Team Suzuki Alstare has started early preparations for the 2009 World Superbike season with a three-day test at Phillip Island in Australia that ended today.

During the test, held mostly in good conditions, Yukio Kagayama and Max Neukirchner started to work with the all-new 2009 GSX-R1000 Suzuki at the demanding circuit and understand the new bike. They completed over 420 laps and gave a lot of valuable feedback to the team, Kagayama lapping faster than his time earlier, while Neukirchner was also on the pace.

Before the test, Alstare's mechanics spent the best part of two weeks in Japan building the bikes before they were shipped to Phillip Island and the bikes will now be sent to the Kyalami circuit in South Africa for the first official test of the 2009 season on December 10-12th.

<img width="200" height="120" class="floatleft" src="https://motorcycleinth.com/images/articles/2008_Rich_in_World_Championship_titles_1.jpg" alt="" />KTM, as a world leader in the manufacture of sports motorcycles has wrapped up another racing season rich in world championship titles, underlining the company's supremacy in the offroad segment and its commitment to its &quot;Ready to Race&quot; philosophy. KTM riders brought home a total of seven championship titles, while the company secured six of the all important manufacturer's titles in the course of the 2008 racing season.

The Enduro racing season yielded two rider titles: Samuli Aro of Finland in E3 and Italian Thomas Oldrati in the Junior Enduro category plus Manufacturer's titles in both E3 and E2. KTM factory riders Tyla Rattray (South Africa) and Sven Breugelmans (Belgium) led home the world championship fields in MX2 and MX3 while young French rider Valentin Teillet wrapped up the MX European championship one round before completion of the season. KTM won the Manufacturer's title in both classes MX2 and MX3. Marek Dabrowski of Poland secured the open title in the Rally World Championship, while his countryman Jacek Czachor took his second consecutive title in the 450 cc class.

<img width="200" height="132" class="floatleft" src="https://motorcycleinth.com/images/articles/Rain_in_Portugal_Ruins_Suzuki_Alstare_1.JPEG" alt="" />After yesterday's difficult conditions, Team Alstare Suzuki was happy to see a dry track and sunshine in this morning's timed qualifying for the final round of the World Superbike Championship in Portugal.

But all the good work in the session at the new Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, Portimao was of no use in the afternoon 16-rider Superpole shoot-out because the heavens opened and the 4.592 kilometre track was drenched in water. So Superpole was declared a &quot;Wet Superpole&quot;, with the top 16 riders all having a maximum of 12 laps in 50 minutes to post their fastest laps and take their grid positions.

The riders who went out at the beginning managed faster laps than the riders who waited, hoping for the conditions to improve. But instead, the rain fell even heavier and the deluge meant that many parts of the track had standing water.

<img width="200" height="163" class="floatleft" src="https://motorcycleinth.com/images/articles/Nakano_and_Aprilia_Together_Year_2009_1.jpg" alt="" />Shinya Nakano will be on the saddle for the Aprilia RSV4, side by side with Max Biaggi and completing the Aprilia team that in year 2009 will race in the Superbike World Championship.

The Japanese rider, after he visited the Racing Department of Noale, signed the contract that ties him to Aprilia for the whole of the next season with an option for the 2010.

Shinya Nakano, born in Chiba on October 10th 1977, is a pilot of great experience that boasts ten seasons in the World Championship: like two in 250 cc - category in which he was vice champion of the world in 2000 - one in 500 cc and well seven in MotoGP. With the GP of Valencia, raced last Sunday, Nakano has closed the season 2008 with 126 points, occupying the ninth position in the final classification of the Moto GP, with Honda, Team Gresini Racing.

<img width="200" height="133" class="floatleft" src="https://motorcycleinth.com/images/articles/Rossi_makes_positive_start_on_2009_1.jpg" alt="" />One day after the final race of his victorious season, MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi began working towards the defence of his title with his first day's testing aboard the 2009 prototype M1. The Italian was third fastest in a time of 1'32.921, quicker than his best lap in yesterday's race.

Rossi made two runs of six laps each with his 2008 M1 in order to check some settings and also get a feel for the new tyres, as today was the first day of the new mono-brand tyre rule with Bridgestone now the official supplier for all riders. He then made five runs and a total of 28 laps on the new prototype, setting his best time on the second run.

Lorenzo started off on his 2008 M1 in order to get a feel for the different tyres and to check some settings. He made ten laps with the old bike before climbing onto a test bike, which has some new prototype parts for him to try. He made five runs and 36 laps with the test bike, and despite a low-speed crash on the outlap of his third run he was able to make good progress and set a best time of 1'33.550.

