WSB: Up And Down Weekend For Arai Riders - 7 September 2009

Round 11 of the World Superbike championship at the Nurburgring, Germany, was a weekend of mixed fortunes for the Arai riders.

Xerox Ducati’s Noriyuki Haga entered the round with a slim points advantage over arch title rival, Ben Spies, but a second place in race one and a race two crash following a collision with Jonathan Rea damaged his title chances as Yamaha-mounted Spies romped to a double victory.

Jonathan Rea just missed out on a podium in race one after a battle for third with Hanspree Ten Kate Honda team mate, Carlos Checa. The young Irishman more than made up for his disappointment with a stunning victory in race two and now sits 45 points behind Michel Fabrizio for third place in the championship.

Stiggy Honda rider Leon Haslam was disappointed after collisions in both races damaged his chances for a podium. The Derbyshire man was involved in the first lap incident in race 1, pushing him back to 11th place. In his true, gritty style, Haslam clawed his way back up the order only to lose out on 5th place at the line behind Max Biaggi.

In Race 2, Leon was holding second before a hard move from Spies pushed him off track and onto an eventual fifth place. John Hopkins suffered more bad luck after being knocked unconscious following a multiple bike incident on the first lap of race one. The popular American was taken to hospital but was later discharged without serious injury.

Haga now trails Spies by 18 points but there is still 150 points up for grabs with three rounds to go.

Race one:

1 Ben Spies, Yamaha

2 Noriyuki Haga, Ducati (Arai)

3 Carlos Checa, Honda

4 Jonathan Rea, Honda (Arai)

5 Max Biaggi, Aprilia

6 Leon Haslam, Honda (Arai)

Race two:

1 Jonathan Rea, Honda (Arai)

2 Ben Spies, Yamaha

3 Carlos Checa, Honda

4 Max Biaggi, Aprilia

5 Leon Haslam, Honda (Arai)

6 Troy Corser, BMW

World Championship points after 11 of 14 rounds:

1 Spies 364

2 Haga 346 (Arai)

3 Fabrizio 289

4 Rea 244 (Arai)

5 Biaggi 224

6 Haslam 201 (Arai)

7 Checa 177

8 Sykes 165

9 Byrne 140

9 Smrz 140 (Arai)

13 Nakano 86 (Arai)

20 Hopkins 17 (Arai)

More news and information: http://www.whyarai.co.uk/

BSB: Seeley Crowned 2010 British Superstock Champion - 1 September 2009

Arai racer Alastair Seeley has secured the 2010 Metzeler British Superstock championship at Cadwell Park (August 31).

Seeley, riding for Relentless Suzuki, wrapped up the championship with two rounds to go, incredibly having won all nine races so far this season.His closest rival, fellow Arai rider and the previous Superstock champion, Steve Brogan, crashed his Padgetts Honda on lap 1 at the hairpin and consequently losing his mathematical chance of retaining the red-backed no.1 plate.

It is unclear whether ‘The Wee Wizard’ will continue to retain his unbeaten form in Superstock or step up to the Superbike class for the remainder of the year.

Congratulation to Alastair from WhyArai.

More news and information: www.whyarai.co.uk

Bath anyone?

Arai will be at Matlock Bath Motorcycle Festival – Sunday August 23 2009








Motorcyclists are invited to celebrate the art of motoring on two wheels at Bike Plus 09. Organised by the Derby and Derbyshire Road Safety Partnership, the event on Sunday 23 August will offer visitors to Matlock Bath the opportunity to admire the latest machines, test their skills on a motorbike simulator and pick up a free copy of The Bikers’ Guide to Derbyshire.



Arai will be taking its helmet service vehicle along so that owners of the Japanese brand can receive a free helmet service and inspection along with the opportunity to ask its technicians any questions.



Visitors can also learn about discounted training, enjoy a virtual tour of the nation’s best roads by watching Highways Agency movie Great Roads Great Rides2 and enter special prize draws.Along with Phoenix Distribution, Derbyshire motorcycle dealers B&M Honda, CMC Motorcycles, Triumph World, Pidcocks and Minions are among those who will be exhibiting bikes at the event.



Rob Hill, the manager of the road safety partnership said: “Hopefully Bike Plus 09 will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship! We want to build strong relationships with the motorcycling community and work with them to cut the number of riders coming to grief on our roads.



The bikers’ guide on offer at Bike Plus 09 is a free pocket-sized booklet containing advice from the partnership about how to survive the fourteen countryside routes which they have identified as crash hot spots. The guide also includes an application form for Bike Plus - the subsidised rider development course after which this month’s festival of motorcycling is named.



Thanks to Derbyshire County Council, bikers can usually take advantage of the training for as little as £50 if they live in Derbyshire or £90 if they live outside the county. Bike Plus instructors are approved by the Driving Standards Agency.



