Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2015 i Australian Motorcycle News

YAMAHA HAS PULLED the covers off a pair of new concept bikes which hint at where it could be taking its three-wheeled Tricity scooter in the near future. The two bikes, called 03GEN-f and 03GEN-x, are both based around scooter-style twist-and-go power units and use the Tricity’s front suspension, but have very different looks. As their names suggest, they’re follow-ups to last year’s 01GEN concept three-wheeler, but where the 01GEN used the twin-cylinder engine from Yamaha’s TMAX, these new concepts both have smaller units derived from the existing 125cc Tricity. The 03GEN-f is a sporty take on the idea, with a small fairing style and futuristic looks. While it’s the more interesting of the two new concepts, it’s the one least likely to reach production. Elements including the engine, handlebars,…

Honda has decided to mark the 40th year of its Goldwing with a special 40th Anniversary model. The celebratory touches have also been extended to the Goldwing-based Valkyrie and FGB6 models. The special-edition 40th Anniversary Goldwing, which carries a price tag of $36,299 (+ORC), features two-tone paintwork with blacked out wheels, fork, swingarm and muffler. Exclusive 40th Anniversary badging on the front face cowl, rear trunk lid and above the glovebox are topped off by an embossed passenger seat and anniversary keys. The bike’s standard features includes 150 litres of luggage capacity, Honda’s SRS CS Auto 6-speaker 80W surround-sound system with SRS Headphones, sat nav, heated seats, handlebar and a foot-warming system. The FB6 joined the Goldwing line up in 2013, and for the Goldwing’s 40th anniversary year it has…

THE FACT ARTHUR Grady chose a motorcycle to circumnavigate Australia isn’t surprising. It wasn’t until the early 1920s sales of four wheelers surpassed their two-hooped cousins. Two years of service with the 51st Battalion provided him with a stoic maturity and Grady set about fettling his 2kW (2.75hp) Douglas horizontally opposed, longitudinal twin with military precision. He set out from Fremantle, WA, in October 1924. Carrying 20 litres of fuel, six litres of oil and nine litres of water, the little Douglas tipped the scales at more than 220kg and luggage space was so limited, he carried his toothbrush in his pocket. Initially there were bullock tracks to follow, but once above the Tropic of Capricorn all Grady could see was steep sand dunes, bulldust, rocky ridges and washouts which…

IF I WERE to describe the Suzuki RMX450Z in one word it would be: solid. That’s how it feels, and that’s probably why in some strange way it reminds me of its predecessor, an old bush bashers’ favourite, the DR-Z400E. Now, before I get a phone call from Suzuki telling me how modern and competition-focused the 450 is compared to the old 400cc trail bike, I know this, and it’s obvious. Justs twist the throttle and there’s no doubt this is a modern and powerful motocross-derived 450, with extra flywheel mass and less ignition advance for trail use. But the fact remains – this thing feels solid. Not DR-Z400 solid like a big yellow tractor, but solid like a supercharged bulldozer. For anyone scaling up from a 250 trailbike, it’s…

Check At 15 hours it needs a service and tolerance check, at 30 hours: a full service Supercharger The engine has the same bore and stroke as the H2R. Think of it as a watered-down version of the H2R – rather than the other way round. The impeller speed is 9.2 times the crank speed – which means that at 14,000rpm the impeller shaft is spinning at almost 130,000rpm. After passing through the supercharger, air pressure is 2.4 times atmospheric pressure Get a grip! The traction control’s mode one is the most track-focused, while level two is for track or fast road use and level three is for the road. Or you can turn off the traction control entirely. There’s also a rain mode which limits the power to 50…

Surprisingly there isn’t a huge amount of difference between the two bikes: both have the same bore and stroke, pistons and valves, even the same supercharger. The intake and exhaust systems are different, as are the ECUs, the complete wiring loom, camshafts, tyres, head gasket, clutch, aerodynamic wings and carbon-fibre bodywork. The H2R is also 22kg lighter than the H2 The noise, the speed, the power. It was insane and sublime in equal measure…

