Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 68 Issue 25 i Australian Motorcycle News

LAST WEEK THE UK joined several major European nations, including industrial powerhouse Germany, by declaring it is aiming to be carbon-neutral by 2050. Several smaller countries have nominated 2030 as their target date. India, the world’s largest motorcycle market, has already pledged to have only electric cars sold as new models by 2030 and all new motorcycles sized up to 150cc be electric powered by 2025. These commitments to a different form of personal powered propulsion are driving a design revolution Australians are just noticing. But AMCN has kept tabs on this over the past year and we’ve also noticed that this shift is running parallel to new rider-assist technology. Similar to what we’ve seen appearing in cars, the motorcycle versions have not been developed in-house. Until now. Our industry…

CFMOTO EMPHASISES QUALITY of manufacture over low cost, so while its motorcycle models are well-priced, they’re also well-made and durable. “CFMoto gets the whole quality issue, in a way that most other Chinese manufacturers, which are primarily price-oriented, still don’t – yet,” says Michael Poynton, CEO of the company’s Australian importer, Mojo Motorcycles. “They strictly enforce a zero defect manufacturing policy, and they’ve adopted what by Chinese standards are innovative production methods to ensure every product is finished to the highest level. “Our core customers for their ATV models are Australian farmers, who are ultra-demanding, but it’s a mark of how good CFMoto’s reliability is that we have a steadily growing market share of the ultra-competitive ATV/UTV segment, as word spreads. We’ve overtaken Kawasaki and Suzuki to be the fourth…

What’s the real story about Australia’s motorcycle retail industry? Is it as grim as the new-bike-sales statistics tell us? And where do we go from here? Since Australia’s new-bike-sales figures plunged beneath the magic 100,000 level to 95,080 early this year, AMCN has investigated all aspects of our motorcycle industry, speaking to major distributors, dealers, niche-market businesses and a cross-section of riders to reveal the facts. The full story we have uncovered isn’t the picture drawn by the grim statistics of new-bike sales. Official Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) figures for 2018 showed a sales drop of 8.7 percent following a 9.3 percent plunge in 2017. It’s part of a trend that continues this year and is confronting news for all concerned. Our investigation has discovered that over the…

IN AN ERA where the world’s traditional masters of motorcycle sales are in damage control, several companies are in growth mode. One of them is KTM. A basket case in 1991, it now is worth over $A2 billion and is Europe’s largest motorcycle manufacturer, selling 260,000 last year. It plans to double sales by 2022 and become the world’s third largest motorcycle manufacturer after Honda and Yamaha. How does its Australian arm, where annual sales have recently flat-lined at around 7500 (it sells around 11,000 if you add in Husqvarna), fit into all this? Let’s ask KTM Australia’s general manager Jeff Leisk, who has been with the brand since 1994. Talk us through setting up a roadbike dealer network? A lot of existing dealers were in the off-road head space…

THE AJS PORCUPINE engine – the only twin-cylinder winner of the premier-class World Championship – was born at the wrong time. Created to be a low-revving, low-compression, high-boost machine with gear-driven Roots supercharger, the parallel twin hadn’t even turned a wheel in anger when supercharging was banned just months after the end of the war. On its first dyno run the engine made a rather pathetic 29hp (21.6kW), but somehow another 20hp (14.9kW) was found in time for the inaugural 500 world series in 1949, to which Les Graham rode to take the first of motorcycling’s most coveted titles. The Porcupine only scored one more 500 GP victory following Les Graham’s defection, when Jack Brett won the 1952 Swiss GP at Berne. AJS quit the class in 1954.…

BORN INTO A family of motorcyclists – Pete’s dad, Ted Goddard, is an Australasian Dirt Bike and Motorcycling Australia Hall of Famer – it’s little wonder Pete had a set of wheels under his bum at a very early age. By the time he was 18, Peter Goddard was Australia’s 125 Short Circuit Champion and a few years later travelled alone to the USA to contest half-mile and mile dirt-track events; an experience that stood him proud when he returned home to win both the 250 and 500 Dirt Track Championships at Port Pirie in 1986. Somewhere along the way, he’d put suitable rubber on his dirt tracker for his debut on bitumen at Oran Park, which eventually led to a season in the 250 Production Series, where his obvious…

