Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 65 Issue 23 i Australian Motorcycle News

TWO YEARS AFTER Bimota founder and former Ducati and MV design guru Massimo Tamburini passed away, a bike claiming to represent the last of his designs has been made into three-dimensional reality. Called the Tamburini T12 Massimo and made by newly formed firm Massimo Tamburini S.r.l, the bike certainly carries on the design language that started in the Ducati 916 and carried on with the MV Agusta F4. While it might not move the goalposts like some of Tamburini’s previous designs have done, it’s still a thing of beauty. And in the best Tamburini tradition, that beauty is more than skin-deep, as there’s innovative engineering to the chassis, too. Notably, the compound steel trellis and cast magnesium frame has a patented method for adjusting its rigidity. Adjustable frames were something…

WE ALREADY BROUGHT you the world’s first pictures of the new Triumph Street Triple (Vol 65 No 22) but this latest spy picture gives a far clearer view and confirm two key facts about the bike. First is it keeps the same frame and seat subframe as the outgoing model. Secondly, the engine, likely to be 765cc, is almost entirely new. Leaked documents from Triumph reveal that the Street Triple range will grow to four models in 2017. As well as a base version and an R model there will be a high-spec RS variant and a sports-touring RT version. The engine will be made in three states of tune: 82kW for the base model, 86kW for the ‘R’ and 93kW for the top two machines. It appears that this…

BMW HAS UNVEILED a supercharged 500cc concept bike that celebrates the marque’s pre-war racing and record-breaking history with a modern twist. Called the R5 Hommage, the bike was unveiled at the Villa d’Este concourse event by Lake Como in Italy. It blurs the line between being a custom bike and a genuine concept model. Unlike traditional concept bikes, it features an original 1930s 500cc boxer twin, rebuilt after being damaged in a race. A bespoke supercharger has been added to increase its power from the original 19kW (26hp) to something a bit more suitable in this day and age. There’s a faux-hardtail frame that mimics the lines of the original BMW R5 model from 1936 but adds a subtle rear suspension system with a single rocker-operated shock. The fork takes…

Get amongst it! Recently I had the adventure of riding a 1981 Kawasaki Z1000J from Perth back to my home in Canberra ACT, all 4000km across the Nullarbor. I had been looking for an early 80s Jap roadbike to restore back to original specs and by chance one came up in WA that was in very good condition for a good price. After a few phone calls to the seller, a very nice chap by the name of Jarred, I decided ‘What the hell, why not ride it back?’ So after some hastily made arrangements and some time off work negotiated, I flew over. The bike ran perfectly and with the relaxed upright riding position and bikini fairing it was a joy to ride. The sound of the bellowing 4-1…

This triumph of technology now allows proper range I leave home early in the morning, often. One of the joys of suburban life is that my neighbours line the garage side of my house, and I have woken them over the years with a variety of machinery. Flippantly piped Ducatis, deep-throated Harleys, hyperactive sportsbikes, two-strokes – I have crashed my neighbours’ dreams with them all. It does put a certain strain on the relationship. On this morning, however, once the garage door stopped creaking, there was almost silence. I switched on the Zero SR, but rather than the bark of pistons eating fuel vapour, it’s a barely audible click a few seconds later that signifies the bike is ready to go. I glided up the driveway and out of there,…

The good Wake up the neighbours Stall Allow radar operators to hear you coming on a back road Sneak in a chocolate bar at the servo The bad Rev loudly through tunnels Clutch up a wheelie Give a motorist a fistful of revs to let them know they stuffed up Know your speed by the sound of the engine alone Sneak in a chocolate bar at the servo…

NORTON’S FIRST PARALLEL twin, the Bert Hopwood-designed OHV Dominator that reached production as the 500cc Model 7 in 1949, was the mainstay in its range for almost 30 years. Its initial commercial success bankrolled the development of the Manx Norton racing singles, as well as funding the factory GP team which won three world championships in Geoff Duke’s hands in 1951-52. But with its singles no longer able to keep pace with the Italian fours from Gilera and MV Agusta, even on tighter tracks, from the mid-50s onwards the Norton factory race shop concentrated on building 30M and 40M Manx production racers, which in privateer hands formed the bulk of 350/500cc grids during the heyday of the Continental Circus. The Manx’s McCandlessdesigned Featherbed frame came to the street in 1951…