ASIA'S BOOMING UNDERBONE racing scene is reminiscent of the very early days of US Superbike racing – bike builders using ingenuity and creativity to make a machine do something it wasn’t designed to do. Just as BMW’s R90S was designed to take riders on jolly jaunts across the countryside, Honda’s Wave Dash underbone was designed to go shopping on. Neither were engineered to be raced, and yet the BMW ended up winning the first Daytona Superbike race in 1976 and the Wave Dash rules Malaysia’s Cub Prix series. All across Malaysia, backstreet tuning shops are hard at work, transforming workaday underbones into full-on racing weapons. Soong Chee Keong is one the main men in the business. A former top underbone racer, he now spends his time coaxing unfeasible performance from…

Suzuki RG500 The 1979 MkIV has the front two cylinders lower than the rear pair, allowing the engine to be lower and further forward in the chassis to keep the front end down. The 54 x 54mm 92Kw (123hp) engine also featured a cassette side-loading transmission for ultra-fast ratio changes. If you didn’t race a TZ750 and weren’t a factory TKA rider, you had one of these Yamaha TZ750E Work on the OW19/TZ750A (codename YZ648) prototype began in May 1971. Giacomo Agostini won the Daytona 200 in 1974 on a TZ750, which was followed by massive success around the globe by works teams and privateers for several years. The 67kW (90hp) 694cc TZ700 engine soon became 747cc, with only minor modifications until the final 89kW (119hp) TZ750F model was built…

ESSENTIALS There is plenty of fuel available at Mittagong, Moss Vale, and Albion Park, but nothing in between. The distances are short though – so it won’t be a problem for most riders. There are plenty of good spots to take a break for food and drinks, and accommodation is plentiful both in the Highlands and along the coastal strip. Fix It South Coast Motorcycles is on the Princes Hwy at Albion Park and there are several motorcycle shops in Mittagong, although opening hours across the weekend are limited. Fuel Up Mittagong Truck Stop 192 Old Hume Highway, Mittagong Ph: (02) 4872 1113 Ampol 31 Princes Hwy, Albion Park Ph: (02) 4257 1135 Eat The Robertson Pie Shop atop Macquarie Pass is motorcycle friendly, with many riders using it as…

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) has started his 20th season in GP in top form as he hunted down early race leader/ teammate Jorge Lorenzo and the two factory Ducatis at the season opener in Qatar. And unbelievably, there were not a single Spanish rider on the rostrum in all three classes. Rossi had struggled in practice, qualifying only eighth. Of course it was the Repsol Hondas up front, with Dani Pedrosa ahead of Marc Marquez. The all-new GP15 Ducatis proved to have great speed, with a jubilant Andrea Dovizioso snatching pole at the last minute. Still, everyone expected Marquez to take control on race-day. That was not to be, as the 2014 world champ made a mistake on the first corner of the first lap, which meant he had to…

Jonas Folger (AGR Kalex) won a drama-filled race. The first victim was Sam Lowes (Speed Up), who had been rampant in practice and started from pole. He crashed out on lap three with “a stupid mistake that spoiled a wonderful weekend”. Third front-row starter, defending champion Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex) was also doomed to failure. A poor start saw him finish lap one eighth, and he had picked up only one position when he also crashed out at the start of lap four, after tagging Simone Corsi’s Athina Forward Kalex, sending him down and out as well. Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) sailed serenely onwards, with a lead of almost five seconds and no threats in sight. Jonas Folger (AGR Kalex) was second, and Xavier Simeon (Federal…

It would be hard to imagine Team Honda Racing boss Paul Free having anything to worry about following his team’s dominance of the opening round of the 2015 Australasian Superbike Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park. But when you consider it was substitute rider Aiden Wagner (Motologic) who stole the show, and almost overall victory from Honda Teammate Troy Herfoss, you can see Free’s dilemma. Wagner was brought into the team to replace injured Jamie Stauffer and, despite having never ridden a Superbike in anger, the Supersport hot-shot took to the action like a duck to water, leaving many seasoned campaigners in his wake. Free now needs to either make room in his team for the talented youngster, who could be a serious championship contender if given the chance, or allow…