1 The fuel tank is put back onto the bike and all the fuel lines and the electrical plugs connected. 2 While we are confident in the work we have done, you never really know until you hit the starter button. So we were pleased when the big boxer twin sprung to life quickly and started idling, with only a small amount of smoke, which quickly cleared. 3 With the engine now confirmed as a runner, we are keen to get the bike rideable by getting the rear end sorted. We weren’t joking about the rusty rotor, were we? 4 The bolts holding the rear brake caliper needed a little bit of convincing to let go. Sometimes a sharp impact is a bit kinder than swinging on a bolt with…

1 Classic 8-Track Cassons $749.95 (02) 8882 1900 cassons.com.au The Dainese 8-Track Leather Jacket features classic looks and high performance. It’s made from refined Artemide leather, has removable protectors, a pocket for a back protector, removable thermal liner, pants-attachment loop, and neck and wrist adjusters. Various sizes are available. 2 Fireblade Filters CTA Australia $132-$143 (02) 9604 3377 ctaaustralia.com.au K&N makes factory replacement air filters to suit Honda CBR1000RR, SP and SP2 models for both road and track use. The HA-1017 offers improved filtration and airflow for road use while the track-only HA-1017R has just two layers of cotton for even more airflow. Both K&N air filters are washable and reusable. 3 Versys Guarded Barkbusters $129.90 (02) 4271 8244 barkbusters.net The Barkbusters handguard kit for the Kawasaki Versys 1000 has…

Round 6 Jerez Circuit, Spain, 7-9 June 2019 WorldSBK Championship Alvaro Bautista is human after all. He didn’t win all three World Superbike races in Jerez. In fact, he fell off a Superbike for the first time, while leading, and opened the door for Yamaha to take its first win of the season. And it may have been even better for the blue boys, if not for a controversial clash that saw Sam Lowes in a bunker and Jonathan Rea penalised for putting him there. Under sunny skies, the racing was good on a grippy new track surface that allowed the WSBK riders to make the best of their return to the track. With nobody seriously hurt, except in their points totals and overall season ambitions, it was an unforgettable…

The opening race of the 2019 Isle of Man TT claimed the life of up-and-coming road racer Daley Mathison. The 27-year-old Penz13.com BMW rider crashed on the approach to Union Mills on the third lap of the Superbike TT and succumbed to his injuries. “Daley was an experienced competitor and was seeded 19th for today’s race,” read the official statement released by the race organisers following the incident. “He made his Mountain Course debut in the 2013 Manx Grand Prix newcomers race, finishing fifth. His TT career included three consecutive podiums in the TT Zero electric-bike race in 2016, 2017 and 2018 including the runner-up position in the race last year, representing Nottingham University.”…

ALEX MARQUEZ (EG-VDS Kalex) made it three in a row in Barcelona. It was a career-first hat-trick for the local hero, and gave him the championship lead, after points leader Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox Kalex) crashed out after a bad start. The hard fight was resolved in the closing stages, with Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Kalex) finally accepting second. “I was strong in the beginning, but not in the end,” he said, while a thrilled Marquez “could not find words to say how I feel”. Luthi got the jump off the line from first-time pole starter Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP40 Kalex), and by the end of lap one the third front-row starter Sam Lowes (Federal Oils Kalex) was already almost a second adrift. The Briton would continue to lose places, while Marquez,…

WHILE MILLER DODGED a bullet with Crutchlow’s mis-timed braking move, he had a front-row seat for the carnage triggered by Jorge Lorenzo. Lorenzo out-braked himself into the first-gear hairpin (turn 10) with his wayward Honda RC213V taking out Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) and both factory Yamaha riders Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi. “On the run out of turn nine I saw Jorge on the inside down the straight and I thought, this will be interesting,” Miller said. “I pulled to the outside, braking on the kerb, I was waiting for it. I braked late on a full tank, and Jorge was so late there was no way he was going to make the corner. “And Valentino was the same, he was following Jorge’s braking marker, he was heading for the grandstand…