Wayne Gardner has two reasons to remember the 1986 Spanish 500 Grand Prix at Jarama: it was his first Grand Prix victory, and the backstory is one of his favourite anecdotes. Gardner had been knocking on the door of a race victory through 1985 on a Honda Britain entered factory NS500 triple. For 1986, Honda elevated him to the full factory team alongside 1985 double world champion Freddie Spencer on a NSR500 V4. The Jarama race on 4 May was the first GP of the 1986 season and Gardner’s victory was the first by an Australian in any class for almost seven years – since Gregg Hansford in the Finnish 350 GP at Imatra on 29 July 1979. That gap represents the longest drought for Australian riders since the championships…

Life has a habit of funnelling me into a rut. Perhaps you’re the same. If you’re fortunate, like me, it’s a comfortable, predominantly enjoyable rut, but it’s a rut nonetheless. Same places, same faces, same meal choices, routines, experiences and results. The same petty annoyances and minor regrets. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. If you’re reading AMCN, rather than using it as insulation because you’re sleeping rough, I’m assuming you’ve reached a level of comfort too, and life isn’t a competition – unless you’re a shallow go-getter with self-worth issues. Our existences are not life and death. Just life. Snow Quake was the result of people ignoring what was easy and saying ‘yes’ My personal rut isn’t without its complications, but if I were offered it, as a 16-year-old,…

1 Street Power CTA Australia $449.95 (02) 9820 4444 ctaaustralia.com.au K&N says its new AirCharger Air Intake for the Harley-Davidson Street 500 increases power by eliminating the restrictive OE air cleaner and replacing it with a high-flow air filter and mandrel bent aluminium intake tube. It’s supplied with a billet aluminium throttle-body mounting plate and hardware. 2 Green Tees Kawasaki Australia $30-$32 (02) 9684 2585 kawasaki.com.au For fans of Team Green, Kawasaki has released three new lifestyle T-shirts. The Sprocket design and Emblem T-shirt are both available in various men’s, women’s and kids’ sizes for $32. The Green Ninja T-shirt is available in kids’ sizes only for $30. All can be purchased at your nearest Kawasaki dealer. 3 Polar Express Cassons $69.95 (02) 8882 1900 cassons.com.au Rjays Polar Control II…

The pieces fall into place Monday – Honda announced two more years with Pedrosa Tuesday – Ducati likewise confirmed that they would retain Andrea Dovizioso until 2018, alongside Jorge Lorenzo Thursday – two announcements from Suzuki: first that Viñales was to leave, and second that he would be replaced by Andrea Iannone, dumped by Ducati. Thursday – Yamaha announced the signing of Maverick Viñales NO MORE WAITING, as a flurry of announcements confirmed most of the important rider contracts for 2017 – an unprecedentedly early resolution after Lorenzo’s switch to Ducati triggered an equally record early start to the so-called Silly Season. Things started to fall into place when Maverick Viñales finally made “the most difficult phone call of my life” to tell Suzuki team chief Davide Brivio that he…

THE ENTIRE PATA Yamaha official WSBK project is impressive in its scale and level of commitment in 2016, but the missing element in the past couple of rounds has been luck. After a huge highside that put Sylvain Guintoli out of the Imola and then the Sepang rounds, the eventual need for an operation on his injured ankle will cause him to miss the Donington round too. Unfortunately, that’s the adopted home round for the Frenchman, and the home event for the Crescent side of the hybrid Crescent/Yamaha operation. If luck was currency, Yamaha went from skint to bankrupt at Sepang. Lone rider Alex Lowes qualified second on the grid after Superpole, but ran on in Race 1, slipping from a great position. He fought back to finish fifth but…

TWO-TIME WORLD Champion Tai Woffinden won the LOTTO Warsaw FIM Speedway Grand Prix of Poland, but it is Australian Chris Holder who currently leads the 2016 championship chase. The second round of the SGP series on 14 May was staged in front of 50,000 fans at a packed PGE Narodowy Stadium – a venue that last year saw racing curtailed due to poor track conditions. This year the temporary track drew universal praise and provided some quality action, particularly in the second half of the meeting. Woffinden and Holder are the only riders to appear in both finals to date and there are now 10 riders within eight points in the title chase – and that does not include Nicki Pedersen or Niels-Kristian Iversen. The evenness of the line-up this…