They teach bikers to spot hazards and tackle challenges such as cornering and overtaking with greater confidence.Staff from the partnership’s member organisations will be on hand at the event to talk to visitors about their road safety work.Bike Plus 09 is taking place in the Derwent Gardens in Matlock Bath and will be open between 11am and 4pm. Admission is free.



To read more Arai news and information please visit http://www.whyarai.co.uk/

British MotoGP - Edwards podium , Pedrosa cautious, Hayden luckless -

Held at Donington Park for the final time, the British MotoGP provided a dramatic race with unexpected results.

Colin Edwards took a surprise podium in round 10 and looked very close to getting his first premier class victory after scything through the field from a slow start to finish in second place.



The Monster Yamaha rider and long-time Arai racer had a very cautious start, taking his time to get heat and confidence into his tyres. With early leaders Elias, Lorenzo and Rossi all crashing out, the two-time World Superbike champion used his experience to reel in eventual winner, Andrea Dovizioso.



Though Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa featured in the early leading group, the 2006 Donington victor chose a cautious approach having narrowly avoided Toni Elias following the fellow Honda rider’s high speed crash, finishing in 9th.



Nicky Hayden’s gamble of fitting wet weather tyres to his factory Ducati failed to manifest as the 2006 champion continued his luckless season to finish a lowly 15th and last behind team mate Casey Stoner.



Colin Edwards, Monster Yamaha – 2nd



"That was a pretty intense 48 minutes but at the start there was no way I thought I was going to be on the podium. I'm not sure what happened at the start but I just had guys coming by everywhere. I was using a front tyre I'd not used all weekend and it took me a while to get a feel for it. Once I got some momentum going and I started to understand how the front tyre was feeling I started pushing my way through. But with about seven or eight laps to go I started having some big moments because it was hard to know where it was raining and where it wasn't. And all the time you're trying to figure out where there's grip and where there isn't. It was easy to mistake and the left side of the rear tyre was pretty cold and that just helped make it even more mentally draining because you need to concentrate so hard. I could see I was catching Randy really quick and we got into a good battle. He was faster than me in some parts and I was better in others but luckily I passed him on the last lap and made it stick. By that time though Andrea was too far ahead to think about pushing on for that first win, but second is a great way to finish at Donington."



Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda - 9th



“First I have to congratulate Andrea on his win because he rode a great race from beginning to end in very difficult conditions. For me, the result today is obviously disappointing and the team because I have been fast all weekend and I couldn’t keep that up during the race. At the beginning I was feeling good on the Bridgestone slicks and was able to judge my pace well according to the conditions. As the rain came however, I couldn’t maintain the temperature in the tyres and when this happens the grip really goes away and I wasn’t able to control the bike as I wanted. On the grid I was sure my tyre choice was correct, but with 10 laps to go I thought that maybe I should go into the pits and change to wets, but it wasn’t worth losing 20 seconds for the bike change because the lap times of the riders on the wet tyres were the same as the times on slicks. It was a frustrating race in strange conditions, but we’ll still have confidence going into the next race in Brno because we’ve been making progress recently and I’m feeling strong on the bike.”



Nicky Hayden, Marlboro Ducati – 15th



“We took a big gamble, it backfired and it’s frustrating because we made a big change to the bike for warm-up this morning and I had a great feeling with it in the wet. The track was damp for the sighting lap and it was spitting with rain on the grid and since my pace on slicks hasn’t been great all weekend we took a big gamble. I had nothing to lose so we rolled the dice. The odds were against me but it was so close to paying off. It rained throughout the race but the track was so warm the moisture wasn’t accumulating on the ground and unfortunately that spelt disaster for us. I take full responsibility for the decision. We agreed on it together with the team but it was my shout, I thought ‘let’s try and be a hero here!’ The tyre was pretty much destroyed after seven or eight laps but there was no point coming in to pit and it came apart five laps from the end. To be honest it’s amazing how it held together for that long! I don’t want to say it was a mistake; it was just a gamble that didn’t pay off and we’ll learn from it.”



The next MotoGP round is on August 16 from Brno, Czech Republic, more news, reviews and products to view at www.whyarai.co.uk and www.phoenixnw.co.uk

Buying Arai - why the UK is the only way..

Like everything in life there are ways to get things cheaper. Look on the Internet, bet you can find what you would usually buy from your trusted supplier for less money.

