British Superbike Championship rider Chris Walker has lent his support to TyreSafe’s PACT campaign. Despite being just days away from the championship’s opening round at Brand Hatch on 6 April, Walker has found time to help promote the vitally important issue of motorbike tyre safety.
World Superbike rider, Sylvain Guintoli has spent the off-season riding in the UK on his own Ducati 1198SP road bike fitted with treaded Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa tyres. The Team Effenbert Liberty Racing rider, who was born in France but now lives in the West Midlands with his British wife, decided to get out on track on his own tyres. Guintoli competed in the British Superbike Championship last year, and the rider decided to return to a cold Snetterton in January, and tackled Mallory and Oulton Park in March.
Maxxis has announced that the British Drift Championship, for which it is a headline sponsor will be represented at Japfest 2, the second event in the Adrian Flux Auto Series for fans of high performance Japanese cars. Japfest was launched last year at Rockingham. For 2011, the event will be staged at Donington Park on Sunday, 10 July 2011. The circuit has previously hosted rounds of the BTCC, British F3, British Superbike Championship and the European Formula One Grand Prix.
Avon Tyres has announced that it will be the sole tyre supplier to the 2011 Eastern Airways British F1 Sidecar championship following the first two rounds of the 2011 season, in which teams will be allowed to use up remaining stock. The eight-round series started on the Easter Bank Holiday weekend and will conclude on 1 October, with four of the eight races alongside the UK’s premier two-wheeled series – the MCE Insurance-backed British Superbike Championship – shown live on Eurosport and ITV 4. The Avon series will also feature in an hour-long highlights show of all eight rounds during a prime-time slot on Eurosport.
Last weekend’s BSB round at Oulton Park provided a “best ever” moment for Maxxis-sponsored team MSS Colchester Kawasaki. The tyre maker reports that team rider Stuart Easton, having secured the new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R’s first podium in the 2011 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship with a third place in race one, followed up with an even better performance in the second race and led for the majority of laps before finishing second overall. This was, Maxxis states, the team’s best ever Superbike finish.
Following on from its five year deal with the MCE British Superbike Championship, Metzeler has announced that it will increase its involvement in Superstock 1000, 600 and the Triumph Triple Challenge, including a promotional brand unit in the trade areas of each event. Metzeler Racing manager Jason Griffiths commented; “This is a big year for Metzeler as the Superstock classes have never been bigger and we are also proud to supply the tyres for the Triumph Triple Challenge. Just like the bike manufacturers, Metzeler sees real importance in proving the quality of its road based products especially as lap times have continued to tumble. The class is very difficult to predict this year with so many potential winners, it’s going to be a real battle out there I’m sure! We are also supporting the fans more this year with a promotional unit and competitions at every round with top prizes.”
Maxxis International’s involvement in motorcycle motorsport continues in 2011 with a renewal of its association with two factory teams. The company will continue as headline sponsor of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship until the end of the 2013 season and has renewed its partnership with Lincolnshire-based Maxxis Henderson LPE Kawasaki. The team, says Maxxis International, is going from strength to strength with rising Estonian MX1 star Gert Krestinov signing up for his second season in the UK as part of the Official Kawasaki Motors UK motocross team.
For the past three years Pirelli has served as control tyre supplier to the British Superbike (BSB) and Supersport Championships, providing riders with a range of its Diablo tyres, some 5,500 of which are supplied and fitted over a typical race weekend by a team of 17 tyre technicians. Series organiser MotorSport Vision Ltd has now confirmed that Pirelli will continue in this role after successfully bidding for the supply tender covering the 2011 to 2015 seasons.
Maxxis says it will promote its products to “around 75,000 performance car enthusiasts” expected to attend seven shows at which the brand will be present this summer. In addition to this weekend’s Ultimate Street Car show and the British Superbike Championship, Maxxis has today confirmed it will attend Total Vauxhall Live on 7 August and Ford Fair on 8 August). Maxxis is the exclusive tyre partner of Future, the special-interest media company behind some of the UK’s most successful performance events, magazines and websites. The deal guarantees Maxxis a prominent position within the Platinum Retail Village at both Ford Fair – billed as ‘Europe’s biggest and best Ford festival’ – and Total Vauxhall Live, a new Vauxhall circuit event.
Maxxis has announced it will support MSS Colchester Kawasaki in this year’s British Superbike Championship and attend the Ultimate Street Car show at the Santa Pod Raceway – both events are to take place this weekend (6-8 August).
In a bid to provide an additional channel of communication with retailers and consumers, Maxxis Tyres (UK) has turned its attention to the social media scene. The tyre maker has set up a Facebook page to raise its profile and enable everyone associated with the company to keep up to date with latest developments, particularly in relation to its sponsorship deals and promotional activities in support of the performance/tuning market.
The Maxxis Babes have been cheering on Maxxis-sponsored teams, drivers and riders at the British Superbike Championship and Maxxis British Motocross Championship, drift events and tuning, styling and performance shows this season to the acclaim of motorsport enthusiasts up and down the country. Now they have their own website. “The Maxxis Babes have attracted a lot of attention over the past couple of seasons and are such a popular feature of our promotional activities now that we decided to elevate their profile to help us develop our presence in the styling, performance and tuning market,” says Maxxis International UK’s managing director Derek McMartin.
Pirelli has handed London based agency Capitalize responsibility for promoting its motorcycling activities in the UK. Initial projects for the agency will include a PR campaign for Pirelli and Metzeler’s racing activities, to publicise the company’s growing product range through specialist and trade motorcycling media as well as to a wider audience through motorsport, national and consumer lifestyle outlets.
Pirelli’s racing portfolio ranges from sole control tyre for the World Superbike Championship and British Superbike Championship to its presence at landmark road racing events including the Isle of Man TT, North West 200 and Macau GP as well as widespread club racing events. The company has also claimed victories in the 2008 MX1 and MX2 Motocross Championships, bringing its tally to a respectable 51 World Championship crowns.
Maxxis says it plans to continue its aggressive growth strategy for the UK motorcycle market, and to do so is this year introducing two new products aimed at budget conscious consumers. The company plans to further support tyre retailers through an ongoing marketing support strategy that includes the continuation of the brand’s presence in the British Motocross Championship, British Superbike Championship, Premiership football matches and many consumer focused events thought the country. All this comes, says Maxxis, on top of a sustained advertising and public relations campaign with leading consumer motorcycling publications.
Maxxis selected a winner for its online caption competition, which was run as part of the company’s duties as the Official Tyre Partner of this year’s Isle of Man TT Races. Trevor King from Mansfield came up with, “After a relentless search for tyres I discovered Maxxis, what an eye opener!” to win the top prize of VIP hospitality for two at the last round of the 2008 British Superbike Championship (BSB) on Sunday 12 October.
King decided to try his luck and enter the competition while he was looking for 4×4 tyres on the Maxxis website. He and his wife Melanie are keen BSB fans and had pre-booked tickets for the season finale at Brands Hatch. However, King quickly cancelled the reservation when he learned they would be attending the event as guests of Maxxis: “I once won bike show tickets in a radio competition, but that was about ten years ago, so I was amazed when I got a call to say I’d won this VIP package including hospitality, pit lane passes, access to the Team Maxxis technical areas and a photograph with one of the Maxxis Bykerbabes.
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