Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 65 Issue 25 i Australian Motorcycle News

BMW also has plans to make a part-faired sports version of the RnineT, probably carrying the RS name in tribute to the R90RS. The half-faired bike has actually been seen as a concept bike already, in the form of the Roland Sands-designed Concept 90 that appeared in 2013. BMW is expected to launch the retro RS model alongside the GS version towards the end of this year, doubling the size of the current RnineT line-up. Yet another new retro styled machine has also been hinted at by the recent R5 concept (Vol 65 No 23). While that machine was based on a 1930s BMW R5 engine with a supercharger, its bobber styling may well be adopted by a fifth model in the RnineT line-up as BMW creates a heritage range.…

To put it in context against Ducati’s Scrambler, the Yamaha is down on power to the tune of 17kW (the Ducati makes 55kW) but it makes significantly more torque than the Ducati’s 68Nm. The Yamaha also peaks much lower in the rev range – the Ducati hits max power at 8250rpm and peak torque at 5750rpm. In real-world riding, that means the Yamaha mightn’t feel much slower. The weight, however, will be harder to disguise – it’s 62kg heavier! Assuming it will cost around the same as the Bolt, the SCR950 should fractionally undercut the Ducati Scrambler in terms of price, but not by much.…

IN MODERN ENGINES, friction still accounts for nearly 20 per cent of all engine losses, well over half of which can be attributed to the parasitic friction which occurs between the piston and the cylinder bore, and the piston and the gudgeon pin. And in a time when reducing emissions, increasing fuel efficiency and improving wear resistance has never been more important to both manufacturers and consumers, finding efficient and effective ways to reduce friction in engines can have big impacts on everybody’s bottom line. Federal Mogul, which is the parent company of Ferodo Racing, has come up with a new low-friction piston coating for pistons used in automotive petrol engines called EcoTough, which it claims outperforms any other friction-reducing product in terms of improving fuel consumption and emissions while…

350 TT. He was 28, married with two young children. At the time he was Honda’s most successful rider with six victories, including two 125/250 doubles. On the national scene, Phillis won the 1958 Australian 350 and 500 TTs at Bunbury and recorded eight Victorian GP titles at Phillip Island in the four years 1959-62. In April 1961, Phillis became the first rider to win a world championship Grand Prix on a Japanese machine – the Spanish 125 GP at Monjuïc Parc, Barcelona. One month later he was the first Australian rider to record a GP double, at Clermont-Ferrand in France. At the 1961 Isle of Man TT, Honda whitewashed the field in two classes – taking the first five places in both the 125 and 250 TTs. Hailwood won…

The MT-03 I tested last issue (Vol 65 No 24) is a case study of rideability mixed with practicality and fun at a great price – and this rings true with the entire range. Yamaha is building a memorable line of machines here, made all the more memorable because their low price tag makes them accessible to more people, meaning there are more bought and more around for us to nostalgically talk about when we spot one in a mate’s garage in 20 years’ time. Yamaha’s change of focus has yielded a flush of bikes designed with a new way of looking at riding a bike, and the XSR900 is a bike so well thought out, it will make other manufacturers take a good, hard look at how they produce…

It was 1976 when a new race category called Superbikes was introduced in the USA. Back then BMW still suffered from a stuffy pipe-and-slippers image, so when the first race came around at Daytona in March, it was the sporty Japanese and Italian brands that everyone expected would dominate. But the American BMW agent had other ideas – and three secret weapons. Peter Adams, who had bought the franchise only a few years earlier, took BMW’s relatively new R90S Boxer and assembled a crack race team under the guidance of Udo Gietl, a German-born former racer and NASA engineer who also just happened to have helped formulate the new AMA Superbike regulations. That helped when it came to creative reading of the new rules; Gietl fitted a controversial monoshock rear…

Every year on 9 June there is a luncheon in a Melbourne pub to honour 1970s racing hero Ken Blake. This year’s gathering marked 35 years since Blake died in a crash at the Isle of Man TT. It is the only such continuously running rider tribute event that we know of in this country – and that tells you how fondly people remember the man from Strathalbyn in South Australia. This popularity sprang as much from the variety and fighting manner of Blake’s successes as the number of victories to his name. Blake was the last rider to win the Australian Unlimited TT (the one-off Australian championship of its day) on a British motorcycle, the only rider to win the Castrol Six Hour Production Race solo and, in 1976,…