JACK MILLER KNEW it wasn’t going to be easy, but he remains upbeat after the challenge of his MotoGP debut at the Qatar Grand Prix. A year ago Miller won the Moto3 race in Doha, one of six race wins in 2014 that skyrocketed him to a HRC contract and instant promotion to the premier class. This was always going to be a lot more stressful and massive learning curve aboard a 193kW (260hp) Honda Open class bike. While Miller’s first MotoGP race resulted in a last-lap crash and a DNF, the long game remains his priority, as it does with the LCR Team and Honda who insist there is no rush. Miller started 22nd after a harmless crash in qualifying and had showed impressive pace in the final free…

Local Supercross looks set for a boost in exposure this season, with Motorcycling Australia (MA) announcing a restructure of the Australian Supercross Championship. This will involve four seperate promoters running events across four states, with MA coordinating the series. The calendar runs from 10 October to 5 December, and sees single rounds being held in South Australia and Victoria, while Queensland and New South Wales get two rounds each. Much like the plight of the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) in recent years, the Australian Supercross Championship has been plagued by instability, making it difficult for privateers, as well as factory supported teams and their sponsors to commit to the series with. A lack of confidence and support among competitors and sponsors has also triggered MA to introduce a similar restructure…

KAWASAKI NINJA 300 rider Luke Sells has smashed the old lap record for the 300 Production Class by a whopping 1.047sec in the opening round of the 2015 Pirelli Road Race Series at the State Motorcycle Sports Complex at Broadford. Returning from a year away from road racing, 19-year-old Sells was flabbergasted by his performance: “It felt great to be back on a roadbike again,” he said. “Breaking the lap record was a bit of a surprise. I was going for good times, but I didn’t expect to break the old mark three times. I’m really happy with my times.” In the Sprint Series on the Saturday, Sells (1,1) was pushed hard by his 16-year-old brother Drew (2,2) – the previous record holder, also on a Kawasaki Ninja 300. Mark…

Like Kenny Roberts, you were a country boy who transitioned from horses to motorcycles. Horses were all we knew growing up, then we got into bikes in the late 60s. My first bike was actually a Heinkel scooter with a twist-grip gear change. Then I got a Yamaha 100 and we made expansion chambers for it and I started fanging around Tamworth with my brother and a few mates. We lived on the edge of town and we rode around the bush and the streets in the days when nobody battered an eyelid. I started racing short circuit at Tamworth, Salty Creek and Taree and a little bit of motocross on a (Suzuki) TM125 and 250. How did you get into road racing? There was a bit of mythology about…

Take the sixth exit.. The three exhaust exits on each side reflect the six-cylinder layout THESE LATEST SPY photos prove development work is still being undertaken on the BMW K1600 tourer derivative – widely referred to as the BMW Bagger. All the bike’s oily bits are straight from the K1600GT, but the Bagger stands out thanks to a more intricate fairing design, which loses the GT and GTL’s slab-sided look. The sloping rear end has been replaced with a totally new seat, tail and pannier design, as well as a new topbox. These design changes shift the K1600 away from conventional European and Japanese touring bikes, like the Kawasaki 1400GTR, and further towards American-aimed models such as the Honda Goldwing and Harley-Davidson’s fully-kitted touring models. Tweaks added since we last…

Blinged! Rally concept created by adding extras to a stock CRF250L HONDA HAS SHOWN it believes small and mid-capacity adventure bikes are the way of the future by unveiling a CRF250 Rally concept at the recent Osaka Motorcycle Show. Big, powerful and heavy adventure bikes are currently in vogue, but there’s a strong argument that smaller and lighter motorcycles are better suited to real adventure riding. The CFR250 Rally concept has been created by adding components from a variety of aftermarket companies to an otherwise-stock CRF250L. The work has converted the enduro machine into a convincing replica of HRC’s CRF450 Rally, as raced at the famous Dakar Rally. The screen and dash come straight from the real Dakar bike, while the bodywork is also virtually identical. The fuel tank capacity…

