FireFighting Motorcycle

Ever had an officer ask you “where’s the fire?” after being pulled over for speeding? Well now you have a good excuse. This converted BMW R1200RT has two 20 or 25 liter tanks (contain a premix of water and foam) mounted on either side that is connected to a 6.8 liter compressed air tank on the back of the bike that has a 20 to 30 meter hose.

They are currently being used in the U.K. but also in Japan, India and across Europe. I don’t think it’s the first option and cannot see it doing much if a house or building is on fire but it would be first on the scene.

Sources: www.motorcycle.com

700th Premier Class race milestone to be celebrated in Japan

A look back over some memorable landmarks in the premier class since its inception in 1949.

This weekend’s Polini Grand Prix of Japan marks the 700th premier class Grand Prix in the history of the World Championship. Since the first round, many changes in cylinder class, tyre regulations and even starting times have been used, some of which are documented in a milestone review of the 699 races to date.

June 1949, Race #1: Great Britain IOM TT
The first 500cc GP is won by Harold Daniell riding a factory Norton.

September 1952, Race no.27, Monza
Les Graham gives MV Agusta the first race win in the premier-class.

October 1953, Race no.36, Montjuich
Fergus Anderson (Moto Guzzi) at 44 years old is the oldest rider to win in the premier class.

June 1957, Race no.60, Great Britain IOM TT
The longest ever GP of 301.84 miles, held over 8 laps of the Mountain circuit in the Isle of Man, won by Bob McIntyre (Gilera)

August 1962, Race no.100, Sachsenring

Mike Hailwood (MV Agusta) wins the 100th race in the premier-class.

May 1966, Race no.131, Hockenheim

Jim Redman gives Honda their first ever 500cc GP victory, this also being the first 500c win by a Japanese manufacturer.

September 1969, Race no.171, Yugoslavia
Godfrey Nash riding a Norton becomes the last rider to win a 500cc GP riding a single-cylinder machine.

August 1971, Race no.191, Ulster
Jack Findlay (Suzuki) takes the first win in the premier-class riding a two-stroke machine.

June 1972, Race no.200, Dutch TT Assen
Giacomo Agostini wins the 200th race riding a MV Agusta.

May 1973, Race no.207, France Paul Ricard
Jarno Saarinen (Yamaha) scores the first win in the premier-class by a four-cylinder two-stroke machine.

August 1976, Race no.247, Nurburgring Giacomo Agostini scores the last of his 68 victories which is also the last victory by MV Agusta and the last for a four-stroke 500cc machine.

July 1977, Race no.254, Belgium
The fastest ever GP race was won by Barry Sheene riding a Suzuki at an average speed of 217.37 km/hr (135.067mph).

August 1981, Race no.298, Silverstone

Jack Middleburg (Suzuki) becomes the last rider to win in the premier-class riding a true ‘privateer’ machine.

August 1981, Race no.300, Sweden
Barry Sheene wins the 300th GP riding a Yamaha, this is also the last premier-class win by a British rider.

July 1982, Race no.307, Belgium
Freddie Spencer takes the first victory for the three-cylinder two-stroke Honda at the age of 20, the youngest ever winner in the premier-class.

July 1989, Race no.400, France
Eddie Lawson riding a Honda wins the 400th GP in the premier-class.

March 1994, Race no.462, Eastern Creek
John Kocinski wins riding a Cagiva, this being the last time a non-Japanese 500cc two-stroke machine won in the premier-class.

September 1996, Race no.500, Imola.
Mick Doohan (Honda) takes the victory in a race cut short due to a rain shower.

April 2002, Race no. 581, Suzuka.
Valentino Rossi (Honda) takes the first win under the new MotoGP rules allowing 990cc four-strokes to compete alongside 500cc two-stroke machines.

October 2002, Race no.593, Motegi
Loris Capirossi’s (Honda) 3rd place finish is the last ever podium by a two-stroke machine in the premier-class

May 2003, Race no.600, France.
Sete Gibernau (Honda) wins after a great battle with Valentino Rossi in a shortened race stopped due to rain.

June 2003, Race no.602, Catalonia
Loris Capirossi gives Ducati their first ever premier-class Grand Prix victory.

April 2004, Race no.613, South Africa
After wining the final race of 2003 at Valencia riding a Honda, Valentino Rossi wins the first race of 2004 on a Yamaha.

