Cycle News

P34 WIND tract with his Power Electronics/ Aspar team. In both cases, an official announcement is expected shortly. Espargaro's place will go to Nicky Hayden, although there has been no official confirmation. "It's pretty close, but until it's all done I don't want to talk much about it," said Hayden. He will be getting onto a machine that Espargaro is paying to get off. "That's pretty interesting," he joked. Aprilia have promised a major upgrade to their CRT-leading ART machine, including pneumatic valve springs, a seamlessshift gearbox and a new chassis. NGM's Yamaha will start off with a Yamaha chassis and swingarm, though the team is expected to WORLD SUPERBIKE 2014 T he final 2014 World Superbike calendar will probably only be really known right at the end of the year, much less during the season, but some rounds appear to be solidifying. The first round will be in Australia, at Phillip Island, on the last weekend in February, but after that it may be Qatar, Indonesia or even still Sepang. Imola wants to be the first round in Europe and it appears okay to return, despite comments from the series organizers that they want to try and cancel both Imola and Monza. It appeared Monza would not be cleared for use in 2014. Aragon may come back in, but a lot depends on how successful Jerez's race will be at the end of this season. Assen is back, and Misano should replace Monza in May. Donington is the lone British round and maybe Portimao will also return, although maybe at a different time of year than the high sum- mer space it had in 2013. The series will also go back to Russia and Moscow for 2014. A surprise reprise for the Nürburgring round appears to be in the cards with the race close to being lost to Sachsenring or Lausitzring, but that has apparently been overturned by a better deal for the Nürburgring because of political problems with the other two. Istanbul should be back for two more years, but Laguna Seca is a question mark, although since it is likely to lose its GP status the circuit in Monterey may need a big race to fill the void. Magny Cours is back again, and probably Jerez, unless the forthcoming weekend at the Spanish track is a disaster. The Red Bull Ring in Austria will be too busy fixing its F1 commitments to worry about World Superbike in 2014, and there will be no South American round in 2014. Gordon Ritchie develop its own chassis during the season, with British designers FTR. Both machines will benefit from the extra fuel allowed to non-factory bikes (24 liters vs. 20) and the ability to use 12 rather than five engines - though Yamaha has confirmed that it will provide only five for the NGM project. Michael Scott WHO GOES WHERE IN WORLD SUPERBIKE T here are lots of loose ends still to tie up on the rider front in World Superbike for 2014, but here's the most likely lineup. Aprilia: Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli. Both looks certain, but if Guintoli has a disaster and PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE IN THE

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