar Honda 250 / HONDA / 43'52.789 / 150.989
4 / Sebastian PORTO / ARG / Repsol - Aspar Team 250cc / APRILIA / 43'56.873 / 150.755
5 / Yuki TAKAHASHI / JPN / Dydo Miu Racing / HONDA / 44'02.248 / 150.448
6 / Alex DE ANGELIS / RSM / Aprilia Racing / APRILIA / 44'10.249 / 149.994
7 / Roberto ROLFO / ITA / Fortuna Honda / HONDA / 44'19.882 / 149.451
8 / Shuhei AOYAMA / JPN / Team Harc-Pro / HONDA / 44'20.068 / 149.440
9 / Franco BATTAINI / ITA / Campetella Racing / APRILIA / 44'25.571 / 149.132
10 / Alex DEBON / SPA / Wurth Honda BQR / HONDA / 44'28.798 / 148.952
11 / Randy DE PUNIET / FRA / Safilo Carrera - LCR / APRILIA / 44'37.505 / 148.467
12 / Yuzo FUJIOKA / JPN / Endurance / HONDA / 44'38.270 / 148.425
13 / Naoki MATSUDO / JPN / Team UGT Kurz / YAMAHA / 44'38.918 / 148.389
14 / Hugo MARCHAND / FRA / Freesoul Abruzzo Racing Team / APRILIA / 44'43.286 / 148.147
15 / Hector FAUBEL / SPA / Grefusa - Aspar Team 250cc / APRILIA / 44'45.868 / 148.005
Fastest Lap: Daniel PEDROSA 1'52.788 153.239 Km/h Lap 19

Championship Positions:
1 PEDROSA 234, 2 DE PUNIET 187, 3 PORTO 186, 4 ELIAS 142, 5 DE ANGELIS 114,
6 AOYAMA 103, 7 NIETO 94, 8 ROLFO 92, 9 WEST 88, 10 POGGIALI 79, 11 DEBON 67,
12 BATTAINI 57, 13 GUINTOLI 29, 14 MATSUDO 26, 15 DAVIES 23.

FastDates.com Calendar Angels Gone Wild!
"Regis's bike needs to be on the starting grid? The Championship? Naw, he can wait...."
We bring it to you first, before the sleezy tabloids! The exclusive behind the scenes story HERE

FastDates.com Movie Review

Hot Chicks that Kick Ass
Resident Evil: Apocalypse

MILLA JOVOVICH returns in the sequel to the exciting first movie Resident Evil as Alice, a former Special Tactics warrior who awakens from a terrible sleep to find her worst fears realized -- the virus infected human population have turned into bloodthirsty Undead.

Assisting Alice in saving Racoon City and the world from disaster is another beautiful warrior Jill, played by Sienna Guillory who kicks Undead ass like a mini skirted Lora Croft.

We love the entire genre of Kick Ass Chick movies that are pouring out of Hollywood these days and Resident Evil: Apocalypse is one of the best! Complete Revue HERE

Going to work in mini skirts with automatics weapons and Samurai swords to kill Undead.

There's more! Go to Pit Lane News Next Page

Hot Calendar Girl and Bike News! Go to: Fast Dates • Berm Busters • Iron & Lace

click to see much more ...

New 2005 Fast Dates
- Order Now.
Be warned - We under printed this year and will sell out early.
Ask your favorite dealer to order them now, or click on the cover to order online..

Tara Moreland
does FastDates
Certianly the most beautiful umbrella girl with the rockin'est body on the AMA National circuit is sexy Team Corona Suzuki umbrella girl Tara Moreland.
A professional spokesmodel from Lafayette, Louisiana, Tara will be flying out to Los Angeles next month to shoot with us for the 2006 FastDates.com Calendars.

Who the Hell is Ten Kate?
And how are they beating the factory teams?