ROUND 8 SAW MXGP riders battle it out at Italy’s picturesque Pietramurata motocross track with Antonio Cairoli (Red Bull KTM) looking good right from the start. The Italian took overall victory with a 1-2 scorecard that included a dominant performance in Race 1 ahead of Max Nagl (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) with Kevin Strijbos (Factory Suzuki) third. Tim Gasjer (Gariboldi Honda) and Romain Febvre (Monster Energy Yamaha) both had crashes in the first race which kept them out of contention, while New Zealander Ben Townley (Factory Suzuki) finished a respectable seventh. In Race 2, Febvre (6,1) capitalised on Gasjer’s misfortune to win the race and secure second overall when the Slovenian rookie suffered a crash while leading by almost six seconds. Cairoli led momentarily before drifting back, but he retained second…

“we’re racing blind in sections where we can hardly fit our bars between the trees” FOR A BLOKE born and bred in Inverell, Josh Strang’s 2016 race schedule could be a little disorienting. It’s certainly difficult to follow through all those states finishing with the first letter of the alphabet: Florida, Virginia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Minnesota and Pennsylvania, plus both North and South Carolina. Makes Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee easy to remember. “That’s 17 states and 30 weekends over 10 months and sums up my year,” says Josh. “And a lot of time on the road; but with a camper it’s easier to get there, set up and not have to worry about finding food or a motel. The longest drive is about 14 hours from where I live in Denver…

LAST ISSUE WE revealed leaked images of what we believed was a new triple-cylinder 750cc Benellia naked (AMCN 65-22), however, an update from our sources has now confirmed that bike will be a 900cc model (see breakout) and these new images actually reveal Benelli’s new 750cc parallel twin which will be officially revealed at the end of this year. The new images give us a good indication of how the finished product will look. There’s a clear styling nod to established models like Ducati’s Monster and MV’s Brutale, although the parallel-twin engine sets it apart. Boasting a completely new motor with a fairly conventional layout, it’s water-cooled, of course, with a pair of chain-driven overhead cams and, presumably, four valves per cylinder. Guessing at the bike’s performance is tricky, since…

THOUGHT YOU WERE through with seeing new Triumphs built around the water-cooled Bonneville parallel twin? All indications suggest the British firm is a long way from finished. With three versions of the engine available – the 900cc ‘High Torque’ of the Street Twin, 1200cc ‘High Torque’ of the Bonneville T120, and 1200cc ‘High Power’ unit in the Thruxton – and three different styles of bike on sale already, with several more to come, the temptation to mix-and-match is clear to see. Now Triumph has filed trademark applications for the name ‘Speed Twin’, leaving little doubt another combination is on its way. Clearly Triumph is keen to reclaim a name that has ties to the company dating back to 1937 when the original 500cc Speed Twin was launched, and the current…

THE DATES HAVE now been confirmed for this year’s Throttle Roll and organisers of the Sydney-based event have upped the ante, with the 2016 event expanding to fill an entire street in Sydney’s inner west. Slated for Sunday 12 June, one of Australia’s best custom-motorcycle events will take place on and around Marrickville’s Railway Parade, as the street is transformed into a custom-bike festival with local music, street food, pop-up bars and, of course, amazing bikes taking centre stage. Attendees will witness the country’s best custom-built café racers, bobbers, choppers, trackers and scramblers in the flesh. In what has become the show’s trademark, three levels of scaffolding will show off the bikes, while the street below bristles with the event’s all-new festival environment. Since its 2012 inception, Throttle Roll has…

2003 Aprilia RSV1000 Mille Aprilia put Ducati on notice with the release of its 1000cc V-twin RSV1000 Mille, taking a significant leap of faith in the process by entering the highly competitive superbike class alongside the likes of Honda, Bimota, Yamaha and Suzuki. The Italian marque tipped the scales in its favour by contracting esteemed two-stroke engine manufacturer Rotax to supply the Mille powerplants. For around $6500 extra, punters could opt for the blinged up RSV1000R Mille, which included Öhlins front and rear suspension, carbon fibre components, and a racing exhaust system. What it’s got Aprilia's RSV1000 Mille is powered by a liquid-cooled, four-stroke, longitudinal 60° V-twin 997.6cc, fuel injected engine with DOHC and four valves per cylinder. Power runs through a six-speed constant mesh gearbox. The front suspension is…

