FastDates.com January 2004 Page 1 • Racing & Calendar News Superbike, MotoGP, Calendar Girls Official Calendar of the SBK World Superbike Championship Home of the official SBK Fast Dates & Team Ducati Corse Umbrella Girls • Right: "Don't I know you?" 2002 SBK Fast Dates cover model    and Aprilia MotoGP grid girl Zdenka is featured in Members Corner • FastDates.com 1224 Ducati 999S Screensaver with Laura HERE • FastDates.com Ducati 999S Project Superbike HERE • FastDates.com Aprilia Tuono R Project Bike in Paddock Garage HERE • 2004 Cycle World International Shows Coverage Long Beach • Rossi signs with Yamaha It was the Challenge, Not the Money • Neil Hodgsen Interview New 2003 World Superbike Champion • 2004 FIM and AMA Superbike Rules revealed! • New 2004 Aprilia RSVR Superbike First USA track test with Janelle • New 2004 Honda, Yamaha Kawasaki 1000cc Superbikes

Their ticket to stardom? TV star Jennifer O'Dell with a Jesse James West Coast Choppers classic first appeared in the Mikuni 1998 Iron & Lace calendar, photographed by Jim Gianatsis.

Where Are They Now?
FastDates.com Calendar icons Jennifer O'Dell and Jesse James.
Jan 15th: Here's proof postive that being featured in the FastDates.com calendars is the stepping stone to boosting a model and bike builder's career on the way to fame and fortune. Pictured above was young 19 year old Los Angeles model Jennifer O'Dell with a custom bike from an up and coming bike builder named Jesse James, photographed by Jim Gianatsis for the 1998 Mikuni sponsored Iron & Lace Calendar. And where are they now, you ask?

Well, our lovely Jennifer O'Dell was just featured in a 2-page pictorial and profile in the January 2004 Playboy 50th Anniversary Issue. Along with her beautiful good looks Jennifer is staring in her third season in the syndicated action series The Lost World, which is filmed in the tropical rain forest of Australia where Jen has to wear skimpy leather bikinis all day long. You can also catch Jennifer in the romantic movie comedy Window Theory now on DVD. And what of that guy Jesse James?

Above: Already discounted! Is Jesse's 15 minutes of fame almost over? Click for a piece of biker cult icon history.

Well the outlaw kid who was beggin' us to photograph his bikes back in 1998 for the Mikuni sponsored Iron & Lace calendar, and who spent the afternoon of our photo shoot with Jennifer chuckin' rocks and breaking glass bottles perched on the wooden posts in the photo backgound, is now the hottest celebrity custom bike builder in America. Jesse's TV show Monster Garage on the Discovery Channel has turned bad boy Jesse into a millionaire and the German iron cross bike shop logo for his shop West Coast Choppers into celebrity icons, just like Paris Hilton and her VonDutch baseball cap.

The spotlight and the money have fueled Jesse's bad boy image and reckless lifestyle even more. Jesse's onbsession centers on attitude, fast cars and bikes, and even faster women. Jesse was divorced for playing the field by his first wife a few years back, he then was remarried to porn star Jannine Lindemulder, but that marriage recently ended after just 12 months. But not before Jannine copied Jesse's full body biker tattoos, esentially ended her nude acting and modeling career. Hopefully Jannine had a good Pre Nuptual agreement before she went under the needle....

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Getting in a little night time practice, our own SBK Fast Dates Calendar Angels, Miss Great Britain Nicki Lane keeps Chandi Mason under under control aboard James Toseland's 2003 season Ducati 998F02, the bike which earned james a spot on this year's factory Ducati team. See lots more of our Angels with all the top factory superbikes in large format high quality images in Members Corner.

2004 World Superbike Pre-Season Testing Kicks Off
Jan 15th, Phillip Island AU: The countdown to another new era of SBK World Superbike competition has continued apace over the winter months, with Valencia and Phillip Island playing host to some of the championship’s top teams. The most recent test, a three-day marathon completed at Phillip Island in Australia on Thursday 15 January, saw two of the main factory teams, Ducati Fila and Foggy Petronas, in attendance. With the World Superbike Championship opting for a spec tyre format, putting all riders in all classes on Pirellis, the Phillip Island test was a crucial one for all concerned. The abrasive Aussie tarmac provides the toughest test of the year for rubber, especially for the left hand side of the overworked rear tyres.

