Last month, we wrote about the Diavel Drag Race at World Ducati Week 2012 starring Ducati’s current MotoGP and World Superbike racers and the one and only Troy Bayliss. If you missed it, the retired three-time WSBK Champion Bayliss defeated nine-time Grand Prix Champion Valentino Rossi in the drag race competition on Ducati Diavel Carbons.

Our initial post featured a video of highlights from the drag race competition shot by Italian website Motociclismo.it but it was filmed by a single camera from an awkward vantage point. Thankfully, Ducati has since uploaded a video of the entire competition with live commentary and various camera angles from its official WDW TV coverage.

Unfortunately the commentary is in Italian, but it’s pretty easy to figure out what is going on if you don’t speak the language. It isn’t difficult to make out the names of Bayliss, Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Carlos Checa, Jakub Smrz, Sylvain Guintoli, Niccolò Canepa, and Lorenzo Zanetti. Continue Reading »

Former World Superbike Champion Troy Bayliss out-dueled MotoGP star Valentino Rossi in a highly-anticipated showdown to win the Diavel drag race on the Misano Circuit‘s starting straight as part of World Ducati Week 2012 celebrations.

Bayliss and Rossi faced off in the final round after getting through the preliminary rounds which also featured Rossi’s MotoGP teammate Nicky Hayden, reigning WSBK Champion Carlos Checa, Jakub Smrz, Sylvain Guintoli, Niccolò Canepa and Lorenzo Zanetti. Continue Reading »

Max Biaggi strengthened his hold on the 2012 World Superbike Championship lead with a pair of wins at Italy’s Misano circuit.

The Aprilia rider out-battled the Althea Ducati duo of Carlos Checa and Davide Giugliano to win Race One before taking a relatively easier Race Two victory.

Before the races, WSBK riders lined up on the starting grid to hold a banner expressing their support for the Emilia region in northern Italy which has been suffering from earthquakes and continuing aftershocks since late May. WSBK promoters Infront Motorsports announced an auction of racing memorabilia donated by racers to raise money for those directly affected by the disaster. Continue Reading »

Italy’s Misano race track has officially been renamed the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli to honor the late MotoGP racer. Marco Simoncelli, who died in the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix, was born in Cattolica and grew up in Coriano, a couple of towns near the Misano World Circuit.

The new name was introduced in a press conference ahead of the June 8-10 World Superbike Championship round. Simoncelli’s parents Paolo and Rossella Simoncelli were present for the announcement and the unveiling of the circuit’s new logo which was adapted by Aldo Drudi to incorporate the new name. Continue Reading »

The board of directors for the Misano World Circuit in Rimini, Italy, announced the circuit’s name will become associated with the late Marco Simoncelli. The site of the San Marino Grand Prix and Simoncellli’s home track, the Misano circuit will bear Simoncelli’s name in some fashion, though the official name won’t be announced until after discussing the issue with the Simoncelli family.

“We owe it to the memory of Sic,” says Luca Colaiacovo, circuit president,  “his family, to the hundreds of thousands of fans who admired the courage and humanity, the many personalities from the sports world and media that gave voice to this true and its popular movement, spontaneous and moving. We are so happy and proud to associate the plant with Marco Simoncelli Misano, a champion in sport and in life. “

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Suzuki is a bit of an underdog in the MotoGP World Championship – at least, as much of an underdog as a full factory outfit can be. With just one Suzuki on the grid, expectations are low for the Japanese manufacturer.

But one thing Suzuki does do well is put out an attractive looking racebike with the GSV-R dressed in Rizla Suzuki blue with livery by Troy Lee Designs. As eye-catching as the regular blue GSV-R looks, Troy Lee Designs may have topped itself with a one-off “Micron” livery used at the Misano round earlier this month. The chrome design was made to promote a new product from the team’s title sponsor, rolling paper manufacturer Rizla.

Troy Lee Designs released a short video showing the work that went into producing the “Micron” chrome one-off livery.

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Racing legend and three-time 500cc Grand Prix Champion Wayne Rainey paid a visit to Yamaha Motor Racing’s headquarters just outside of Milan, Italy.

The 1990-1992 World Champion met with employees of Yamaha Racing, Yamaha Motor Italy and Yamaha Motor RD Europe and officially opened a new boardroom named in his honor. Rainey, along with current Yamaha factory MotoGP racers Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies, took time to take photographs and sign autographs with the Yamaha staff.

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Wayne Rainey will return to the Misano circuit for the first time since he suffered a career-ending crash that left him paralyzed from the chest down.

The Sept. 5, 1993 crash at the circuit then-known as the Circuito Internazionale Santamonica brought a sudden end to what had been an incredibly successful Grand Prix racing career. Rainey, the 1990-1992 500cc Grand Prix World Champion was three rounds away from what would have been his fourth consecutive world title when he broke his back in a high-speed low-side.

Yamaha is organizing a special ceremony to honor Rainey on Friday, Sept 2 at Misano, ahead of the San Marino Grand Prix.

[Source: MotoGP]

The word “Multistrada” is supposed to mean “many roads” in Italian. One man took the term literally, riding his Ducati Mulitstrada 1200S on a 62,000 mile trip around the world.

Paolo Pirozzi, the president of the Naples Ducati Dreams Club, is a self-proclaimed professional motorcyclist with over 280,000 miles logged on various Ducati motorcycles. All those miles were merely a warm-up for his latest trip, a round-the-world ride across five continents.

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