Rescheduled: AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship Final at VIR to Oct 9th & 10th, PICKERINGTON, Ohio (Sept. 14, 2004) -- AMA Pro Racing today announced the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship event at Virginia International Raceway and AMA Supermoto Championship event at South Boston Speedway scheduled for this weekend have been postponed due to complications related to Hurricane Ivan. AMA Pro Racing is continuing discussions with both Virginia International Raceway and South Boston Speedway regarding possible make-up dates.

Sept 17th -AMA have announced that the weekend of October 9 & 10 has been nominated as the new date for the postponed final round of this year’s American AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship at Virginia International Raceway.

2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship (After 16 of 18 races, 2 races remain @ VIR)
1. Mat Mladin (532, 8 wins);
2. Jake Zemke (490, 2 win):
3. Miguel DuHamel (477, 4 ):
4. Ben Bostrom (364, 1 win):
5. Geoff May (344):
6. Eric Bostrom (336, 1 win):
7. John Haner (312):
8. Aaron Yates (298):
9. Eric Wood (284):
10. Josh Hayes (267).

August is over,
Zdenka is Back...
...and Hotter Than Ever!
We'd like to re introduce you to our beautiful FastDates.com calendal Angel, Penthouse Pet and Czech mate Zdenka. This beauty from Prauge has been featured in our calendars since 2001, and was our offical SBK Fast Dates Calendar girl at Laguna Seca in 2002 with those photos appearing in 2003 Fast Dates. Zdenka has also served as the official Aprilia MotoGP umbrella girl (left) at her home circuit of Bruno the last 3 years wearing some pretty sexy domimatrix gear.

Zenka returned to Los Angeles this summer looking hotter than ever and we were happy to shoot her for the next 2006 Calendars, plus a sexy nude pictorial for our Members Corner where you can visit Sexy Zdenka right now! Who says summer has to be boring?

Imola World Superbike Preview
10th round Sept 23-26th
SBK TITLE CHASE ENTERS PENULTIMATE PHASE AT IMOLA
FOUR AND SIX: As the 17th season of World Superbike approaches its penultimate round there has never been quite so much at stake, for quite so many riders. Any one of six top competitors have a mathematical chance of the title but, in more realistic terms, four riders will be contesting the final two rounds with full expectations of winning the title. New technical rules for 2004, making all engine configurations more competitive, plus the adoption of a single tyre supplier, have been the prime factors behind this most closely contested of seasons.

MOTORWAY CITY: The 4.933km Imola circuit hosts World Superbike for the fourth time this year and the city centre parkland circuit has been the scene of some breathless SBK action in each of those years. The fast and flowing nature of the venue, combined with the undulations laid out by Mother Nature mean that even the proliferation of speed calming chicanes do little to hamper the ridersí high overall pace around the lap. With lap times over 160kmph on average, Imola is one of the fastest on the calendar and rated as a true riderís circuit - where the machine performance is important but always secondary to the input of the rider.

CLOSE TO HOME: Such has been the keen competition in SBK this season that the championship battle features four riders within a mere 14 points of each other. With a total of 100 points up for grabs for any who can win the final four legs of the championship, first of all at Imola and the final round at Magny Cours in France, there are no certainties at this point. Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila 999F04) lost his championship lead to his team-mate James Toseland (Ducati Fila 999F04) at the previous Assen round, but the French ace still sits in third place overall, only ten points from Englishman Toseland. Imola is almost a ëhomeí race for both factory Ducati riders, as Imola is a short Autostrada blast away from the Ducati Fila teamís headquarters in Borgo Panigale, Bologna. With the vociferous ëDucatistií in attendance Imola will be its usual cauldron of crimson banners on raceday. Each factory rider has an individual reason to feel confident for Imola, with Laconi the only current SBK rider to have won at the venue, while Toselandís resurgence gave him a win at the most recent 2004 SBK event in Assen.

