Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 68 Issue 15 i Australian Motorcycle News

IT’S A GOOD time to be an Australian motorcycle racing fan. The Aussies defended a harder than ever charge from stronger than ever American and New Zealand teams to retain the coveted International Challenge trophy at this year’s Island Classic. Bursting with all the hallmarks that have popularised classic racing in recent years – big names, iconic machinery, classic scraps, heat, sunshine, drama and the world’s most picturesque racetrack – it’s easy to see how this terrific event has made it to 26 and shows little sign of easing up – Kenny would be proud. Awe doesn’t even come close Then there’s Toby Price, I think most people knew the tough and talented Aussie was capable of winning the gruelling Dakar Rally with a freshly snapped scaphoid bone in his…

ENGINE Configuration Parallel twin Cylinder head SOHC, four valves per cylinder Capacity 1200cc Bore/stroke 97.6 x 80mm Compression ratio 11: 1 Cooling Liquid Fueling EFI Power 66.2kW @ 7400rpm (claimed) Torque 110Nm @ 3950rpm (claimed) TRANSMISSION Type Six-speed Clutch Wet, multi-plate, slip-assist Final drive Chain CHASSIS Frame material Tubular steel with aluminium Frame layout Cradle Rake XC: 25.8° XE: 29.6º Trail XC: 121mm XE: 129.2mm SUSPENSION Showa/ Öhlins Front: XC: 45mm USD, fully adjustable fork, 200mm travel XE: 47mm USD, fully adjustable fork, 250mm travel Rear: XC: Twin shocks, fully adjustable, 200mm travel (XE: 250mm travel) WHEELS/TYRES Wheels Wire-spoked aluminium Front: 21 x 2.15 Rear: 17 x 4.25 Tyres XC: Metzeler Tourance XE: Pirelli Scorpian Rally Front: 90/90-21 Rear: 150/50R17 BRAKES Brembo Front: Twin 320mm discs, four-piston radial calipers, ABS…

WHAT TO LOOK FOR The Suzuki DR650SE is an extremely trouble-free bike with a justified reputation for being bullet-proof. Cylinder base-gasket oil leaks in some early bikes are easily rectified using the improved gasket fitted from 2004. Some third-gear failures have surfaced in bikes that have done serious outback touring burdened with heavily loaded panniers. Choose on condition and kilometres rather than model year. Always factor in the cost of any steering head bearings, chain, sprockets, brake pads and brake rotors that will soon need replacing. SERVICE HISTORY The DR650 is a simple and sturdy motorcycle. Its rugged chassis and running gear are powered by an almost indestructible air-cooled engine. The simplicity of its single-cylinder motor and the easy access to its major mechanical components make it ideal for DIY-enthusiast…

Show time 9 FEBRUARY Bathurst Bike Show, Russell St, Bathurst, NSW. More than 100 bikes on display from standard to fully customised. Trade stalls, live music, show ’n’ shine, kids activities, food and drink and much more. 10am to 2pm. Free entry. For more information or to book a stand see bathurstbikeshow.com. 17 FEBRUARY Maitland Speedway Festival, Maitland Showground, Blomfield St, South Maitland, NSW. Vintage speedway bikes, sidecars and more. Come and see these animals back in action at their original stomping ground. Exhibition only; no competitive racing. Exhibitors gates open 7am at Louth Park Gate, general public to enter via Blomfield St gate. For more information check out facebook.com/MaitlandSpeedwayFestival/. 2 MARCH Thunder West Bike Show, 71 Scotts Creek Rd, Murrurundi, NSW. Live music, tattoo comp, tyre throw, Ironguts Challenge,…

THE FIRST PERSON to beat is your teammate. Seldom has the cliché been more piquant than for Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez on the class-leading Repsol Hondas. In some 40 years in MotoGP, I can’t recall a single similar example. Trolling the records, however, gives at least one surprise … just how often the outwardly calm Andrea Dovizioso’s name comes up in pairings from hell. Less surprising is that Lorenzo’s name appears on the list with great regularity. And let it be said that in most of those pairings, he has ultimately come out on top. Nobody needs to fall out with a nonthreatening teammate My memory goes back to the 1970s, when the ever-vocal Barry Sheene sounded off about the recruitment of Pat Hennen to Suzuki. He’d been pushing…