October 2006, Race no.662, Valencia
Riding as a replacement for the injured Sete Gibernau, Troy Bayliss (Ducati) wins the final race of the 990cc era.

March 2007, Race no.663, Qatar
Casey Stoner (Ducati) wins the first race under the revised rules limiting machines to 800cc.

March 2008, Race no.681, Qatar
For the first time ever a Grand Prix is held at night under floodlights.

September 2008, Race no.694, Indianapolis
A Grand Prix event is held at the famous Indianapolis circuit for the first time and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) takes his 69th premier class win -making him the most successful of all-time.

April 2009, Race no.699, Qatar
In the first race since the introduction of a single-tyre rule, Casey Stoner (Ducati) wins the opening race of the season in Qatar for the third successive year.

Sources: www.motogp.com

Rossi Nominated For Laureus World Sportsman Of The Year Award

Fiat Yamaha’s World Champion on shortlist of six for prestigious prize.

Reigning MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi’s achievements in 2008 have been recognised with a nomination for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award, an honour that will be decided at the tenth edition of the Laureus World Sports Awards.

Rossi was one of six sportsmen to be entered onto the final shortlist, following a ballot open to the world’s media in a record 112 countries. His rivals for the prize are Olympic gold medal winners Usain Bolt & Michael Phelps, plus Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton, ATP tennis world number one Rafael Nadal and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.

It is not the first time that Rossi has been acknowledged by the selection panel; In 2006 he was named as the winner of the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award for his contribution to motorcyclcing.

Previous winners of the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award are Roger Federer, Michael Schumacher, Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods.

Sources: www.motogp.com

Stoner Wins In Qatar Night Race

The re-scheduled first MotoGP race of 2009 saw Casey Stoner take victory at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar.

As the action in the premier class of the 2009 FIM MotoGP World Championship finally got underway, at the spectacular Losail International Circuit on Monday night, it was Casey Stoner who took the headlines, completing a hat-trick of season-opening wins in Qatar.

Following the exceptional postponement of the opening MotoGP contest of the year due to rain in the Arabian desert, Monday evening witnessed the first race in the new single tyre supplier era, but it was a familiar story with Stoner crossing the line first, ahead of World Champion Valentino Rossi.

A ruthless Stoner took the holeshot from pole and had built up a two second gap at the end of the first lap. The 2007 World Champion’s victory never looked in serious doubt as he controlled the race from the front, having been the fastest rider in every session over the weekend. Stoner’s winning margin was more than seven seconds at the end of a brilliant performance, casting aside any doubts about his fitness after winter surgery on his left wrist.

Completing the podium behind the front two was Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha colleague Jorge Lorenzo repeating his rostrum result from his MotoGP debut in the opening race of 2008, in his first race on Bridgestone tyres.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards started his seventh season in MotoGP riding solidly from sixth on the grid to finish fourth on his own Bridgestone debut, making it three Yamahas in the top four.

Also on new tyres and with a new factory bike Repsol Honda’s 2009 signing Andrea Dovizioso was fifth, fading slightly in the second half of the race having run in third place for several laps.

There was a good performance from Alex de Angelis, crossing the line sixth having qualified ninth at the start of his second year with the San Carlo Honda Gresini team. Rizla Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen also made a decent start to the year with his improved GSV-R machine in seventh.

An excellent MotoGP debut from satellite Ducati rider Mika Kallio, meanwhile, saw him end up as the best placed rookie in eighth for the new look Pramac Racing outfit.

On factory machinery and returning to the Honda Gresini team this year, Toni Elías may be disappointed not to have done better than ninth, whilst Frenchman Randy de Puniet brought the satellite LCR Honda RC212V home three seconds behind the Spaniard to complete the top ten.

Dani Pedrosa, riding with knee and wrist injuries, battled through the pain barrier to pick up some important points in eleventh spot. On his Ducati debut, Pedrosa’s former team-mate Nicky Hayden also did well to complete the race in twelfth, given the back and chest injuries he suffered in a huge highside crash in qualifying on Saturday. The brave 2006 World Champion even set his best time on the last lap.

Sete Gibernau finished 13th on his MotoGP comeback with the satellite Ducati Grupo Francisco Hernando team, unable to push into the top ten due to his ongoing shoulder injury.

Marco Melandri made his first appearance for the Hayate Racing Team and ran off track early on but battled back well to finish in the points in 14th.

Commencing his 20th Grand Prix season Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi crashed out on lap eight and was unable to rejoin the race.

