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International media let loose on latest machinery

Friday, 21 October 2011 14:10 GMT
International media let loose on latest machinery
One of the largest media bike tests ever organized in the motorcycling sector took place last Monday at the Portimao circuit on the day after the final round of the 2011 Superbike World Championship. For the fourth running of this traditional end-of-season event, Infront Motor Sports invited top rider-journalists from all over the world to get their hands on the very latest factory Superbike and Supersport machinery.


Six official World Superbike teams, who had just concluded the season at Portimao the day before, together with selected Supersport teams, kindly made their bikes available for the one-day test session for test-riders from many of the world's leading publications, offering them a fantastic opportunity to ride and dissect the sophisticated machinery in all of their glorious detail.


20 bikes were lined up in the early morning for the lucky journalists in front of the Aprilia Alitalia, BMW Motorrad, Althea Racing Ducati, Castrol Honda, Hannspree Ten Kate Honda, Kawasaki Racing Team, Kawasaki Motocard.com, Yamaha World Superbike, Yamaha ParkinGO and Step Racing Honda pit garages.


35 testers from 18 different countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, UK and USA) took part in the tests.


The testers included former top-level racers Jeremy McWilliams (representing Motorcycle News), Yatsushiro Shunji, Mauro Sanchini (Motosprint) and Andy Meklau (Speedweek) together with experienced representatives from the most important daily, weekly and monthly publications.


After a total of 350 shifts on track of 3 laps each, a productive and enjoyable time was had by all.


Read about their impressions soon in a magazine near you!