NOW TOBY PRICE has scored his second Dakar Rally victory he is in the same elite category as Gaston Rahier, Fabrizio Meoni and Hubert Oriol. And successfully defending his title in 2020 would put him on the same step as Richard Sainct. One step above that are Cyril Neveu and Edi Orioli; all names that fought for their victories in Africa before Marc Coma and Cyril Despres dominated in South America. Standing alone on top is the GOAT, Stéphane Peterhansel, winner of 13 Dakar rallies – six of them on a motorcycle. Peterhansel claimed his last motorcycle victory at age 33, however in more recent times Marc Coma was the ripe old age of 49 when he stood on his final Dakar podium. So Toby has all the time in…

As the young guns faltered due to mechanical issues, Australia’s grizzled old warhorses stepped up to hold off a determined Team USA and retain the International Challenge trophy. Steve Martin and Shawn Giles, originals from the early days of the Island Classic’s showcase event, led Team Australia to victory, Martin also winning the Ken Wootton Perpetual Trophy as the highest individual point scorer. Riding unfaired and unfancied Suzuki Katanas in a field of hybrid Yamaha-powered XR69 F1 thoroughbreds, Martin and Giles proved experience, steady nerves and guts delivers glory. Martin has raced at all the International Challenges, with Giles joining him the year he retired from racing. Team UK was absent this year but replacing it was a pumped-up Team USA, with riders boasting more than 30 national championships between…

IT IS ANTICIPATED that a new technical line-up will be in place in the factory Yamaha garage at the opening MotoGP Sepang test of 2019. Project leader Kouji Tsuya, widely discredited by the YZR-M1s below par engine performance in 2018 with stinging rebukes from Valentino Rossi, appears to be on the way out. Yamaha won only one race in 2018 with Maverick Viñales’s in the Australian GP at Phillip Island. The staff shake-up will come as no surprise with MotoGP team boss Lin Jarvis earlier telling AMCN that fixing the problems required soul-searching at HQ in Japan. Tsuya’s currency dropped dramatically at last year’s Austrian GP when he made an embarrassing public apology after Rossi and Viñales did not qualify in the top 10. A likely replacement for the moment…

AUSTRALIA’S DAVID JOHNSON has signed with the Honda Racing team to contest the 2019 Isle of Man TT as well as the highly competitive North West 200 Irish road racing events. Riding alongside TT veteran Ian Hutchison the pair will campaign the Superbike, Superstock and Senior TT races on board the latest Honda CBR1000RR SP2. South Australia’s Johnson is hoping to finally achieve a podium or better at the world’s toughest road race, having notched up three fourth-place finishes in his TT career since his 2010 debut. The fastest newcomer on Honda machinery 10 seasons ago, DJ is currently the 12th fastest rider to lap the 37.75-mile Mountain Course with a 131.595mph lap he posted in 2015, and says he’s looking forward to being part of the high-profile team. “With…

UNTIL WE RECENTLY nabbed pictures of Triumph testing its new Rocket III (AMCN Vol 68 No 13), the British power cruiser looked doomed. Discontinued in Europe thanks to emissions limits and little-changed since its 2004 introduction, the giant cruiser didn’t seem to fit the company’s new focus on parallel twins. But the Rocket is making a comeback as the Rocket 3 TFC. The switch from Roman to Arabic numerals (the new one is ‘3’, not ‘III’) and the addition of that ‘TCF’ tag underlines that this is a completely new design. ‘TFC’ stands for Triumph Factory Custom, a new initiative similar to Harley-Davidson’s CVO range. Triumph TFC models will be high-end, much-modified versions of its mainstream production bikes, made in strictly limited numbers. It says it won’t make more than…