<img width="107" height="157" class="floatleft" src="https://motorcycleinth.com/images/articles/Rossi_rounds_out_world_championship_seas_1.jpg" alt="" />Valentino Rossi brought the curtain down on a spectacular season with a third place in Valencia today, his 16th podium from 18 races in a year which saw him win his eighth world title. The 29-year-old Italian has taken nine wins, five seconds and two thirds this year, surpassing the all-time premier class win record and the record for the most points in a season in the process. His outstanding performances this season also helped the Fiat Yamaha Team to secure the Teams' title and Yamaha the Manufacturers' title.

Rossi had struggled to find a good set-up for his M1 during yesterday's qualifying and he started from 10th on the grid. However some last-minute changes paid dividends and he was able to get a good start, climbing to seventh in the first lap and then making a characteristic charge through the field to move into third on lap six. Unfortunately from then on he was unable to make a dent in the gap to second-placed Dani Pedrosa and he had to settle for the final podium position, 12 seconds off winner Casey Stoner.

<img width="200" height="133" class="floatleft" src="https://motorcycleinth.com/images/articles/MV_Agusta_and_Luca_Scassa_are_Champions_1.jpg" alt="" />In 1973 Giacomo Agostini won the last Italian Championship on a MV Agusta 500, thirty five years later Luca Scassa brings the Varese (Italy) based company back on the top step of the podium of the premiere class in the drivers' championship as well as the constructors overall standings. As in the 2006 Super Stock championship, the Tuscan rider brought his F4 1000 R on top of the podium. Scassa dominated the entire weekend: pole position, fastest lap and race win by almost six seconds over second place, Riccardo Chiarello on Suzuki.

&quot;I am extremely happy, this title is the result of the passion of Claudio Castiglioni and Massimo Tamburini, and the perseverance of a small group of people that I wish to thank one by one because we created a fantastic team: Cesare Fani my engineer and my friend, a person that dedicated himself entirely to this project; Giorgio Balotta and Roberto Ceriani that spent long nights setting-up the bike; Mauro Marelli for his engine mapping without which we would have never made it; Maci for being our living encyclopaedia and Federico Toti that has been following me from the beginning.

<img width="200" height="134" class="floatleft" src="https://motorcycleinth.com/images/articles/Red_Bull_KTM_Hiroshi_storms_to_pole_1.jpg" alt="" />Red Bull KTM's hero Hiroshi Aoyama dominated Saturday's 250 cc qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix and stormed to his first pole position of the year. Aoyama's top performance underlined how comfortable he is here in Malaysia where he won last year's 250 cc race on the fast and challenging Sepang track, Kallio on front row for Sunday's Malaysian GP.

Aoyama's team-mate Mika Kallio was also hoping to fight for pole position, but ran into engine trouble on his number one bike early in Saturday's crucial afternoon session and had to continue on his second machine. Even though his spare bike was not set up to perfection, the 25-year-old Finn still managed to secure a front row starting position and is now also confident to be part of the battle for victory in Sunday's GP.

Team determination to finish on high note. The good news came at a difficult time for Aoyama and his KTM crew, as the Austrian manufacturer has just this week announced its official withdrawal from the 250 cc world championship at the end of this season.

<img width="177" height="115" class="floatleft" src="https://motorcycleinth.com/images/articles/Nina_Prinz_wins_2008_Road_Racing_Womem_1.jpeg" alt="" />After dominating for the entire 2008 season, German Yamaha rider Nina Prinz has taken the title on her Yamaha YZF-R1, her second consecutive championship win, at the third and final round of the Women's European Championship at Albacete (Spain) on Sunday. The reigning European champion from Mannheim / Leutkirch was in predictably consistent form all weekend, despite the atrocious qualifying and racing conditions.

Nina went into the final round leading the championship with 50 points, followed by second ranked Lara Cordioli on 33 points. Nina finished the race a respectable 5th position, but first in her class, in less than perfect race conditions, with unpredictable weather affecting the weekend's track action. The position gave her 11 points, giving her a 61 point total for the 2008 championship and a much deserved Championship title victory.

<img width="200" height="124" class="floatleft" src="https://motorcycleinth.com/images/articles/Fiat_Yamaha_Team_take_podium_Malaysia_1.jpg" alt="" />A glorious MotoGP season for the Fiat Yamaha Team reaches its penultimate chapter this weekend, with Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo targeting the podium at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Kuala Lumpur. From the fresh air of Phillip Island the series heads to sticky and steamy Sepang with both riders keen to maintain Yamaha's record of having at least one rider on the podium in every single race so far this season.

Second place in Australia for Rossi, who was already crowned World Champion at the previous round in Japan, resulted in his 149th visit to a Grand Prix rostrum and leaves him just ten short of the all-time record held by Giacomo Agostini, whom he also robbed of the all-time win record earlier this season. The 29-year-old, who is the most successful rider at Sepang with four victories, is also just 35 points short of the highest ever tally in a MotoGP season, which he shares with Casey Stoner, with 50 still up for grabs.