1998 Yamaha YZF-R1 This is where the R1 legend started – the 1998 YZF-R1. It was a totally new design from the ground-up. The new R1 was dreamt up with a target of taking Yamaha to the number one spot in the superbike market place. More power, less weight and smaller dimensions was the approach taken by the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer. The formula triggered a new wave of faired litre bikes, which are still pushing the boundaries of technology almost two decades later. What’s it got The stacked gearbox design revealed on the 1998 YZF-R1 made for a light and compact unit and revolutionised superbike engines. The first R1 featured a 998cc, DOHC, 20 valve (five valve per cylinder) engine. Four 40mm Mukuni carburettors offer a direct link between the…

Letter of the issue Festival of fun I cannot express enough how great it was to once again attend the Barry Sheene Festival of Speed at Sydney Motorsport Park. Hats off to the Post Classic Racing Association for the effort they put in to hold this event and make it so successful for the past 10 years. A big thank you also to the legions of volunteers and staff for their passion to their sport, which was evident everywhere. You folks could teach a few other groups about how to hold an event. The program was packed with big fields in every race, quality racers and their machines and the most laid-back atmosphere you’re going to find anywhere. It’s great to see so many real characters with no egos, and…

Hot It looks like it’s doing 300km/h standing still Even sitting in pitlane at Qatar’s Losail circuit, the Kawasaki H2 looks fast. But thumb the jet fighter-style start switch and the impression deepens. As the supercharged engine roars to life you already know there’s something different going on beneath the fairings. Blip the throttle and the supercharger whirs as the induction pressure sucks the landscape towards its nose. It sounds like nothing else on the road. With fresh Bridgestone slick tyres fitted, the sensible side of my brain told me to join the track at a steady pace and build up the speed, but deep down I knew that was never going to happen. I just couldn’t resist the urge to let the H2 off the leash. I don’t think…

Shiny The paint is applied by hand – not robots AFTER THREE HARD sessions on Kawasaki’s road-going H2 my shoulders and arms feel like they’ve been filled with lead. My brain is still downloading apexes, corners and speeds, and my face has a crazed smile frozen across it. Blisters are already starting to appear on my hands from holding on in the scorching heat. The Ninja H2 has been an unforgettable experience, but that was only the warm-up act. Now it’s time for the main event. I almost can’t believe it, but Kawasaki is about to let me loose on its 243kW (326bhp) H2R on an empty MotoGP track. The excitement has been building for days. I couldn’t sleep on the plane, anticipation spiking my brain with adrenaline. I can’t…

Manufacturers often say the reason they go racing is to develop new technology for their roadbikes. But in some ways roadbikes are already far more advanced. Strict technical limitations written into the MotoGP rulebook, designed to cap the cost of competing, can make these premier-class prototypes appear several steps behind what’s already available to all of us. Obviously there are plenty of roadbikes that don’t conform to MotoGP’s rules. Every one of them, in fact, given the class has an outright ban on using chassis parts from road-homologated machines. There are obvious, trivial elements too – such as engine capacity, number of cylinders, fuel tank volume, wheel size and minimum weight, all of which are also ignored here as they’re simply a specification, rather than a specific technology. But look…

WITH A NEW track like Chang International Circuit, you’d be forgiven for thinking some kind of special tyre would be needed. Horror predictions of 40° air temperatures thankfully didn’t eventuate, but Matteo Giusti, racing and product communication manager for Pirelli, confirmed that all the homework Pirelli had done leading up to Buriram led to a very conservative choice of WSBK tyres: a standard SC1 and SCO on the back. “The choice of tyres was quite easy, even though it was a new track,” Giusti said. “Pirellis are also run in the Asian Championship, so we knew the track was easy in terms of stress for tyres. “It is a flat track, and as it is new, it should be grippy even if the humidity is quite high. We looked at…

