Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 67 Issue 20 i Australian Motorcycle News

This classic shot could have been missed – possibly a good thing judging by Kenny’s fashion sense COMPUTERS ARE A relatively recent innovation when compared to the six-decade history of AMCN, so we have managed to amass more than half a century of hard-copy archives. A recent trip to the lock-up where our priceless memories are now stored started as a five-minute job but blew out to a two-hour visit because I opened a box that, judging by its contents, had not been opened for years. It included random notes, old press kits and a handful of old photos held together by a bulldog clip, with a note that read: DO NOT SEPARATE! Judging by the images, someone was working on a Willing Brothers feature and had painstakingly scoured through…

THE LONG IOU Valentino Rossi is probably the wealthiest rider on the MotoGP grid, but he has an outstanding debt of €500 following a bet with another rider that involved jumping out of a window. Find out who is chasing Vale for the cash on page 54. MUM MADE ME DO IT This photograph taken at a Civic farewell in Melbourne is a brilliant snapshot of life, and Australian road racing in 1978. Ray Quincey (second from the right) was 22 at the time and wore a tie because his mum told him to. And how good are Kenny Blake’s trousers! Read what these four talented Aussies were up to in Don Cox’s feature The Fast '78ers on page 74. Wish it was true The 'Legohead helmet' April Fool’s Day…

Instagram westcoastwanderer_ Some people think I just ride on the road because it’s a “speed triple”... wrong. This is the #triumph #dirttriple #nodirtnoglory ! #advaddicts #advpulse #amcn_mag _caffeineandgasoline_.... when you’re already in a room full of pretty girls and a stunning woman strides in... #attentionrefocus #newhudson #vintagemotorcycle #classicbeauty #vintage #classicbike #amcn #gretabikeshow #amcn_mag #bsa #beauty…

ADDING MORE POWER to a motorcycle becomes a futile exercise if its weight also increases. Kawasaki methodically chipped away at the new bike during the development process. Any weight-saving opportunities, no matter how small, were considered. The result is a larger capacity LAMS-approved Ninja that is 6kg lighter than the outgoing model at a claimed 168kg (kerb) Where the weight was saved ■ Trellis frame using the engine as a stressed component ■ No frame crossmember ■ Lighter swingarm made from square tube ■ Smaller-volume fuel tank, down by three litres ■ Slimmer seat design ■ New five-spoke cast-aluminium wheels ■ Front fender brace deleted ■ Lighter upper triple clamp ■ More compact and lighter Nissin ABS unit ■ Simplified cooling system routing ■ Lighter exhaust system ■ Lighter crankshaft…

1911 Benelli family establishes a bicycle, car and gun repair business in Pesaro, in Italy. 1919 Officially established as a motorcycle manufacturer, producing a 75cc single-cylinder two-stroke adapted to a bicycle frame. 1920s Benelli launches a racing campaign in Italy and across Europe, and wins four Italian championships. 1930s Races and sells a range of motorcycles across Europe. 1939 British rider Ted Mellors wins the 250cc TT at the Isle of Man. 1950s Benelli enters the US market, producing both two- and four-stroke motorcycles. 1962 Firm acquires Motobi, which is produced under Benelli name. 1969 Aussie Kel Carruthers wins the 1969 250cc world championship on a Benelli. 1973 De Tomaso buys Benelli and Moto Guzzi, making multi-cylinder engines. 1988 Benelli is merged in Guzzi Benelli Moto S.p.A. 1989 Giancarli Selci…

Two gauges, two needles, two wildly different outcomes and emotions WE WERE ON our way to Bathurst, NSW, when we stopped for a feed at Pie in the Sky at Bilpin, on Bell’s Line of Road in the Blue Mountains. We had a good yarn over the counter with the maker of the pies (what a righteous thing to be!), followed by an excellent chicken-and-corn pie washed down with an ice-cream soda, before we thought it only appropriate to pick up a donut – purely for research, of course. As we waddled away from our decadent mountain luncheon, we spotted a bloke chillin’ in the car park and, judging by his air of contentment, we guessed he contained the remains of a glorious package of pastry and meat. A biker…