FOUR CYLINDER CHIEF: SBK rookie Chris Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) has consistently belied his relative Superbike inexperience and trails Toseland by only three points, 255 to 252. With the reigning World Supersport Champion having an unquestioningly spectacular impact in the premier class, another new SBK star has been born. Vermeulenís current championship position is also a remarkable achievement for both his Ten Kate Team, which also made the jump to Superbike this year, and the new-for-2004 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade, in its first season of international competition. Raising their game at every crossroad they have come to so far, the Ten Kate trinity of rider, team and four-cylinder machine have scored a quartet of impressive wins so far.

FOURTH HORSEMAN: Noriyuki Haga (Ducati 999RS) currently lies fourth in the championship, 14 points from Toseland, but he is nonetheless holder of a 2004 winning record the envy of all except Laconi, with five full-pointers under his belt so far. Fully in the hunt, Haga is the most experienced of all the current championship contenders, but has yet to win a Superbike race at Imola.

THE DYNAMIC DUO: Pierfrancesco Chili (PSG-1 Ducati) has had a typically eventful season so far in SBK, with a single race win on his hybrid 998/999 machine, five DNFs in total and arguably more column inches in the media than any other single rider. The local hero, 40-years-old and in his 22nd year of senior racing competition, may be a remote 42 points from the lead at present, but at Imola, riding a wave of local emotion, he could perform in a fashion that sometimes only Chili can. A rider with an even more up-down season than Chili is the most experienced SBK rookie imaginable, Garry McCoy (Ducati Xerox SC 999RS). A single race winner at Phillip Island, McCoy has taken only two further podiums, despite his best efforts and a dramatic tail steering style. At a fast track like Imola, McCoy could find things going his way, despite being surrounded by Superbikeís best exponents.

Ducati SBK -
MAGNY-COURS TESTING
Sept 16th - Regis Laconi and James Toseland completed preparations for the last two rounds of the World Superbike championship with a two-day test session at Magny-Cours, France, the venue for the season's finale on October 3.
Almost two days of good weather in the Nevers area enabled the two Ducati Fila riders to lap without any problems and find some good settings for the French circuit in view of the race.

Regis Laconi, whose best time was 1'43.0 on race rubber, declared: "We worked a lot on chassis settings here and I was very happy with the feeling. We started with the same front-end problem as at Assen, but over the two days we sorted that out and I was able to run very quick and at a very constant pace. I'm optimistic for the race."

James Toseland, with a time of 1'43.2, was just a couple of tenths of a second off the pace of his French team-mate. "These two days were very positive, we were trying to get the bike to work good around this difficult circuit and we succeeded. We tested a number of different tyre compounds, both front and rear, and made some changes to the bike, but I found that I was also pretty happy with my Assen set-up with which I won last Sunday's race."

Four riders, Toseland, Vermeulen (Honda), Laconi and Haga (Renegade Ducati) are still in with a chance of the title as World Superbike heads to Imola next week and then Magny-Cours seven days later for its exciting finale.

Ducati presents its new 2005 model line at Intermot in Munich -
President talks about Aprilia
Munich, September 14, 2004 – The gates are opening at the 4th edition of INTERMOT, the international motorcycle and bicycle show in Munich. The
first motorcycle manufacturer to meet the press was Ducati, which presented its new line for 2005.

The entire world of Ducati is on display in an 800 square meter space at stand number 705. Ducati is set to welcome thousands of fans of this
celebrated Italian motorcycle maker with its full range of bikes,
accessories and apparel destined for stores and racetracks in 2005.

"Irrespective of the fluctuations of the market, which are sometimes favourable and other times not, as during this particularly difficult year,
the development of the Ducati range of bikes is always based on two fundamental criteria" commented Federico Minoli, the Chairman and Managing-Director of Ducati.

"For the Superbike segment we are transferring all the innovations and appearance of the racing bike to the streetbike
product, whereas for the other families, we continue to innovate in the best Ducati tradition, albeit remaining faithful to the aesthetic and technological principles that have always characterised our marque."

