Racing to save the planet

Russ Joyner secures third in the 2008 Minitwins Championship

Writer — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:31:54 GMT

Click picture for gallery:

In a tough weekend's racing Russ Joyner secured third in the BMCRC Minitwins championship. Russ hounded the Team Diablo 666 bike of Piers Hutchings all the way; scoring three third places behind Piers in the first three races, but it nearly all slipped away in the fourth and final race of the weekend in a dramatic twist.

In this, the final race of the championship, Russ snapped his gearlever on a kerb during lap two. It was really gritty riding to hang on (shades of Rossi at Assen this year) and still finish 5th; just enough to give Russ, bioethanol and Team Inzane a well deserved 3rd place in the Championship. Phew!

Russ Joyner takes double win on a Laverda at Brands Hatch

Writer — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:16:44 GMT

Team Inzane entered a Laverda 750 in the final round of the Thunderbike UK championship at Brands Hatch GP circuit on the 28/29th of September.
The bike was one of the two 1999 Laverda Formulas originally raced by Russ Joyner and Geoff Baines first as stock bikes and then in Sound of Thunder in 2000. We are grateful to John Chennels for lending us this historic race bike - the ultimate track Laverda - and letting us race it in anger for the first time in nearly eight years.
As a nod to our e85 biofuel race bikes, we ran the bike on the 99 octane e5 blend sold by some UK supermarkets.
As a "wild card" Russ had to start at the back of the 28 bike grid for the first of four races and worked his way up to 10th place, getting a feel for a bike he had not raced since 2001. From 10th in race two, Russ put it on the podium with a 2nd place. This put the Laverda on the front row for Sunday's races and some great racing ensued with Simon Peyto, Garry Budgen and Phil Read putting up a fight but unable to deny Russ a historic double win.

Laverda fans: click the picture and savour the moment:

Russell Joyner Scores World First Biofuel Victory For Ducati

Writer — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 20:48:22 GMT

After five consecutive second place finishes Russ cracked it with a win at Snetterton on 14th September.
The sweet taste of victory mingled with the sweet smell of e85! Click picture for gallery.

Coverage in Motorcycle News

Writer — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:48:54 GMT

Following his Thunderbike UK ride at Cadwell Park, Michael Neeves from MCN wrote an excellent article on the Inzane project.
Click here for a pdf (2MB) of the August 2008 MCN article
The bike even made it onto the front of MCN!

Cadwell Park August 2008

Writer — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:08:23 GMT

Qualifying in second at Cadwell was a good start and a wet sixth place actually disguised an excellent performance with Russ testing some new wet tyres and getting faster throughout the race.

Race two saw Russ get on the pace and a fifth place finish, with the commentator announcing the fastest lap to Russ; this unfortunately turned out to not count as yet again the race was stopped early. Even without this Russ was now second fastest, within 0.1s /lap of leader Glynn Davies.

Sure enough, race three saw Russ in second when the race was stopped after three laps. From second on the reformed grid Russ won the race on the road, pipping Peter Molloy across the line by the customary <0.1s. Celebrations of the first win for the bio-fuelled Ducati proved premature as BMCRC were running "WSB" (aggregate time) rather than "BSB" (first on the road) rules! Russ followed up this second place with another second in the final race after battling back from a poor start.

Michael Neeves from MCN deserves a special mention for putting in a really good ride in the Thunderbike UK race on the Inzane Ducati. Starting from last on the grid he rode up to fifth out of 25 starters!

MCN took some excellent pictures to add to our usual Racing Lines race shots: click the picture to view the gallery

Brands Hatch Indy Circuit July 2008

Writer — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:55:19 GMT

Russ was really starting to get sorted at Brands towards the end of the second race, but an early end to the race (red-flag) left him languishing in 9th, to add to his first race 6th place. Things were looking good on the Sunday until a cracked clutch cover (after effects of the crashes?) on the morning warm up left us wondering what might have been....

Snetterton July 2008

Writer — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:12:00 GMT

A new two into one underseat exhaust was hand built and fitted to the Ducati for this round. If you are interested in one of these contact Two Wheel Technics under "Links". It its lighter and more crash worthy than the twin exhaust set up - as events were to confirm...

After qualifying on the second row for race one, Russ ran in fourth place until a rear master cylinder fault caused the rear brake to drag - check out the spectacular glowing disc in the gallery! This resulted in a DNF and consequently a back row (37th place) start for race two.

Russ carved his way up to 9th giving a third row start for the third race in which he set the fastest lap of the meeting and missed out on a win by less than 0.1s from Championship leader Peter Molloy. A rather mixed weekend ended with an unfortunate crash out of a comfotable third in the final wet race.

Croix Photos

Writer — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:34:05 GMT

Click here to see the gallery

The bioethanol powered Ducati was progressing well at Croix in June with a 4th, then a 3rd, then 2nd in the warm up and then - a startline crash put paid to the weekend! Some good pictures though, and as usual some great racing in the BMCRC Minitwins series. Next, we return to Snetterton on 5th July.

BMCRC Dates

Writer — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:37:01 GMT

The Inzane bio racer will be competing at the following BMCRC rounds:
Snetterton 5/6th July
Brands Hatch 19/20th July
Cadwell park 2/3rd August
Snetterton 13/14th September
Brands Hatch 27/28th September

Silverstone May 2008 Ducati photo gallery

Writer — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:24:04 GMT

Click here to see the gallery

Although the �1000 ebay Laverda did prove itself to be faster than most of the Suzukis every time it ran, it was always going to struggle on fast circuits against the top SV 650s. Running the Laverda did prove several things:
1. Bioethanol (e85) is an excellent fuel for racing bikes.
2. You don't need to spend thousands buying a Suzuki, reworking the forks, changing the rear shock, fitting a race exhaust and fitting new discs to run near the front in Minitwins. Just get a Laverda 650 Formula!
3. Russ Joyner can still ride a bike fast and his bike preparation is superb.
4. To actually win a Bemsee minitwin race you need to be near the 72bhp limit, which the Laverda was about 10 bhp off.

So, team Inzane has upped its game and developed a 2003 Ducati 800SS race bike. Once again ebay produced a suitable donor bike, which Russ has hand crafted into a gorgeous and unique racer clothed in a lovely piece of QB Carbon Desmosedici bodywork. It is still heavier than an SV, but it looks great.

The stock motor loves the e85 and was much more powerful than the Laverda on the dyno - straight up to 70bhp with the homemade exhaust.

With expert setup setup help from Baines Racing on the Friday, the Ducati qualified 2nd in a field of 39 on Saturday and finished third in its first race! Russ did even better in race 2 by pipping championship contender Peter Molloy by 0.1s to get 2nd. More to come!