Tribute:

Chris Vermeulen (born June 19, 1982 in Brisbane, Australia) is a Grand Prix motorcycle racer. From the 2006 season he switched permanently from the Superbike World Championship to the elite MotoGP series, and the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Team. He is regarded as a wet-weather expert, and is affectionately nicknamed 'Vermin' on account of his last name.

World Superbike

When Ten Kate arranged a deal to run a Honda Fireblade in World Superbikes for 2004, Chris was the natural choice to ride it. The team did their own development on the bike (in its first test they still used a road-bike clutch), but he still won four races and briefly lead the championship before finishing 4th, as the only non-Ducati in the top 8.

For 2005 the championship had many Yamaha and Suzuki bikes, as well as 4 more Hondas including a second Ten Kate entry for Karl Muggeridge. Chris continued to record victories, and took his first pole at Assen in Holland, the country in which his grandfather was born. Victory in the first race at Imola took him to within 55 points of veteran compatriot Troy Corser's lead, but the cancellation of the second race due to heavy rain meant that only 50 points were still available from the remaining round's 2 races. He still comfortably finished as series runner-up.

WORK: Illustrator & Photoshop Cs3

Tribute:

James Toseland (born 5 October 1980 in Doncaster, South Yorkshire), is an English motorcycle racer. Toseland is the reigning 2007 World Superbike Champion on a Ten Kate Honda, who also won the 2004 Superbike World Championship on a Ducati. Toseland is currently competing in Moto GP for the Yamaha Tech 3 team.
As well as being a motorcyclist, Toseland is also an accomplished pianist and singer who performs regularly with his band "Crash" when not at home in the Isle of Man, Toseland performed alongside Ray Stubbs for BBC's Sport Relief, as well as playing a piano set at the British sports personality of the year awards 2007.

2006

For 2006 Toseland switched to the Winston Ten Kate Racing Honda racing team, replacing the MotoGP-bound Chris Vermeulen, where he rode alongside Australian Karl Muggeridge. He won the season-opener in Qatar, and finished 2nd in the championship behind Troy Bayliss. He was contacted to replaced injured Toni Elías for the Fortuna Honda team for a one-off appearance in MotoGP, but this didn't happen for sponsor-related reasons.

Toseland was linked to the D'antin Ducati satellite team in MotoGP in 2006, and received an offer to ride for them in 2007. D'antin have not performed well in recent years however, and Toseland turned the offer down, not willing to make up the grid on a bike that wasn't competitive.

WORK: Illustrator & Photoshop CS3

Tribute:

Ben Bostrom (born May 7, 1974) is an American motorcycle racer.

The son of Dave and nephew of Paul Bostrom, both successful dirt-track racers, Bostrom began his career in the same fashion by winning the AMA National 600 Dirt Track Championship in 1993. He moved to road racing in 1995.

Bostrom captured the AMA Superbike championship as a Honda rider in 1998, without winning a race. A year later Bostrom, astride a Ducati and still racing full time in the AMA series, won a Laguna Seca World Superbike race (and finished second in another) as a wild card entry.

Bostrom first raced full time in the Superbike World Championship in 2000 on a factory Ducati. In 2001 he won an unexpected 6 races, including 5 in a row on a factory L&M Ducati, to finish third overall. Bostrom didn't win a race in 2002, and scored weaker results as the season progressed.

For 2003 Bostrom returned to the domestic series the year after for American Honda on an RC51, staying there in 2004 on the brand new Honda Fireblade CBR1000. He made a return to international racing for 2005, with the Renegade Honda team in the World Superbike Championship, but was not successful. He qualified slowest of the 28 international entries in Qatar at the first round, but scored a few top ten finishes during during the season. Bostrom returned to Ducati as Neil Hodgson's teammate for the 2006 AMA Superbike Championship. Ducati withdrew from the AMA Superbike Championship at the end of 2006, leaving Ben to join Yamaha in 2007 for a rebuilding year, riding in the AMA Superstock Championship, where he finished second in points, though unable to score a win.