I wasn’t planning on building an ASBK-level bike – but that’s what happened A LOT OF RACERS don’t even bother riding on the street, but I owned a Ducati Panigale 959. I say ‘owned’ because I lent it to a friend one day and he took it for a spin up the road, high-sided and wrote it off. Luckily it was insured and I thought, ‘I could buy a Yamaha YZF-R1 with that money!’ So I built one up as a racebike but, without a proper budget, I had to cut corners. For Round 1, we had only just installed the Öhlins suspension and I had no track time. Plus, the fuelling system was off my old YZF-R6; not ideal but good enough for the top 10 in all three…

A THIRD-PLACE podium in the Argentine GP has put Àlex Rins and Suzuki in the spotlight for 2019. In a fast and robust ride on a GSX-RR, the young Spanish talent finished just 2.5s behind Honda’s race winner Cal Crutchlow. Rins is hot property in the rider market while the increasingly ambitious Suzuki is making play for top-ranked independent team MarcVDS in the hope of fielding four GSX-RRs next year. Suzuki has an option on Rins and those talks will accelerate now with the young Spaniard overshadowing his troublesome teammate Andrea Iannone. “I will be very happy to stay with Suzuki, I feel good here now after recovering from my injuries last year,” Rins said. Suzuki face a more competitive market for MVDS who are also being courted by Yamaha…

THE OPENING OF the 2018 UK speedway season has been hit by bad weather, with barely a quarter of the scheduled meetings through to last week actually taking place. An eight-team Premiership will feature 16 Australian riders while an 11-team Championship series will have 12 Australian riders on the teams, albeit half of them also riding in the Premiership. Some of the big guns have moved, in most cases returning to a former track. Chris Holder returns to Poole (hopefully after resolving some so-called personal issues (see AMCN Vol 67 No 19), Troy Batchelor returns to Swindon, Jason Doyle goes back to Somerset (where he is joined by Jack Holder), and Josh Grajczonek returns to Poole. Jye Etheridge, Ty Proctor, Mitchell Davey and Cameron Heeps all get their first crack…

THE MOTORCYCLING community continues to rally behind West Australian motocross rider Ben Sainsbury, who was seriously injured in a training crash six months ago. Ben shattered two vertebrae and damaged his spinal cord after landing a jump badly and is now considered a T5 paraplegic. It is unknown if he will walk again, but the ongoing support of friends, family and local businesses are making a difference and maintaining optimism. Ben’s sister Cassie said he was back at school and TAFE, and along with the whole family is very appreciative of any support. Since leaving hospital in December, Ben has undertaken intensive physiotherapy, achieving many milestones in his recovery, and hopes to complete a Certificate III in Engineering and learn to drive. The recovery doesn’t come cheap, and friend Trent…

FAST BENDS South Australia’s new circuit may be tough on tyres, but The Bend Motorsport Park is gaining plenty of fans. Bring on Round 3. FINALLY RIDING Congratulations to AMCN’s National Sales Manager, Dale Johnson, for finally getting his motorcycle licence. Enjoy the scoot mate. UNLUCKY BRAKE Brembo confirmed that Jorge Lorenzo’s Qatar crash was “connected to the braking system” but said it has been resolved and “can’t recur”. LOW ACTS Thieves in the UK are now using acid as their weapon of choice to steal motorcycles. They spray it in the face of an unsuspecting rider and then steal their bike.…

The year was ...001998 MICK DOOHAN JOINED the top echelon of GP champions by winning his fifth consecutive GP crown, and that made editor Ken Wootton a very happy man. The Euro came in, American president Bill Clinton nearly bowed out after his affair with Whitehouse intern Monica Lewinsky, luckily, he didn’t have sexual relations with that woman. The world said farewell to Frank Sinatra and welcomed Bindi Irwin. And while Microsoft officially became the largest company in the world, Google Inc. was founded with a $100,000 cheque, a workspace in a garage, and one official employee. How many? 16,800 Celebrating eight years, the AMCN Moto Spectacular at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit had seen around 8400 riders take to the circuit. That means 16,800 Spectacular wheels circulated the…

Age shall not weary them As a riding instructor, I was recently booked in for a private lesson with the company I work for. Husband and wife for two hours early on a beautiful sunny day, what could possibly go wrong? After setting up, I went to meet my students, Jim and Carol, a lovely couple who had recently bought a small farm that came with two dirtbikes. They had decided to learn to ride in order to get about the property and so, having never ridden before, signed up for a lesson. I should mention that Jim and Carol are in their late 70s or early 80s, so this was going to be a new challenge for me – normally I teach new, younger riders for their L- and…