Despite its somewhat genteel appearance its chassis and underpinnings are robust enough to do the business 1 The TDM’s aluminium frame made it much lighter than it’s steel-framed predecessor 2 Though ‘futuristic’ in 2002, the bike didn’t really keep up with the times styling-wise 3 Dual 298mm discs at the front and a single 248mm disc at the back, all with ABS 4 The TDM900 has an estimated top speed of 215km/h PRICE GUIDE New Price $14,999 (2002) $13,599 (2014) Second-Hand $4800-$11,900 Sam Maclachlan was on the money in a recent column (Vol 65 No 21) when he urged riders to stop using half-baked excuses for leaving their bikes at home. His message was basically ‘just do it’. One excuse he tackled was the old ‘not having the right tool…

BRUCE ANSTEY GAVE Mugen its third TT win in a row as he notched up his 11th TT victory in the Zero race. The 47-year-old stormed to victory with a lap of 118.416mph on his battery powered machine, but behind him the race developed into a shambles. The Belgian Sarolea team wheeled both their machines to the start line but riders Lee Johnston and Dean Harrison were stood down as the bikes were returned to the paddock without turning a wheel. That left just six machines taking part in the single lap event and with transponders only working intermittently because of the electric field surrounding the machines, confusion reigned among the timekeepers and the commentary team. Early leader and winner of the last two Zero TTs, John McGuinness had a…

Having not won a race since Assen, way back in Round 4, Jonathan Rea (KRT) bounced back and delivered something of a knockout punch to his rivals and their hopes of challenging for the WSBK crown. After his Round 8 double in Misano, it’s hard to see who can stop him claiming a second world championship title. He is not keen on talking about championship places, but he sure was happy to win both races at the circuit where he won his WSBK first full-pointer, way back in 2009. Once again it looked like the pre-eminent rider would be Tom Sykes, especially when he romped to his latest Superpole win, his sixth of the year, at record pace. But come race day, cometh the number one plate holder. Rea won…

THE RECENT RACE wanderings of Anthony West have seen him ride all kinds of bikes. But while this makes for an interesting and diverse racing life, it may not be helping him find out all the secrets of his Pedercini Racing Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R in WSBK trim, especially with so little track time before the racing starts for real on Saturdays and Sundays this year. “I think jumping from bike to bike over the last few races hasn’t helped the situation,” said West who had been fifth at one point of Race 1 at Misano but had to drop back as his rear tyre wore on the sides and in the middle, due to incorrect traction control settings. “I’m trying to get a feeling out of a bike that perhaps…

A MINUTE’S SILENCE was observed last Friday, (17 June) at Misano for Round 8 of the WSBK Championship, to honour the memory of recently deceased MotoGP racer Luis Salom, and superbike legend Fabrizio Pirovano who succumbed to illness shortly before race weekend. On Saturday, Pirovano’s original FZ750, the most iconic of the many Yamahas, a few Ducatis and WSS Suzukis he rode, was taken out for a lap of honour by his original Yamaha tuner, Peppo Russo. Italian Factory Ducati rider Davide Giugliano also honoured the memory of his recently departed countryman Fabrizio Pirovano by modifying the paint job on his ‘tricolore’ crash helmet, to include Pirovano’s name in large and visible white lettering. Salom, cousin of WSBK rider David Salom, was remembered with a special race livery on Ilya…

IN WHAT HAS become the fastest desert dash on the planet, Toby Price scored his fifth Queen’s Birthday weekend victory. In doing so he equalled local Alice Springs hero Randall Gregory’s five Finke victories in the 1990s. Price’s win is the 10th straight for New South Welshmen and lifts the out-of-towners’ total to 18, five short of the Territorians’ tally of 23. Price dominated the weekend like none before. Winning the bike prologue with the first sub one hour 55 minute time in Finke’s history, Price made the Sunday run south in 1h53m9s, then roosted back to Alice the next day in an almost identical time of 1h53m35s. Between runs the Alpha male from Aberglasslyn muscled the six-litre Geiser Bros. Trophy Truck back to Alice to take second outright in…

“that’s racing – it goes left, right, up and down, it doesn’t always go straight forward” How did you start racing? Back in the early stages my parents took me around racing dirtbikes, motocross and then dirt track and flat track. We moved into the Moriwaki 80cc series to get into junior road racing and in 2003 Mum and Dad financed my campaign in the Australian Championship on a 125cc bike. Honda Australia signed me up in 2004 and put me into their Supersport development program. Then you moved overseas – and walked right into the global financial crisis Yeah, no one saw that coming. I raced a superbike with Paul Free and his crew in Honda Australia in 2008 but I wanted to go overseas as quickly as possible.…