With the top 20 riders all qualifying within a shade over one second of Alexis Masbou on the SaxoPrint Honda, it was always going to be close. So it proved, in spades. It was also something of a Honda whitewash. Numbers on the NSF250RW had swelled to 12 after last year’s title, and the Japanese bikes took the top five positions, with only three of them failing to make points in the top 15. Masbou led away, but there would be a hatful of leaders, with Niccolo Antonelli (Ongetta-Rivacold Honda) in front at the end of lap one. Then it was Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) for a couple of laps; then Leopard Honda rider Danny Kent for three more. Masbou led again; the Efren Vazquez (Leopard Honda) for a…

THE DECISION BY Casey Stoner to fulfil a long-held desire to race in the Suzuka 8 Hour will tick-off one more thing from his racing bucket list. The double World Champion, who retired from MotoGP at the end of 2012, will return to contest the 8 Hour in July – riding a factory-entered Honda CBR1000RR. While Stoner racing in the 8 Hour is a tantalising prospect for fans, he says he has “zero interest” in a full-scale comeback. His decision will be a massive boost to the profile of the Suzuka 8-Hour, and comes in the wake of Stoner continuing to reject offers from Honda for a MotoGP return. “This is not about me missing racing, it is because I now have the time and energy to do the 8…

Yamaha Motor Australia has signed up as the naming rights sponsor for the 2015 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) series, to promote its finance and insurance arms. Yamaha Motor Insurance (YMI) will become the ASBK Championship title sponsor, while Yamaha Motor Finance (YMF) becomes title sponsor of the Superbike class. Although the factory YRT race team will only be entering Yamaha’s new R1 Superbike in ASC, the rival series to ASBK which is not sanctioned by Motorcycling Australia (MA), Yamaha says it shares MA’s long- term hopes of success for the relaunched ASBK series. Yamaha is providing some support for privateers in ASBK, such as reigning ASBK Supersport champion Daniel Falzon, who moves up to the Superbike class on the new R1. The YMI ASBK series heads to Queensland’s Morgan Park…

AUSTRALIAN RIDERS HAVE made a bright start to the UK speedway season, featuring in the results in a number of significant open meetings. Australia’s newest Speedway Grand Prix rider Jason Doyle led the way in winning the Elite League Riders’ Championship staged at his home track in Leicester. Doyle and defending champion Troy Batchelor joined fellow SGP riders Maciej Janowski and Niels Kristian Iversen in the final, which Doyle won from the Dane and the Pole. After staging his own Testimonial Meeting at Kings Lynn, Rory Schlein won the Billy Sanders Memorial Meeting at Ipswich. He went on to be placed second to SGP rider Chris Harris in the Olympique Classic meeting at Wolverhampton. Dutchman Theo Pijper staged his Testimonial Meeting at Edinburgh, and ran last in the final behind…

Road-racing debutant Ali Tajvar continued the dream debut to his road-racing career – taking out all four races in the Over 600cc Novice class in round three of the Hartwell MCC series. Tajvar has guided his Suzuki GSX-R1000 to top-spot on the podium in 11 of the 12 races he has contested so far this season, only missing out on the 12th win by just 0.101 seconds. Competing in round three of the popular Hartwell MCC series on the weekend of 28-29 March at Broadford, Tajvar, racing on the track for just the second time, broke the magical 60sec mark and is already nudging the 59sec barrier. Conceding that his days as a novice are fast coming to an end, Tajvar puts his improvement down to the assistance received from…

THE IRREPRESSIBLE Valentino Rossi opened his 20th season in grand prix racing with a nerveless victory in the Qatar Grand Prix that he rates at among the top of his stellar career. After an epic battle with Ducatimounted Andrea Dovizioso that delivered his 83rd MotoGP race win, Rossi dares to believe he can win a 10th world championship. Rossi, 36, was inspirational in conjuring a clever last-lap victory over his compatriot, a performance motivated by his unshakeable passion for racing and he reckons he can race like he did in Qatar until he is 40! “I feel I can fight for more wins and the championship, otherwise I don’t come to the track. I have a lot of motivation because I love my job,” said Rossi. “If you live a…