But, saving yourself a few pounds now may not always be wise- Here's 10 reasons why you should always buy your Arai helmet from an authorised UK dealer, points 3 and 4 are particularly sobering:

1. Over 60 Dealers nationwide
2. Full Arai range in-store
3. Guaranteed genuine UK helmets – models imported from other countries have no UK warranty so a helmet would have to be returned to the country of origin for any warranty issues
4. Helmets purchased through internet sources could be imported from the US or Asia and therefore will be manufactured to different standards and will be have a different internal shape e.g. US will be larger inside and Asia fit will be smaller and rounder inside.
5. At least 1 Arai technician per store
6. Free custom fitting on new purchases – not available from internet purchases
7. Free maintenance kit and service card with any Arai helmet purchase
8. Free 6 month service
9. Special offers and promotions
10. Access to our exclusive Arai 5 star clothing range

To find out more information, more Arai racing news, dealer lists etc visit www.whyarai.co.uk

Amor-vellous weekend

Arai racer Keith Amor's winning streak continued on Saturday when he took two victories at the demanding Skerries 100 road races, near Dublin, Ireland. The Wilson Craig Honda rider crossed the line first in both the Open and Grand Final races on his Superbike machine and backed this up with a solid third in the Supersport 600cc race.


After lapping comfortably inside the lap record during dry qualifying, Keith was feeling strong heading in to the races but a rain shower saw him settle for third in the damp Supersport 600cc race, his opening ride of the day. The circuit had dried up in time for the Open race though and Amor led from the off and was still leading on the sixth lap when the red flag came out due to an incident.

The result was subsequently taken at the end of the fourth lap so Amor got the verdict by 0.615s from Ryan Farquhar. That just left the Grand Final where Amor again led from the start and despite coming under extreme pressure from Farquhar he held on throughout and got the verdict at the end of the 9 laps by 0.421s. The duo also broke the outright lap record.

"It's been a good day for me here at the Skerries and we got the small handling issues with the Superbike sorted out, which allowed me to push that little bit harder," said the Scotsman.

"I felt really comfortable on the big bike and it's nice to get back to winning ways in the Superbike class. I felt really strong in the 600cc class too, where we had the 2009 bike at our disposal once more, but when the rain came down I got a couple of slides so backed off a little bit as the conditions weren't really for me."

"It's a shame the weather spoilt that race but, overall, it's been a really enjoyable day's racing. I'm really looking forward to Walderstown now and although I've never been there before, I'll be looking to give a good account of myself whilst it will also be the perfect build-up for the Kells meeting the following weekend."

Story from www.bikesportnews.com

Visit www.whyarai.co.uk to see the full range of Arai Helmets available in the UK

Maria Costello MBE - some interesting facts

We've seen the official release about Maria's MBE, thoroughly deserved. Here's some interesting facts about ace rider Maria however that you may not know:

1. The former Veterinary nurse's passion with bikes began when she used a Yamaha TZR125 as her mode of transport. Being involved in an accident whilst travelling to work did nothing to deter the Northamptonshire based biker, in fact she used her compensation cheque from the accident to buy her first race bike, a Suzuki RGV250.



2. Winning races in her first year of competition was unexpected. Maria didn’t enjoy competition at school, choosing to slow down during her favourite P.E. class of cross country running so that she didn’t have to compete for her county.



3. In her first season of racing she was approached by Sandra Barnett (and her husband) to be part of an all female motorcycle team. Sandra Barnett was the fastest woman to lap the Isle of Man TT course. Bridget McManus, Sandra and Maria competed on short circuits and Bridget and Maria raced at the Manx Grand Prix for the first time in 1996.



4. In 2004 she became the fastest woman to lap the TT course (Padgetts Suzuki GSXR750 K2) and received a Guinness World Record for this achievement (this record was recently broken by Jenny Tinmouth at the 2009 TT races).



5. Maria then went on to make history when she became the first female solo rider to finish on the podium in a race around the TT course, finishing third in the Ultra Lightweight MGP class on a Honda RVF400.



6. Her achievements in racing have led to many varied opportunities off the track including being the focus of an hour long documentary for Anglia TV.



7. She was at the centre of the ‘Girl Racer’ TV series which was the spin off from another TV show about the TT called ‘TT Heroes’.



8. Presenting TV programmes such as ‘Fran’s Angels’ was another role she felt at home in as well as appearing as a panellist on ‘Top Ten Bikes’ and in the Discovery channels ‘Big Big Bikes’ program.



9. Highlights of her career away from the race track include stunt doubling for Tamsin Outhwaite in an ITV drama, and more recently in a movie called ‘Penelope’ for Oscar winning actress Reese Witherspoon.



10. Her career is far from over and despite many broken bones (over 22) the passionate motorcyclist Maria, or Elvis to her fans, wants nothing more than to regain the female TT lap record and pursue other personal goals in this extreme sport of motorcycle racing.



11. Maria works in many roles within the world of motorcycling and the media. Her titles include RideSafe BackSafe ambassador, ambassador for motorcycle clothing brand BERING and has been a patron for the Women’s Sport Foundation and one of Sport England’s Sporting Champions and in between all the racing she earns her living as a PR Agent.