Mountain to climb Former AMCN staffer Rennie Scaysbrook will ride an Aprilia Tuono at Pikes Peak, the world’s most famous hillclimb, in June. He’s been runner-up for the past three years. Bugger the gym A Harley-Davidson-sponsored study by the University of California has determined riding a motorcycle provides the same mental benefits as a gym workout. Bike off We’re not alone. Lobby groups claimed last week that deaths and injuries have reached crisis point for cyclists. Farewell, superstar Germany’s six-time world sidecar champion and four-time Isle of Man Sidecar TT winner Klaus Enders has died.…

THE 2019 BROADFORD Bike Bonanza is calling on owners of Honda’s CB750 machinery as the Easter event prepares to celebrate 50 years since the launch of the iconic Japanese four. Event organiser Motorcycling Australia is hoping that the event, now in its 11th year, will attract the largest gathering of Honda CB750s yet assembled in the Southern Hemisphere. If the idea of a track filled with different paced machinery concerns would-be attendees, MA has a plan. “There will be space set aside in the program for a parade of Honda Fours only, for those who don’t want to mix it up with the regular punters,” MA spokesperson Peter Drakeford told AMCN. The annual event will also pay homage to Speedway Sidecars. For more information or to book your spot, head…

DESCRIBED AS THE Burning Man Festival but on motorcycles, the Rotten Race was conceived by the owners of The Real Intellectuals, a popular hangout for young riders in Athens. Part music festival, part dirt track race and very much in the vain of Dirt Quake and Dust Hustle events where riders dress up and bikes are far from standard affairs, the inaugural event in 2015 attracted 400 riders, an impressive number considering Greece’s economy (or perhaps because of it), a number that ballooned to 2000 riders, who attended the 2018 event last November.…

ACTUALLY, WE’LL LET Triumph’s chief engineer Stuart Wood explain it: “If you think about the history of Twin-Shock bikes in what initially was Scrambling, and then became Motocross, as people were demanding more and more wheel travel, they actually moved the rear suspension units down the swingarm for a slant-shock layout, because they didn’t have units that had so much travel. “The ideal mechanical solution is to have the rear suspension unit attached right above the axle, so that all the vertical forces go straight through the unit, and they’re not bending the swingarm. Now what was done as people demanded more wheel travel, was to move those units forward, so they could have the same amount of stroke, but you get more wheel travel. Now what we wanted to…

ENGINE Configuration V-twin Cylinder head Pushrod actuated, four valves per cylinder Capacity 1868cc Bore/stroke 102 x 114mm Compression ratio 10.5: 1 Cooling Air/oil Fueling Electronic sequential port fuel injection Power Not given Torque 160Nm @ 3500rpm (claimed) TRANSMISSION Type Six-speed Clutch Wet, multi-plate Final drive Belt CHASSIS Frame material Steel tube Frame layout Double cradle Rake 34° Trail 120mm SUSPENSION Front: 43mm USD, non-adjustable, 130mm travel Rear: Monoshock, adjustable preload, 86mm travel WHEELS/TYRES Wheels Aluminium alloy Front: 19 x 3.5 Rear: 18 x 8.5 Tyres Michelin Scorcher Front: 120/70ZR19 (60W) Rear: 240/40R18 (79V) BRAKES Front: Twin 300mm discs, four-piston calipers, ABS Rear: Single 292mm disc, two-piston caliper, ABS DIMENSIONS Weight 303kg (wet, claimed) Seat height 720mm Max width Not given Max height Not given Wheelbase 1735mm Fuel capacity 16.7L PERFORMANCE…

THE RANGER BOASTS a fully interchangeable spare wheel, which mounts above the luggage trunk, which has a capacity of 83 litres. The sidecar comes equipped with a 12-volt power outlet and has a tonneau cover to protect it when there’s no one sitting in it. As well as the decent-sized luggage rack, the Ranger comes with a 10-litre jerry can as standard fitment, as well as folding utility shovel and LED fog lights. Starting is either by a thumbed button or a kicked lever and there’s a reverse gear, too, which is essential on a 335kg (dry) machine on which your feet won’t quite touch the ground.…