After a weekend off the MotoGP riders next reconvene at the Polini Grand Prix of Japan for round two, which takes place at the Motegi circuit from 24th-26th April.

Sources:www.motogp.com

COMMERCIALBANK GRAND PRIX OF QATAR Race Day Results

COMMERCIALBANK GRAND PRIX OF QATAR

MotoGP Race Classification

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Motorcycle	Total time	Km/h	Gap
1	25	27	Casey STONER	AUS	Ducati Marlboro Team	Ducati	42'53.984	165.539
2	20	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	43'01.755	165.041	7.771
3	16	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	43'10.228	164.501	16.244
4	13	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	43'18.394	163.984	24.410
5	11	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	43'21.247	163.804	27.263
6	10	15	Alex DE ANGELIS	RSM	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	43'23.867	163.639	29.883
7	9	7	Chris VERMEULEN	AUS	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	43'27.611	163.404	33.627
8	8	36	Mika KALLIO	FIN	Pramac Racing	Ducati	43'28.739	163.334	34.755
9	7	24	Toni ELIAS	SPA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	43'33.465	163.038	39.481
10	6	14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	43'36.268	162.864	42.284
11	5	3	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	43'42.510	162.476	48.526
12	4	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Marlboro Team	Ducati	43'42.867	162.454	48.883
13	3	59	Sete GIBERNAU	SPA	Grupo Francisco Hernando	Ducati	43'46.199	162.248	52.215
14	2	33	Marco MELANDRI	ITA	Hayate Racing Team	Kawasaki	43'50.363	161.991	56.379
15	1	72	Yuki TAKAHASHI	JPN	Scot Racing Team MotoGP	Honda	43'54.270	161.751	1'00.286
16		52	James TOSELAND	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	44'08.962	160.853	1'14.978
17		88	Niccolo CANEPA	ITA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	44'09.012	160.850	1'15.028
Not classified
		65	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	13'49.501		15 Lap

Joint statement on Qatar race postponement

FIM, IRTA, Dorna and the QMMF (Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation) have released the following statement on the MotoGP race postponement at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar.

Due to adverse weather conditions, the MotoGP race at the Commercial bank Grand Prix of Qatar has been postponed.

Following discussions between FIM, IRTA, Dorna and the QMMF, a proposal was put to the MotoGP teams to run the race tomorrow evening. Thanks to a huge effort from all parties concerned, and out of respect to fans of motorsport around the world, it has been decided that the race will take place on Monday 13th April, 2009.

The warm-up will run at 6.30pm local time (GMT+3), with the race scheduled to start at 9pm.

FIM Road-racing Commission President, Mr. Claude Danis stated, “For safety reasons it was not possible to race in the night due to the reflection of the lights on the track. This decision had already been taken a few years ago when we first decided to run a night race in Qatar. On behalf of the FIM I am very happy that we could postpone the race until tomorrow. It is important for the championship, especially at the first race, and I would like to thank Dorna, QMMF, IRTA and the MotoGP teams for helping reach this decision together.”

Dorna Sports CEO, Mr. Carmelo Ezpeleta added, “After the arrival of a large storm we had to cancel the race as it was unsafe. The QMMF offered us the choice to run the race tomorrow, and as it was a very important decision we wanted to consult with all the team managers. The postponement was accepted by a large majority. This has been an extraordinary decision in extraordinary circumstances.”

Sources:www.motogp.com

Stoner Clean Sweep During MotoGP Warmup

Ducati Marlboro rider fastest in 20-minute Sunday session.

The MotoGP warmup concluded the preparations for the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar on Sunday evening, and it barely needs mentioning that Casey Stoner was the top man in the session. The Australian completed a clean sweep of the four preparatory sessions with a 1’56.697 lap unmatched by any of his 800cc rivals, onboard the Ducati Desmosedici GP9.

The main favourite to deny a Stoner victory, Valentino Rossi was less than a tenth of a second slower than the Australian during the 20-minute run, and will start the race by his rival’s side on the front row.

Third quickest was Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso, who makes his debut for the team in Qatar, whilst Jorge Lorenzo and Colin Edwards showed the suitability of the Yamaha M1 to the Losail International Circuit by placing in the top five.

A sore Nicky Hayden came back from a heavy qualifying hit to test the extent of his discomfort in the warmup, but came close to another incident when being passed by San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex de Angelis. Also riding injured, Hayden’s former Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa twice ran off track during the session.