Your first year with the official Honda team and a TT podium already. Did you have high expectations considering practice and qualifying was so weather-shortened? I felt right in the game from the start of practice. After two laps on the Superstock bike I was second fastest and so we parked it to concentrate on the Superbike. I quickly got up to a 128mph lap average and ended up qualifying third. Then the first big test, the postponed and then shortened Superbike race, where you finished fourth last year. What happened? I hit a wall with the Superbike and couldn’t get it going faster than a 129mph lap average. I had chosen the highest-spec engine but it was an animal to ride on the limit. I’d got up to sixth,…

Ducati Streetfighter V4 prototype revealed! THERE'S NEVER BEEN much doubt that Ducati’s 1103cc Panigale V4 engine was going to be used in more bikes and now the first machine to benefit from that trickle-down technology has been revealed, in the form of the 2020 Ducati Streetfighter V4. At the moment it’s still officially a prototype, unveiled now because the firm wants to prove its mettle in competition at the 2019 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb at the end of this month. But Ducati has confirmed that a near-identical production bike will be unveiled at November’s EICMA show in Milan and is expected to reach dealers in March 2020. It shares virtually all its major components with the existing Panigale V4 S and no doubt there will be both a base…

V for adventure Moto Guzzi’s retro-styled enduro V85 TT has gone on sale in Australia. Featuring the company’s new ‘small block’ V-twin engine and dirt-oriented frame and suspension, prices start from $18,890, plusthe usual on-road costs. Beaut Bonnie Triumph celebrates the 60th anniversary of the model that launched its golden period of sales with a 900-run-only Bonneville T120 Diamond. Special features include unique paint scheme and badging. Robbie to rock festival Daredevil Robbie Maddison will perform sea, air and water stunts at November’s Australian Motorcycle Festival in Wollongong. Previously known as the Sydney Motorcycle Show, this new event at Lang Park will host displays, test rides and entertainment, and run alongside Round 3 of the 2019 Australian Supercross Championship. Helmet time St George Motorcycle Club is holding a world record…

RIDER PROFILE Name Ian Buckley Height/Weight 170cm/80kg Hot tip If you attach 30kg of gear to the Niken using a cacophony of straps, bungee cords and heavy-duty cable ties, it’s a good idea to throw in a pair of side-cutters IF YOU DON'T mind a bit of attention and answering a few questions each time you stop, then Yamaha’s Niken might be the bike for you. “What’s it like?” “Does it stand up on its own?” “Does the other wheel stay on the ground when you corner?” “Can you feel any difference?” A couple of days earlier, I’d stepped off my Kawasaki ZX-14 and onto the Niken, and my initial thought was that it was a bike for the old blokes. But after I stepped off the Niken some 1600km…

CFMOTO WILL MANUFACTURE all KTM models powered by the new 799cc parallel-twin from 2021 onwards – alongside provision of the KTM 990 LC8 V-twin motor to power a range of CFMoto’s own models. “KTM is a cool brand, aimed at young people who value sharp styling and good engineering,” says CFMoto’s president, Lai Guogui. “It’s CFMoto’s ambition to position our own products in a similar segment of the market, but at a lower price point.” In pursuit of that, CFMoto has purchased KTM’s entire first-generation LC8 990 engine platform, which first appeared in carburetted 942cc form in 2003, then increased in capacity to 990 guise in 2006, by then boasting EFI. This Dakar-winning motor (Fabrizio Meoni in 2002) formed the basis of KTM’s original twin-cylinder customer range launched in 2003,…

YMA IS CHANGING TO BECOME MORE FOCUSED [AND]CUSTOMER-CENTRIC WHEN YAMAHA PREPARED to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2005 the motorcycle industry was a very different place. Sales had accelerated to the highest level in two decades. A total of 89,374 motorcycles sold in 2004, represented a stunning 21.3 percent increase over 2003, the largest percentage growth in more than a decade. Yamaha had a dream start to its 50th anniversary year, overtaking Honda in overall sales for the first half of 2005, and was Australia’s market leader in off-road bikes. Yamaha’s sales stars were its YZF-R6 and revised YZF-R1 models, along with the V-Star cruiser, and off-road WR and TT models. Fast-forward to 2018 and overall sales were similar to 2005 but the market make-up totally changed. We asked Yamaha’s…

