The plan of attack for the Royal Distributing / MBP Superbike for Round 4 of the RACE Superseries, held July 16-18 at the Shannonville Long Track, was to regain confidence from the spectacular highside that rider Michael Leon suffered at the previous event. Off his usual form, and running 2 seconds off of the pace that he set at their last visit to the Long Track, Michael finished second in the Liquid Thunder and third in the Heavyweight Sportsman classes. With two rounds remaining, he maintains his lead in both championships.
Head tuner, Guy Martin of Martin Brickwood Performance, had worked extremely hard, right up to the last minute to return the team’s Ducati 1198S to working order. The damage from the round 3 crash had been extensive. The final parts were only received the morning before practice began. With hard work, Guy and MBP Mechanic “Curly”, had the bike ready to go at the track Friday morning. Read more…
The above photos were taken by S. Komes. The Ducati gets some air time as it follows Michael, tumbling through the grass at the exit of turn 4. MJ Boucher looses the front after running onto the grass.
The asphalt in Shannonville’s Fabi track turn four is still as hard and unforgiving as ever. Royal Distributing / MBP Superbike rider Michael Leon was reminded of this during a spectacular highside crash on the opening lap of the Round 3 Superbike final held on Sunday June 20th. Read more…
The Bad
Team Royal Distributing/MBP Superbike Team attended the 2nd round of the Race Superseries, held at Shannonville May 14-16. Friday practice and Saturday qualifying were difficult as the team’s Ducati 1198S began to expose an evil handling personality on Shannonville’s Long Track. In the faster sections of the track, the bike was unpredictable and would often go into a high speed wobble after setting the front wheel back down from small acceleration wheelies
These symptoms had not been as severe on the lower speed Nelson Track at Rd1, two weeks prior. Tuners Guy Martin and Carlos Carrascosa, along with rider Michael Leon, worked closely with John Sharrard of Accelerated Technologies and Sandy Noce of Pro6Cycle/Dunlop to cure the problems. The bike’s steering damper broke during Saturday practice, indicating that there was a bigger problem than the simple suspension setup issues. Read more…
Michael Leon won both the Liquid Thunder and Heavyweight Sportsman races riding the Royal Distributing / MBP Superbike at the opening round of the RACE Superseries, held May 2nd. In the feature Superbike event, he rode to a 4th place finish. The 2009 Ducati 1198S motorcycle arrived from a California salvage yard just 8 days earlier and was transformed into a race bike by Guy Martin of MBP. The Ducati was equipped with Dunlop tires from Pro 6 Cycle. The team plans to compete in the remaining rounds of the series, with the main focus being the Superbike class. Read more…
The Royal Distributing / Michael Lanni MotorRacing / MBP Ducati Superbike was proudly displayed by Guy Martin and Janet Brickwood at the Montreal show on Feb 26, 27 and 28. MBP specializes in parts for, and preparation of Ducati motorcycles and is responsible for the race prep and maintenance of the team’s 1198S.
The team is in the midst of finalizing plans to continue their program and compete in the RACE Superseries with the same Ducati 1189S for 2010. Read more…
Royal Distributing / Michael Lanni Motorsport / MBP Superbike rider Michael Leon and tuner Guy Martin attended the Toronto Motorcycle Show this past weekend. The team’s Ducati 1198S race bike was on display in the Eurocorsa booth, one of the team’s sponsors. Last season Eurocorsa, a distributor specializing in European products, provided support by supplying Speedymoto “framesavers” as well as MRA windscreens. Michael took in the show on Saturday, while Guy attended all three days. Read more…
The Royal Distributing / Michael Lanni Motorsport / MBP Ducati 1198S Superbike was on display this past weekend at the Toronto Snowmobile and Powersport Show, held Oct 16 – 18. Rider Michael Leon was also attended the show on Saturday and Sunday. He was present with the motorcycle, in the Royal Distributing Racing booth to meet the public, answer questions about the team and sign posters.
Read more…
Round 6 Race Report : A Bruised Ego, a Separated Shoulder and a New Lap Record.
The Royal Distributing / Michael Lanni MotorRacing / Martin Brickwood Performance Superbike Team finished the day of racing early during the Round 6 R.A.C.E season finale, Sunday, September 27 after rider Michael Leon crashed out of the lead in the rain soaked Thunder event.
The weekend was going to plan up to that point. Michael had won the Thunder heat race in the dry, on Saturday, riding the team’s Ducati 1198s and setting a new lap record in the process. The new record, of 1.07.773 seconds, eclipsed the previous best time set earlier in the year by over 2 seconds. In the Heavyweight Sportsman class Michael qualified 2nd.
Read more…
Two more Wins, Two more Lap Records!
The 5th round of the RACE Superseries, held under hot and sunny conditions on August 16th, at Shannonville Motorsport Park, was another successful event for the Royal Distributing / Michael Lanni MotorRacing / Martin Brickwood Performance Superbike Team.
As at the previous round, the team continued to use a stock 2007 Ducati 1098 motor to power their new 2009 Ducati 1198S, with hopes that Ducati will eventually replace the defective stock motor that failed at round 1, back in May, after only 103 kms of use. Read more…
Back on Track!
The Royal Distributing / Michael Lanni MotorRacing / Martin Brickwood Performance Team returned to action this past July 25-26 weekend at Shannonville Motorsports Park, participating in round 4 of the R.A.C.E. Superseries. Rider Michael Leon competed in 3 classes riding the Guy Martin (MBP) prepared Ducati 1198S Superbike.
It was a successful outing with Michael winning in both the Liquid Thunder and Heavyweight Sportsman classes while setting new lap records in both races. Michael also finished 9th in the Superbike event. Read more…
The plan of attack for the Royal Distributing / MBP Superbike for Round 4 of the RACE Superseries, held July 16-18 at the Shannonville Long Track, was to regain confidence from the spectacular highside that rider Michael Leon suffered at the previous event. Off his usual form, and running 2 seconds off of the pace that he set at their last visit to the Long Track, Michael finished second in the Liquid Thunder and third in the Heavyweight Sportsman classes. With two rounds remaining, he maintains his lead in both championships.