1 Bright Spark Cassons From $16.95 (02) 8882 1900 cassons.com.au As the name suggests, NGK Platinum CTN4 Spark Plugs feature platinum on the fine-tipped centre electrode and a platinum pad/ chip on the ground electrode. Claimed benefits of this design include high ignitability as well as an extrememly long service life of up to 100,000km. 2 Quicker Shifter HM Quickshifter From £366 +44 (0) 1795 429 168 hmquickshifter.com HM Quickshifter has developed a cutting edge Quickshift-Auto Blipper for the latest generation of superbikes. The Auto Blipper replaces the OE quickshifter and is claimed to provide more accurate and consistent gearshifts. It’s a ‘plug and play’ product that fits into the OE quickshifter port of most modern superbikes. 3 Lasting Shine A1 Accessory Imports $23.95 (07) 3451 1300 a1accessory.com.au Motorex Moto…

JANUARY CAN EASILY become summer’s dead zone of boredom. When it’s too hot to ride what’s to do? Even television is a dead zone, largely inhabited by series repeats and cricket defeats, unless you like spending hours watching millionaires fire tiny balls at each other across a waist-high net. But salvation is at hand. For a precious 30 minutes the Dakar rally gets a gig on SBS, bringing the ultimate off-road adventure into your living room. Described as the enduro rider’s version of the Isle of Man TT or a scene from the movie Mad Max, Dakar is one of the last great adventures in this largely risk-free world. While it has become a million-dollar team sport, the spirit of its early years lives on in the Original by Motul…

Had he not broken his scaphoid in training, Toby Price may have been a short-priced favourite to win his second Dakar Rally. However, tormented by throbbing pain and his injured throttle wrist in a restrictive splint, the cliché ‘take every day as it comes’ has never been more apt. Toby did exactly that. Absorbing the pain each evening – and waking with a ready smile of encouragement for the team each new dawn – he persevered. It was only on the final day, with a 62-second lead and gridded up behind his only remaining rival, that Toby’s second Dakar crown was looking likely. Held entirely in the southwest corner of Peru, the ad-hoc format of seemingly endless loops around the coastal sand mountains of the Desierto Atacama and foothills of…

Steve Martin explains his victory in the individual points score: “It is unbelievable, I’ve won this (Ken Wootton Perpetual Trophy) before, but that’s a long time ago now, so to win it today with guys like Josh Hayes, Jason Pridmore and all of the young chargers that we have got from Australia, it means a lot to me. This game is all about a bit of luck, and I’ve had my bad luck in years gone by.” AMA legend Josh Hayes was right out of his comfort zone, never having raced at Phillip Island before, or on a classic racer with carburettors and 1980s braking technology. “I am learning how to wrestle a dinosaur,” he said after race two. “I’ve had to change my riding style as I am a…

HONDA WILL OPEN the 2019 test season in Sepang in catchup mode with their three main riders still in recovery from off-season surgery. New recruit Jorge Lorenzo will miss the test completely, having been sidelined by a left wrist scaphoid fracture that has been pinned. He is scheduled to have his first run of 2019 on the all-new RC213V at the Qatar test late in February. Marquez underwent painful and aggressive shoulder reconstruction surgery to fix long-term damage in early December and while ready to start riding, a predicted four-month recovery will not see the defending word champion fully fit until the early season races. A cycling training block in California has been the road to recovery for Cal Crutchlow who smashed the talus bone in his right ankle, plus…

JONATHAN REA HAS started 2019 where he left off in 2018 by topping the times in testing for the World Superbike Championship. With 16 riders at the two-day test at Jerez – only the official Moriwaki Althea Hondas of Leon Camier and Ryuichi Kiyonari were missing – Rea’s Kawasaki topped Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha) for fastest lap. Rea took the best lap with a 1m39.160sec, besting Lowes by 0.21sec. In an interesting comparison Rea was just 0.008sec slower than Stefan Bradl, who was testing an HRC Honda (on Michelin MotoGP rubber) at the track at the same time. Perhaps even more telling was the fact that after trying a qualifying tyre, Rea set his time on race rubber, as did teammate Leon Haslam. Lowes made his lap on a qualifying…