THE BIGGEST THREAT to motorcycling is the rise of electric pushbikes. You can buy mountain bikes that look like a trials bike, or a road cycle that looks like a flat-tank Indian motorcycle from the 1920s, and everything else in between. Two main features make electric cycles a nobrainer for those seeking freedom on two wheels: no on-road registration/ licensing costs and lax rules governing both appropriate riding gear and road use. Glen Potter is track manager at Gilman, Adelaide, one of Australia’s last remaining metropolitan motocross venues. He also owns Ride Union Bike Co in Aldgate, an independent boutique bicycle shop in the Adelaide Hills. Potter has raced motocross at a state level for 10 years. A few months ago he got a road riding licence for the first…

Brake, turn, accelerate, repeat. Right? If all riders are on the same tyres, all motorcycles have unified electronics and all riders are the most supremely talented riders on the planet, surely they’re going to punt their machines around world-class racetracks at 350km/h in more or less the same way. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the case of the some of the hottest talent in MotoGP right now, there are so many variables that can make a rider either feel confident or uncomfortable on a motorcycle. And in the era of close racing and even tighter lap times, one or even tenths of a second can mean the difference between a haul of world championship points and none at all. We grab a word with some of the…

MOTORCYCLING AUSTRALIA Insurance Limited (MAIL) was established after the well-publicised collapse of HIH Insurance in 2001, when Motorcycling Australia couldn’t purchase a policy to suit its Members’ needs. Specifically, without Public Liability Insurance, motorcycle competition in Australia was doomed. The state controlling bodies, let alone individual clubs, would have found it impossible to fund the annual premiums to purchase Public Liability Cover at a time when the threat of class actions was increasing exponentially. Just the expense of preparing a legal defence against merely speculative claims was prohibitive. “Without doubt the best thing (former MA President) David White did was establish MAIL,” Goddard says. “MAIL was formed to allow us all to continue to race motorcycles, not as a profitable business venture, it was a necessity at that time and…

The Old Strzelecki Track is part of a well-used trade route that dates back prior to European settlement. These days it is popular with riders and 4WDers, as one of the most iconic and fun desert adventures that you will find in the outback. It is not for the faint-hearted, but if you are up for the challenge it is an experience that you will long remember. Overall this is a 383km ride that commences after you have loaded up with fuel, water and other essentials in Tibooburra, the most north western town in New South Wales. The route heads west from town on the Cameron Corner Rd, which is dirt (but frequently graded and in good condition) all the way to Waka Station 81km from Tibooburra where the track…

LAST ISSUE I spoke about helping out as a track marshal while I recovered from my racing accident. Soon it was time to find out how I would feel about riding or even racing again. I have seen plenty of mates who have crashed on road or track and have either given it up or come back at a much slower pace. The mental demons can really play with your mind. I have tried to always just think about the enjoyment that racing gives me and not about what might happen. I came off my 2004 Yamaha YZF-R1 at Broadford’s Crash Corner and broke my collarbone. It took around two minutes for the medical staff to be there with me, something that wouldn’t happen in a road incident. That is…

EVEN THE WORLDSSP riders were not immune from some regulatory interjections at Jerez, as in Superpole the original winner Federico Caricasulo eventually had to give that status to his Bardahl Evans Bros teammate (and now main championship rival) Randy Krummenacher after he exceeded the track limits. He got his own back by putting in a superb last lap that broke all the following pack of five riders, who had just started to get strung out in the final two laps of the 4.423km circuit. “The race was a very tactical one, the pace not fast,” said Caricasulo. “It wasn’t easy to fight off the continual attacks from rivals in the leading group. I knew my toughest rival would be my team-mate, and in the final stages I tried to break…

MARCO RAMIREZ TOOK his first race win and the 12th in succession for a different winner after a Moto3 race of brutal action and widespread heartbreak. The Leopard Honda rider had been in a 15-strong lead group throughout, and took the lead on the last lap at the end of the back straight, as Qatar GP winner Kaito Toba (Team Asia Honda) – leader for five of the last eight laps – fell under braking. Alonso Lopez (EG Honda), was pushed out at the finish by a canny points leader Aron Canet (Sterilgarda KTM), who had been biding his time in an all-action race with many crashes, and teenage rookie Celestino Vietti (SKY VR46 KTM), the Rossi protégé’s third podium in 11 starts. Canet had decided “20 points was better…

