Silly season '08

De kalender voor volgend jaar is onlangs bekend gemaakt:

Round 1: 14-16 March, Eastern Creek Raceway, NSW
Round 2: 18-20 April, Mallala Raceway, SA
Round 3: 30 May - 1 June, Winton Raceway, VIC
Round 4/5: 10-13 July, Queensland Raceway, QLD
Round 6: 29-31 August, Symmons Plains Raceway, TAS
Round 7: 17-19 October, Eastern Creek Raceway, NSW

(...)


Apart eigenlijk, dat ze daar in het winterseizoen rijden.

After months of speculation, multiple Australian Champion and world no 2 Kevin Curtain has signed a 2 year contract with (TBR) Trinder Brothers Racing to contest the Australian Superbike Championship for MV Agusta Racing. After contesting the highly competitive World Supersport Championship for the last 4 seasons in which he finished an amazing 2nd in the championship twice, Kev has decided to concentrate his efforts with TBR aboard an MV Agusta for the Australian Superbike Championship and possibly much more.

After speaking to Team Manager Steve Trinder this week regarding the teams future plans, it was revealed there are a lot of developments in progress.

“Craig (Trinder), Paul Feeney & I are off to Italy in November to sit down with the factory and discuss Kevin’s role with MV Agusta internationally, however our plan is to win the Australian Superbike Championship first and foremost. We also plan to have a world spec bike here for Kev to wild card the WSK race at Phillip Island to coincide with the world wide launch of MV Agusta back into world Championship racing”.

An all out assault on the Australian Championships with factory backing from the Italian MV Agusta headquarters, MV Agusta and Kevin will be a championship favourite right from the first round.

“One of the reason’s I signed is I have a great relationship with the TBR team, We know how to win together, and with the MV Agusta connection I will still be able to give the world championship regulars a hurry up, but this time in Superbike”.

Trinder said, “We have been talking to Kevin about this possibility for sometime, however the fact that Kevin could still have an international career through TBR and MV Agusta was a definite factor in gaining his signature”.

“The year Kevin last rode for us, our riders struggled for speed and handling on the brand we were using compared with the Suzuki’s and we still won 3 out of 4 championships. Even though the Japanese manufacturers are a lot more even these days, we won’t have those same problems again now with MV Agusta. We are really looking forward to next year, it’s exciting,” commented Trinder.

The first hit out for Curtain and his new team will be the WPS Queensland Championships, which the team is using for Kev to get acquainted with the new MVF41000.

Mr Consistent Australian Robbie Bugden clinched the New Zealand Superbike Championship for the second time today at Manfeild, with two wins from two starts, on his TripleR Suzuki, at round four of the Castrol New Zealand Superbike Championships.

Bugden has won every race in this year’s series giving him the title with one round to spare. The trans–tasman battle now moves down to second position with Hamilton’s Andrew Stroud (Suzuki) and Australian Gareth Jones (Yamaha) only four points apart.
Provisional Results - Round Four - Manfeild 23/24 February 2008
Castrol New Zealand Superbike Championship

Production Superbikes:
Race One: Robbie Bugden (Australia) Suzuki, 1; Andrew Stroud (Hamilton) Suzuki, 2; Gareth (Australia) Yamaha, 3; Craig Shirriffs (Feilding) Suzuki, 4; Damian Cudlin (Australia) Yamaha, 5.
Race two: Bugden, 1; Stroud, 2; Jones, 3; Shirriffs, 4; Cudlin, 5.
Points after four rounds: Bugden 200, Stroud 138, Jones 134, Shirriffs 116, Cudlin 81.

Zo te zien rijden ze daar ook niet met de meest jonge fietsen. Lijkt het nou zo of is die groene nummer 16 een Kawa ZXR750 type '91 met de stofzuigerslangen van kuip naar tank?

In het bijprgramma van de SBK op Phillip Island ook de Australian Superbikes die een race rijden die niet voor het kampioenschap telt. De kwalificatietijden:

Giles 33.81
O'Halloran 34.04
J Stauffer 34.37
Coxhell 34.62
D Stauffer 34.69
Allerton 34.79
Johnson 34.87
Charlton 35.46
Waters 35.56
Curtain 35.62 (Mv Agusta)
Trounson 36.54
Gibson 38.04
Liddicoat 38.62
Hern 39.60
G Taylor 39.82
Odendaal 40.29
Blunden 40.57
Williams 41.30

nog een mooie foto uit het australische ssp kampioenschap:


(afbeelding)

nog een mooie foto uit het australische ssp kampioenschap:


(afbeelding)

Odendaal is een 15-jarig Zuid Afrikaans talentje. Werd niet geselecteerd voor de RedBull Rookies en rijdt nu dus Australian SBK. Weet jij of ie het hele seizoen rijdt, RG?