Sources:www.motogp.com

MotoGP Qatar race to be run on Monday

A rare rainstorm at the Losail International Circuit on Sunday evening saw the first MotoGP
race of the year put back to Monday at 9pm local time.

After the season-opening Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar was interrupted by rain on Sunday evening the MotoGP race had to be postponed and will now be run on Monday evening at 9pm local time, with an additional warm-up session beforehand at 6.30pm.

After shortened 250cc and 125cc races earlier in the evening the heavy rainstorm in the Arabian desert at 11pm on Sunday evening made it unsafe for the MotoGP riders to go out onto the 5.380km floodlit circuit.

Sources: www.motogp.com

2009 MotoGP Qatar Qualifying Practice Result

Pos	No.	Rider	Bike	Time	Diff	Diff Previous
1	27	Casey STONER	DUCATI	1'55.286
2	46	Valentino ROSSI	YAMAHA	1'55.759	0.473	0.473
3	99	Jorge LORENZO	YAMAHA	1'55.783	0.497	0.024
4	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	HONDA	1'55.977	0.691	0.194
5	65	Loris CAPIROSSI	SUZUKI	1'56.149	0.863	0.172
6	5	Colin EDWARDS	YAMAHA	1'56.194	0.908	0.045
7	14	Randy DE PUNIET	HONDA	1'56.358	1.072	0.164
8	7	Chris VERMEULEN	SUZUKI	1'56.493	1.207	0.135
9	15	Alex DE ANGELIS	HONDA	1'56.790	1.504	0.297
10	36	Mika KALLIO	DUCATI	1'56.852	1.566	0.062
11	33	Marco MELANDRI	KAWASAKI	1'56.962	1.676	0.110
12	24	Toni ELIAS	HONDA	1'57.225	1.939	0.263
13	52	James TOSELAND	YAMAHA	1'57.510	2.224	0.285
14	3	Dani PEDROSA	HONDA	1'57.729	2.443	0.219
15	59	Sete GIBERNAU	DUCATI	1'57.899	2.613	0.170
16	69	Nicky HAYDEN	DUCATI	1'58.215	2.929	0.316
17	72	Yuki TAKAHASHI	HONDA	1'58.784	3.498	0.569
18	88	Niccolo CANEPA	DUCATI	1'58.999	3.713	0.215

2009 Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Classic LT

The Vulcan 1700 line is expanded with the Classic LT light-tourer. If the bags, windshield and fancy paint don’t get you, maybe the extended warranty will.

Bargain hunters might be convinced to overlook the standard Classic in favor of the light-touring LT version. An extra $1,500 buy-in nets you greater comfort, versatility, passenger contentment and a bit of additional bling.

We spent a half a day riding the LT in occasionally blustery conditions, and it was a relief to cower behind a windshield that is adjustable over a 2-inch range. Structurally bolstered leather saddlebags provided stowage for water and a camera, and a backrest keeps your passengers where they belong. The seats are highlighted with chromed brass studs that match the detailing on the saddlebags.

But more obvious to the eyes are the 2-tone paint combos that add considerably to the attractiveness of the black-only Classic. Set against a Pearl Burnish Beige is your choice of two colors: Metallic Nocturne Blue or Metallic Dark Green. Both feature accent pinstriping between the two tones.

Otherwise, the Classic LT has identical features and mechanicals as the pared-down Classic. Its $13,799 MSRP includes two years of warranty coverage to the Classic’s one year. If I were to buy a Vulcan 1700 Classic, I’d definitely choose the LT.

Sources:www.motorcycle.com

Prospects for the 2009 MotoGP Season

Here are your major contending teams and riders heading into the 2009 season.

Team	Riders
Fiat Yamaha	Valentino Rossi	Jorge Lorenzo
Ducati Marlboro	Casey Stoner	Nicky Hayden
Repsol Honda	Dani Pedrosa	Andrea Dovizioso
Rizla Suzuki	Chris Vermeulen	Loris Capirossi
Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Colin Edwards	James Toseland

Stoner and Pedrosa are starting the season less than 100% healthy, with Stoner still recovering from offseason surgery on his wrist and Pedrosa having had surgery after a high side – go figure –while testing at Qatar on March 2. The Suzuki riders finished the pre-season testing session at Jerez in 3rd and 5th places, suggesting they may be more competitive at the start of this season. Dovizioso figures to benefit from the switch to the factory Honda team, and Nicky Hayden, at least in my opinion, will be running with the big dogs before the season is over on his shiny new Ducati.