Bayliss to 600s OLI BAYLISS, SON of three-time WorldSBK champion Troy and regular front runner in the 2018 Supersport 300 production class, will make the step up to the Australian Supersport Championship for the 2019 season. The move is made possible by a late-2018 rule change to allow younger riders to race in the larger-capacity classes, provided they’ve proved themselves in the smaller classes. Remaining with the Cube Racing squad, Bayliss will be campaigning a Yamaha YZF-R6. KB Scott to field ZX-10R GLENN SCOTT WILL be targeting the ASBK privateer gong in 2019 after confirming he’ll campaign the entire season with the same crew with which he raced the last four rounds of 2018. Under the GSR Kawasaki racing banner, Scott has taken delivery of a new ZX-10R and will…

REIGNING WORLD SUPERBIKE Champion Jonathan Rea has continued his seemingly endless run of awards honours after being named the Irish Motorcyclist of the Year for the fourth consecutive time. Just like his WorldSBK crowns, Rea became the first person to win the gong four times on the spin. “I never take it for granted,” he said. “The feeling’s incredible and I just don’t want that bubble to burst.” IOM TT star Peter Hickman picked up the International Road Racer of the Year Award, British Superstock Champion Keith Farmer won the Outstanding Achievement Award while British Supersport champ Jack Kennedy was awarded Short Circuit Rider of the Year.…

Dunlop back for 2019 Michael Dunlop has confirmed he will be campaigning this year’s Isle of Man TT with Tyco BMW amid concerns the death of his brother combined with the passing of his 2018 teammate Dan Kneen may have sidelined the 18-time winner for the 2019 event. “I’m looking forward to working with the TAS Racing boys again this year,” he said. “We grabbed a Superbike TT win last year and the goal this year will be to go after the Superbike and the Senior TT wins.” KB Lidsey’s long list Rising speedway star Jaimon Lidsey has chalked up a number of accolades in recent weeks. On the night he finished a creditable equal seventh in the five-round Australian Championship, Lidsey was announced as the inaugural recipient of the…

SIDECAR RACING HAS also played a very significant part in the history of racing at Undera. Undoubtedly the standout performer to emerge from the club has been triple Australian sidecar champion Andrew Cleave with passenger Dave Power, with Col Winzar probably their next best. Undera has hosted a round of the Oceania Sidecar Championship, the Australian Sidecar Pairs Championship and the Victorian Championship, so all that is missing from their history is a staging of the Australian Individual Sidecar Championship.…

IN THE REALM of truth being stranger than fiction comes news that BMW is developing a massage bike seat. And we have a copy of the design to prove it. It’s actually a simple design. An electric motor slowly turns a lobed shaft – looking much like a camshaft – that’s buried in the seat padding. The lobes are offset to give a massaging effect, and also rock you fractionally from side to side to help introduce some movement into your spine to help reduce the chances of backache. Still don’t believe us? ‘Active’ seats have been around in cars for decades and have been an option on BMW’s high-end four-wheelers since the late 1990s. We’ve all suffered numb bum from time to time, but are active seats a technology…

US GIANT TENNECO has closed its A$200m deal to incorporate Swedish suspension company Öhlins into its worldwide manufacturing operations. Tenneco is one of the world’s largest OEM suppliers of suspension parts and technology. At one time the Illinois-based company owned the Marzocchi brand. Öhlins was started by motocross engineer Kenth Öhlin in 1976 and has since become a leading innovator in motorcycle and auto racing suspension technology. The integration should result in a lot of cross-pollination of car, motorcycle and bicycle suspension technology.…

Our winner was Steven Rouse from Bulli, NSW. He gave up a summer’s day of riding to rack his brains for the right answers, despite our dodgy question 1. Good on you, mate. Answers for Vol 68 No 14 WHO Norton’s Robert Dunlop claimed a Superbike double in 1992 after coming second to his brother Joey in 1990. WHAT Honda’s RS250, a V-twin two-stroke offered to privateers and customer teams from 1985. WHEN 1986. Rare to find now, you can still pick one up for $10k. WHY For ruining his lap in Free Practice. Vale must have learnt this trick from Wayne Gardner. WHERE Losail in Qatar. Enough power is being used to light up 3000 houses.…