JACK MILLER ESCAPED the friendly fire of his paddock bestie Cal Crutchlow to score a solid fifth place in the Catalunya Grand Prix. The Aussie said that he was relieved that his Pramac Ducati narrowly avoided being T-boned by Crutchlow’s Honda as the pair diced for track space. Crutchlow was on the charge to challenge for fifth with six laps remaining when his desperate braking move on Miller went wrong into turn four. “I braked at my normal spot and started tipping it in when Cal came past me at Mach 1, heading towards the gravel locking up the rear,” Miller said. “It was unfortunate but it was his mistake. He came into the garage and said sorry because he nearly got me. “It would have been bad if he…

AUSSIE JOSH BROOKES (Be Wiser Ducati) celebrated his second British Superbike Championship double when he won two races from two starts at Brands Hatch over 14-16 June, to move himself within 14 points of new series leader Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Racing Ducati). It was compatriot Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) who took the holeshot on a wet track in the first race, while Brookes’s teammate and pole man Scott Redding gambled on intermediate tyres, which failed to pay off. The former MotoGP rider went from first to last before the first half of the first lap was completed, losing any hope of keeping the slim title lead he held heading into the fourth round in the process. It wasn’t all plain-sailing for Brookes, however, with the Aussie finding himself as low…

NEIL TINKER IS probably the only Australian motorcycle racer who has made a hands-on contribution to the defence of the USA. A carpenter from Warrnambool, he worked for 10 months in 1954 building the US Air Force Distant Early Warning line of radar stations, situated above the Arctic Circle. Neil’s wages helped buy MV racers that he and elder brother Len raced on the Continental Circus in 1957-’58, in an era when Australian private entrants almost exclusively rode 350cc and 500cc British machines. They also stood out from the pack by wearing jet-style Bell helmets. Len Tinker had spent the 1953 season helping Australian racers Keith Campbell and Gordon Laing with their Nortons. He worked at a motorcycle shop in Los Angeles, before the brothers headed to Canada with Len’s…

HONDA IS SET to take on BMW’s F850GS, KTM’s 790 Adventure and Yamaha’s Tenere 700 in the booming mid-sized adventure bike market. We understand Honda will first launch a larger Africa Twin next year, the CRF1100L, and then a smaller CRF850L will join the range in 2021. Japanese media is excited about the prospect, even publishing a cover image of what it thinks the new model will look like. While Honda’s current international-market adventure bike range is extensive, it’s heavily slanted towards road-oriented models like the CB500X, VFR800X and VFR1200X. The CRF1000L Africa Twin Honda broke that mould, using a purpose-made twin-cylinder engine and a chassis developed specifically for off-road use. It’s reaped the rewards since, snapping at the heels of BMW’s best-selling R1200GS/R1250GS for the top-seller spot in many…

Aprilia was always going to back its new Tuono 1100 Factory on the racetrack – it already knew the 1077cc V4 could make short work of any track in Oz, and the major new point for 2019, Aprilia Suspension Control in the form of the semi-active Öhlins Smart EC 2.0 suspension, easily dealt with the relatively smooth confines of Sydney Motorsport Park. The g-forces are up, but the hotmix is less challenging – so how does it handle the reality of Australian roads? Not long after we burned a set of Pirellis at the national launch (Vol 68 No 22), we wrestled our way to the front of the queue to ride this thing on the road, with two weeks to do so. We know the new Tuono can stitch…

Really, it was inevitable. Just like products of the Japanese industry half a century ago, Chinese motorcycles are increasingly no longer the cheap but not always cheerful products they used to be. These days, they’re becoming more and more well-engineered and soundly constructed, with ever more attractive styling that’s no longer a crude imitation of Western design. But while industry giant Qianjiang has been a key player in moving this trend forward via its Italian Benelli subsidiary, another pioneer of engaging with overseas markets with more appealing and well-made middleweight models, is the much-smaller CFMoto. In 2009, 20 years after the firm was founded, the company began development entirely in house of its own liquid-cooled DOHC 650cc parallel-twin engine as a platform for a range of different middleweight models. The…