It takes off from a standing start like a scalded cat Servicing First service 1000km (run-in check) Service intervals every 10,000km thereafter. Replace air filter and CVT belt with rollers every 20,000km Replace spark plugs, gearbox oil and chainset every 20,000km oil and chainset every 40,000km Brake fluid initially at 12 months then every 2 years. Firstly, a disclaimer – I, like many of you out there, have a deeply ingrained dislike of scooters. Sure, I’m as open minded as the next guy, but the whining noise and pip-squeak power I’ve witnessed from this genre never fails to grind my gears. Nonetheless, BMW’s C650GT has given me cause to rethink, and I’m bold enough to admit that this particular maxi-scooter is both capable and powerful. It’s one of the quickest…

Competition Ummm, there isn’t any when it comes to road-registered two-wheelers. There are plenty in racing series such as TTXGP and the bikes that compete in the IOM races, but while there are some great examples of fast machines in those series, no one else has the range or balls of Zero when it comes to models that can be purchased for use on the road. It’s a whole new world and they are boldly striding into it with products that work but go against conventional thinking – you have to admire Zero for that. Energy wars My only problem with electric bikes is that while they don’t use fuel, at this point you predominately need to burn coal (or fire up a petrol-powered generator) to charge them, so the…

If you were one of the reported 3500 spectators at the Dandenong Iceland on the outskirts of Melbourne on Sunday 23 February in 1986, then you witnessed the only ice speedway show ever staged in Australia. Rob van Driesum covered the meeting for AMCN . This was very different to ice racing staged through Russia and northern Europe where massive spikes protrude from tyres as the competitors corner at close to horizontal angles over 400m laps. It was ice speedway fitted in to an average ice arena that normally hosted ice hockey or figure skating. A few ice speedway shows had been staged in the UK before John McNeill, the man behind the Melbourne Showground Spectaculars, got together with then Brisbane Exhibition promoter Vic Butler to present the Dandenong show.…

NOT BEING COLD is one of my favourite things in life. Which often makes me wonder how I ended up in the UK for 14 years riding motorcycles for a living. But even now that I’m back home in the more sensible motorcycling climate of Oz, staying warm is still a priority. I discovered these Andy Strapz Merino Thermalz at the start of last winter, and instantly became besotted with them. They are quite literally the Cat’s Pyjamas! Or should that be the sheep’s? If you don’t know about the wonder fibre kindly donated to the world of outdoorsy pursuits by one of Australia’s immigrants, the Merino sheep, you are sadly missing out on a natural product with truly miraculous properties. I’ve been a Merino wool fan for years, using…

It’s a lovely choice for buyers wanting a stylish sunny Sunday bike PRICE GUIDE New Price $16,490-$15,990 Second-Hand $9600-$13,700 While the Moto Guzzi V7 Racer isn’t the quickest in the café racer category, it’s the prettiest by a country mile. And its beauty is way more than skin deep. Attention to engineering and styling detail is excellent with top notch build quality and finish standards. Benefitting from Piaggio ownership since 2004, Moto Guzzi produces motorcycles that consistently fly the flag for Italian craftsmanship. The Racer was launched in 2011 as a limited-edition collectable motorcycle. Its V7 label and old-school architecture are a nod to its distinguished ancestor, the 1971 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport – the motorcycle that established the brand’s sportsbike credentials in that era. The two-valve, air-cooled, fuel-injected ‘smallblock’…

The plot of the Sepang WSS race would have been too fantastical for Hollywood, in terms of tension and eventually shock outcome. Even if though the main championship protagonists Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and his teammate Randy Krummenacher both finished, they came home in sixth and eighth position on a wet track. Neither was prepared to risk their all and push hard when the other top riders who are breathing down their championship necks also had a strange day. Ayrton Badovini (GEMAR Balloons – Team Lorini Honda) blew his own mind with a win that looked unlikely for a time, as he had been stuck in pitlane behind a red flag before the first aborted race start had played out. Second placed rider Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki)…