Weather conditions were most favourable in the morning sessions, and for Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila) the tests were seen as a success, with the Frenchman lapping hard on all three days, setting competitive single lap and race simulation times. Laconi’s best race long effort would have placed him on the podium in one of last year’s Phillip Island races, even without the spur of actual competition to boost his performance still further.
For his team-mate, James Toseland, the test was a generally positive one, but a heavy crash, exiting Honda corner on day two, put paid to his thoughts of completing full race simulations. He had to make allowances for three stitches on his leg, bruised and blackened fingers and a large amount of overall discomfort. Nonetheless, Toseland set a 1:34.8 lap and the young Briton is expected to be back to full fitness for the next planned SBK/Pirelli test at Valencia, from 11 to 13 February – a mere two weeks before the 2004 season kicks off at he same venue.

The unique Petronas FP-1 three-cylinder machines of 1996 World Champion Troy Corser and Chris Walker were also at Phillip Island, with both riders setting times within the 1:35 bracket, on a machine which is still to develop its full potential. A new cooling system helped the team keep the engine temperature under firmer control. Corser, one of the best development riders in the world, as well as one of the fastest in competition, experienced some chatter during the tests, but declared that the lap times were about where he expected them to be at this stage of the evolution of the technically fascinating FP-1.

As the season approaches the final line up of riders in the series now includes another pilot who has proved his global credentials time and again - Australian Garry McCoy. Now resident in Andorra, McCoy drove to the pre-Christmas SBK/Pirelli test to join his new 2004 team, NCR Ducati. Having injured his right radius in a celebrity Supermoto race a short while beforehand, McCoy completed only a handful of laps on his Ducati 999 RS but with at least one further test scheduled before he makes his competitive debut in SBK at Valencia on 29 February, he is expected to be on pace from the first outing.

The next Valencia test will see the public debut of the all-new Honda Fireblade, prepared by Ten Kate and ridden by reigning World Supersport Champion Chris Vermeulen. Other notable 2004 SBK entries include the Zongshen Chinese team, featuring experienced pilots Warwick Nowland and Piergiorgio Bontempi on Suzuki GSX-R1000 machinery, plus the competitive DFX Ducati squad, featuring Steve Martin and Marco Borciani on customer 999s.

In World Supersport another year of intense competition beckons, with top class entries from Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha all preparing for another dip in the Supersport crucible.
In the Ducati camp, Lorenzo Lanzi was testing the new-to-World-Supersport 749 factory machine at Phillip Island, suffering a crash on oil on day one. His eventual best lap proved to be a 1:37.08, as he too fought against the effects of high winds in the afternoons.

In the previous Valencia tests Ten Kate Honda riders Karl Muggeridge and Broc Parkes, plus Klaffi Honda pilot Sebastien Charpentier were in attendance, setting quick lap times throughout. The Yamaha line up for 2004 will be spearheaded by Jurgen van den Goorbergh and Fabien Foret from the Belgarda team and Christian Kellner and Kevin Curtain from the Yamaha Motor Germany outfit. Suzuki’s usual dynamic duo of Stephane Chambon and Katsuaki Fujiwara will have an updated 2004 machine to compete with in Supersport.

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Honda and Yamaha Kick off
2004 MotoGP Season with Tests at Sepang
January 20- 22nd, 2004, Sepang, Malaysia - The New Year saw its first MotoGP action at the Sepang Circuit today, with a packed test session at the Malaysian track bringing to an end the testing prohibition in place for the last month.The Honda MotoGP teamswere the first to start with their private tests for 3 days beginning January 20th. In contrast to the thunderous downpours that shrouded the region on the eve of the test, the Honda riders were greeted with bright sunshine on their arrival at the circuit around 9am, and began work right away to avoid the forecast afternoon drenching. With the air temperature hovering between the 30† and 35† mark throughout the day, testing is tough at this circuit for both rider and machine, but the limit-pushing extremes of this, the accommodating yet challenging circuit and the constant warm asphalt temperatures mean that testing here is vital to most team's pre-season plans. On the first day riders did have to stop an hour early at 4pm due to light rain affecting parts of the track.