THE BIGGEST MARKETS in Europe are Italy (219,694 new bike registrations in 2018), France (177,460), Spain (159,946) and Germany (156,108). The UK was a distant fifth with 100,439 sales, an interesting comparison to Australia’s 95,080, considering the Poms have twice our population. The UK market has halved in the past 20 years, showing how important export sales are for manufacturers such as Triumph. Motorcycle sales figures in the overall European market increased nearly 10 percent in 2018. While this was cause for celebration in most countries, sales are only just back to where they were in 2010 and followed a worrying 10 percent slump in 2017. The European Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers (ACEM), the equivalent of Australia’s FCAI, sizes the European new-motorcycle market at around one million. These figures include…

PAUL WILLOWS STARTED riding in the late 1970s and has been a Stay Upright rider trainer in Sydney for the past 15 years. Over the decades he has seen change in the type of owners, their motorcycles and why and how they ride. How’s business as a rider trainer going? Flat-out. Stay Upright (which has government contracts to run Rider Training in NSW, Victoria and the ACT) doesn’t have empty courses in NSW, even in winter. Why do you think this is, when there is general doom and gloom? In NSW, the government has always subsidised the Pre Learner scheme (it costs less than $100, while some other states it’s nearly $500 to get an L plate – it works out at nearly $1000 to complete L & P licence…

Would you believe us if we said a bloke has built a replica of a 67-year-old million-dollar machine, and he wants to jump Cadwell Park’s infamous Mountain on it? I was strolling through the paddock at a small club event and did a double-take; what the hell was an E95 Porcupine doing there? Only four of these AJS twins were built, and they made their debut at the 1952 Isle of Man TT. Two years later they were wearing huge pannier fuel tanks that made them unmistakable – and unmissable. Such exotica doesn’t come cheap. In 2000, an E95 sold at auction for £157,700 ($287K) and in 2011, Bonhams brokered a private sale at around US$675,000 (A$968K) for another. I hunched down and took a closer look. That engine looks…

Peter Goddard is a bloke who’s achieved so much in the past 40 years it’s difficult to count his many successes. Now, as a Board Member of Motorcycling Australia for almost four years and President since September 2017, Pete and the crew at Motorcycling Australia (MA) are earnestly working towards restoring MA’s credibility. The Melbourne-based MA was an organisation that was all but broke – and broken – with its finances in a mess and suffering a complete lack of transparency. Without the sale of its own assets and the support from all the State Controlling Bodies (SCB), MA would have been bankrupt. “Those problems were largely being resolved when a new MA Board, headed by Tania Lawrence, was selected to put the Whole of Sport Review (WOSR) recommendations into…

Now we have put the front end of the bike back together we can fit the flushed petrol tank back on to see if the bike will actually run. We would have liked to do this earlier but as it is a pressurised fuel system, we didn’t want to be mucking around taking it off and on while we were working on the fork, etc. There is also some serious work to do to the rear end, where the rear brake rotor has more rust on it than the S.S.Titanic. This will have to be rectified, and the whole thing given one last and thorough once over, before we can consider booking the bike in for an engineer’s certificate in order to get the thing registered.…

To Be (Or Not To Be) Yourself WHEN TEN KATE decided to come back to WorldSBK with Yamaha as its partner, the question was how would they deal with their new tech set-up after decades of tuning and running Hondas. The answer, it appears, is by a combination of running a strong ‘as delivered’ package from the manufacturer, before going too far down its own path. “The behaviour of the Yamaha is totally different so from the electronics point of view, that is the smallest change,” said Team Manager Kervin Bos. “The electronics is more or less the same in how you need to adjust the bike. The strategies how to handle that are really good, to be honest, from Yamaha. Only the chassis point of view – that is…