The first race of the day saw a massive pack rubbing shoulders and any one of 15 riders might have won the slipstreaming run to the finish line. But title leader Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) had other ideas. The South African took a third win in a row, all the sweeter because his main title rivals – Jorge Navarro and Romano Fenati – both no-scored. Pole qualifier Fenati had frequently led, but his Sky VR46 KTM’s chain broke after nine thrilling laps. Navarro (EG Honda) came off worst in one of many collisions in the huge leading pack, crashing out. Argentine GP winner Khairul Idham Pawi (Honda Team Asia Honda) led briefly, teammate Hiroki Ono twice over the line, Andrea Migno (Sky VR46 KTM) once, and new boy teammate…

NICKY HAYDEN’S EMOTIONAL win in the second race at Sepang was proof that he made a wise move heading into the lead so soon in wet conditions. It was also a pat on the back for all involved in the rejuvenation of the Honda program during winter. With a new bike in the wings it would have been easy for Honda and Hayden to mark time at a high tempo until the 2017 season, but the entire team – which now includes engine tuning wizards Cosworth – made extensive changes to the bike’s geometry and fully exploited the rules for headstock and swingarm pivot position, as well as increasing the engine’s state of tune. Honda has not stayed still in 2016, and the team got their reward of a first…

AUSTRALIA’S UNDER 21 team, the Joeys, will travel to Holsted, Denmark on 4 June to contest this year’s FIM World Under 21 Speedway Team Cup semi final against Finland, Great Britain and the host nation, who were the 2015 World Teams Championship runners-up. The Joey’s are currently ranked third in the world following last year’s home event at Olympic Park Speedway in Mildura and will have a familiar line-up this year with three members of the 2015 team retained and also eligible for the 2017 competition as well. The team will be led into battle by the current Australian senior champion, 19-year-old Brady Kurtz. With him will be Australian Under 21 winner Jack Holder and three-time national Under 21 champion Max Fricke, along with Jake Allen. Team Manager Mark Lemon…

RIDERS WERE GREETED at Murray Bridge with sunshine, rain and a dust storm as the MX National series took in its first step west on its way to WA’s Wanneroo Park on 29 May. MX1 kicked off with an amazing ride from Todd Waters (Wilson Suzuki) in Moto 1, as Kade Mosig (NPE Monster Kawasaki) made an impressive return from an injury sustained at Broadford to keep Waters honest all the way to the finish line. The pair battled for top honours with Dean Ferris (CDR Yamaha) rounding out the podium. In Moto 2, SA locals Kirk Gibbs (KTM Australia) and Brett Metcalfe (SD3 Husqvarna) ran away with the race and gave the crowd what they wanted. Metcalfe led most of the event, with defending champion Gibbs making a late…

MULTIPLE AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE champion Marty Craggill is back racing and loving it. At age 47, he’s riding a Yamaha TZ750 in Period 5 Forgotten Era events. Family-wise, Craggill has two sons Max, 14, and Zac, 12. Career-wise, he has a thriving business, MAZ Maintenance. “I’m riding a TZ750 owned by a builder from Wagga Wagga, Phil Andrea,” Craggill says. “I’ve ridden it three times and enjoying it so much I don’t know why I stopped for eight years.” Craggill won his Superbike titles riding ZX-7RR machines for Team Kawasaki Australia, with back-to-back Australian Superbike Championships (1997-98), as well as winning the Shell Superbike Series and Australian Superbike Production Championship. “Two of my best races were in September 1997 at Mallala, to seal the Australian Superbike title against Troy Bayliss. I…

HUSQVARNA’S PARENT FIRM KTM seems intent on making restyled, Husky-badged versions of all of its bikes, and these spy shots show the latest in the line – a Husqvarna version of the 1290 Super Duke R. While the underpinnings all appear to be stock Super Duke R, including the 129kW engine, tubular frame, WP suspension and single-sided swingarm, the bodywork makes the Husqvarna version stand out. There’s a hint of Ducati Diavel in the single-seater’s style. That’s thanks in part to the stubby tail and swingarm-mounted licence plate and rear lights, and partially due to the punched-in headlight and side panels that extend a long way forwards. The seat also appears fractionally lower and further back than the Super Duke R’s, giving a more bent-knee riding position However, the bike…

KTM IS TO reveal this revamped version of the Super Duke R later this year as part of its updates for 2017. The cosmetic changes are clear to see and dominated by an aggressive new headlight that’s one of the slimmest LED units we’ve seen yet. The unit has been tucked right up against the fork to give the bike a compressed appearance. New side panels that now extend beyond the front edges of the fork add to the illusion that the whole bike has been squashed, compared to the existing model. This makes the bike appear smaller even though its engine and chassis are largely unaltered. That engine is fractionally tweaked, gaining the same changes that have already been applied to the Super Duke, ensuring it passes Euro4 emissions…