DON’T BE FOOLED by BMW calling this cool scrambler a concept bike – meet the 2017 RnineT GS. And if you’re a fan of the original R80G/S and BMW’s old Marlboro-sponsored Paris-Dakar racers, you’re probably feeling pangs of desire about now. Despite being a modern design, it hits all the right notes to bring back memories of that 1980s era of monstrous rallye-raid bikes which sparked the whole big trailie scene so dominant today. Officially, the bike has the ungainly title of BMW Motorrad Concept Lac Rose – the name refers to the final stage of the original Dakar route, so-called thanks to the rose-coloured Retba salt lake where the race ended. While BMW can’t mention cigarette advertising these days, there’s no question the paintwork mimics the Marlboro-backed bike of…

AFTER HIS FIRST winless Isle of Man TT week since 2010, and on the 20th anniversary of his first TT appearance, John McGuinness didn’t exactly blame his ageing CBR1000RR for his lacklustre results, but he did say the incoming 2017 model may be just the ticket to ensure he’ll be lining up for his 21st TT. This year, with a brace of third places on the superbike-spec Fireblade in the Superbike and Senior TTs and a sixth-spot finish on the Superstock version of the bike, McGuinness made it clear that it’s the last year of the current model. “It’s an ’08 Fireblade, you know. Next year’s bike’s new. That’s the trouble – maybe I’m going to have to come back now! I thought about maybe hanging my boots up, but…”,…

What: The Mobile Drop-off When: Saturday, 25 June. 10am - 12 noon Where: Robertson Pie Shop NSW The Mission Australia and AMCN teams will collect jackets from local motorcycle clubs and riders. What: The Sydney Warmth Ride When: Monday, 27 June. From 9am Where: Victory & Indian Motorcycles, 554 Parramatta Rd, Ashfield Group ride leaves at 10am to ride into the CBD where Missionbeat will distribute jackets to those in need. What: The Melbourne Warmth Ride When: Monday, 27 June. From 9am Where: Victory & Indian Motorcycles, 544 Elizabeth St, Melbourne. Group ride leaves at 10am to the Synergy Repairs workshop in North Melbourne, where riders will see some of the work Mission Australia does to help marginalised youth.…

MotoGP vs WSBK – the rematch! I just read Michael Scott’s regular In Pit Lane (Vol 65 No 23) and felt compelled to pen a short reply. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a whinge. I have always enjoyed Mr Scott’s articles and In Pit Lane is always one of the first pages I read in AMCN each fortnight. MotoGP vs WSBK was very well written and I understood what he was elaborating on – that MotoGP is the big show and WSBK is the poor cousin. In the article, Michael makes it very clear that the riders who have excelled in WSBK are no lesser than those who have succeeded in MotoGP and vice versa, but from a spectator’s view it doesn’t matter, we just want to see…

At first glance Suzuki’s GSX-S1000 looks like some sort of wasp-like transformer with sharp lines and a fairly aggressive stance, so I assumed my 45-year-old frame would be glad this was just a ‘quick’ spin. But much to my surprise, once aboard there was an instant comfort about this machine. It has a pleasant seat and thanks to the upright riding position I could easily reach the nice wide handlebar without hunching over and with no weight on my wrists. The sensation is almost like sitting in a cockpit rather than sitting on the bike. My legs were comfortable from hips to the pegs and the gear shift lever positon felt good from the get-go. All that I needed was for my riding buddy to turn up and we were…

It is a little bit of everything in one big highway rollin’ good ol’ boys package All weather protection Available in three sizes, the fork-mounted screen is easily removed with no need for tools – for days when you want to feel the wind blast in your face One-of-a-kind chassis The chassis has been developed especially for the Springfield and features 25º of rake, 132mm of trail and a 1702mm wheelbase Leaning room The high set footboards allow for 30º of lean angle yet still provide a comfortable seating position. The pillion footboards are also adjustable Built for comfort The two-piece leather sculptured seat is unique to the Springfield. The pillion seat section can also be removed for a stripped-down bobber look. Going the distance The rear subframe has mounting…

A GUY FROM Yoshimura called me before the 1976 season and said, “We want you to ride for us next year in this new AMA support race called Superbike.” I said, “Cool, how much?” And he said, “No, no, no, for the honour of riding for Pops.” Well, it was indeed an honour … but honour doesn’t pay the rent, so the discussion ended there. They wanted me to ride just for prize money – no thanks. The day after, Butler & Smith calls and asks me to ride for BMW on their R90S. BMW had heard that Yoshimura was going to get me, and they got worried. I was able to charge them more money than they paid Reggie Pridmore, who’d been racing with them for years. He later…