"As far as the Aprilia group is concerned - continued the Ducati Chairman - the situation remains unsettled, with a decision expected from the pool of financing banks on the future of the company. Ducati has confirmed its offer for the acquisition of the entire group and also its interest in only the Moto Guzzi brand and in Aprilia's off-road
project.

Our interest is linked to an industrial plan that foresees the relaunching of the products and the brands. The success of Ducati demonstrates that
products with a strong personality and a precise market positioning are the most effective way of taking on the Far East's major motorcycle
manufacturers, rather than the sheer weight of numbers of bikes produced."

There are many new offerings from Ducati. Each family has been upgraded to improve performance, comfort and style, including the 999 SBK range and the new Multistrada s shown at left.

DISAPPOINTING GRAND PRIX OF JAPAN FOR DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM
Motegi (Japan), Sunday 19 September 2004 - The Grand Prix of Japan proved to be a disappointing race for the Ducati Marlboro Team as both riders were involved in crashes and failed to finish.

Like last year, the race at the Motegi circuit in Japan began with a tremendous pile-up at the first corner which involved six riders including Loris Capirossi. The Italian, who lay immobile on the ground after the crash, suffered slight concussion and two bone fractures to his right foot. It was a day to forget also for team-mate Troy Bayliss. Sixteenth on the starting-grid, the gritty Australian was making a fantastic recovery when he crashed five laps from the end while in fifth position.

The good performance of the Ducati Marlboro Team riders on Friday and Saturday, when both Loris and Troy were quick on race tyres, was not transformed into a similar result in the race.

"This could have been our best race of the season, but instead it was a day to forget" declared Livio Suppo, director of the Ducati Marlboro Team. "During the warm-up Loris was third quickest and Troy was also in a good position. Unfortunately Loris was involved in a bad crash at the first curve and was unable to demonstrate all his potential. Troy, after starting in sixteenth position, was having an incredible race, but he crashed while in fifth place five laps from the end. In 2003 on this track we were struggling a lot, but this weekend's qualifying demonstrated how much the bike has progressed since last year: unfortunately we were unable to get a good result to confirm this progress".

Loris Capirossi's Grand Prix of Japan came to an end at the first corner, when he was involved in a big crash, together with five other riders. The Italian, who had been consistently quick over the weekend and third in the morning warm-up, was convinced a good result could have been possible today. Now Loris is faced with a race against time to recover for the Grand Prix of Qatar.
"I don't know what happened, I just found myself on the ground" admitted Loris afterwards in the Clinica Mobile. "It was a pity, but that's racing and these things can happen. This could have been an important race for us: we had gone well during qualifying and in the morning warm-up and were convinced we could have obtained a good result, instead it all came to an end at the first curve. This is a strange track and last year there was also a crash involving 4 or 5 riders, including Troy. I'm now just going to have to do well in the next race."

Ducati Marlboro Team rider Troy Bayliss gave the spectators at Japan's Motegi circuit an exciting race: after starting from the sixth row, he managed to get up to fifth place with a spectacular recovery. Unfortunately Troy's race came to an end when he crashed out with five laps remaining.

"I got a reasonably good start and I had a good race despite starting from sixteenth on the grid. I was really disappointed about the crash because I was riding well. It's better to have a crash in fifth position than sixteenth position, so I'm leaving here on a positive note because I was doing OK. I look forward to the next race, I'm going to go home and train like mad to get ready for Qatar".

Naked Desmosedici! FastDates.com takes an exclusive visit inside the
Ducati Corse MotoGP Race Shop!
Plus - See our visit to Ducati Racing School at Misano and the ducati factory!

RC Factory Tour
On Thursday 16th September a group of journalists were given a unique opportunity - the chance to see inside the headquarters of HRC (Honda Racing Corporation and MSD (Motor Sports Developments) at the Honda R&D Asaka Center.

Located within the boundary of Tokyo’s never-ending conurbation, the HRC headquarters hosted 16 journalists, from six countries, who were given a guided tour of HRC’s management offices, plus technical insights into the design, bench testing, development and assembly departments.