At Virginia International Raceway in 2008 Bostrom finished 2nd. He gave his trophy to Sam Koup (the Grandson of racer Larry Koup), and dsitributed his champagne bottle and hats to others.

In addition to Superbike, Bostrom races Supermoto- a multi-discipline format involving off-road, flat track and road-racing in one event. Bostrom won the 2004 AMA Supermoto championship and the gold medal at the inaugural X-Games Supermoto competition. The X-Games race (whose field included European Supermoto Champion Eddy Seel and seven-time Supercross champ, Jeremy McGrath) saw Bostrom win after nearly tipping over five laps from the finish.

WORK: Illustrator & Photoshop Cs3

image without frame: [link]

Taken from Druids bend at Brands Hatch, this was the first round of this years British Superbike Championship. It was the usual elbows affair as this the favourite corner for anyone without a media pass. I noticed two bikes in particular, one had flames coming from the exhausts on a shut throttle and the other rider (found elsewhere in my gallery) had titanium toe sliders on his boots causing sparks when they brushed the ground. It took a couple of pre-emptive shots but I eventually cracked it. Comments welcome.

Tribute:

Colin Edwards II (born February 27, 1974 in Houston, Texas) nicknamed the Texas Tornado is an American professional motorcycle racer. He is a two time World Superbike champion and has competed in MotoGP since 2003, now riding for the Yamaha Tech 3 team. Edwards has recently signed an extension to his contract to continue with the team for the 2009 season.

Superbike World Championship

In 1995, Edwards was offered a factory position with Yamaha in the Superbike World Championship. His results in 1995 were disappointing as Edwards struggled to adjust to the demands of competing in a global competition, and he missed the last two meetings after team-mate Yasutomo Nagai perished in a crash at Assen. In 1996 he achieved a greatly improved sixth overall in the Superbike World championship.

1997 was a disappointing year for Edwards as he was forced to withdraw from competing due to injuries sustained in the fifth round of the Superbike World Championship. He was replaced in the Yamaha World Superbike Team and was unable to negotiate a position in the 500cc Grand Prix competition. Fortunately Edwards was able to conclude a deal with Honda to ride the RC45 motorcycle in the 1998 Superbike World Championship. Edwards finished fifth overall that year, and earned his first solo international victory at Brands Hatch.

In 1999, Edwards managed several more victories for Honda (including leading teammate Aaron Slight home twice at Brands Hatch, giving Honda a rare Double-1-2) and ended the season in second overall position, behind champion Carl Fogarty. In 2000, Edwards rode the new Honda VTR-1000 SP1/RC51 twin cylinder motorcycle to overall victory in the Superbike World Championship after Yamaha rider and points leader, Noriyuki Haga was disqualified for testing positive for a banned substance. Edwards came second to Ducati rider, Troy Bayliss in 2001 but reclaimed the title from Bayliss in 2002 in a dramatic fashion, clinching the championship in the final race of the season in Imola (Italy).

WORK: Illustrator & Photoshop Cs3

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Noriyuki Haga (芳賀紀行, Noriyuki Haga?) born March 2, 1975 (1975-03-02) (age 33) in Nagoya Japan is a Japanese professional motorcycle racer. He is also known as Nori-Chan, Nori, Nitro Nori, and Haga-san.

Haga won the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race in 1996 with American Colin Edwards as his teammate. He was the Japanese Superbike Champion in 1997, coupled with four top-five finishes in the Superbike World Championship while filling in for the injured Edwards.

In 1998 Haga was racing WSBK full-time, adopting the number 41 he has used ever since. He won five races (including 3 of the first 4) and finished sixth in the championship, despite lacking knowledge of most circuits on the calendar. He also scored an unexpected third place podium in a 500cc wild-card ride at his home race at Suzuka. Haga finished seventh in the WSBK standings in 1999 on the new R7 Yamaha, finishing ahead of team-mate Vittoriano Guareschi in every race he finished. As Akira Yanagawa came 5th, he was not the highest placed Japanese rider, something which has never happened since.