BAGGERS ARE BIG news in America at the moment and Indian’s latest creation is right on the money when it comes to hitting the stripped-down tourer style that defines the genre. While most of the recent news from Indian has surrounded its smaller-capacity, water-cooled Scout models, the firm’s more traditional air-cooled line-up has been growing fast as well, and the Chieftain Dark Horse is the latest addition. Technically it’s familiar. Power comes from the 1811cc Thunder Stroke 111 air-cooled twin, with 138.9Nm of torque at just 2600rpm, that’s the same figures as the rest of the large-capacity Indians. Power isn’t officially quoted but a glance at the bike’s official emissions test documents reveals that it’s rated to make 68kW at 4500rpm. Despite the stripped looks, the standard kit is just…

FOR MANY, THE difference between a great ride and just a good one is body temperature. With most riders having one summer-weight jacket and one other for winter riding, we often find ourselves in the in-between days where one’s too hot or the other not warm enough. And it’s in these situations when both your enjoyment and concentration levels can be drastically affected – especially over long periods of time. While there’s the odd, gloriously eccentric few who have bolted an in-window air conditioner onto the rear rack of their motorcycle, there’s now a far more discreet (and probably more efficient) solution to adjusting your body temperature while on the bike. All the way from Phoenix, Arizona, a small, wearable air conditioner called MiClimate is currently in the final stages…

For the past 40 years, Good Friday has been the toughest day of the year for Bob Rosenthal and his wife Lynne. It was on that day in 1976 that Lynne’s brother and Bob’s brother-in-law Ross Barelli was fatally injured when the Suzuki RG500 he was riding suffered a major brake failure at the end of Conrod Straight. “Although the date for Good Friday moves around, it is always a sad day for our family,” says Lynne, a dignified woman who has come to terms with the loss of her older brother, who was 28 when he died. Talking about Ross is not easy for Bob. The death of his brother-in-law, the gentle giant with whom he raced, still weighs on him. A keen sportsman, Ross grew up in a…

WE’VE ALL SEEN the movies: a brash, working class American gets thrown together with a fancy English gentleman and hilarity ensues. Both good at heart, the Yank’s down in the dumps after a messy divorce, while the Pommie is so stiff and restrained, he’s forgotten what it’s like to enjoy himself. But then these two are thrown together to face their demons and, hey presto, they become better people. Yeah, but it’s just a tired cliché, right? Well, not always. See, it just so happens that all these jolly good British café racer goings-on have forced one or two real life working-class Americans to consider things from a slightly different angle. Picture an American in a trucker cap sipping a cup of tea with his pinky in the air, or…

There were a few questions I got asked every time I took the Zero SR out – you can’t be shy when riding one of these as everyone wants to talk to you. Here are the answers: Can you ride it in the rain? Yes, you won’t get electrocuted. You can also wash it and get it wet, just like any other bike. Is it silent? No, it’s not. On WOT, there’s a very mild electric motor whine, not much louder than a remote control car. Electric motors aren’t silent! Compared to an Akrapovicpiped Italian V-twin, though, yes, it’s relatively quiet. Where’s the clutch? There isn’t one – it’s like a scooter in this regard, making it really easy to ride. The main difference is that only the big maxi…

“It’s a significant evolution of the original 961 engine ... the motor has been retooled almost in its entirety” It’s now almost eight years since Norton proprietor Stuart Garner, 47, acquired the rights to the historic marque from its previous American owner, Boston financier Ollie Curme. With the name, Garner obtained the prototype Commando 961 – the streetbike Curme had commissioned from the USA’s number one twin-cylinder Norton guru, Oregon-based Kenny Dreer. And since then, lots of hard graft, a good bit of risk taking, and several major changes in strategy have put the born-again Norton Motorcycles back on the map, with what Garner says is “getting on for 2000 motorcycles” so far built and delivered to owners around the world, as far afield as Japan, the USA, Canada and…