News Triumph unveiled its new creation, the Street Triple 675. With 79kW and 68Nm of torque, it wiggled its way into the hearts of many naked bike enthusiasts world-wide. The 660 LAMs version came not long after, giving learner riders a chance to own a Triumph. Sport Troy Bayliss flew the Aussie flag with pride in the 2007 WSBK at Phillip Island. In front of his home crowd, Bayliss took out Superpole and race one but was pushed back to second place – by 0.27s – in race two by Britain’s James Toseland on his Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR. Bike test AMCN’s Kel Buckley took the 2007 Kawasaki ZX-6R for a blast around Eastern Creek Raceway. Kel commented on the ZX-6R’s suspension, saying “The fully adjustable upside-down fork steps up…

Send an image and details about your two-wheeled pride and joy to access@amcn.com.au Giz a squiz Rider Jason Derriman Ride 2008 Suzuki M109R He says This is my 2008 Suzuki M109R and we have clocked many kilometres since I purchased her in 2016. I live in Brisbane and have clocked up 30,000km on many rides to Murwillimba, Nimbin, Nummingba Valley and I recently went to Mission Beach in North Queensland – that was a 3800km trip! Thanks for the great magazine! We say And what a great bike to crunch out a 3800km trip on, Jason. It’s a good thing you travel light. Send us your ride via email, to access@amcn.com.au or, if you’re a carby and points kinda person, pop a pic and relevant info in the…

THERE’S A RANGE of over 80 dedicated Scrambler 1200 accessories available, allowing thousands of combinations. But if hours poring over parts catalogues is not your thing, Triumph also offers two pre-selected Inspiration Kits. First up there’s the touring-based Escape Kit that includes panniers and fitting kit, handguards, grab rack, LED fog lamps, a centrestand and a small fly screen. It will set you back $2664. And for the minimalist harder-edged hipster, there’s the Extreme Kit, below. This one includes a homologated Arrow carbon silencer, a machined oil-filler cap, a high front guard, black handlebar brace, LED indicator kit and rear light relocation kit, side stand base extension and a stainless-steel dresser bar and a headlight grille and bezel. It’ll set you back $3278.…

ENGINE Configuration Horizontally opposed twin Cylinder head OHV, two valves per cylinder Capacity 749cc Bore/stroke 78 x 78mm Compression ratio 8.6: 1 Cooling Air Fueling EFI Power 31.5kW @ 5500rpm (claimed) Torque 57Nm @ 4300rpm (claimed) TRANSMISSION Type Four-speed (plus reverse) Clutch Dry, double-disc Final drive Shaft CHASSIS Frame material Tubular steel Frame layout Double loop Rake Not given Trail Not given SUSPENSION IMZ/Sachs Front: Leading link front fork Rear: Monoshock, adjustable preload WHEELS/TYRES Wheels Steel-spoked aluminium Front: 19 x 2.15 Rears: 19 x 2.15 Tyres Duro HF-308 Front: 4.0 x 19 Rears: 4.0 x 19 BRAKES Brembo Front: Single 295mm disc, four-piston caliper Rear: Single 256mm disc, single-piston caliper Sidecar: Single 245mm disc, two-piston caliper DIMENSIONS Weight 335kg (dry, claimed) Seat height 786mm Max width 1700mm Max height 1100mm…

ERIC WAS NOT shy of psychological warfare. Famous is his stunt during the Easter Trophy race of 1983, which was run in soaking conditions near the Belgian city of Leuven. During one of the legs of the race he arrived on the starting grid one-and-a-half minutes after the entire field already had blasted off the starting line. The earlier legs already had won him the race, he was just looking for a new challenge and wanted to see if he could beat the field with a 90-second starting delay. It wasn’t arrogance, but a hunger to test and push himself further during his search for fulfillment. The public loved it, and got to witness a great spectacle. Geboers moved forward through the field and ultimately finished the race in second…