Camel Pramac Pons' Max Biaggi is a past winner at Sepang, and is no stranger to the conditions, he clocked a lap time of 2'03.47 on the first day , breaking the lap record set in the race here just three months ago. Max then proceeded to lower his his times even more in the following 2 days, recorde athe top time of the test on day 2 with a 2m 02.585s. Following him past this benchmark was Telefonica MoviStar Honda's Sete Gibernau, who set a best lap of 2'02.7, last year's runner-up keen not to be outdone in the early psychological battles.

Gibernau's new team-mate Colin Edwards continues his rapid adaptation to the RC211V, setting a 2'03.3 by the third day, with Camel Honda's Makoto Tamada enjoying the extreme track conditions to record a 2'03.5 his Bridgestone shod RCV. Nicky Hayden made his first ride of the 2004 pre-season after undergoing surgery on his thumb, and posted a 2'04.72 which dropped to 2'03.2 by day 3, whilst Tohru Ukawa rode a development machine in his new role as HRC's official test rider, clocking 2'05.66 on ay 1 and dropping to 2'03.5 on day 3.

The final day of three test days saw Sete Gibernau of Telefonica MoviStar Honda have an engine problem which threatened to do the same for him, however the Spaniard had his team put in his previous day's engine, to go on to set some fast laps during a race simulation session. Max Biaggi (Camel Honda Team) was quick once more, and began to look even more at home on the RC211V as he did more endurance tests with Michelin tyres like many of the Honda riders today. Colin Edwards (Telefonica MoviStar Honda) perhaps had done too much, as he called it a day early feeling the effects of the intensive work after a long winter break.

Max Biaggi - Day 1: 2m 03.47s. 47 laps / Day 3: 2m 02.585s. 50 laps
Day 1 - "I had a good month's rest, which we need to recharge the batteries for this pan-continental test. I like the conditions here in Malaysia, hot and humid, when you haven't got too many things to test, it's certainly good physical preparation. We are working on a single bike here, waiting for the new machines, and we are testing mainly suspension and tyres. It's good, because it will make a good comparison when the 2004 bike arrives and we test it here next month.

Day 3 - "It's been a quite good three days here in Sepang. The temperature helps a lot, it means we can play around with set-up and test many different tyres. I always felt comfortable here, and have been consistently fast, that's the main thing. I'm happy with what equipment I've got at the moment, it's definitely an improvement on what we had before, but we have to look to the future and we will hope for even more developments, because that is what it is all about. I and the team will all be trying 100 percent to do our best, so we are looking forward to continuing our work here in a couple of weeks time."

Sete Gibernau - Day 1: 2m 03.51s. 58 laps / Day 2: 2m 02.7s.
Day 1 - "I've trained well so it wasn't really a problem riding today in the heat, although obviously you have to settle into things first. My morale is so high at the moment, and it's helped today by the fact that we have already made improvements on the race record time. We worked mainly on tyres today, and with Michelin's 17" front. For the rest of the test we'll probably move on to suspension and other such things, but I'm happy with our work today.

Day 3 - "It was a very strange and difficult day. I went out with a new engine this morning and it broke almost immediately. I had the choice to put in yesterday's engine or stop, so we decided to carry on but take things easy and maybe even limit its performance slightly to not go through the same problem. I wanted to do this to try and get some new information for Michelin by doing an endurance session. The front tyres we used were a
completely new generation and initially we were in the 2'02, 2'03 level, but it dropped off. We had bad luck, but physically and mentally this is good preparation for later on in the season when things might not go so
well."

Makoto Tamada- 2m 04.00s. 41 laps / Day 3: 2m 03.2s. 76 laps
We didn't really work on tyres today as I expected, and concentrated more on the machine set-up as a whole, which showed some good results. The conditions are difficult here, but today as a whole was good, I've done my training well, so it was no problem for me at all. The rest of this test we will dedicate now to the tyres above all.