MotoGP for the road? It’d be a shame to see all that GP development wasted! SUZUKI’S GSXR-1000 IS starting to get a little long in the tooth when compared to its closest rivals. But this is likely to change, with all indicators pointing toward Suzuki unveiling its next generation GSX-R1000 before the end of this year – a good time to cash in on its return to MotoGP. It may be lagging now, but Suzuki’s GSX-R was once an electronic gadgetry leader. Suzuki was the first to introduce multiple engine maps and power settings, a precursor to the current trend of traction control technology. Less than a decade ago the GSX-R1000 was seen as the most high-tech of all the Japanese superbikes. Recently, many of its competitors have leapfrogged it…

ONE OF THE many highlights of this weekend’s Penrite Oil Broadford Bike Bonanza in Victoria will see AMCN’s own Alan Cathcart reunited with the 1973 Ducati 750 Imola Replica he rode to victory at the 1994 Bathurst Post Classic TT event. Cathcart’s victory gave him the honour of being the winner of the last motorcycle race held at famous circuit. The reunion is being made possible by Vee Two, an Australian company which will also unveil its new Vee Two Ritorno Twin, a modern recreation of the famous bevel-drive engine used in the Ducati Desmo V-twin. Using original factory drawings of the 1978 NCR Factory Ducati engine, Vee Two has created an externally faithful reproduction of the NCR race engine which powered Mike Hailwood to his legendary 1978 Isle of…

VICTORY MOTORCYCLES has taken its test ride program off-road. Not into the dirt, but into the world of virtual reality. The futuristic system provides the public with the unique chance to ride a Victory motorcycle – even when a real-world test ride is not possible. Riding in virtual reality also allows every day to be 24 hours of sunshine, with perfect riding conditions and absolutely no traffic. Fitted with a headset allows the wearer to look around the virtual world simply by moving their head. Sitting astride one of its cruisers the wearer can ride along a virtual highway. In addition to a 360° view, Victory’s new system is connected to the bike’s throttle to provide a real sense of riding. The rider can also lean the bike into corner.…

Weight watchers Titanium is 30 percent stronger than steel, but is nearly 50 percent lighter THIS YEAR’S MOTORCYCLE industry buzzword is fractured-split technology. While the technology itself isn’t new, it’s back in the headlines because Yamaha technicians have perfected a system to fracture-split titanium. This has allowed the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer to produce cost effective titanium connecting rods for its new YZF-R1. The term fractured-split technology may look awesome when you throw it into news copy, but how many punters actually know what it is, what it’s used for and the benefits it delivers? Fractured-splitting is the process allowing a solid object to be fractured into two or more pieces in a controlled fashion, similar to the way a tile cutter scores the surface of a tile and then applies…

THE BRAAAP STREET Superlite 125 is a great little short-trip commuter. It’s light, nimble and efficient on fuel – sipping just 3.2l/100km. It’ll sit on 60km/h no problem, carve up city congestion and despite its small-dimensions, it’s rather roomy for your average-size adult. Now that the obvious is out of the way, what’s it really capable of? I took it for a ride to the You Yangs Regional Park, which I thought would be a nice little proving ground for the Street Superlite 125. My ride consisted of 40km of highway, followed by some country roads and then a mix of sealed and dirt roads snaking their way up a mountain. The single-cylinder has a claimed top speed of 110km/h. So I set up my GPS to see what speed…

BMW S1000RR $22,990 (+ORC) The new S1000RR now comes with a staggering 148kW (199hp) of power, 130Nm of torque and is 4kg lighter than the 2014 model. There’s a new frame, steering geometry, styling and even heated grips. It has new electronics, an extra riding mode, launch control and a pitlane speed limiter Yamaha R1 $23,499 (+ORC) The 2015 R1 has 147kW (197hp) of power – which is less than the H2 – but it’s lighter at 199kg (wet). It retains the 2009 machine’s unique crossplane crank engine layout and sounds very distinctive. Electronics are the most advanced on any current superbike and features a six axis Inertial Measurement Unit – which gives the R1 lean-sensitive slide and traction control, ABS and linked brakes Suzuki Hayabusa $19,290 (+ORC) The bike…