The tyre business is a cut-throat world of fierce competition between the mega-brands, and intelligent product strategies are important to keep ahead of the game. Superseding a highly successful model of tyre with a new one is a risky move, and requires solid reasoning, not to mention impeccable timing. Pirelli’s Diablo Rosso II is a tyre that bridged the gap between the racetrack and real world roads extremely successfully, and has become a go-to tyre for sportbike riders looking for all-roads, all-weather performance. Manufacturers such as Ducati, MV Augusta and Triumph have fitted them as original equipment on a wide range of sports riding focused motorcycles, and for good reason. By Pirelli’s own admission, the Diablo Rosso II probably hadn’t quite run out its useful product life yet, and the…

The 2016 TT will be remembered for its fierce battles between Michael Dunlop and Ian Hutchinson. Both riders came to this year’s event with 11 wins apiece, and both were determined to add to their tally at each other’s expense. “I think probably only Michael and myself are seriously trying to win five races at the TT.” 36-year-old Hutchy said of his younger rival before the event. Both men have made a habit of winning multiple times in recent years, with Hutchy scoring a treble in 2015 – the Yorkshireman’s first full TT attack since his 2010 five-timer on the Padgett’s Hondas. Michael Dunlop, the nephew of Joey and son of Robert, won four times in 2013 and repeated the feat a year later, but the rivalry between the pair…

A late tyre change for the runaway championship leader Kenan Sofuoglu continued his and his Kawasaki Puccetti racing charge away from their main rivals. America’s PJ Jacobsen (Honda World Supersport) led for many of the 19 laps. He had the inexperienced, fast and free-riding Federico Caricasulo for company on another Honda, from the Bardahl Racing Evans Bros team. Sofuoglu hung back in third place for a lot of the race, worrying whether his harder tyre choice than the rest would allow him to be outright fast enough. It did, and after some contacts between Jacobsen and Caricasulo, then Caricasulo and Sofuoglu, the final order proved to be wily fox Sofuoglu first, the local hero Caricasulo second and Jacobsen third, unable to keep pace in the final two laps as his…

AS THE ENTIRE Milwaukee BMW racing team attempts to break through into the upper World Superbike echelons in its rookie year, former WSBK rider, reigning BSB Champion and now WSBK rider once again, Josh Brookes, is still trying to figure out his fickle but sometimes fast BMW. He explained the issue he faces most weekends like this: “Say last year the bike (his Yamaha in BSB) was perfect and you were in the centre of the window. You would go to another track and you may move to the edge of the window, but the bike still works. On the weekend you would work to get it back to that sweet spot in the middle. I think we have only ever had it on the ‘fence line’, so that when…

THE 49TH RUNNING of the Winternationals was held at Willowbank Raceway over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend. The venue was packed, giving the Ipswich-based track its biggest Saturday audience in 10 years! Next year’s 50th anniversary meeting will no doubt be bigger again. The event had more than 400 entrants and was also the final round of the 2015/16 400 Thunder championship. In the Top Bike class, Perth-based nitro Harley rider Mark Drew came into the event on 451 points, giving him a healthy championship points lead over Chris Porter (388) and Chris Matheson (386). Qualifying started with Drew setting the early pace in 6.66 seconds at 203 mph. Local hero Gavin Spann filled second with a 6.91. The second session saw the numbers start to tumble and Spann took…

MXGP RISING star Tim Gajser (Gariboldi Honda) had it all his own way at Matterley Basin for Round 11 of the Championship (18-19 June) in the absence of rival Romain Febvre (Factory Yamaha). Gajser was clinical in his approach, steadily picking off his opposition to score a third double moto win of the season. Febvre, the reigning MXP Champion, was declared unfit to ride in the event following a collision with New Zealander Ben Townley in qualifying which saw the Frenchman fall after clipping the Suzuki rider’s rear wheel. Townley, who was recovering from a wrist injury, finished 35th in Race 1 but backed it up with a solid ninth place in the second race to take 16th overall. Australian Chad Reed (Monster Energy Yamaha) also competed at the event…