Haga improved his performance to challenge for the title in 2000. Many race fans feel he would have won the 2000 championship had he not been disqualified for testing positive for a banned substance. As a result, Haga was stripped of his race win points at the opening round in Kyalami, South Africa, and was forced to sit out a 2-race weekend as punishment. It was later learned that the banned substance was ephedrine, which occurs naturally in herbs used in the Ma Huang supplement Haga had been taking during the off-season to lose weight.

Haga raced in MotoGP on a WCM Red Bull-sponsored Yamaha 500cc motorcycle in 2001, and on MS Racing's MotoGP Aprilia in 2003. He finished a disappointing fourteenth in the championships both years. 2002 was a winless season in the Superbike World Championship for Aprilia, but in 2004 he returned to WSBK riding for Renegade Ducati and was in contention for the championship until the final round. For 2005 Haga joined Yamaha Motor Italia, Yamaha's factory supported team. He finished third in the championship and became the first rider to win a dry weather race having failed to lap fast enough to qualify for 'Superpole'.

In 2006 he was again Yamaha's leading man. After 7 rounds he was 2nd in the championship to Troy Bayliss, without having won a race. At round 7 in Brno he took pole, but finished third and fourth in the two races, having been passed by Michel Fabrizio on the last lap of both. At round 8 in the UK, he took his first win of the year. At Round 9 at Lausitzring in Germany Nori picked up two second places after battling for the win in both races; the first race was won by his good friend Yukio Kagayama of Alstare Corona Suzuki and the second by Britain's James Toseland of Winston Ten Kate Honda, who had been his main rival for 2nd place in the year's championship. For the third season in a row, Haga came third.

Troy Corser joined the Yamaha team for 2007, and together they brought Yamaha the manufacturer's championship. Haga finished 2nd in the riders championship, 2 points behind Toseland.

He continues with Yamaha Motor Italia for 2008. He struggled in the first two rounds, but took wins at Valencia and Monza, as well as doubles at the Nurburgring and Vallelunga.

For 2009 he moves to the works Ducati squad, replacing retiring champion Troy Bayliss.

Haga has never finished behind a team mate in the Superbikes World Championship points standings. He beat former Superbike World Champions, Scott Russell and Corser, when they rode together at Yamaha in 1998 and 2007/2008 respectively.

WORK: Illustrator & Photoshop Cs3

Tribute:

Rubén Xaus (born 18 February 1978 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain) is a motorcycle road racer, presently competing in the Superbike World Championship. For 2009 he joins the new factory BMW team, his first ever campaign in WSBK on anything other than a Ducati. He was runner-up in this series in 2003, and spent the next two years in MotoGP with mixed results. He is nicknamed 'Spiderman', as his lanky frame leads him to hang over the bike in an unusual way.

Superbikes

For 2001 he moved to the factory Ducati Superbike team in partnership with then-champion Troy Bayliss. He struggled early in the season, with a best result of 5th from the first 8 meetings. However, in race 2 at Oschesleben he became the first Spaniard ever to take victory in the Superbike World Championship. A pair of 2nds at Assen (helping Bayliss to clinch the title) and a second win at Imola gave him sixth to in the championship. Sixth place in 2002 was followed by fifteen podiums and seven victories in 2003, finishing runner up to team mate Neil Hodgson

WORK: Illustrator & Photoshop Cs3

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Makoto Tamada (玉田誠, Makoto Tamada?) (born November 4, 1976 in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, Japan) is a professional motorcycle racer. He is one of the few riders to win races in both MotoGP and Superbike World Championship. For 2008 he will ride for the PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse team in the Superbike World Championship.

Tribute:

Gregorio Lavilla born September 29 1974 in L'Hospitalet de l'Infant, Tarragona, Spain is a professional motorcycle road racer. He has raced in MotoGP, the Superbike World Championship, and the British Superbike Championship, taking the British crown in 2005. For 2008 he is racing in WSB for the Ventaxia Honda team.

WORK: Illustrator & Photoshop Cs3

Tribute:

Neil Hodgson (born November 20, 1973 (1973-11-20) (age 34) in Burnley, Lancashire) is a motorcycle racer who won the 2000 British Superbike championship and the 2003 Superbike World Championship crown.

WORK: Illustrator & Photoshop Cs3