Ductalk

It is not an easy year, speaking about sport, for Ducati. In addition to the developing difficulties of MotoGp project, significant problems occurred in the SBK area (historically a land of conquest for Borgo Panigale's Production House).

After the initial enthusiasm with the clinched Superpole in Phillip Island, the 1199 Panigale has always struggled in race. Neither the effort of Carlos Checa were useful enough, never on the podium and twelftht in the general ranking with 29 points, nor those of a skilled team like the Alstar one. General manager Berhnard Gobmeiertried to explain the problem of the last emilian superbike.

Read more: http://www.gpone.com/en/2013050710132/Ducati-Monza-alarm-for-bike-and-driver.html#ixzz2Sci5sdin

Photos from the Assen SBK weekend courtesy of Ducati Corse

2013 Phillip Island World Superbike Tire Analysis

The 2013 eni FIM World Superbike Championship opened up at Phillip Island with the new 17-inch Pirelli tires that had riders putting significantly better times on the boards compared to last year.

The Aprilia riders proved to be able to adapt best to the new tires right from the start and they also managed to find the best set-up in order to take advantage of the solutions Pirelli brought to the Australian round, as the two race results demonstrate.

Expanding its coverage of international sports to the world of motorcycle racing, beIN SPORT, America's fastest-growing TV network, today announced it will televise the 2013 eni FIM Superbike World Championship season.

The network will also simulcast a live stream of the entire race - as well as every single race of the 2013 Superbike and related Supersport racing series - on its website at www.beinsport.tv

More on who carries beIn and live streaming details for those who cannot get the TV broadcast, on the link.

Team SBK Ducati Alstare faced various challenges in today’s opening sessions of the 2013 World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island. Although conditions at the Australian track were almost perfect during today’s free practice and first qualifying sessions, with sunshine and very little wind, both Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini suffered crashes during the practice which made afternoon qualifying all the more difficult for the pair.

After much drama over US broadcast rights for World Superbike in the US this year, it appears as if a deal has finally been inked.

The World's hottest 1199 Ducati Panigale

The satisfaction for the return to the scene is so palpable that even the bad weather in Jerez did lose the smile Francis Batta . The last test before boarding the Ducati Panigale on the flight to Australia is going up in smoke but what counts is to be there again. The Batta and Alstare have returned. To win.

Read more: http://www.gpone.com/index.php/201301219214/Batta-spieghero-a-Ezpeleta-cose-la-Superbike.html#ixzz2IccTRxxb

(This article is in Italian )

With just over a week until the season's first test and a new Facebook page that has over 10,000 followers, Ducati Team Alstare has rolled out it's new logo...

This video series will take you through the building of a Ducati Superbike. Speed City's Jonathan Green went to the Boulder Motorsports facility in Colorado and gets up close and technical. Part 1 - Front and rear braking systems, cooling systems, heat shields.

CRT bikes may have failed to compete in MotoGP but bone stock production bikes have never been closer to GP performance.

Production bikes close the gap to MotoGP lap times? We’re living in a golden age...

A couple of weeks ago, Dorna gave us a rare opportunity to compare World Superbikes and MotoGP bikes on the same track on the same day, when it scheduled tests for both classes on overlapping days.

For a while, it seemed as if the Superbikes would have the last laugh, as Eugene Laverty threw down a 1:40.1 lap that was faster than any of the MotoGP riders could muster. Late in the test, the natural order was restored when Nicky Hayden went ever so slightly faster on his Ducati.

Or was it?....

For the rest of this story click HERE

Assen, motorcycle racing's cathedral, has been the scene of some of the greatest entertainment in World Superbike racing, hailing back to Carl Fogarty's incredible run of victories, through the Bayliss years up to the Jonathan Rea wins. Assen has always been considered a rider's track, much like Donington and Philip Island. It represents everything that's good about World Superbikes with flowing corners making it a skill and bravery over power track. While it suits certain machinery, a good rider can, so the legends go, win on anything.

Effenbert Liberty Racing drops another hint about its potential return to the World Superbike Championship, but suggests it will do so with Ducati machinery.

After yesterday’s superb Superpole victory, expectations were high for good results today and Carlos Checa made his intentions clear by making a good start in the first of the two 22-lap races. At the end of the first lap, he was in third place before forcing his way into second spot after five laps. From then on he was locked in a battle for a podium place with Haslam and Melandri and although he could catch and pass his rivals on the brakes and in the turns, he was losing out on the straights. Trying to pass Melandri on the brakes going into Siberia, Carlos inadvertently clipped the back end of the Italian’s BMW, causing both to crash.

The countdown to the start of the 2013 World Superbike championship continues… The season’s opening races are set to get underway this Friday at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia and Team SBK Ducati Alstare and its riders Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini are fully prepared for this exciting challenge.
Having completed a series of very useful tests in recent days, the team is busy making final preparations to the new 1199 Panigale bikes ahead of this weekend’s action. Both riders will take the opportunity to rest up over the next two days, with Carlos recuperating from an intestinal problem and Ayrton from a hematoma near the liver that resulted from last week’s crash.

While the Moto2 and Moto3 riders finish up their test at Valencia, on the other side of the world, the World Superbike and World Supersport riders are beginning the final run in to the season opener in 10 days’ time.

They started today with the first of two days of private testing, the first chance the riders get to see the resurfaced Phillip Island track. The overall reaction to the new surface was very positive, though the lack of rubber on the track caused a spot of mayhem in the morning, with several riders crashing out.

Fastest man of the day was Eugene Laverty on the factory Aprilia, the Irishman circulating at lap record pace, but still a second off the pole record. Leon Camier put the Fixi Suzuki into 2nd spot, ahead of the Pata Hondas of Johnny Rea and Leon Haslam, while Marco Melandri ended the day in 5th. Carlos Checa did not ride, as the 2011 World Champion was suffering with a stomach bug.

WSBK News. Rainy weather hampers the first two days of World Superbike testing for Alstare Ducati at Jerez, with just one day remaining before it heads out to Australia for the opening round.

The SBK Ducati Alstare team, which will participate in this year’s World Superbike Championship with riders Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini, readies itself to get started on the 2013 work programme that begins with a three-day test session this weekend at Jerez de la Frontera in Spain.

This 2nd in the series starts by discussing the front and rear suspension, the CPU, traction control, electronic sensors, data collection, engine maps and more.

Spanish veteran believes that Ducati were made to suffer last season in WSB