Colin Edwards - Day 1: 2m 04.72s. 51 laps / Day 3: 2m 03.3s. 38 laps
Day 1 -We were working a bit on the set-up, which isn't too different from that of Valencia to be honest, and also playing with a few different rims, working with Michelin. We've tried a lot of that before so not much new there. As for my adaptation to the new bike in these conditions, after having been in the mountains and with thin air for a month I thought I might come here a hero, but it's still too hot! As regards my adaptation, Hondas have a certain character, and whether it's Superbike or MotoGP, it's got those similar characteristics, so it's never a problem for me, just getting back into the swing.

Day 3 -"I was worried before coming here because I knew I had to do lots of laps on the 17-inch front for Michelin, which I haven't done for four years since I began working on the 16.5 with the Superbike. I think I maybe felt
a bit of the fear of change from that today. I ran a 17" all day, and the work the MotoGP guys have done on this means that it makes a big difference. I'd say I'm now at 50-50 between the two. The 17 on the Honda
makes it feel balanced and more comfortable - it's not that elsewhere it necessarily will, but I have to make my own decisions and not think about other people's preferences."

Nicky Hayden - Day 1: 2m 04.72s. 57 laps / Day 3: 2m 03.2s. 68 laps
"That was great to get back on the bike and open the throttle after what has felt like quite a time. It's good to see all the team again - exactly the same as last year so it feels real comfortable. We had a little difficulty at the start of the session but quickly resolved it and started to have fun. I had hoped to carry on more but the rain came so we packed up mid-afternoon. We've still got two days here, which is good. My hand has held up well today; feels a lil' weak but that's not surprising. A pretty good and enjoyable first day back."

Tohru Ukawa - Day 1: 2m 05.66s. 62 laps / Day 3: 2m 03.2s. 76 laps
So this is the first time for me as a test rider, which is a strange situation. I'm happy with the direction that the development bike is going, with the new engine, frame and suspension spec all looking good to me. However I wasn't happy with my lap time. The bike feels comfortable and everything, and physically I am okay, I think that just as test rider it will take time to get used to. There are still two days though, so by the last day I hope to have set a good time.

Yamaha confirms 2004 MotoGP line-up, tests at Sepang 1/24-26th
21/1/2004: Yamaha will carry out its first test of the 2004 MotoGP season this weekend with a new-look line-up. Spaniard Carlos Checa and his new team-mate, MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi, will compete for the Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team, Yamaha’s wholly-owned factory team. Norick Abe and Marco Melandri will ride for the Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 Team, the privately-owned French team.

Both teams will be running factory Yamaha YZR-M1 motorcycles and will be running under the Altadis-Yamaha sponsorship programme. Valentino Rossi will ride in the blue of Altadis’ leading international Gauloises brand. Team-mate Checa’s Yamaha YZR-M1, on the other hand, will sport the red and silver of Altadis’ Fortuna, the market leading tobacco brand in Spain, and strongly developing internationally.

Similarly in the Tech 3 team Marco Melandri will ride in Fortuna colours with Norick Abe in Gauloises. The unusual move suits Altadis’ marketing strategy with Rossi representing their leading international brand while Checa stays linked to Fortuna for a second year. The Fortuna brand is also present on the Italian market and hence Melandri’s second year in Fortuna colours while Norick Abe is important for Gauloises in the Japanese market where the brand was recently relaunched in autumn 2003.

The four Yamaha riders will start their 2004 testing programme with three days at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia from 24 to 26 January. The test will be Valentino Rossi’s first on the Yamaha YZR-M1.

Our Annual Review for 2004 Naked and Exposed! British Sportbike Magazines FastDates.com rates the top 7 hard core British sportbike magazines where bikes, half naked babes and roadracing are the norm -not the exception. In England, a county the size of just California, sportbike enthusiasts are blessed with 7 major monthly sportbike magazines! - America's got just 1 monthly newspaper and 2 semi monthlies.The Brits are so successful because they cover the topics sportbike enthusiasts want to see and read about, including beautiful girls. These great British sportbike magazines are now more readily available on your favorite newstands here in America. British Sportbike mag Review HERE