“Suzuki GB was just getting into road racing in 1971 and I had some contacts there, which led to riding a Suzuki T350 in the Production TT” TRIPLE AUSTRALIAN TT winner Peter Jones has been given the hint to finish restoring his Suzuki TR250 and TR500 racers. But rushing isn’t something you do after six years of retirement overlooking Tasmania’s Tamar River. Hailing from Beaumaris, Jones worked as a fitter and turner before joining the Melbourne Motorcycle Company at about the time it became the Victorian Suzuki agent. He rode his first Bathurst in 1964 on a ride-to-work Yamaha YDS2. As service manager at MMC, he was sponsored on a Suzuki TR250 twin racer and its performance stepped up a notch when he fitted US-made Wiseco pistons. Jones enjoyed a…

AMCN WAS THE first magazine in the world to reveal Yamaha was working on an XV950-based scrambler when the firm trademarked the name SCR950 last November. Now it has arrived. Yamaha’s transformation of the Bolt from a bobberlike cruiser to a retro-styled nakedbike is quite clever, since it involves minimal changes to the bike’s main components. The engine and chassis are pure XV and even the exhaust end can is unchanged, just tilted upwards to add a smidgeon of ground clearance. The appearance of much-increased rear suspension travel is an illusion created by a new, bolt-on subframe that carries a flat seat some 145mm higher than the Bolt’s. It also bears the new rear mudguard which is similarly raised, giving clear airspace between the top of the tyre and the…

DUCATI WILL TAKE the wraps off two new models at its WDW2016 event at the start of July – but it won’t say what they are. The first will be a special, 90th anniversary edition of an existing bike, and will be unveiled to the public on 2 July. The other is an entirely new model, and visitors to the event in Misano, which takes place from 1-3 July, will be able to see it inside a closed room. Ducati did the same thing in 2014 with the Scrambler and, despite checks in place to ensure it was a no-go camera zone, pictures leaked almost immediately. The 90th anniversary model is likely to be a special Panigale, particularly given the firm’s unbreakable ties to racing. The all-new 2017 bike –…

2016 Honda MSX 125 Grom Honda’s MSX125 Grom picks up where the Z50 Monkeys left off. It's aimed at funky folk who want a compact and lightweight bike for zipping around town during the week, and cavorting on the weekends. Although this model comes in considerably larger and heavier than the old Z50, it's a more well-rounded motorcycle that appeals to the lucrative US market. If previous sales of the Z50 are anything to go by, these will sell like hotcakes in the West, as well as throughout Asia where capacity is often restricted. What it’s got The Honda MSX125 Grom is powered by a liquid-cooled, four-stroke, 124.9cc, fuel-injected engine with two valves on its single cylinder. Power runs through a four-speed constant mesh gearbox. The front suspension is a…

Just ride it! Dear Chris and all the staff at AMCN, Thanks for providing such a great mag full of laughs and information every week and for being champions of motorcycling in this country. Thought I’d write in to say that I really enjoyed Sam’s article (Vol 65 No 23). It resonated with me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I too had an XR400 as my first roadbike, I ended up trying to chase sportsbikes more than riding it on dirt. Secondly, and this is the bit that took me a few years to realise, it’s not necessarily what you ride as long as you ride it, and the amount of fun you have on a bike is not related to how much you spend at the bike shop,…

SINCE THE START of this ‘new wave’ of custom bike building in the late nineties, it’s been the good old British café racers that have fuelled the scene’s appetite for inspiration. But in the last few years another classic motorcycling genre has begun to challenge their dominance – the tracker. Drawing its street cred from ‘King’ Kenny Roberts and his legendary dirt track exploits in the seventies along with the more modern machines of the AMA’s Grand National Championships, the scene has an edgy, more track-focused feel than its rockabilly Brit stablemate. And this is exactly what attracted Darrell Schneider from DS Restorations in California. “I have loved customisation and racing all my life,” he says. “I began wrenching at the age of 10, when I would help with the…

A QUICK HISTORY lesson for our millennial and Gen Z readers. The name given to the newest Indian has nothing to do with The Simpsons – there’s a little more history to it than that. Minnesota may be the home of the Polaris-owned Indian Motorcycle these days, but way back in 1901 the very first motorcycle bearing the Indian name was manufactured in Springfield Massachusetts. Whereas the original Indian Motorcycle became famous for its achievements on the racetrack, the company’s focus in the 21st century is very much on touring and cruising. Despite the change from the raceway to the freeway, the Indians of today draw heavily on the company’s heritage and the Springfield is mostly the same, with one small exception – the Springfield name does not stretch back…