"I know you don't like it, Jorge, but trust me, the wall is a good thing!"

Colin Edwards seemed to enjoy beating teammate James Toseland in the pre-season tests.

One of the amusing aspects to these big high-powered two-rider teams is the fact that the “teammates” don’t always get along so well. Apparently Rossi and Lorenzo don’t see eye to eye on everything. Such also seems to be the case with Edwards and Toseland. How, you’re wondering, do we know this? BECAUSE THE CREWS HAVE TO BUILD WALLS IN THE GARAGES TO KEEP THEM APART. Despite the fact that these riders have testicles the size of hubcaps, they’ve got “little man” complexes and the aggressiveness of rat terriers. Why don’t they just do what they do in sitcoms: draw a line down the middle of the room and let hilarity ensue?

Rossi is the odds-on favorite to repeat this season, edging out Stoner on the surprising number of online betting sites devoted to MotoGP. It’s difficult to bet against him, as he is smooth as silk and rarely makes even the smallest mistake. Stoner is going to have to have a perfect season to beat him out. We’ll see if it’ll be similar to last season, with the Stoner owning the straightaways, and Rossi ruling the corners.

Last year at Qatar, the top five finishers were Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa on the podium, followed by Dovizioso and Rossi. Look for Rossi, Stoner and Lorenzo up there this year, with Vermeulen, Dovizioso and Edwards trailing. Pedrosa is apparently going to start, but whether he can finish remains to be seen.

Sources:www.motorcycle.com

Rossi Improvements In Good Friday Session

“We’ll get better" assures reigning MotoGP World Champion.

Casey Stoner may have set the early pace in Qatar with a storming practice time, but MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi drew positive conclusions from the first session of the 2009 season. At what he described on Thursday as the scene of his ‘worst race of 2008’, the Fiat Yamaha man saw potential for further improvement in the two forthcoming Saturday sessions.

‘It was a good session. We are already close to the top, and we already have some ideas from the last test on how to improve the grip levels,” said Rossi after clocking a 1’57.439 time (0.386 slower than Stoner’s lap) on a circuit that had only had 1.5hours worth of riding undertaken beforehand to clear up the lines.

“The new setting is working well, and we have more confidence now when compared to the test that we had here. Now is only the first practice; we’ll get faster.”

The previous test had seen prior rainfall and cold temperatures cause problems for the riders, and the Italian felt the difference in conditions to some extent on Friday.

“I can ride the bike feeling that it is more under control. With lower temperatures it was perhaps dangerous at times before.”

Rossi will be back on track with the rest of the MotoGP riders for the second free practice session for the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar, on Saturday at 7.05pm local time.

Sources:www.motogp.com

Stoner Opening Night Success

After Casey Stoner began the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar in good form on Friday night he was in an upbeat mood about the results of the first MotoGP free practice of 2009.

Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner has a great record at Qatar, having started his remarkable 2007 MotoGP title triumph with a brilliant victory at the Losail International Circuit, a win which he repeated in style at the beginning of last year.

The Australian was also the fastest man at the 2009 Official Night Test at the desert track at the beginning of March and having stopped off in Jerez two weeks ago to top the timesheets again and win himself a new car in the BMW M Award, he continued his preseason form with the best time in free practice on Friday evening as the new season commenced.

The 23 year-old will be hard to stop at this weekend, although fans can be assured that the likes of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo will be doing their very best to prevent a third consecutive Stoner Qatar win on Sunday.

Reviewing his evening’s work late on Friday Stoner commented, “The bike is working very well. The settings that we found in Jerez seem to be working quite well here also, but we still need to improve a couple of things like everybody. The track conditions are not perfect yet, though by the time we arrive tomorrow night for qualifying it should be fine and we will understand where we are a little bit more.”

Asked about his fitness as he prepares for his first race since winter surgery, he replied, “There is no problem with my wrist. I would like to be able to do more physical training but that is not an excuse and the wrist is not causing any issues. So we are looking forward to starting the season and we will see how things go.”