Fast! Our test bike revealed a logged top speed of 357km/h! Impeller Machined from a single forged block of aluminium using five-axis CNC machining, the 69mm impeller has six blades at its tip and 12 blades at its base, all with grooves etched into the blade surfaces to help direct the airflow. The impeller’s pumping capacity at full speed is an incredible 200+ litres per second, with intake air reaching speeds of up to 100 m/s Airbox The aluminium airbox has a six-litre capacity, and the pressure inside will increase to as much as 2.4 times atmospheric pressure, which is why it’s not the usual plastic construction. All that pressure has to go somewhere, which is why you can hear the H2 squeaking during gearshits, or as the throttle is…

It’s 2.30am on a darkened motorway on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. Deadly quiet, then in the distance an angry snarl: quiet at first, then growing louder, louder and louder. Suddenly, a riot of headlights appear on the horizon, travelling at full speed, bobbing left and right, jostling for position and coming closer and closer. The mishmash of home-tuned underbone scooters and small-capacity sportsbikes scream past, perhaps a dozen of them, dodging in and out of each other’s draft, engines fully loaded in top gear, expansion chambers singing their baleful song. Some of the riders are bent double behind the bodywork, others are lying completely flat on the bikes in the famous Rollie Free pose, feet hanging behind the tail light. In a flash they’re gone, cutting their course between…

PBBB The three riders will be regaling attendees of Saturday’s Gala dinner at the Broadford Bike Bonanza of their memories of the epic mountain battle Youch Woodley broke his wrist in eight places two weeks after Bathurst when he crashed in Penang John John Woodley’s legendary Unlimited Grand Prix duel with Graeme Crosby and Ron Boulden on larger machinery remains etched in Bathurst folklore. All three were riding a different motorcycle, with the 1978 Australian 350 champion Ron Boulden making just his second appearance on a Yamaha TZ750E, Crosby was riding Gregg Hansford’s water-cooled factory TKA Kawasaki KR750 triple and John Woodley riding on board the latest Suzuki RG500 Mk IV rocket ship. Adding to the intrigue, Boulden hailed from Sydney, while his two Kiwis challengers were raised in Blenheim,…

Engine room Kawasaki adopted a twin-cam cylinder head for the Z1 as opposed to the single-cam design of Honda’s CB750. The Z1’s cams also acted directly on the valves via shim-adjusted inverted bucket followers, while the Honda used rocker-arm followers with screw and locknut adjustment. The Kawasaki arrangement was more robust than that of the Honda and left more room for tuning. The robust nature of the Z1 extended to the bottom-end – where the Z1 employed a roller-bearing crankshaft instead of a plain-bearing crank as per the CB750. FATE IS FICKLE at the best of times but rarely so cruel than it was to Kawasaki in 1968. Poised to launch an all-new 750cc four-cylinder four-stroke machine, it was beaten to the punch by Honda when the CB750 made its…

Jonathan Rea (KRT) soared to unexpected new heights with two convincing race wins at the new Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand. Heading the field from flag-to-flag, Rea won by 6.329sec in race one and by a still comfortable 4.946sec in race two. It looked easy, but with high humidity and temperatures reaching 33°, even dominant race wins take hard work. Even so, it looked like racing-by-numbers for Rea, who clearly had both Buriram and his bike sorted early on. “I am in a really good position right now with the way I am riding, the way the bike is behaving and the way all the guys in the garage are working – it is a great feeling right now,” Rea said. His dominant riding, which came after a close…

Ratthapark Wilairot (Core” Motorsport Thailand) clinched victory in front of a jubilant home crowd as he was gifted the win when Jules Cluzel was forced to retire. Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) had pushed to the front after Sofuoglu held the early lead for Kawasaki Puccetti Racing, and the Phillip Island winner looked set to take another victory. But he was forced to retire with four laps remaining and the crowd urged on Wilairot. He had been riding well and rose to the meet the pressure of expectation, winning by 1.8sec. The spectators greeted him like a national hero and he was very emotional after the win, which happened to be Honda’s 100th in the class. “It was incredible to win in front of my home fans,” Wilairot said. “I…