My chance to finally ride BMW’s original Superbike came at a Luftwaffe airbase to the west of Munich, on an improvised circuit threaded between buildings lining the taxiways, with a hairpin turn to avoid accessing the main runway where aircraft were regularly departing to supply German troops confronting the Taliban in Afghanistan. When you’re BMW, you know how to pull a few strings. RennBoxer #83 is not some cosseted museum piece, but a living, thundering ride down memory lane, just out of the workshop after a little freshening up for my test. The stock two-up seat has a large upholstered squab covering the passenger space and the upright riding position is typical BMW. You’re conscious all the time of those two cylinders sticking out on either side of the bike…

Kriega Sling waterproof shoulder bag Sling it! HOW SIMPLE IS this? A shoulder bag that packs a lot of features into its small eight-litre capacity. It has neat patented rings that allow the straps to be adjusted and the main storage bag is waterproof. I tried the ‘jump in the shower test’ and it worked well enough that I am now allowed to borrow the sacred iPad – that’s a first. It could double as a tank bag with the supplied extra straps and that’s handy. The contact side is non-slip, which helps keep it glued to your back rather than flapping around. You can change the set-up from left- to right-handed too. The waist belt works well, but I would only feel the need to use that in an…

“The Norton has plenty of power but front-end grip is the major issue” When I signed up for Norton last year I never thought it would end up like this. I’ve always had self-belief in my ability [last year he became the fastest ever Australian TT rider with a lap average of 131.595mph] but I’m happy to fly under the radar. Racing a prototype like the Norton I was aiming to finish in the top 10 and perhaps nudge 130mph. To finish seventh was freak’n brilliant and shows how far Norton has come since last year. It’s also shut up a lot of those doubters who don’t understand what this is all about. This is my 15th season racing in Europe so I was looking for a bit of a…

Testing times THERE IS ONLY one truly precious performance commodity in the chase for lap times in the 2016 FIM Superbike Word Championship. Time itself. More specifically, time to test new parts, new electronics strategies, new developments of any kind. Under the new weekend schedule in WSBK, all practice of any worth at all takes place in two one-hour sessions on Friday. With Race 1 on Saturday this year, not only is it imperative to be race ready a whole day earlier than it was in 2015 because of the continuing single bike rule, you have no opportunity to make real-life comparisons of performance. With a maximum of eight days of in-season testing allowed for contracted riders and teams (outside of the three official Dorna in-season test days) track time…

AUSTRALIAN RIDER JOSH Hook, who was unceremoniously dumped from the Superbike World Championship by his Grillini Kawasaki Racing Team straight after scoring two strong point-scoring finishes at Sepang, has confirmed that he will line up on the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship grid with Team WD40 Kawasaki. He will make his debut in the highly competitive domestic series in Round 4 at Knockhill, to be held 24-26 June. In preparation for the new challenge, Hook joined the Sheffield-based racing team last week (16-17 June) to test his new ZX10-R Superbike at Snetterton race circuit with impressive results. “We made big improvements with the bike and the team is working great,” said Hook on social media after the two-day test. It’ll be a tough prospect for Hook, originally from Taree NSW,…

ROUND 3 OF the Speedway Grand Prix produced a third different winner as the need for consistency over individual wins was again evident in the updated points chase. The Kjaergaard Danish FIM Speedway Grand Prix staged at Horsens on 11 June was won by Maciej Janowski, who has now moved to fourth overall in the championship. Significantly, the only two riders to make all three finals to date – defending champion Tai Woffinden and former champion Chris Holder – are now joint championship leaders. Next in line Greg Hancock, Maciej Janowski and now fifth placed Antonio Lindback are the only other riders who have at least been in the semi-finals each round. At Horsens, the recently turned 46-year-old Hancock headed the heat scorers on 13, while Woffinden (12), Janowski (10)…

THE HISTORIC COMPETITION Motorcycle Club of Western Australia (HCMC) was formed in 1980 with the objective of catering to owners of older racing motorcycles in WA, and to promoting the sport of historic motorcycle racing. The club is affiliated with Motorcycling WA (MWA) and membership is open to anyone interested in historic motorcycles. Events are held between March and November and this year the HCMC is running six club meets plus some stand-alone events, starting with the Collie TT. The club uses both Barbagallo – the 2.4 km circuit at Wanneroo – and the 1.6km Collie Motorplex 2.5 hours Southeast of Perth, to host race and practice events. The race meet program on any given weekend consists of 21 races (seven groups each racing three times), and includes classes for…