Sources: www.motogp.com

2009 Moto GP Qatar Grand Prix Free Practice Results

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Motorcycle	Lap time	Km/h	Gap
1	27	Casey STONER	AUS	Ducati Marlboro Team	Ducati	1'57.053	328.967
2	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	1'57.439	327.471	0.386
3	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1'57.835	322.677	0.782
4	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	1'58.272	326.579	1.219
5	15	Alex DE ANGELIS	RSM	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	1'58.452	326.975	1.399
6	65	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	1'58.468	323.643	1.415
7	36	Mika KALLIO	FIN	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1'58.499	328.367	1.446
8	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1'58.506	325.693	1.453
9	33	Marco MELANDRI	ITA	Hayate Racing Team	Kawasaki	1'58.757	324.812	1.704
10	14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	1'58.771	321.332	1.718
11	52	James TOSELAND	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1'58.850	320.000	1.797
12	24	Toni ELIAS	SPA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	1'59.094	327.471	2.041
13	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Marlboro Team	Ducati	1'59.158	324.519	2.105
14	7	Chris VERMEULEN	AUS	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	1'59.348	316.437	2.295
15	72	Yuki TAKAHASHI	JPN	Scot Racing Team MotoGP	Honda	1'59.437	319.621	2.384
16	59	Sete GIBERNAU	SPA	Grupo Francisco Hernando	Ducati	2'00.595	323.547	3.542
17	88	Niccolo CANEPA	ITA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	2'00.597	317.927	3.544
18	3	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	2'01.435	326.876	4.382

2009 Ducati StreetFighter

The powerful Streetfighter is capable of Big Speed (Guareschi reportedly got up to an indicated 168 mph at Ascari), so it’s helpful the bike comes with the superb brakes of the 1198. Brembo radial-mount 4-piston monobloc calipers squeeze huge 330mm rotors up front and are actuated by a radial master cylinder and braided-steel brake lines. They deliver immense strength and major-league feedback. The rear brake needs a good stomp to lock the tire, which is just how we like ’em.

It was in this corner where the DTC indicator lamps regularly illuminated.

With all this high-spec, high-performance capability, it should be no surprise this bike shines when ridden hard. We’re confident there isn’t another naked that will lap a track as quick, except perhaps the MV Agusta Brutale 1078RR. MV claims 154 hp and 86.3 ft-lbs of torque for the Brutale, figures nearly identical to the Streetfighter.

On the Streetfighter S, a rider has the soothing benefit of DTC. I spent my time playing it conservative in the #6 setting, and I was surprised how often the traction control kicked in. This was especially evident in some of the banked turns at Ascari when even mild throttle application lit the gauges’ indicator lamps while leaned over. The DTC intervention is imperceptible in its initial stage of ignition timing retardation, but a rider can feel the fuel cutout when aggressively twisting the throttle that results in a lurchy response. The adjustability of the DTC system allows it to be useful for even the fastest of riders.

Style-wise, we think the Streetfighter is a hit. Ducati’s trademark trellis frame is clearly on display, and the single-sided swingarm shows off a sweet Marchesini behind the shotgun mufflers. It’s not easy to package a big liquid-cooled powerplant nearly inside an unfaired bike, and the exposed rubber hoses on the left side of the engine detract from its otherwise clean looks. The chin fairing is slightly ungainly, but it disguises awkward bits like the oil cooler and filter and the lower section of the dual radiator setup.

One area of common complaint was the bike’s too-smooth footpegs. They proved to be quite slippery, a situation made worse by the right-side heel guard that forces a rider’s foot outboard. Ducati techs filed notches into them as an improvised solution for better grip.

But this is one of our few criticisms of this exciting new expression of Italian sportbikes. We were already thrilled with the sporting balance of the new Monster 1100, and this new super-naked brings it to a higher level via a 50-horsepower surplus. The Monster, however, is nimbler and might be quicker on a really tight canyon road.

Style and performance unlike any other naked sportbike.

Ducati has created yet another lust object for sportbike pilots with a flair for Italian machinery. Well-heeled, middle-aged sportbike jockeys with bad backs are ideal candidates for Streetfighter pleasure, but there’s enough performance on tap to thrill anyone of any age.

The base Streetfighter is a relative bargain at just under $15K, although it certainly can’t be called cheap. But those with deep pockets will want to ante up for the S version. Its Ohlins suspension is exemplary, especially in conjunction with the S’s lightweight wheels, and its traction-control system is a technological leap forward in rider aids.

If you can live without wind protection from your sportbike, the Streetfighter should be at the top of your list of dream motorcycles.

Ducati Streetfighter at the Ascari Race Resort: both are worthy of your dreams.

Sources:www.motorcycles.com