Having recently been accused by one of our more imaginative and articulate readers of sharing showers with Triumph owner John Bloor, I have no desire to stoke that particular fire of suspicion by waxing lyrical on the joys of Hinckley’s finest exports once again. Nether the less, I have now tested the 2016 Speed Triple on Aussie roads, and this is something I cannot simply un-test. So, here we go again JB. I believe it’s your turn to drop the soap… For those of you who have just tuned in, I once worked as a test rider with Triumph’s R&D department. So although I’ve never owned a Speed Triple, there wouldn’t be many folk who’ve done more miles on them. I’m also a huge fan, and can say I’ve played…

Handling matters, especially in MotoGP. It is far harder to make a 1000cc MotoGP bike work in the twisty bits of a track than down the straights. And that is where the approach of Suzuki since its return to the MotoGP paddock has been so exemplary. We have watched many companies come into the class with engines that produce serious amounts of power, then struggle to make the bike work in the corners. Ducati has been a serial offender on this point, something it has only recently worked out. Last year Honda fell into the trap, too. Compare that with Yamaha: Jorge Lorenzo was only 20th fastest in a straight line at Mugello last year, but won the race by over five seconds. Handling, then, matters a lot. Suzuki has…

Super surface ONCE AGAIN THE track surface at a race meeting was the talk of the town. And once again the conversation took place in Asia. Some areas of the Chang circuit in Thailand for for Round 2 were so badly repaired they proved unusable. The entire surface at Sepang had been resurfaced and re-profiled over the past few months – so how did it perform? Dromo, the Italian-based circuit design company, got the work contract and came up with some innovative and specific solutions to the challenges of creating a long-life/high-grip track in the tropical heat and humidity of Malaysia. They used local granite as the aggregate and left bigger gaps in the mix, with special bitumen used to bind the parts together. It had extreme grip from the…

Yellow smoke clouded the air at Mugello as the MotoGP grid formed up for 23 laps of one of racing’s finest circuits, as an army of Rossi fans – the majority of a record crowd of almost 100,000 – let off their flares. Their hero was on pole position. The sun was shining. It was his favourite track. What could possibly go wrong? Clouds of white smoke replaced it before the race was half done. It came from Rossi’s exhaust. His M1 had blown up. He’d been dogging leader Jorge Lorenzo’s tracks until then. But after eight laps and several failed outbraking attempts, it was over. Amazingly, it was the second such blow-up for a Movistar Yamaha within a couple of hours. Lorenzo’s engine had failed in a similar way…

It all went badly for Moto2, twice. The race started fine, pole man Sam Lowes in the lead on the Federal Oils Kalex. Then on lap four Xavier Vierge crashed at speed, and his Tech 3 bike speared into the air-fence, which deflated. Red flag, results taken back to lap three to determine grid positions for an 11-lap restart. New-this-year quick restart rules dictate riders must leave pitlane within 60 seconds of opening. Not all managed it, some blaming poor information from officials. So as they lined up again in revised order eight riders were ordered to go to the back of the grid. No easy operation, and the rest sat there, engines and tempers getting hotter as time ticked away. Eventually the process was stopped, riders returned to the…

RIDERS FROM AROUND the nation will trek across the country to WA next weekend (3-5 June) to do battle at Round 4 of the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) at Barbagallo Raceway. The series has delivered scorching competition so far this year with Yamaha teammates Glenn Allerton and Wayne Maxwell running neck and neck in the championship, just six points clear of Honda’s Troy Herfoss. The technically demanding layout is likely to favour the attributes of the Fireblade, but keep an eye on reigning ASBK Champion Mike Jones who will also be fighting hard to stay in contention on his new Desmosport Ducati Panigale. In the Supersport category, Troy Guenther currently holds a six-point advantage over Sam Clarke, whose chances will be bolstered by a home track advantage in WA. Callum…

FORMED IN 1931 in the town of Hartwell near Camberwell in Melbourne, the Hartwell MCC is one of Australia’s oldest and most successful road racing clubs. Over the weekend of 14-15 May, the club visited Australia’s premier motorcycle racing venue when it held the third round of its 2016 season at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. In excess of 170 sidecar and solo riders attended and got to enjoy a typical Phillip Island experience – in other words wind, rain and sunshine all in one day. The highlight event of the weekend, the ‘Greg Bailey’, was hampered by rain, reducing the qualifying field of 40 riders to just nine who were brave enough to take on the wet track. Named in memoriam of a former club member, the Greg…