With 50 HRC and 70 MSD staff on site, and the MSD staff a small part of approximately 2,000 Honda R&D workers in total, the outright scale of operations was something of a surprise to those who imagined never-ending rows of computers, personnel and top-secret ante-rooms.
The scope of operations undertaken by HRC and MSD is nonetheless unparalleled, with off road and track racing machines sharing space on the various shop floors, plus cyberspace time on the computer aided design screens.

The design floor of HRC is where the ideas generated inside the company are first given substance, albeit only as a visual 3D version in the first instance. Sophisticated software is then used to produce the final design parameters, for all components on the machines.
After production of the actual parts, the engines and complete machines are assembled, ready to be tested on one of numerous dynamometers, of rolling road, static bench test and chassis evaluation varieties.

In the assembly department machines are painstaking prepared, with full factory RC211V engines brought to life alongside the ongoing meticulous assembly of a customer SWS two-stroke, or a four-stroke World Trials machine – or even a downhill racing mountain bike, complete with integral gearbox.

The entire visit was designed to prove HRC’s modernistic philosophy, that it should be an open and approachable company, with the only real secrets being those under development by the leading edge engineering groups in HRC and MSD.

The factory visit was followed-up by the latest of Honda’s technical briefings, held for the first time in Japan,
after first qualifying at the Motegi MotoGP race.

LA DUCATI DAY
October 14th La Honda,
(San Francisco region) CA
Motivated Ducati owners in the San Francisco Bay Area and Ducati North America wil organize a full day of biker activities in La Honda, California to support the La Honda Fire Department
MH900evoluzione Owners Club, Ducati North America. BevelHeaven.com and Doc
Wong will host La Ducati Day 2004 on October 10th, 2004 in La Honda, California.

The activities include Ducati Garage Challenges, auctions, raffles, Concourso Ducati, technical seminars, food, music and other fun events!
LDD2004 takes place in La Honda, California situated in the beautiful Santa
Cruz Mountains California, now renamed "La Ducati".

This area is home to
some of the most beautiful motorcycling roads in California. Admission to La Ducati Day 2004 is FREE. Arrive with your Ducati and enjoy the day with fellow Ducatisti. Some of the events listed below have a modest entry fee, of which 100% goes
to the La Honda Fire Brigade.

· ·Sportbike Suspension Setup Clinic
Jim Lindemann and Gary Jaehne will measure and tune your motorcycles suspension to match your weight/riding style, all for a $30.00 donation to the La Honda Fire Brigade.
· ·Raffles
Attendees can purchase raffle tickets to win very cool prizes that will be raffled off during the event.
· ·Auction Area
Charity auction to raise money for the La Honda Fire Brigade.
· ·Ducati Clubs Area
Participating Ducati Clubs and groups will be able to display in this area. No fee for Ducati Clubs to participate, but must provide club volunteers to work the Helmet Check/Welcome area, Parking Area and other duties for the event.
· ·Concorso Ducati Area
Ducati Concours d'Elegance brought to you by BevelHeaven.com - $10.00 entry
fee for participants, general admission is free.
· ·Swap Meet Area
Attendees who register will be allowed to display and sell, barter or trade their Ducati related items in this area. A $15.00 fee will be charged to display. If you would like to register to display, please contact Hans Mellberg.
· ·Tech University Classroom style seating area for technical discussions/sessions on riding, maintenance, etc. Free attendance.
· ·Vendor Area
Retail vendor display area, where manufacturers and dealers will have the latest Ducati parts and accessories available to browse and purchase.
· ·Ducati Garage Challenge Area
Ducati Garage Challenges: A $5.00 fee will be charged for each Ducati Challenge entered.

For further information please visit www.ducatiusa.com
www.ducatiowners.com/LDD2004/
or contact:
Vincent Chiaro
PR and Event Coordinator
Ducati North America
Ph. +1-408-343-4414
vchiaro@ducatiusa.com

John Clelland, President MH900Evoluzione Owners Club
johnc@ducatiowners.com