1. WHO? Can you name all three riders in this photo of a frantic pit-stop? Bonus points for details about the race. Clue The person on the bike is not Mick Doohan 2. WHAT? More like WTF! What make and model of motorcycle is Alan Cathcart riding? Clue Sir Al’s leathers give away the era of the image 3. WHERE? Where is Gregg Hansford in this photograph? And for extra points, who is he with and what is the year? Clue The clue is as clear as day in the photograph LAST ISSUE’S CROSSWORD SOLUTION & WINNER KISKA Craig Lake. Kingston, QLD…

It probably doesn’t need saying, but teammates in motorcycle racing and in football play very different roles. Footballers try to work in harmony with their teammates, whereas every bike racer knows there’s no one more important to beat than your teammate. There’s a good reason for this. You and your teammate ride identical motorcycles (in theory, at least), so any difference in results will be attributed to riding ability. If your teammate kicks your butt every weekend, you’ll soon be without a ride. It has always been thus. In 1991 King Kenny Roberts had two great riders in his Marlboro Yamaha 500 team: reigning 500cc world champ Wayne Rainey and up-and-coming 250cc champ John Kocinski, who was aiming to steal the 500cc crown. Rainey knew he had to crush the…

NINETEEN-FIFTY-EIGHT was also a landmark year for Australians in Europe. Several sailed together from Melbourne on the P&O liner Oronsay to London, where they were photographed for an English motorcycle newspaper. Jack Findlay, the least known of those on board, missed the picture. Those in the shot were: Keith and Geraldine Campbell, Allen Burt, Jack Ahearn, Jack Walters, Richie Thomson, Barry Parsons (a helper to various riders) and Betty and Tom Phillis. It was some group. A reigning world champion, a future champ embarking on his rookie season, and a future 500 GP winner. But they were only part of the 1958 crew, with Bob Brown, Jack Forrest and brothers Harry Jnr and Eric Hinton. Ken Kavanagh was in Europe too, based in Italy, but he raced a car in…

Top 3 TV 1 WSBK Rd3 LIVE Aragon, ES Fox Sports 14 & 15 April 9pm & 7.30pm Round 3 of the Superbike World Championship will be aired live on Fox Sports or through the WorldSBK VideoPass. Race 1 kicks off at 9pm AEST Saturday, with Race 2 at 9pm Sunday, preceded by World Supersport at 7.30pm. 2 AMA SX Rd14 LIVE Minneapolis Fox Sports 15 April 12pm (AEST) Round 14 of the AMA Supercross season will be aired live from Minneapolis, Minnesota. You can catch all the action live from 12pm AEST on Sunday on Fox Sports, or catch it at anytime on supercrosslive.tv on any device. 3 MotoGP Rd3 LIVE USA Videopass 23 April 2am (AEST) MotoGP heads to the Circuit of the Americas for Rd3. The Moto3…

If you built anything like the Plastic Fantastic today there is no world championship to race it in AS I BATTLED my way to Sydney airport, Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi cooed plaintively out of the hire car’s sound system. Seventies longhairs remember these words: “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone….” It got me thinking about my weekend at the QBE Insurance International Festival of Speed and a unique, bright-yellow motorcycle there. Those of us with enough brain cells left over from the excesses of our Seventies and Eighties lifestyle probably already know about Kiwi Steve Roberts and the Colemans-Suzuki-sponsored Plastic Fantastic. Here’s a refresher. Considered to be the first carbon-Kevlar motorcycle, it was built a world away from Europe…

REMY GARDNER MASTERED the tricky conditions of a damp but drying track for a career-best sixth-place Moto2 finish in the Argentine Grand Prix. It was a deserving result for the 20-year-old Aussie ace who suffered multiple ankle fractures when he was crashed out this race one year ago. The low-grip conditions suited both Gardner and the unsung Tech3 Mistral 610 with the combination not outside the top 10 through practice and racing. Starting ninth, Gardner settled in sixth midway through the 23-lap race and went on to claim 10 world championship points. “It was definitely a better result than last year when I left in an ambulance, this year I’m leaving with a smile,” Gardner said. “It was a tough race, I had to stay focussed and be consistent and…