The 2015 Barry Sheene Festival of Speed had plenty to celebrate. In addition to remembering double 500cc world champion Sheene, who passed away in 2003, the event celebrated its 10th anniversary. Another racing legend and a friend of Sheene, Freddie Spencer was a special guest, celebrating 30 years since he claimed the 1985 250cc and 500cc world titles. Racers came to the party in droves, pushing the Sydney Motorsport Park pit area to capacity with beautifully preserved bikes from the golden era of racing. Unfortunately, the party got a little out of control on Saturday, continous red flags making for a stop/start event. This forced organisers to cut a number of races from the Saturday schedule. The three-race Barry Sheene Memorial title wasn’t exempt from the mayhem, and title contenders…

Following Callum Spriggs’ (Allsite Concrete Cutting / Hydro Construction / YMI) total domination of Saturday’s national FAX Series – handing out three race hidings to his rivals – there would have been a strong argument to wager your house on the young Queenslander also cleaning up on Sunday. But such is the competitiveness of the 600cc Supersport class that it took just one small slip by Spriggs to go from raging hot favourite to podium no-show. When Spriggs crashed on the opening lap of race one, suddenly the round was up for grabs. Yamaha rider Michael Blair (Blairbuilt / Campbell Home Hardware / ARAI / R Statichi) made the most of the situation to claim victory in race one, ahead of Suzuki rider Brayden Elliott (Royan Truck Repairs) and Yamaha-mounted…

THE RESURGENCE OF Ducati with the new GP15 is not all it appears. There is an unfair advantage and Valentino Rossi does not comprehend why it is so. After a titanic contest, Rossi finished just 0.174sec ahead of the GP15 ridden by Andrea Dovizioso in the Qatar Grand Prix. But the Ducati had a fuel allowance of 24 litres and an extra soft tyre for qualifying – which helped put Dovizioso on pole position. And for the rest of this season, Ducati has virtually unlimited engine development with 12 engines. The factory Yamahas and Hondas are restricted to a power-sapping 20 litres, no soft qualifying tyre and just five engines per season. And using the same medium compound rear tyre, Dovi came close to snatching a dramatic win from Rossi…

THE OPENING ROUND of the 2015 MX Nationals has been run and won, with tomorrow’s future champions leaving their mark on a spectator-packed Horsham venue in Victoria. With a huge build-up to the 2015 series, it was anyone’s guess as to who would have the recipe for success, and who would find the winning form required when on the hunt for a new championship. On a perfectly prepared circuit, Horsham dished out the goods and provided perfect conditions for this years first outing. In the Monster MX1 class it was a clean sweep by KTM Motocross Racing’s Kirk Gibbs that earned him a first round top-podium position. Claiming first place in both motos, Gibbs took the round overall and the red plate, ahead of CDR Yamaha’s Kade Mosig in second,…

Troy Bayliss was back in the thick of things at the first two rounds of the 2015 WSBK season – but the main question on everyone’s mind was would he race again in the Aragon and Assen rounds in mid-April? We now know he won’t be back in WSBK, but it seems there’s still a lot more racing left in Bayliss yet. He hopes to head over to the United States to contest selected AMA Grand National Mile flat-track events on a Ducati flat-track bike developed by Lloyd Brothers Motorsports of Ohio. The machine which features a Hypermotard engine in a specialised VMC flat-track frame has already seen success in AMA competition in the hands of AMA pro flat-trackers Joe Kopp and Jake Johnson. Bayliss is hopeful of pulling together…

Australia’s top off-road rider and 2015 Dakar hero, Motorex KTM Off-Road Racing rider Toby Price, started the 2015 domestic season where he left off in 2014 by taking out the E3 class and overall win in the first two rounds of the Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship, held at Kilkivan, QLD, on 21-22 March. The dust-affected opening round of the series saw a strong line-up across all classes, indicative of the current high level of competition and professionalism in Australian off-road racing and enduro. KTM may have got the overall win with Price, but it was also a great weekend for series sponsor Yamaha across the other categories. Class double winners were Josh Green (Active8 Yamaha) in E1 and Tayla Jones (Yamaha Racing) in Women’s, while Beau Ralston (Active8 Yamaha) and…