IT WAS THE quietly-spoken brothers of Ben and Tom Birchall who once again dominated this year, taking two race wins and breaking their own lap record during a near-perfect TT fortnight. Rounding out the opening TT’s podium was John Holden/ Lee Cain (SBR Honda) in second ahead of the Rowtech Engineering Suzuki-mounted duo of Peter Founds and Jake Lowther. Elsewhere, Aussie Mick Alton and passenger Stephen Bonne finished the opening sidecar TT in 16th place on their J&C Contracting LCR outfit. Regular solo competitor Maria Costello made her sidecar TT debut this year with Julie Canip in the chair of their Frog Property Developments LCR machine, they finished 21st in their first race of the week. The 17-time winner Dave Molyneaux and his new-for-2019 passenger Harry Payne suffered a mechanical…

MARC MARQUEZ IS the last rider who needs races to be given to him; Jorge Lorenzo the last rider who would volunteer such a gift. But that’s how it happened at their home GP in Catalunya. It was only the second of 24 laps when the new Repsol Honda rider triggered bedlam, taking out not only himself, but Marquez’s three greatest rivals in one go. After a less than easy run up to the race, Marquez had just taken the lead, into the notorious tight Turn 10 at the end of the fast back straight – scene of no less than 40 of 73 crashes during an incident-packed weekend at the 4.627-km circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya. The title leader was ready to unleash his strategy... the only rider on the soft…

THE TERRITORIANS STRIKE BACK AGAINST THE MASKED INVADERS FROM THE SOUTH THANKS LARGELY TO off-road legends Toby Price and Ben Grabham, Territorians haven’t had much to celebrate at the annual Finke Desert Race over the past decade, the late Damon Stokie’s win in 2017 being the single exception. This year, with four podium trophies in his possession, proud Territorian David Walsh was carrying all the expectations of a parochial home crowd on his shoulders. And he happily obliged with a win in Friday’s prologue. Then, on an exceptionally quick track, Walsh piloted his KTM 500 EXC to what was to prove a winning margin on the first leg. “Getting to Finke with a five-minute lead meant I knew the rough stuff would be easier on the home run,” said Walsh.…

ANDREA DOVIZIOSO refuses to concede defeat but fears that Marc Marquez is now perfectly positioned to apply suffocating tactical pressure in the MotoGP championship chase. Ducati star Dovizioso knows that Marquez is a fast and relentless rival who is riding smarter than ever. And with a comfortable 37-point advantage after seven races, Honda kingpin Marquez can now apply the squeeze over the remaining 11 races. Dovi’s title chances were dealt a savage blow when he was unceremoniously dumped out of the Catalunya Grand Prix by Marquez’s Honda teammate Jorge Lorenzo on lap two. Dovi described Lorenzo’s schoolboy braking error at the turn-10 hairpin as “a really big mistake” from a champion like Lorenzo. Dovi pointedly put down pundits who claimed that his wide line to square-off the hairpin made him…

AUSTRALIA'S REIGNING Endurance World Champion Josh Hook and his TSR Honda squad scored a victory in the Oschersleben 8 Hour earlier this month, lifting the team to third in the 2018-2019 championship with just one round left to run. Despite Hook and his teammates Freddy Foray and Mike Di Meglio finding themselves eight laps down at one point, the reigning champs used patience and experience to claw their way back to the lead, in a race in which the lead changed 45 times. Hook and the F.C.C. TSR Honda squad made the perfect start to their title defence in the opening round, taking a hard-fought win in a drama-filled Bol D’or 24 Hour. Hook crossed the line at Paul Ricard circuit just 54sec ahead of compatriot Broc Parkes on his…

AFTER TWO YEARS and seven long months in the wilderness, the WA Road Racing Championships have burst back into action at the re-sanctioned Barbagallo Raceway, formerly known as Wanneroo Park, in Neerabup, Western Australia on 2 June. The opening round of the 2019 Hydroquip WA State Road Racing Championships took place under blue skies, where a healthy 57 solo riders and nine sidecar entrants put on some excellent racing in front of a sizeable crowd. The great news is that even more riders are expected to join the ranks as the five-round season progresses. There was a big surprise in the opening Superbike race when pre-season favourite Ben Stronach (VRT Signs Yamaha YZF-R1) went missing at half race distance. The early leader then reappeared to fight back and finish the…