IT TOOK 1000 tyres and two days to determine the fastest lap around Australia’s new international-class circuit, The Bend in South Australia. And the man with that honour in the first official test at the track was Yamaha’s Wayne Maxwell, with a 1m54.020s set in the dying minutes of the final session. Most participants, including the Pirelli tyre experts, believe this time will be improved on by as much as a couple of seconds in the upcoming third round of the championship. All the front-running ASBK riders from Superbike, Supersport and Supersport 300 were present to lay the first rubber on the stunning new $110m facility. With 36 Superbike riders making the trip from as far away as New Zealand, all eyes were on the top class, but factory-supported Yamaha…

WITH NEW EVENT sponsor Coral Coast Helicopter Services hovering overhead, local Carnarvon Honda CRF450 rider Cody Upton won the Easter weekend Gascoyne Dash. Upton dedicated his win to the 2017 champion, the late Daymon Stokie who was tragically killed during an enduro event earlier this year. Upton built a seven-minute lead on the 200km route to Gascoyne Junction then, after a quiet night under the stars, improved his margin on Sunday’s return to Carnarvon to taste the winner’s champagne as the sun set over the Indian Ocean. Andy Brack (Husqvarna 501) and Steven Mitchell (Yamaha YZ450F) took out the minor outright placings and class wins. Jai Cosgriff won the 250 Class, Stuart Winsor the Veterans and Brad Smith the Quads. Over 60 moto and auto entries completed both legs of…

Australian Motorcycle News road test photographs are posed for by skilled, professional riders under controlled circumstances. Attempting to imitate their actions may be dangerous. Australian Motorcycle News supports and endorses rider training and wearing protective riding gear. Especially if you’ve just passed your learners test and wobbled down the road on a scooter for the first time! Don’t worry, Dale. We’ve all been there. You can only get better from here on in. Welcome to the fray, mate. You’re gonna love it!…

Prior to the Great War, Buck was building motorcycles at Rex Engineering in Coventry in the UK. At the same time, he was also winning TT class races at Brooklands where a young Australian Les Bailey (AMCN Vol 67 No 18) was also making a name for himself. The two men became close friends, leaving England together to race motorcycles in Australia, bringing three 2¾hp Douglas machines home with them. These bikes were immediately put to good use when Frank Meller, Les Bailey and Buck Weatherilt ran first, fourth and sixth in the 1913 Zenith Cup. Observers reported “some very fine riding through heavy sand, along with an excellent exhibition of hairpin-bend cornering, Weatherilt being amongst the best”. This sand riding experience was to stand Buck in very good stead…

Giz a squiz Rider Pete Garfield RIide BSA 350 He said I had always wanted a BSA 350 since having the privilege of riding a friends’ rigid 1948 model many years ago. Heaps of faster bikes passed through my life in the years since, but the desire to own one of Birmingham’s classics never went away. I found this one for sale up in Sydney. It had sat unridden for many years in the loungeroom of the previous owner. Behind the shiny exterior were plenty of challenges; a near full tank of fuel had turned to jelly over eight years. The joy of these machines is their simplicity and it only took a few weeks to get it on the road. Performance is adequate around town for an engine designed…

RIDER PROFILE Name Chris Dobie Age/Weight 51/88kg Riding experience Always keen for more Dislikes? People who say “don’t crash” as I’m leaving As much as I poked and prodded, I just couldn’t fault the bike on how well it met its design brief FOR $24,995, the big Duke 1290 R represents exciting buying for a performance bike that has been developed from the ground up as a supernaked, not adapted from a superbike. But if you are about to part with your hard-earned, you might want to consider raiding your piggy bank for a few more shekels. Investing an additional $799.99 will get you the Performance Pack upgrade which includes the My Ride phone connectivity system, Motor Slip Regulation (MSR) and the Quick Shifter. Speaking to people who stopped to…

Michelin claims to have hit its goals of making the already great Road 4 tyre even better, announcing to an assembled gaggle of the world’s motorcycle media it had achieved increased levels of both dry- and wet-weather grip with its latest Road 5. The increase in dry-weather grip, the company says, has been achieved with some flash new rubber compounds combined with Michelin’s patented 2CT and 2CT+ technology, which first appeared on the French firm’s Pilot RS (road sport) tyre we tested in Qatar 12 months ago (AMCN Vol 66 No 21). As for the improved wet-weather grip levels, that all comes down to something Michelin does well – sipes. All-new XST Evo sipe technology to be specific. But enough talk, let’s go riding and find out how all of…