Top 3 TV 1 AMA SX Rd5 San Diego Video Pass 3 February 2pm AMA Supercross heads to PETCO Park in San Diego, California for Round 5. You can catch all the action live by headng to supercrosslive.com and subscribing to the AMA SX’s Video Pass. Racing starts 2pm AEDT. 2 MotoGP Sepang LIVE Videopass 6-8 February From 12.30pm Hanging out for the start of the 2019 MotoGP season? Racing tragics can catch MotoGP test action live from Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia from 6-8 February by subscribing to Videopass. The track opens at 12.30pm AEDT. 3 On The Pipe 7: The Last Hit Red Bull TV On demand Anytime Join director Jay Schweitzer on a journey across the globe documenting the most progressive dirtbike riding of all time and…

1 Lining up in Lima Monday 7 January Stage 1 WITH A THREE-HOUR trail ride followed by an 84km prologue, none of the top 10 contenders wanted to bust a gut or their bikes. And, depending on who was telling the story, no one wanted to win the prologue and so earn the obligation of opening the piste the following day. No one really had a plan for an event that defies planning, particularly in the new five-plus-five format. It’s doubtful that Joan Barreda Bort laid it all on the line to take his 23rd Dakar stage win, but take it he did. Bort has never won the Dakar, but has won enough stages to have won it twice. He might well have won in 2017 before the Honda team…

AFTER MISSING MOST of the pre-Dakar training sessions due to a mysterious virus aptly known as Q’Fever – several notches up the scale from Influenza A – Laia Sanz arrived in Lima less than match fit. That didn’t prevent this remarkable athlete from delivering KTM an 11th outright victory in the Women’s Division, and 11th overall. It was an exceptional performance and one that makes Laia the only rider to have completed nine consecutive finishes. That is double that of any other rider in Dakar history; eclipsing the record even of Mr Dakar himself, Stéphane Peterhansel. What a woman.…

Rapp attack Another AMA superstar and winner of the 2007 Daytona 200 race, Steve Rapp personified what it takes to be a team player. His crew of hobby mechanics rebuilt his XR69 replica after a Thursday practice crash. Rapp went on to qualify 14th, was a DNF in race one but finished 7-7-6 in the others to end up 21st in the points. Fellow AMA superstar Larry Pegram finished fifth in the points chase with 8-15-5-6 to show how even a low finish in one race beats the hell out of a DNF. Classic bummer Last year’s International Challenge sensation and top points scorer Aussie Davo Johnson had a wretched weekend. He was on target to snatch pole before misjudging a corner. Then machine issues saw him sidelined in three…

IF YOU’RE RIDING to this year’s WorldSBK round at Phillip Island, consider doing it for charity and sign up to join the second annual Black Dog Ride to the Supers. As well as helping depression and suicide prevention, attendees will get a lap of the famous 4.45km circuit at the conclusion of the ride and a welcome dinner in the circuit’s Visitor’s Centre, which will be attended by some yet-to-be announced special guests, on top of admission to the three-day event. Last year’s inaugural event had 40 riders from Victoria alone. The rides will start from either Wollongong in New South Wales or Marysville in Victoria on Tuesday 19 February. “Our participation in Australia’s Superbike World Championship round offers an incredible opportunity for Black Dog Ride to generate awareness of…

FRED’S FAVE Actually my third, but my first brand-new bike. It was love at first sight in 1988 at Stolaskis in Perth. It took me all over Australia – including the Nullarbor – in 1989, but gee those Italian electrics gave me some grief in between. Gary Pimm This issue’s six finalists have won themselves an Oxford Cable Lock and Fred’s fave picks up an IPONE Care Kit, all thanks to the team at Ficeda Accessories! To go into the running, send a photo of the first bike you ever owned or rode. If you don’t have a pic ofthefirst, we’ll acceptoneof the first. Email your entry to comps@amcn.com.au and make sure you include your full name and mailing address so we can send you your loot!…

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 think that nothing is going to happen to your wallet if you leave it sitting on the seat in a restaurant full of work mates and head to the toilet. No, what would spur semi-intoxicated workmates into hiding a bloke’s wallet, honestly? Maybe the priceless overreaction when you realise it’s gone? Or the name calling, the face like a thundercloud? No, it was picking up the phone to cancel the cards which was the best bit. Now... where did you leave that computer bag?…