Chaz Davies gets 2nd place on the RSVR at Laguna Seca

Monterey, CA – July, 2009 – The Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team scored its first podium of the year with a brilliant second place finish by Chaz Davies. The race was a hard fought, epic battle that saw Davies fight all the way to the finish line. This is the team’s first podium finish of the year and Davies’ first podium finish since Daytona 2008.

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Aprilia plans mid-size sportsbikes by 2012

Piaggio issued its development plan for 2009-2012 on Friday and while most of the news is relatively boring, there is one extremely interesting tidbit.

As for motorcycles, the Group intends to work on the growth of different brand names, also through the development of sport bikes with mid-sized engines.

It'd only be speculation to guess a capacities and configurations, but since Aprilia is Piaggio's sportsbike brand and participates in Superbike racing as a way to market its products, it'd make sense for that mid-size sportsbike to fit into current racing classes.

Source: Hell for Leather

Aprilia wrap up Brno testing

Aprilia Racing have wrapped up two days of testing at Brno, the Italian manufacturer team's designated SBK test track. Conditions were generally good although the rain fell on the afternoon of the final day, cutting short the session by a couple of hours. The team tested numerous components on the RSV4 in view of the upcoming Brno round and the second part of the season.

Despite a hairline crack in his right foot, Max Biaggi completed a total of 122 laps in the two days, the Italian getting down to a time of 2'00"75.

"It's a pity about the rain because it meant that we missed the last two hours," declared Biaggi, "and we could have done some more work. However we did get positive feedback, especially regarding the front suspension. I'm quite confident for the race at Brno at the end of the month, we've got another twenty days to work on the bike, this for us has more or less been the first real test since the start of the championship".

Shinya Nakano did 135 laps, including 16 in the wet, and was a shade slower than Max, with a time of 2'00"78 set on the first day. The Japanese rider also had a crash from which he emerged unscathed.

"I am very satisfied," said Nakano. "We tested a lot of engine and chassis components, and found improvements. The fact that we were there on our own allowed us to do a great job and really focus on the work. It will be interesting to test the new solutions at Imola against our main competitors".

"For sure it was a positive test," declared Luigi Dall'Igna, Aprilia Racing Technical Director. "We tested a lot of electronic, suspension and chassis components on the RSV4. We'll be using them again at the Pirelli tests at Imola in a fortnight's time, and if they continue to give a good response we'll use them for the Brno race".