Show time 5 MAY Gloucester Rotary Motorcycle Expo & Swap Meet, Gloucester Showground, Gloucester, NSW. Bikes, accessories and merchandise. Food and coffee, with bar facilities from 2-11pm Saturday. Heaven VMX Club Grass Track TT, Ulysses Club show ’n’ shine and live entertainment. Free camping from Friday afternoon, hot showers and firewood. Adults $20; under 18s free. For more information phone Sam on 0417 656 201 or Peter on 0418 633 060. 6 MAY Berry Bike Show, Berry Bowling Club, Berry NSW. Registration 8am-12pm; judging from 1pm. Categories include Classic British, European, American and Asian, Oldest Bike and more. Entry $5; onlookers by gold coin donation. Hosted by Shoalhaven Classic Motorcycle Club. For more information email Bill Magnusson at scmcpres01@gmail.com. 20 MAY Motors in May Show and Shine, Fraser Coast Wildlife…

Burgess and his Aussie cohorts decided a bit of rubber leading off his row-three starting slot might help his launch IT’S BEEN A TORRID fortnight for sports scandals. Thanks to the Australian cricket team and the merciless revelations of long-lens TV cameras. You’ll all know the details: heck, even the prime minister got involved in condemning the sad story. Sandpapering the ball, getting caught, fumbling to stash the evidence in underpants, then a farrago of lies followed by lame excuses. Swingeing penalties and disgraced dismissals, all marinated in floods of unseemly tears. You’d need a heart of stone not to laugh. Do we care about cricket? No death-defying courage, and cripplingly slow five days compared with MotoGP’s 45 minutes. But we are lagging. Cheating is one thing, but gamesmanship and…

If you wanted to learn the alphabet of Vincents, Broadford was the place to be over Easter. All series Vincents made, from A to D, were on display in both the road-race and speedway venues. The famous English manufacturer, which has links to Australia via engineer Phil Irving, was driven by performance. Long after it stopped production, big Vincent V-twins were helping win Australian speedway sidecar titles. There were many experts on hand to explain, but perhaps the man with the biggest cross-section of Vincents was Franc Trento. He had examples from the Series A, B and C on show, and apologised for not having one of his Series D examples with him. Surrounded by another 50 Vincents spanning three decades and probably worth around $3m in total, he gave…

SUPERBIKE RISING star Bradley Ray (Buildbase Suzuki) defied snow warnings, severe weather conditions and an abundance of fierce contenders to score a double at Donington Park in the opening round of the 2018 British Superbike Championship. The 20-year-old’s dream of being crowned British Superbike Champion was ignited when the Suzuki squad’s young charger convincingly won both races, which were plagued by weather conditions that wreaked havoc on tyre decisions and nerves. “To come here and get my first win, in the first round of the year, is just unbelievable,” Ray said. “It’s going to take a while for it to sink in, that’s for sure. “The team have put a lot of effort in throughout the winter to improve on what we were struggling with last year, and I feel…

AFTER MUCH SPECULATION, 15-time TT winner Michael Dunlop has signed with the Tyco BMW squad for his 2018 road racing campaign. The 28-year-old will ride the TAS Racing-prepared S1000RR in this year’s Ulster Grand Prix and the North West 200 as well as in both the Superbike and Senior races at the 2018 Isle of Man TT. “Tyco BMW and I have spoken many times but nothing ever came of it, but this year everything fell into place,” Dunlop said. “I think it’s a good time for us to work together and I think both of us can bring something to the table.” Tyco BMW team manager Philip Neill echoed Dunlops comments, saying: “It has taken some time for this to come together. Michael and I have discussed options to…

THE JUGGERNAUT THAT is speedway sidecar rider Darrin Treloar and passenger Jesse Headland rolls on, and it is likely that it is not finished yet! On 24 March the Sidecar Super Series wrapped up with Treloar / Headland making it a win in all four rounds (23 race wins and one exclusion for exceeding the two-minute allowance). Finishing behind them overall in the series were Mark Plaisted / Ben Pitt, Trent Headland / Darryl Whetstone and Andrew Buchanan / Denny Cox. The Easter weekend marked dual success for the duo, again with unbeaten runs in both the Oceania Championship and then the World Cup. Treloar / Headland led home B Final winner Andrew Buchanan / Denny Cox and Mark Mitchell / Tony Carter in the Oceania decider with defending champions…